This was great.
….
No, it was more than that. It was just fan-freakin-tastic. She could feel a migraine coming on as the thought ran through her mind again.
“You mean to tell me that you lost him?” she groaned, “How in the world did you manage to do that?” She thought it was impossible to lose such the arrogant team mate, without trying, none the less.
He simply nodded and looked back at his irritated female comrade with a shameful glance, “Yes. When I couldn’t hear his footsteps behind me I began to wonder, and when I turned to see where he was he was…gone.”
Figures…he had always been the type to vanish during a mission.
She mentally cursed her moronic team mate for disappearing in the middle of a B-Ranked mission. “Osamu-san, is there anyway you may be able to rewire the headset to where we could connect to another team?”
“Most likely, I would have to figure out how to adjust the channels, probably rearrange a few wires, and --“
“Alright, whatever, let’s find Katsuo, and get out of here” she tossed him the headset that she had and leaned up against the trunk of the tree. All she could do is hope that Katsuo had meet up with another team and decided to tag along. He might be a moron, but he wouldn’t allow himself to get lost or killed…she hoped. She assumed the other team had gotten their scrolls too and had all met up by now.
There was a silence between the two comrades as he disassembled the headset and thought of a plan of action.
“Daikirai, I didn’t want to say it earlier but…when Katsuo and I were walking I felt a strong amount of chakra present,” he went quiet for a second as if he was unsure of how to explain the rest, “I know it wasn’t Katsuo, it was much stronger than his.” Osamu let out sigh as his stubby fingers fiddled with the different colored plastic that covered the copper wires.
“Do you think it might have been another team?”
“No, it seemed to be just one person.”
“A sensei perhaps?” She threw out another possibility, suppressing the real thought from her mind.
“No, my kekkei genkai wouldn’t have reacted so strange if it was…. This wasn’t anyone I knew.”
She didn’t want to even think about the idea that had filled her head but she couldn’t hold it in. “Do you think he was killed?” Daikirai’s voice went low as she mumbled her question. Osamu quit tinkering with the headset for a second.
“I don’t think so. Whoever or whatever was following us vanished as soon as soon as he came. It’s highly unlikely that Katsuo was killed in that quickly.” He went silent again and removed another wire only to place it in a different spot. A spark flew up in the air when the copper wire found another electric current.
Daikirai gnawed over the idea of someone else being in such a creepy place. The Forest of Death did indeed hold true to the name. An uncountable amount of people died crossing through it, those who have lived came out insane or mute about their experience. It was a shortcut though, and somehow in her mind at the time, it had been a wise choice for a path to follow.
She began to question about the possibility that the other teams might be dead. How could she forgive herself then? Out of ten people who enter the Forest of Death seven don’t return. What was the possibility that out of the four teams who entered that all twelve people would come back safe and sound with that kind of survival ratio?
“Daikirai?” Osamu called her back to reality and handed her the headset, “All you have to do is move the volume knob and it’ll change the channels,” he stated using his index finger to push his circular glasses back up.
She placed it on her head and presses the headphone against her ear as she fumbled with the knob. With a slight twist she heard a faint voice; slowly she moved it in till it came loud and clear. It was none other than Hiroshi of Team 3.
“Team 3 can you read me?”
There was a pause before a fuzzy response finally came over, “Daikirai, is that you?”
“Yes, I need to talk to Kuroneko immediately,” she sighed. At least she reached someone.
“What? Am I not cool enough to talk to?” He asked in an all too serious tone.
“No, you’re not. Let me talk to Kuro,” Daikirai responded, equally serious. She listened to the sound of static before she heard a loud girlish screech and the sound of the headset hitting the ground with a crash.
“What was that for?!” Hiroshi’s voice seemed more distant now, and defiantly more panicked.
“That was for taking my pockey earlier!” It was Kuroneko, her voice also faint. “Who are you talking to anyway?” Her voice was now getting louder; she must be nearing their headset. Daikirai could hear someone moving the hands across the microphone.
“Ello?” Kuro’s voice now clear.
“What did you do to him?” Daikirai questioned her friend about the sudden scream, adding a slight chuckle.
“He took my pockey earlier. So I tackled him from behind.”
“He screams like a girl,” She smirked.
“I know!” Kuro laughed, “You should’ve seen his face! Let me tell you, that was a Kodak moment! So, what’s up?”
“Well, you know Katsuo, that baka, well….he’s gone. And we don’t know where he is.”
“We haven’t seen him, though he might be with Team 2, which we think we’ve found. If we see him we’ll contact you.”
“Thanks. But one more thing,” Daikirai paused for a second, “Have you noticed anything strange?”
“Other than Hiroshi and Kenji?” Kuroneko chuckled, “No, I haven’t.….Why?”
Osamu cringed and held his head in his hands, his body began shaking, this only meant one thing—his kekki genkai was sensing another presence. She gritted her teeth together. Not now!
“Dai?!” Kuro yelled alarmed at her friend’s abrupt silence.
“Keep alert. We’re not alone.” With that she clicked the headset off and kneeled down to her team mate.
“Is it the same one from before?” she asked. He merely nodded. Whoever…whatever it was had to be strong. Never had she seen Osamu’s kekki genkai react so violently. Daikirai placed a hand on his shoulder, “Are they close?”
“Yes. They must be only a few yards away now,” his voice shook as he sputtered out the words.
“Come on. We have to get out of the open.”
Osamu stood on his trembling legs. He couldn’t even control his kekkei genkai long enough to stop shaking. This was probably an S-Class criminal that they were dealing with. Someone way out of there league.
Running was there only choice now.
XlX
“Man….I have a bad feeling that Dai’s in trouble…” Kuroneko muttered as she placed their team’s scroll in her bag.
“This is coming from the damsel in distress herself?” Kenji curtly chuckled remembering the many times that Kuroneko had been kidnapped on pervious missions.
“Ooooh burn!” Hiroshi laughed and stuck his tongue out at Kuro, whom, in return pelted him with a nearby pebble. He rubbed his head, ruffling up his short brown hair again, “C’mon, you have to admit that you have a lack of gut feeling sometimes.”
“Yea, you can’t tell the difference between a “bad feeling” and a bad bowel of ramen,” her blond headed team mate stated, which made him receive a rather large pebble hitting him between the eyes.
“Alright, alright! Today isn’t Make-Fun-Of-Kuroneko Day—“
“Yea, it’s tomorrow,” Hiroshi interrupted.
She glared at him and continued, “As I was saying, let’s drop the insults and meet up with Misora’s team. Perhaps Aki and her team have met up with them.”
Hiroshi and Kenji nodded obediently (for once) and began to hike through one of the few clear paths were previous ninjas have walked before. Hiroshi ran up to be beside of Kuroneko, and Kenji gradually found himself strolling behind them. Kenji was the first to notice how alert Kuroneko was. Sometimes she could be oblivious to slight signs, but now it was almost as if she was expecting something to happen. If either one of them stepped on a twig or the leaves rustled from a gust of wind, her right hand would twitch, preparing to pull out her kunai. There was something that was on her mind that was that was frying her very nerves. Kuroneko had always presented herself as a brave one, allowing no fear to ever conquer her courageous image, but Kenji knew that her valor had been beaten down by whatever it was the was haunting her thoughts. Hiroshi didn’t even seem to notice her strange behavior, but instead continued on his little stroll to what he acted like was the “beautiful countryside”.
The trees up ahead had began to close in on the path, like two walls coming together to create a dead end and a death trap for the prey of its unexpecting victims.
“So, what now? No, Team 1 or Team 2 to be seen,” Hiroshi sighed. All he wanted was to finish this mission and get home. He was tired of always worrying of whether if every breath Kuroneko took, would be her last. As much as he was afraid to confess it to her, he did have to admit that if it came to the choice of his life or hers, he would gladly give his up. As long as she was safe. That was his only concern.
He looked to Kuro, expecting an answer of some sort, but she stood frozen staring at one of the trees that branched out above her. Her blue eyes narrowed, glaring past her red tipped black bangs. Kuroneko had sighted her target and had locked in on it. Kenji noticed his comrade’s sudden stillness and slowly reached for his sharpen kunai knife preparing for an attack by an enemy ninja.
There was a deadly silence that filled the air. The tension before battle made it hard to move, let alone breath. The team just stiffly stood there, allowing there survival instinct to take over there senses. Adrenaline pumped through veins, like the very oxygen that filled there chest. None of them were moving yet there body was preparing to take off at a speed that could make the muscles tear and rip out of there skin.
Every single one of his there senses were pushed to there full extent to discover the enemy before it was to late. Only then could Hiroshi see a small twitch of movement in the leaves above Kuroneko; he too had a lock on her target, and saw what he had missed before. But of course as he stared at mark, he missed the real threat.
…
“HUMAN-SHIELD JUTSU!!!” Kuroneko, his so-called team mate and what he thought was a “friend”, grabbed his forearms and held him in front of her, clutching him tightly. He yelped at the sudden unexpected closeness of his crush, he could feel the blood rushing to his face, but the words she shouted ran through his mind only to come back and hit him with a slap of realization. Human-shield jutsu…the words slowly seeped in as he saw the blur, better know as Misora, mid-air in a tackle. There was no way to run, he had to take it. They tumbled to the ground, twigs and rock stabbing them.
Kenji stared at the mangled bodies and his pervert mind began coming up with thoughts before he could even really acknowledged what happened, “What? I wasn’t invited into the threesome?”
…
Okay, perhaps that should have remained a thought. Kenji winced, squeezing his eyes shut. He placed his hands together and began to pray.
“Please, save me from Misora’s and Kuro’s wrath! Please!!!!” Kenji braced himself for an attack, expecting and overwhelming amount of pain to be inflicted on his body, but yet, nothing happened. There was just….silence.
Now that scared him.
Perhaps he died, he reasoned, and they just made it quick and painless. He paused; they were mad at him, now why would they take the fun out and just simply kill him? They were probably going to try to torture him with such an odd silence. He gulped, this was the moment of truth; was he dead or alive?
He slowed opened one eyelid, to see Misora looking at him with a glare that could melt steel. He opened the other, to see Kuroneko holding the same gaze.
“I’m in hell aren’t I?” he squeaked.
Misora cracked her knuckles, “Not quite. But soon, Kenji, you will be.”
He swallowed the yelp that wanted to escape and instead screamed, “But I’m too sexy to die!!”
Misora and Kuroneko didn’t laugh, nor did they hardly noticed his comment. They had apparently heard something else that was out of sync. The black haired girl tilted her head in concentration, listening for the sound again. Her red headed team mate, Ryuu, lifted his kunai and moved in front of her. Misora stared puzzled at his actions towards her.
“Keep quiet and stay behind me.” He whispered sternly to her. It was a rarity for him to care about anyone but himself and his survival.
Katsurou had the same confused stare that his female team mate had. ‘What happened to, every man for himself?’ He thought to himself adding a chuckle mentally. An evil idea suddenly swept over him…..He got it now.
“False alarm I guess,” Kuro shrugged giving up on hearing the sound again. Ryuu lowered his kunai and placed it in his pouch and walked off, lowering his head. Katsurou smirked and followed after him.
“Soooo, what happened to the safe-yourself-and-care-about-the-others-later attitude?”
Ryuu didn’t answer, and just stared at the ground with great interest, “You like Misora don’t you?”
His head shot up, his face matched his hair color.
“I ssssoooo knew it!!!!!!” He did a small victory dance because he had pieced the puzzle together and got a great picture. Ryuu actually had feelings for someone! Now that was just too good to be true! “I should go spread the word! Ryuu has hormones!!!!”
Ryuu snatched his neck and dug his fingers into his team mate’s throat.
“Don’t.You.Dare.Say.A.Word.To.Misora,” he hissed. Katsurou shook his head and waved his hands in front of himself defensively. Ryuu released him.
Katsurou smiled and rubbed his throat, “I would never tell her….I’ll tell Kuroneko to tell her for me!” And with that he took off running towards the blue eyed friend of Misora’s.
“Kuroneko!” he yelled to get her attention as he neared her. But he didn’t run fast enough. The white haired boy was soon tackled to the ground and skidding to a stop. Ryuu and Katsurou halted at Misora’s feet. Ryuu had put his hand over his teammate’s mouth and stared up at his crush. Katsurou mumbled something that was muffled by his team mate’s hand. Misora looked down at the two and raised a curious eyebrow,
“He’s just being a baka,” Ryuu growled and slapped him upside the head. Kuroneko looked to Misora, who stared back just as confused. “I swear that I will skin you alive if you mutter another word,” he murmured to Katsurou, “then I’ll hurt you.”
The white hair boy nodded quickly, wanting to be released from his grip.
“You all are such pathetic morons. I will be doing humanity a favor when I purge the world of such stupidity and kill you all.” A boy with red eyes glared down from his branch that he was standing on. Bloodlust radiated and swirled around in his eyes the storms of Jupiter. His teeth were filed to a sharp point and had a tint of red to them. Rumor has it that he sometimes will eat his victims…alive….just to feel them squirm. But that was mere academy gossip, and the truth of that was probably the same as saying that the sky is a bright lime green and the clouds are a pink neon color.
Aki of the Sand stood in a limb above him with her arms crossed staring down at her friends and at her gruesome team mate.
“How come I always get the freaks?” She mumbled as she felt another weight on her branch. Takeshi was at least half way normal compared to her other team mate. True, he wanted to kill of all living beings on the Earth and become the single most ruler of it, but, what were his bad points?
“Aki-ccchhhhaaannn,” Kichirou whined, desiring her attention.
“Stab me please,” she murmured to herself. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye, “What?!” She growled at him annoyed.
“Nothing. I just love the sound of your name, just like I love you, Aki-chan.”
Okay, the sappiness was suffocating her every will to live. If it weren’t for the rule stating that stripping the hide off your teammate and leaving the carcass for the animals to feed off of was wrong, she would have already done it. She peered through her bangs to quickly catch Kichirou leaning in for a kiss. Without even thinking she punched him in the jaw and down he fell.
Ow. He hit a limb, but his body continued spiraling downwards. Oh, he hit another! And another…. His body finally stopped as hit the hard ground with a load thud. Katsurou winced, that will feel so good when it stopped hurting.
“Love hurts,” the limp body on the ground groaned. Aki smirked. Well, at least he wouldn’t be declaring his love to her for a little while. She jumped down from her limb and landed on her love sick team mate, he grunted as the wind was knocked out of him once more. Aki didn’t even bother to glance back or even ask if he was okay, she just continued walking.
“What Aki? Do you not even care about your so called “friends” enough to even inform them about the group of sound ninjas heading this way? And I thought I was the heartless one,” Takeshi curtly snorted and crossed his arms.
“Go die, buta,” she growled.
“Sound ninja?” Kuroneko and Misora asked in unison, tilting their heads in the opposite direction of one another. Aki nodded sharply.
“I have a feeling that they’re already here though.”
XlX
He was still shaking.
She could hear his breathing become quicker as he tried to put more oxygen into his blood stream. His chakra was draining. She didn’t need his kekkei genkai to know that.
They had been hiding in a tree limb for at least an hour, she assumed. The overwhelming fear had died down. Adrenaline quit pumping and her eyes stopped darting around. It was the mere fact that Osamu continued to quake that kept her alert.
A limb snapped above her.
Daikirai ceased breathing. She didn’t want to look up. She didn’t want to see her enemy. She didn’t want to fight. All she wanted was to make it out alive now. Her black eyes slowly moved to the corner to look at Osamu.
He laid almost lifeless, his chest faintly moved up and down. His chakra must have bottomed out from using to much energy from his kekki genkai. Lovely, she thought, now my team mate is unconscious and my other one is probably dead somewhere. Her body refused to move, no matter how much she wanted to. She was frozen to her spot and standing in an uncomfortable silence with her enemy looming above her.
A shadow casted over the cloak of the night; the anticipation of the attack smothered her. Her choice was clear.
It was now or never.
XIX
Aki’s words were nearly caught off by a loud ear drum piercing shrill. The teams covered the ears and winced. But there hands didn’t even seem to muffle sharp note, just the sound of each others voices. They stared at one another baffled, unsure of there next move. If they removed there hands the sound would probably rupture there ear drums, so they couldn’t reach for a weapon or do any hand signs. Communication was knocked off by the loud trill that consumed any other noise. There was no way out of this one.
Kuroneko’s vision was going blurry as the sound began to take affect on the mind, Misora’s body wavered and she stumbled a bit, and Ryuu’s knees hit the ground. His head felt like a drill was going into his skull. He couldn’t think up a plan in such conditions. The ways out only had larger consequences to follow. Akired eyes scanned the forest for the source of the noise to eliminate. The culprit was spotted among the trees as the man stepped forward. A piccolo was being played at a C# and destroying there sense of perception. She lowered her hand and grabbed a kunai quickly and threw it at the sound nin playing it.
Perhaps this wasn’t the wisest decision. The kunai did indeed splinter the woodwind, but she could feel a sharp execrating pain from where she removed her hand. She ran her hand up to her ear and felt a warm liquid trickling down her cheek.
It was blood. Aki shuddered a bit. This would dilute her senses and probably warp her mind, she realized after her rash choice.
“Aki-chan?” Kichirou whimpered. She slumped down and covered her ear. It hurt more than anything she had ever felt. Blood began to leak from her cupped hand and ooze down her arm.
“Is that all you all got?” the piccolo player scoffed. “You all are a waste of my time. I’ll just kill you all, right here, right now!”
Misora and Kuroneko scowled, “Kunai storm attack!” They each threw a single kunai at the man.
He merely laughed and raised his own kunai to block theirs. “Just two?” he mocked as they closed distance on him. The knives seemed to have multiplied in midair as ten separated from what he thought was just one. It was a clever mini-genjustsu that the duo had thought up one bored day at the academy. But of course, when Aki joined the group, there became a second part.
The man glanced down from his death as he felt something lightly grazing his body and going up around his waist. It was sand that was creeping over him and constricting his legs. He looked at the purple haired girl that he had injured earlier. Her hand was sprawled out in front of her as she controlled the granules of weathered rock. Blood dripped off her fingertips and down the side of her face. The sound ninja then turned his head to look back at the two black haired girls whom seemed to be halfway smirking.
“This battle,” one began to say as she ran a finger up the blade of her sword.
“Will be your last,” the blue eyed girl finished.
He saw the kunai nearly touching his face and the sand was wrapping tighter around him. He closed his eyes tight. And for that last second, he wondered how Oorochimaru would feel when he found out that he was killed by one of the chunin he was suppose to capture.
Oh, well, at least he wasn’t the only one sent.
His cringe began to smooth out into a lopsided sneer as he remembered another detail of the plan. He let out a chuckle before a kunai hit his throat.
…
They might have won the battle, but the real war had yet to begun.
XlX
She screamed at the top of her lungs again. “Which one of you idiots are going to help me?!?!” She yelled at them as she touched her ear again. Kuroneko began to sit down to heal her friend, only to be tackled by the injured sand ninja’s fan boy.
“Nooooo,” he protested, “Let me safe her, and then it will be like the fairytales,” Kichirou sighed and nuzzled his intertwined hands that his cheek rested on. “Then she will fall madly in love with me, we’ll get married, and live happily ever after.” He paused soaking in the new fantasy.
Aki twitched, “Never mind. Let me go deaf, let me die, just don’t let him touch me!” She scurried away from her love struck team mate. Kichirou glomped her,
“No, let me heal you, my love!”
“No! I’ll die first!”
“No, I don’t want my fiancé to die!”
“What?! What did you just say?!”
“Let him heal you, Aki. Or I’ll finish you off in the most painful way that I can think of,” Takeshi growled, tired of the squabble.
Aki grumbled something about a fate worse than death as Kichirou inspected her ear.
“This might sting a little, honey,” he whispered as his hands lit up. A bluish aura surrounded them. Aki remained quiet as he placed them over her ears.
She cringed. He didn’t lie when he said it would sting, at least. In fact that was a vague statement compared to what she felt. Aki could feel the pain of a thousand needles piercing her skin all over her body.
The pain stopped and she saw Kichirou staring back at her, “So do you feel lightheaded? Are there any butterflies in your stomach? Do you feel any desire to kiss me?”
She glared at her savior, “No, but I feel like killing you. Does that count?”
His lower lip curled and his shoulders sunk. There went plan number 678,756 and it failed…just like all the others. She still didn’t love him. “I’m going to go sulk,” he huffed and walked to a near by tree to cry.
“Hey, Aki, didn’t you say that you saw a group of sound ninjas?” Katsurou asked ignoring the emotional team mate that passed him, “Wouldn’t that mean that there should have been more than one attacking?”
“Perhaps they are going to try to wear us out by fighting them one by one,” Ryuu suggested.
Hiroshi nodded in agreement. “We really need to get out of here. We’re just setting ourselves up for a death trap.”
“But shouldn’t we try to find Team 4?” Misora inquired, remembering that she hadn’t seen Daikirai’s team since the beginning of the mission.
“They’ll be fine on there own,” Ryuu grunted, reverting back to his normal personality.
“What do you think Kuroneko?” Misora looked to her friend for a decision.
“I’m not sure….Dai would want us to go on, but….” She trailed off recalling the last conversation she had with her, “Perhaps we should try to find her.”
Ryuu crossed his arms and frowned, “And put three other teams in danger?”
Kuro bit her lip, “I guess your right. We’ll get out of here and if we find them, good, if not, then hopefully they will catch up,” she muttered hesitantly.
The others nodded in agreement and gathered up their stuff.
“Look at them,” a voice high up in the trees above them mumbled, “So unaware, so naïve, wouldn’t you agree?” The man’s voice was smooth as he spoke to his partner.
“Yea,yea,” he panted, “I bet they are tasty too!” He replied with a small manic laugh.
“Now, now, you know what Lord Oorochimaru said—“
“Yea, yea, don’t kill the girl! Don’t kill the girl! But what about the others?!?!” the blood thirsty colleague hopped up and down on the branch impatiently.
“The others,” a smile spread across his face, bearing his gums and yellow teeth, “are free game.”
XIX
She didn’t want to do this….But was there really a choice?
Her hands rose and her fingers moved to begin the series of hand signs of a justsu she remembered from long ago.
But she was too slow. The shadow that had loomed over her vanished in an instant. Now her target had another advantage over her…she didn’t know where they were, but they knew perfectly were she was.
Daikirai’s nightmare was only slowly raveling from the crevasse of her mind and spilling into reality. She could hear voices in the distance now. The voices were of her friends carelessly walking and laughing.
She cursed underneath her breath. This was the last thing she wanted, for her friends to be involved in this battle with whoever this was.
“Get down!!” she yelled to them, leaped down from a branch and onto the ground below.
Misora smiled, “Daikirai! You didn’t get eaten!”
“Get down!” she barked again and pulled Misora down as a kunai flew past and hit the tree behind her.
They looked back up to see man with short silver hair sigh, “Just get out of the way so I can kidnap the girl and go on with my life.” He twirled another kunai around his finger and watched it lazily as it made its rounds.
“Who is it that you want?” Hiroshi asked, fearing for Kuroneko’s life, but ready to defend it.
The silver headed man smirked, “Now why would I tell you that? The hunt is much more interesting if the prey doesn’t know it’s going to be attacked.”
“Well c’mon! Bring it!” Aki challenged him.
He began to laugh, mocking them, “Now why would I fight you weaklings? You all aren’t worth soiling my hands,” he snickered again, “Instead I’ll have my comrade hunt you like the pathetic animals you are.”
Kenji growled, this was an unwelcome twist of plans. Now he would have to rethink a strategy. He froze in mid-thought as he heard a panting behind him.
Crap…
“Kentanka…kill them,” the man snapped his fingers and in a spilt second Kenji could feel claws digging into his neck and tackling him. Blood soaked the ground. His vision was blurring and blood was gushing from his wound. He stared up at some sound ninja…or was it a beast? Blood, his blood, was dripping from its fangs. It sneered down at Kenji before running off to get the others.
He could scream for the others to run, he thought, as he slipped in and out of consciousness. But what was the point?
“Kenji!” he faintly heard someone exclaim. He opened his mouth to speak but the words were lodged in his throat. His eyes grew heavy and he struggled to keep them open; couldn’t fight them open for long before they closed and he slipped out of reality.
“Kenji?!” Kuro yelled once more at her fallen team mate. Hiroshi looked as well, at the worst time too, as he turned Kentanka leaped up in the air for the second attack. He moved quickly and only got scratched by one of the claws of the man/beast. Hiroshi threw a kunai at it, but the knife that stabbed into Kentanka’s back didn’t even phase it. He cursed and dug into his pouch for another one.
Ryuu scanned the area for the silvered haired man. He apparently had control over this thing; perhaps under torture the man could stop “Kentanka” from killing anyone. He placed his back to Misora’s to defend her from anything from behind.
Misora closed her eyes to concentrate on her surroundings. There was the sound of Kantanka’s hands and feet trampling on the ground. It screeched as kunai soared through the air and hit a critical area. Aki most likely did that. She had great aim with those knifes. It didn’t stop the “thing” from running though, since it continued in Misora’s and Ryuu’s direction.
She reopened her eyes. Misora looked at Aki who was searching for another kunai or anything sharp and Ryuu was trying to devise a plan…but this thing was too unpredictable to guess its next move. It changed its path again and charged towards Daikirai. She mumbled under her breath about being too old for this, as she reached for a weapon…which wasn’t there.
Her pupils shrank.
Not good….not good at all.
It jumped and soared through the air. A thousand thoughts went through her mind, but not one of them was to move. There was a glint of light that flashed past her and Kentanka dropped to the ground lifeless. Kentanka’s yellow eyes rolled in the back of its head, and the green grass turned a crimson red.
“The only one that gets to kill her is me.”
XIX
He glanced around at the trees around him. He could’ve sworn he had just passed this place for the fourteenth time. Pausing he scratched his head,
“Dang, Daikirai’s gonna kill me for sure,” Katsuo groaned. “And dieing is just too much work right now.” He plopped down and sat against the trunk of a tree and stared up. Katsuo hated this place. You could never see the sky because the canopy was so thick, this also made it to where it was always dark…Katsuo did not like the dark. He shrugged off his fears though and pulled out a small red box. Tapping on it twice a stick of tobacco came out. He shouldn’t smoke, he knew that, but being a ninja was too stressful….
Well that’s the excuse he gave Daikirai when she chided him about the habit. The blond haired boy stuck a spare match against his shoe to light the stick of tobacco that dangled from his lips. He slightly chucked, Daikirai always nagged him though. Perhaps that’s why he smoked so much, but he better not tell her that.
Katsuo blew a puff of smoke out. He should probably get back to walking, while he can at least, because he knew that as soon as his female comrade got a hold of him that it would be the last time he could walk.
Maybe he should try to find one of the other teams first, maybe he can come up with a story of how he disappeared in the mean time, and they could back him up. He stood up, only to pause once again.
How did he get there anyway?
The last thing Katsuo could recall was following Osamu when he heard a rustle in the trees. He wanted to see who, or what it was, but decided against it. Instead he resorted to his love, a pack of cigarettes. Katsuo struck a match against the bottom of his shoe and put the flame against the white paper. He inhaled and blew a puff of smoke out.
“You shouldn’t smoke—“Osamu began while pushing up his glasses with his free hand.
“Yea, yea, whatever,” Katsuo rolled his eyes, “Leave the nagging to Daikirai will ya.”
“She’s only watching out for your well being. You should be thankful for that.”
He snorted, “You believe that? She’s only in it for herself.” The blond haired boy blew smoke into his comrade’s face. Osamu was unphased by such a normal reaction from Katsuo. He wiped his glasses off with his sleeve. Osamu went back to walking along the trail without making a comeback. Katsuo smirked at his “victory” over the super genius, which was a rare moment for him. So he stood there and took another puff. The smoke wisped upwards and then vanished, blending with the air.
Then the world went black.
He awoke with a sharp pain in his neck. Katsuo assumed he had been knocked out when he had his back turned.
But by who?
He shrugged. That was then this is now. And his current concern was to get the heck out of this place, and hopefully in one piece.
“Back to the road again,” he sighed and dug his hands in his pockets.
XIX
‘It couldn’t possibly be,’ she shook her head as the thought ran through her mind. ‘No, he’s dead. He’s been dead for years. No, it’s not him,’ she yelled to herself mentally.
Kuroneko stared at her friend, “Daikirai…do you know this person?”
She didn’t answer. She was afraid too.
“Of course she does. Don’t you remember me, Naibun?”
“Naibun?” Misora stared confused, “But that’s Daikirai.”
Daikirai froze….so it was him. She could feel something constrict around her neck. Her pupils shrank.
“What’s going on?” She whispered to herself. She put a hand around her neck and felt nothing there but the cloth that covered her neck and part of her face.
“What? You didn’t tell them where you really came from? You did tell them what you did to your village?” Daikirai could feel something crushing her throat as he spoke.
“Shut…up!” she yelled in a raspy voice. He smirked. This was working just as he planned. So even after all these years she never figured it out.
…
She was as good as dead now.
“I’ll tell you what I’ll do Naibun…I’ll kill your pathetic little friends first. I’ll make you watch them die… Then I’ll kill you.” He drew his sword. Only to have a kunai hit his hand and stab him. He released his sword.
“Don’t you think it’s a tad rude to interrupt a kidnapping?” The silver head man growled, drawing another kunai. “You’re not killing anyone in till I get the one I want.”
“And if I do?” He gave another lop sided grin.
“Then I’ll kill you.”
He held his bleeding hand and smiled, “Isn’t that going to be a harder without your little monster, Kentanka?”
The silver haired man smiled back, “I don’t come unprepared.” He raised his hand and red eyes peered from the shadows waiting for their master’s next command. “I never liked Kentanka anyway; he didn’t have enough blood lust.” He snapped and creatures from myths and nightmares came out of hiding and began to kill whatever was in sight. Hiroshi and Ryuu threw there kunais in unison at one of the creatures. It howled and reared its ugly head back. Blood trickled down its back and it dug its claws into the dirt. It wailed again before taking off once more.
“They’re unstoppable aren’t they,” Ryuu asked himself more than Hirsohi.
“I fear that they might be,” Hirsohi responded anyway out of sheer disbelief.
Misora began doing hand signs, muttering the sequence to herself as she did.
“Tornado of Darkness!” She roared above the wind she had generated. The shadows around them had twisted into a funnel. Distance was created between the animals and the teams, just enough to make a difference. Misora was an elemental, one that could control darkness like Aki could the sand. Her power was very useful when she could manage to control it long enough to make an attack with it.
The creatures shrieked calls to one another before staring in a run again.
“Blades of Sand,” Aki held her hand out and sand flew at monsters, injuring the front line of the attack.
“We are outnumbered!” Kichirou yelled. As if the others didn’t realize this. They were quite aware, but the cold hard truth just hadn’t really sunk in yet.
A small oval container landed in front of Hiroshi, who just stared at it while trying to determine what it is.
Daikirai paused…those markings…, “Get away from it!” She yelled and grabbed it up and threw it at her former opponent. His eyes grew wide. “Close your eyes! Now!”
Aki, Misora, and Kuroneko shook there heads, “Bossy, bossy, bossy,” they chuckled and placed there hands over there eyes. They heard a loud explosion, then another one, shortly following that. The light from it shone through there hands, causing their hands to light up in a red glow. A wave of heat passed through and hit there bodies.
“Light grenade?” Katsurou asked.
Daikirai nodded, “A horribly made one, yes. It had a little too much magnesium.”
“Ah, that would explain the loud explosion.”
Aki, Misora, and Kuroneko stared confused. How did a battle scene become chemistry class?
“What’s wrong with those creatures?” Ryuu started to move forward to the animals that gazed at him, standing perfectly still. He took haphazard steps towards them, and they still made no attempt to attack.
“I say since the pupils are directly connected to the brain that the light grenade must have fried there senses. They are probably unsure of what to do now.”
“This is not anatomy class and it’s not chemistry either!” Kuroneko yelled at Daikirai for bring up science again in a tense moment.
“Hey! This is one of the few moments that I can say something smart before Osamu says it first…” Daikirai paused recalling something that she had long forgotten, “Osamu! He must still be up in that tree!”
“Nice one Dai. Forget all about your team mate,” Misora clapped, “Bravo…bravo.”
XIX
He watched as the girl with the masked jumped up into a tree with a panicked look on her face. One of her friends pointed to a boy that had been injured by one of his monsters. Another girl ran to his side and began the process of healing him. Another boy, perhaps the girl’s boyfriend, watched in envy as she paid attention to the injured boy, above him.
Souzousha frowned.
How could he have been so stupid? To hunt prey you must understand the tactics of a true hunter from the animal kingdom. If the prey has a strong pack, then there is only one solution to get that prey. He slinked away, through the woods, with a new plan and a new creature developing in his mind. He knew what he had to do.
…
To single out the prey from the pack.
XIX
She waved a hand in front of his face.
“Hey, Osamu, are you alright?”
He grunted, rising from the branch and onto his feet. “How long have I been out?”
Dakirai shrugged. He looked down at the ground below him. …Which was several feet down. His stomach churned. He didn’t like heights…not at all. He looked past the distance though and noticed a figure waving at them from below. Daikirai growled.
“Well look who decided to drag his lazy, good-for-nothing-butt back!”
“Nice to see you to, Dai!” He grinned and flicked his cigarette free of ashes.
“I hope you choke on that thing!”
“Good health to you too!”
“You wait in till I get down there! I’ll break both of your legs and shove them up you’re a—“
“You just want a reason to touch my butt!” Katsuo must have had a comeback for every insult she could spit out. Or perhaps he had already planned how this encounter would go. He waited for her at the base of the tree as she jumped down and Osamu slowly leaped to limb to limb and refrained from looking below.
Misora stood there waiting to see what kind of illegal torture that Daikirai would inflict on her moronic team mate. But before she could witness the fight she was grabbed from behind and jerked around.
“Are you alright? You didn’t get hurt did you?” Ryuu inspected her, up and down, looking for any noticeable wounds. Misora could feel her heart slow down after seeing it was just Ryuu. Then she began recovering from the heart attack she almost got, thanks to the sudden surprise.
She shook her head, “No, I’m good.” Ryuu glanced at her again, as if she had lied him.
“Hey,” Misora tilted her head and squinted her eyes, “Why are your cheeks pink?”
His eyes widened and he quickly let go of her, “No reason. None at all!” He began to walk off when he heard Misora call to him again, he turned around,
“Do you have a fever or something?” She held her hand up to his head. He could feel his cheeks getting even warmer.
“I gotta go!” Ryuu span around and took off power-walking.
Katsurou smiled, “Can you feel the love tonight? That is where we are,” he belted out the lyrics as Ryuu past him. His song was cut short by a kunai narrowly missing his throat. “I’m just trying to get you all in the mood.”
Ryuu glared, “Go crawl in a hole and die.”
“Fine, I’ve that song doesn’t meet your standers then how about this? Do a little dance, make a little love—“
Another kunai hit him and Ryuu glared, daring him to even hum.
Katsurou went silent for a second as he watched Ryuu walk away. He could feel another song coming on.
“Ryuu’s got a kunai, na, na, na, na.”
XIX
“What do you mean the mission was unsuccessful!?!” A man yelled at his personal, “You couldn’t even kidnap one girl?!” He glared. A spark had seemed to ignite behind his golden eyes, giving a new fierceness to them.
“You have to understand, Lord. I didn’t realize that she would have her little “friends” with her.” He responded in a monotone voice, carefully trying not to anger his Lord anymore than he already was.
“You should have taken that into account when Lord Oorochimaru sent you on that mission,” A silvered haired man, Kabuto, said smugly as he cleaned his glasses with his purple shirt.
Souzousha let out a slight growl. Apparently the world was out to prove him wrong. He paused, and relized something.
“I failed you Lord, I do understand this,” he tilted his head down, mocking shame, “But I do have a fool proof plan—“
“Really? You said that the first time,” Kabuto said sharply. He was not to found in the idea that someone else may be able to please his master.
“I was blind in realizing who I was dealing with. But now, everything is perfectly clear.”
Oorochimaru settled back down in his seat as he smiled. “Very well then. Remember, you can’t hurt that other girl either. I would hate to let down my end of the deal.”
Kabuto stared confused. What agreement? With who? Souzousha nodded with full understanding.
“Of course my Lord. A deal is a deal.”
XIX
|
