Standing in the middle of the village I look around at the dead villagers sounding me. My gaze still glazed over from the kill. All the blood making me thirst for more. Finally, I grab my blood coated twin swords from the body nearest me and sheath them after licking them clean. "Such a pretty color," I say dipping my left hand in one of the nearest puddles of blood. The blood lust taking full control of me. I glance down staring at all the red, red blood. Quickly I snap my gaze towards one of the housing units where movement caught my eye. Quietly I flash over there and see my little brother, Hatori, terrified and clutching to our parents dead bodies. Forgetting the blood lust all together I fall to my knees in front of him and say, "Hatori, come here, please." He crawls to me, shaking and buries his head in my chest, crying. I just hold him tightly, whispering soothing/calming words in his ear…
"Wake up sis! You promised we'd train together today!" Hatori, my little brother, yells while jumping on my bed, waking me from the nightmare I was just having.
"I'm up! I'm up!" I say pushing him off my bed. "Go make sure to feed Chazo and get yourself something to eat. I'm going to get up and get ready, taking my time."
"As long as it means we can go train," he says turning to walk down the stairs. "Do you want anything while I'm at it?"
"Would you mind making me some oatmeal?" I ask as my smoky gray eyes go wide.
Chuckling at my reaction he says, "Let me guess, blueberries, peaches, and apples this time?"
"And a little bit of brown sugar just like you did it last time," I say, my mouth watering just from thinking about it.
"Of course sis, anything for you," he says heading down the stairs as I walk into the bathroom.
I take a quick shower just so I can wake up and process the dream I had. It had been so vivid, almost as if it was a memory, but I know it isn't because our clan and parents were killed by the Akatsuki, not by me being controlled by a blood lust. However I start to get a feeling of unease when I replay the dream in my head, but I quickly forget it when I step out of the bathroom and smell food choking.
"Hurry up sis! Or Chazo is going to get your oatmeal!" I hear Hatori yell up the stairs while trying to stifle a laugh.
I run the rest of the way into my room and before closing the door I yell, "You wouldn't dare!" I quickly change into a pair of black pants and undershirt that are made out of a material that allows me to move without any restriction. Yet looks like leather. Then I put on a plain green vest that looks like the standard vest most of Konoha's senseis wear. I also put on my necklace that has my clan's symbol on it and quickly tuck it under my shirt. To finish off I pull my mask up over my mouth, put my Kiri head band on around my arm, brush out my long snow blonde hair, deciding to leave it down, and put my Anbu mask in the hidden inside pocket of my vest. Leaving my weapons for last, I run down stairs to eat my breakfast.
"There you are," Hatori says placing a bowl of oatmeal on the table in my spot, "I was just getting ready to go get you."
"Oatmeal!" I say plopping down in the chair and stuffing my mouth full.
"Slow down or you're going to choke," he says as Chazo, his pet tiger, walks into the kitchen/dining room. "Hi girl, are you thirsty? Here let me get some milk for you. Sit! Slow down!"
I look at him sheepishly as he walks over. He takes one look at the bowl and shakes his head. I just look at him with innocent eyes and say, "What, I was hungry and it was excellent."
"Well I'm glad you liked it, are you always do," he says mumbling the last part, while taking the bowl and placing it in the sink.
I hear a scratching at the door and smile, nodding at Hatori to open the door. "Hi girl," I say as my pet panther walks in happily. She walks over to me and purrs as I start to pet her, while talking with her telepathically.
How was patrolling? No trouble I hope.
No one saw me, as always.
Good, so is all ready for tonight?
Yes, they are expecting you.
Good, Chazo is starting to worry. She knows were up to something, and is concerned about Hatori's safety, as am I…
You have nothing to worry about. Hatori will be fine. I will talk to Chazo while you two go train.
I hope your right.
"You ready Hatori?" I say as he sets down two bowls of mild for Chazo and my girl.
"I am, but aren't you forgetting something?" he says as he slips his shoes on.
"Am I?" I say noticing I have forgot to put my weapons on. "I'll be right back!" running up the stairs and into my room I quickly place my twin swords on my back and my kuni pouch on my leg, while slipping a dagger into each of my boots. I run back down the stairs and say, "Now I'm ready!"
Hatori just chuckles walking out the door while saying, "Well come on then."
"Good-bye you two, behave," I say to the two felines while following my brother out the door.
I take the lead and head towards my favorite training spot. It is deep in the heart of the woods. So we have to walk some ways to get there. Hatori, getting impatient, says, "How much longer are we going to have to walk?"
"Calm down we'll be there soon. Trust me, it's worth the walk." I say as we walk into the clearing. Looking over to Hatori I smile as he gawks, looking around as he takes it all in. it's a hidden meadow that is surrounded by willow trees naturally formed in a perfect circle. It used to be someone else's training ground before it became mine because when I stumbled upon it, it already had all the necessary materials for training.
"Wow sis, when did you find this place?"
"Shortly after we moved here," I say walking into the clearing. "There's a lagoon nearby that is nice to swim in on hot days as well."
"This is… wow, it's just so, amazing!"
"I know, and it's secluded so, it's one of the best places for me to train. Are you ready? Or do you want to continue gawking?"
"You should know the answer. I've been looking forward to this all week! It's not often I get to train with you!" he says getting existed again.
He's right though, I don't let him see me train most of the time. I don't like people knowing my fighting style, or my clan's special justsus. I taught one to Hatori but he's not allowed to use it when there's a large crowed around, and it wasn't my choice it was my girl's. See one thing you should know is that, even though I'm Hatori's sister I'm not of his blood line. My entire clan was killed when I was merely a toddler.
Everyone thought we were all dead, or that was until Hatori's mother happened to stumble upon me. I was covered in blood and clutching my parent's hands, begging them to wake up. Kimiko, Hatori's mother, crouched down next to me and said, "What's your name little one" in a soothing voice. She was a medic-nin and she looked and sounded so motherly that I replied by saying, "My names Chris… Christina. Christina Hamegometa. Pl… please, help my parents." However, instead of trying to help my parents she tried to pull me closer to her, but my panther cub blocked her by standing in between us. Kimiko didn't know who to react so she said to me, "Christina, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help you." "My parents! Help my parents!" I yelled starting to cry again. Worried my cup padded over to me talking to me telepathically.
Are you okay? I'm worried. Mom and dad… they aren't coming back. Chris you need to go with this woman, she can help you. I know you don't understand, but you have to trust me. I won't let anyone hurt you, I promise…
"No!" I started yelling both telepathically and physically. "They're just sleeping! They will wake up! They promised they wouldn't leave me! They promised!"
"They promised," I yell as Hatori runs to me and slips his arms around me, pulling me into a hug.
"Sis, calm down, it's just a memory, your fine. There's no danger, just open your eyes," he says in a soothing voice just like his mothers.
Finally I come back to the present. Looking down at him I smile and say, "Thank you Hatori, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to slip into the past. It just kind of happened."
"It's okay; I should be used to it. You used to do this all the time when we were kids," he says pulling away. "You just have to remember that, that was the past and this is the present."
I smile as he spreads his arms wide and spins in the middle of the meadow. Shaking my head as he falls laughing I say, "Your right, so, focusing on the now and not the then, are you ready to train?"
"Of course!" he says standing up a little too quickly then falling back down.
"Well come on then," I say taking up my fighting stance. He gets back up and follows suit. As we fall into training.
"Alright, I'm done, I have nothing left, and I'm exhausted," Hatori says sitting heavily on a log.
"You can't be tired now. I'm just finally warmed up," I say with a playful smile on my face.
"How can you still have so much energy? We've been training for five hours now!" he says in between gasps of air.
"You really have to ask that?" I say raising an eyebrow at him. "Come on, I train all day or night most of the time unless I have a mission to do. Plus how do you think I got to the position I have now? From my looks?"
"So you have a point there. I just don't understand how you have so much stamina, and your chakra! It makes no since to me. I wish we knew more about your clan."
"So do I, but there are no records left of the Hamegometa clan. Therefore I may never find out," I say staring off into the distance. "Come on, let's go cool off. Then, we'll go get some dango."
"Okay!" he yells jumping right up, forgetting about his exhaustion.
I lead him from my training ground to the nearby lagoon and smile as once again his eyes go wide. The lagoon its self is a clear blue green, and you can see all the way to the bottom of it. The beach surrounding it is a sandy white like that of a beach on the ocean. Also, like the training ground, there are willow trees surrounding it but only three-fourths of the way. On the other side there is a large rust colored rock that stands at a towering height. However it isn't high enough to be considered a mountain.
"Earth to Hatori," I say waving my hand in front of his face. "You're gawking again."
His eyes instantly snap up to look at my waving hand, as he says, "What? It's amazing!"
"More like breathtaking, if you ask me," a strange male's voice says from behind us.
Instantly I spin around, to see who was there, while slipping a kuni into my hand. He is standing about six feet away from me, and looks to be at least five foot five. The Akatsuki cloak he is wearing instantly makes me wary. He has blonde hair, which is pulled up into a pony-tail, and a greenish-blue eye. The other eye, he has hidden, is mechanical which I'm sure he uses for his special justsu. I make my mind reach out to read his aura and find his weaknesses. Upon finding what I am looking for I say, "Why are you here Deidara? Why have you been following us? It's not part of your mission, and we're just a couple of ordinary ninjas from Konoha. We don't even have anything of value with us."
"You know my name; however I don't seem to recall ever meeting you. I would remember if I had though, because of your soft snow blonde hair and piercing gray eyes. Your quite beautiful, and I wouldn't have forgotten you," he says trying to hide the fact that he's surprised by what I said (since I kind of took the information from his mind). "So can you tell me how it is you know my name but I don't seem to recall yours? You're obviously not from Konoha, because your head band says you're from Kiri. Which is strange because his says otherwise."
"I'll answer your question if you answer mine first," I say stepping forward, so that Hatori is directly behind me, and making it look as if I've relaxed and dropped my guard.
Hatori, knowing when to keep quiet, quickly sends his question to me telepathically,
Who is this guy, and how do you know him?
I'll tell you when ye get home, but for now I need you to be quiet and try not to get too noticed. I'll tell you if you need to do anything, but for right now stay still and let me deal with this,
I say as I focus my attention back on Deidara.
Deidara seems to be pondering the proposal and finally he says, "Fin, what was your question?"
"What are you doing here, and why have you been following us?" I say repeating my question.
He smiles flashing pearly white teeth that light up his face while making him look more attractive, and says, "Oh erm… right, well as you said earlier, it's not part of my mission. I happened to stumble upon you two training and couldn't resist the opportunity to at least learn your name. so I decided to follow you waiting for the right moment to make myself known."
"Like I'm supposed to believe that, especially coming from an S-rank missing-nin," I say folding my arms across my chest.
He narrows his blue-green eyes for a split second before saying, "Well it's the answer you got so now it's your problem. Now time for my question. How so you know my name?"
"Well that's an easy one; however I'm afraid that you will not get the true answer. For if I were to tell you then I'd have to kill you. So I shall say that it was the hair that gave it away," I say speaking the truth but knowing he would think I am trying to be funny.
As if on cue he starts laughing and says, "Right, as if you a, let's see, chunin, could kill me an S-ranked criminal. I'd love to see you try."
"Oh believe me, I'd love to, but I'm not really for senseless killing. Plus I'd like to get my brother home without having to shed any blood," I say gesturing towards Hatori while telling him that it was okay to move, telepathically.
"Ah yes that brings me to my second question. What village are you from?" Deidara asks paying no heed to Hatori, as I planned.
"Now don't you think that's a little personal? None of my questions were that personal," I say wanting to end this conversation before I did something I would regret later.
"You're probably right but it's a question so yo…" Deidara starts to say.
"No, I'm not answering it and that's that," I say, cutting him off, while turning to Hatori. "Come on, we're leaving, now."
"Hey wait! You can't leave now! You didn't answer my question!" Deidara yells grabbing my arm as I start to walk away.
I turn to him with soft, gentle eyes and say, "It would be wise to release your grip on my now," in a cold, deadly, emotionless tone, as I let my chakra seep out of my body almost becoming visible to the naked eye. He instantly drops his hand from my wrist and back up a few steps. I repress a sigh (I mean he was supposed to be an S-ranked criminal after all) and say, "Fine, one more question and nothing personal or I'll walk off without answering and your pony-tail in hand."
He nods and says, "What's your name? It's only fair since you know mine," explaining quickly before I could judge it as being personal or not.
"Fine," I say sighing. "My name is Christina. Now come on Hato were leaving." I say using a fake name for Hatori so he knows that not only do I not trust this man but also that I am talking to him.
He nods his head and takes the lead knowing that I want to be in between the two of them. As we reach the edge of the forest I say, "You still want to get some dango?"
Hatori's eyes light up and he jumps up and down saying, "Yes!"
Smiling I say, "Well come on then, we don't have all day and I'm sure we're being waited on patiently at home. Plus I have business to attend to tonight," whispering the last part just in case Deidara decided to follow us again. Hatori just nods in agreement and takes the lead once again, leading us to his favorite dango shop.
As we walk in he asks, "Can we stay, please?"
I laugh and say, "alright, but we can't stay too long."
"Okay," he says sitting down and ordering the large assortment. While I just order a cup of tea and say that I'm going to eat off of his plate. When our order finally gets here he instantly starts scoffing it down. Whereas I eat one or two then I'm done. I'm not a big fan of the sticky, sweet treat although I'll eat it every once in a while.
As the cook comes back and asks if we want anything else I say, "Thank you, but we're done," before Hatori could order more.
"Why'd you do that?" he asks as the cook walks away to serve another costumer.
"Because," I say standing up, "you've already had ten large plates and if you eat anymore you're going to get sick."
He smiles sheepishly and says, "I can't help it. This is my favorite sweet and I have yet to be able to make it properly. Since someone refuses to go near the kitchen, unless it's to do the dishes, even if it is for her little brother."
"You know I have my reasons, and I make it for your birthday," I say as I pay the bill and thank the cook (mainly for putting up with my brother's appetite).
"Can we at least get some to go, please?" he says using his puppy dong face.
"Fin…" I start to say as I see a couple of guys with the Akatsuki cloak on walk in. one of them has saggy red hair and a young look to his face even though his red eyes say that he is older than you think he is. The other one has saggy dark brown hair and is wearing an orange-brown and black swirled mask so that the only part of his face that you can see is one of his black eyes. Although I instantly know that the red head is Sasori and the one with the mask is Tobi. I quickly say, "No, we're leaving, now." Hatori starts to protest but I grab his arm and tell him, "We're leaving now and that's final," before adding,
I'll tell you later,
telepathically.
He stops trying to protest and follows me as I take and in direct route home, but only stays quiet during the time it takes us to get home. As soon as we are in the house with the door locked and blinds closed he says, "What was that all about sis?"
"Don't worry about it Hatori, it was just getting late and I have to leave soon," I say really not wanting to tell him unless I have to.
"Is it a work business or are you just not wanting to tell me?" he asks crossing him arms over his chest.
"Fine if you must know, I'll tell you," I say sitting down in my chair as my girl and Chazo pad over to us. "Do you remember that guy we meet at the lagoon, Deidara? Well he is with the Akatsuki, as are the two guys who walked into the Dango shop right before we left."
I watch as his face twists into a scowl and he says. "You mean they were part of the group that murdered our family, our clans!?"
"Yes," I say looking down as a strange feeling of shame and guilt suddenly fills me. "I'm sorry Hatori, but you have to promise me that you won't get stupid with revenge and go after them. I've already lost so many people because of them; I don't need to lose you too. I've already promised to revenge them and you know that. That's why I train so much, but I'm not ready yet. Not to take them all on at least, and not with you there to see. So please, promise me you won't go after them."
"How can you ask me that!?" he all but yells at me. "They murdered our family, in cold blood! You many not care since they weren't your real parents, but I so! I'm not going to stand down and watch while they go parading thought town!"
"I expect you to respect the fact that I swore I would give my life for revenge and not make me have to deal with losing my last reason for living!" I counter back becoming furious with him for questioning me. "You, of all people, should know. I had not only my clan killed while I was left alive, but yours as well! Your parents were just as much mine; I loved them as if they were my birth parents. Just as I love you as if you were my own blood! You have become my light. My only reason for living, and I can't. No, I won't lose you." I say as my voice becomes merely a whisper.
I watch as his face turns from the scowl into a gentler, more concerned look. His warm brown eyes soften as he realizes what I just confessed. Quickly he crosses the room and gently, almost as if he's afraid I'll brake if he does something wrong, he pulls me into a jug. I burry my face into his toned chest and let the tears flow, not caring if anyone were to walk in. he starts to speak softly saying, "I'm sorry Chris, I let my own anger get the best of me. I didn't stop to think about you, what you'd been through. I'm so sorry."
I finally calm down enough to mumble, "It's okay, and it's my fault really. I shouldn't have tried to keep it from you. I just didn't want you to try and do something stupid," into his chest.
I pull back and see him take in my weekend state and smile as he says, "You look pretty bad sis. Don't you have a mission starting soon?"
I playfully hit his arm while saying, "That's not a nice thing to say to a lady."
"Well it's a good thing you not a lady then," he says with a playful smile on his face.
"I hope you know, that you'll pay for that later, but I have to go right now," I say standing. "Don't stay up too late little brother. I'll be back by morning, I promise."
"Be careful sis, I'll see you in the morning, I love you," he says standing up and hugging me.
"I love you too," I say hugging him back. I look at Chazo and say,
Take care of him for me please. I'll try to be back as soon as possible.
I will, take care of yourself and don't worry about him. Just make sure you come home.
I'll try my hardest. Thank you Chazo, you've been a great friend for him and I hope you too live long lives, because mine and Blize's are almost out lived.
Goodbye, Christina Hamegometa, last survivor of the Hamegometa Clan. May your blood line start again with you and may you return to us once again safely.
Blize pads over me as I finish my conversation with Chazo. She looks up at me with knowing eyes as I hug Chazo saying good-bye, and we walk out the door into the night.
Blize and I stop just before we hit the clearing and start talking telepathically;
Chris, I believe this is a trap. Maybe we should go around them.
And risk losing an hour, I don't think so. If they want to fight, then we'll fight.
But do you think we're ready? Because you told Hatori you weren't.
I wasn't, I didn't have you with me. You're my other half and without you I'm not complete. I'd only be at half my strength.
So in other words, you just didn't want Hatori to see you kill.
Yes, your right, but now is not the time to be discussing this. Are we going to fight or not, the final call is yours, as always.
Let's do it, it's been to long since I've last had a decent battle.
"That's what I like to hear," I whispered aloud as I make sure my Anbu mask is secured and pull out my twin swords. Blize nods in agreement, and we flash into the clearing, standing back to back.
Sure enough the group of Akatsuki members that were waiting for me appeared, circling us. I stay silent as I take the time to name each member that is here. There are only five of them; obviously they don't know who they're dealing with. There's the silver haired Jashinist, Hidan, and his partner, the money loving, Kakuzu. The long, blonde haired Deidara, whom I encountered earlier, and the fish looking Kisame. Last but not least is Kisame's partner the infamous Itachi Uchiha, and one of my child hood friends. Knowing this could be my only chance for a while I take the time to assess how he's doing since the last time I saw him.