Reina sighed as she combed out her long orange hair. Her eye locked with her refection in the mirror, looking over the horrid scars that covered the right side of her far and the one scar that blinded her right eye. She shook her head as she punched her mirror, quickly healiing the cuts she got on her knuckles.
"Reina!" A familiar female voice called.
"I hate her." Reina growled.
"Reina!" The voice called again, this time closer.
"Go away!" Reina hollered back, flipping her hair down over her right eye and moving away from her broken mirror.
"Oh Reina!" The voice called again, this time a knock to the door followed.
Reina sighed deeply as she walked over and flipped several locks to her bedroom door before opening it to see her young niece, Kimichi - the niece she hated for several reasons. She was much more beautiful than herself, stronger with their Midori, and even her healing abilites were better, and she was the youngest Fernu alive! The only thing that put Reina above Kimichi was that she had the Rinnegan, unlike Kimichi. But the main reason, is the detruction Kimichi caused to the Fernu family twelve years pior.
"Really? That many locks in your own home... and bedroom?" Kimichi asked with an eyebrow raised and a rose twirling between her fingertips.
"Yes!" Reina snarled. "In this place I have to! We have far too many Fernu's living here, along with that clown, Yua!"
"Yua is not a clown." Kimichi shook her head. "She just has a fun... jester-like style that you yourself are probably jealous of."
"Am not!" Reina shot back.
Kimichi frowned at Reina's sudden anger and a rose petal fell to the floor. "I didn't come here to be yelled at..."
"Then what the hell do you want?" Reina sighed.
"I am bored." Kimichi replied.
"So? Go bug your brother, Christma!" Reina sighed.
"I do not want to. I actually feel like causing problems for another village." The younger admitted.
Reina's shoulders relaxed as she raised an eyebrow. "Guess I can't completely hate you..."
Kimichi frowned. "You shouldn't anyway..."
Reina rolled her eyes. "Just come in."
"No need. I already have a plan."
"Oh?" Reina seemed taken aback.
"Yes. I want to go to the Sand Village and kidnap a girl."
"A girl? Count me out." Reina shook her head.
"But she is a valuable piece to the Sand!" Kimichi gasped.
"Oh yeah? How?" Reina crossed her arms over her chest, trying to hold back a laugh.
Kimichi smirked. "This girl is intellegent in all the secrets of the village. Her father is the Kazekage's right hand man. By clan history and birth, she is more then ellegeable to be the next Kazekage."
"Really?" Reina was surprised by this information.
Kimichi nodded. "It'd be a dear loss to the village and an extreme gain for us Fernu's and our village!"
"I agree." Reina said, shocking herself . She sighed and thought for a moment. "There are many secrets to that village I have been wanting to get my vines on."
"So it is decided? We shall travel and kidnap this girl?" Kimichi brightened.
Reina nodded. "Yes. What is her name anyway?"
"Sakura Emi."
"Emi?" Reina laughed. "She sounds like... a gentle... weakling of a girl!"
"Mmm, not extactly... she isn't all that weak. She is eighteen and a strong wind jutsu user."
"That all? I can take wind easily!" Reina laughed.
Kimichi rolled her eyes but forced a smile. "Well, shall we go then?"
"Yes!" Reina smiled and ran out the door, Kimichi following close behind.
Emi sighed as she pulled her light blue hair up into a pony-tail, staring at her reflection in the mirror. "Been almost four months now..." She sighed and she flopped down onto her bed. She reached for the lightning pendent that hung constantly around her neck.
It seemed like a simple pendent - a clan's symbol to be more specific. But to her and him, it was more. The Inabikari clan was a clan revolved around lightning, hence the symbol. A boy by the name of Ryuu Inabikari whom was only three years older than herself, had spent fifteen years with her. She loved him and he loved her in return. He had given the pendent to her promising to marry her one day, but that dream was shattered by the Akatsuki.
They took a high intrest in his skills and forced him in three years prior. Emi had believed Ryuu to be dead and often grieved over it. However, four months ago, she had discovered that he had actually been alive. It was hard to let him leave, but he promised to still return for her.
Emi finally sat back up and stared at a kunai that sat on her nightstand for protection in the night. Her hand reached out and picked it up. She returned to the mirror and held it to her throat, frowning. "I-I promised... b-but... how long will he make me wait?" She sighed and placed it back down on the table. "Guess I should go and see my father - I'm sure he has work for me..."
"So! In a big ol' village like this, where would we find her?" Reina asked casually as she strolled along side her niece.
"Well, we can ask, or be stealthy about it." Kimichi replied.
"Well, what's quicker?" Reina asked.
"Asking the Kazekage."
"Then let's do that!" Reina smiled.
"Very well." Kimichi sighed.
As the two Fernu's closed in on the Kazekage's building, located in the centre of the village, Kimichi suddenly pulled Reina back.
"That's her." She told Reina, pointing toward a delicate looking girl entering the building.
"How do we kidnap her from in there?" Reina growled.
"Easily." Kimichi smiled. "Leave it to me. Stay here and try to look... casual."
"Can do!" Reina smiled.
Kimichi rolled her eyes as she left Reina's side to enter the building. Her neon green eyes searched the room, looking for any sign of Emi.
"Can I help you?" A gentle feminine voice asked from behind Kimichi.
Kimichi turned slowly to see that Emi, was the female. She smiled and nodded, pushing her violet hair from her eyes. "I'm not exactly from here." Kimichi began, her voice higher and more innocent than normal.
"Yes, I can tell." Emi smiled. "Do you need help finding someone or something?"
Kimichi nodded. "I have misplaced my cousin. She said she'd wait for me by the stands but, I cannot seem to find them." She blushes lightly.
Emi nodded with a gentle smile. "Please, allow me to help you. I know this village inside and out."
Kimichi jumped up and down while laughing. "Thank you so much!"
Emi nodded. "Follow me ah- sorry, your name?"
"Sarima. Sarima Linya." Kimichi smiled brightly.
Emi held out her hand. "My name is Emi Sakura, nice to meet you."
Kimichi took Emi's hand in her own. The one thing she loved about her clan, was that no one ever saw Fernu's and lived. So the vine and flower patterns that covered her body did not seem as suspisous as they actually were. The Fernu name was cursed to anyone not born to that clan or who did not live in the Fountain Village.
"Well, follow me." Emi smiled as she dropped Kimichi's hand and walked ahead.
As the two neared where Reina was hiding, Kimichi took a quick look around. Luckily, there was no imidiate people near them. She quickly lifted her hand and called out, "Midori!"
Before Emi could respond, several vines latched out from Kimichi's hands and trapped her. They binded her arms at her side and covered her mouth with another, smaller one. Kimichi pulled Emi back into the shadows and called for Reina.
"Reina!"
Reina spotted Kimichi moving into the shadows and ran over to her. "You got the girl! Nice job!" Reina grinned.
"No! Let me go!" Emi growled, however it was muffled by the vine.
"Shh, now. We are going to give you a much better life." Reina smirked.
"Yes, because torture will be so much fun for her." Kimichi rolled her eyes.
Emi shook her head. She couldn't believe what was happening to her.
"The good thing is, no one will think to look for you in the Fountain Village." Reina smiled.
"Even if they did, they'd never find their way through, alive." Kimichi sighed.
Emi closed her eyes as she tried to think. She could tell right away that this girl was an enemy - it was once sense she had that was stronger than all her others. She could always sense a person's presence and be able to tell friend from foe. However, even after knowing the girl to be an enemy, she made the mistake of following her trick. She did not think she would have been caught so easily right in the middle of the village, but she was proved wrong. A sudden surge of pain across her cheek seemed to make her snap out of her trance; her lightning pendent breaking off from her neck and falling to the sand.
"I said I'm talking to you, brat!" Reina growled after pulling her hand back.
"Violence this soon? I mean honestly, Reina." Kimichi shook her head.
"What? Torture is what I'm good at."
"Let's just head back home."
"No! No!" Emi shook her head trying her hardest to squirm free of the vines.
"Kasui." Kimichi murmured.
Emi screamed out as spikes grew from the vines binding her and dug deeply into her flesh, Fernu poison entering her blood stream.
"Now, we can go." Kimichi sighed.
Emi closed her eyes and tried to bare the pain as she was dragged along by the two Fernu's.
"There is no point in leaving just yet, Ryuu." Kasumi said as she lounged on the couch in his room.
"Yeah, is there?" Ryuu asked, partly ignoring his partner.
"No, there isn't. Just give it a few more weeks." Kasumi said. "Then you'll be good to go."
"Sorry, but I'm leaving today. No one said you had to come." Ryuu sighed with irritation.
"I'm just looking out for you. You don't hav to listen to me." Kasumi shrugged before standing up. "But whatever you do, do not disobey the Leader."
"Yeah, whatever." Ryuu muttered under his breath.
After Kasumi had left to return to her own room, Ryuu finished gathering all his stuff and quickly left his room. Without any word, he left the lair and headed for the sand village. When he arrived to the sand village, he headed for Emi's house and knocked on their door.
"They're not home." A voice called from behind Ryuu.
Ryuu paused from knocking and turned around to face a purple haired male. "And you are?"
"You don't remember me?" The male frowned. "I'm Ryo. We weren't overly close though."
"Yeah...I don't really remember you. Where are the Sakura's?" Ryuu asked.
Ryo frowned again. "Emi was captured and her parents are out looking for her." He explained with a sigh.
Ryuu nodded before moving past Ryo and heading towards the Kazekage's building.
"Where are you going?" Ryo asked, pulling himself from the wall he had been leaning against.
"To find out whose doing their job around here to find her." Ryuu replied.
Ryo shook his head. "If you're looking to go and find her yourself, I know who took her." Ryo sighed again.
"Skip to the punchline already and quite playing head games." Ryuu said with aggitation in his voice.
"Ever heard of the Fernu clan, buried deep within the Fountain Village?" Ryo asked.
"Those losers?" Ryuu growled.
Ryo nodded. "You'll have to find someone who knows that village in order to find her..."
"Have an idea's?" Ryuu asked.
Ryo nodded. "Me."
"As if. Forget it." Ryuu said flat out.
"Do you not believe me? I have a best friend in that village." Ryo explained.
"Whatever. No head games." Ryuu said and shook his head in anger before heading to leave the village.
Ryo shook his head and chased after Ryuu. "You're the lightning guy, right? The one she was in love with?" Ryo went into his pocket and pulled out a lightning pendent. "This was her's, she dropped it in the struggle. I don't know Emi all that well, but she is valuable to the village. I will help you."
"All I need is for you to take me to the village. I will do the rest." Ryuu stated before grabbing the pendant and stuffing it deep into his pocket.
Ryo nodded. "I can do that easily."
"Good." Ryuu replied. "Now take care fo those guards for me."
Ryo nodded. He approtched the guards with a concerned look. "I think I spotted a Fernu over there!" He told them, pointing in the opposite direction of the gate. The guards nodded and ran off. Ryo faced Ryuu with a grin. "Let's go!"
"You'll pay for that later.." Ryuu muttered under his breathe before quickly exitting the gate.
Reina smiled as she threw Emi to the floor in front of Kureji and Yua, her body still tied up in vines. Kimichi rolled her eyes as she sat down on the couch.
"Look what we brought!" Reina grinned.
"Are you implying anything?" Kureji asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No, she isn't." Kimichi answered from the couch. "This girl is valuable to us now."
"Then you can have her! I didn't want her..." Kureji leaned back into the back of the couch and stretched his arms out.
"See, he loves me." Yua smirked.
Reina rolled her eyes. "I wasn't saying you should screw this girl. We are saying she knows all the secrets of the sand! Don't you remember how many of those secrets we've been trying to get!"
"So you're messing with the sand again?" Yua asked plainly.
Reina nodded. "They are just so easy!"
"They won't be when they overload our village." Kureji stated.
"They have to find it first." Reina hissed.
Emi coughed up blood as she attemped to sit up. "Wh-why the hell did you take me!"
"Valuable! God! Does no one listen to me!" Reina groaned.
Kureji leaned down to eye level with the girl placed in front of him. He took her chin in his fore finger and thumb and forced her to look at him. "Don't worry, you'll be safe here." He smirked.
Emi pulled her face away and growled. "How will I be safe if you guys brought me here to begin with? And don't even try it! I'm already taken!"
Yua growled as she pulled her sword from its sheath and stuck it in the girls face. "Don't act too cocky, he's taken as well."
Emi let out a sigh of relief. "Good."
"By a clown of all people..." Reina rolled her eyes.
Yua turned to shove the sword in Reina's face. "One of these days, Reina..."
"Not while I'm alive." Kureji growled.
"No, I'll wait until you're killed off." Yua hissed.
Reina shook her head with disgust. "You'll never land a damn hit on me, clown!"
"That goes both ways." Yua murmured.
Reina moved her hand to push the sword away from her face. "It does not! I could kill you right now!"
"Try it." Yua smirked.
Kureji quickly grabbed Yua's wrist and slammed her down on the couch before moving to stand in front of Reina, all done in less than a second.
"You start, and I'll have to kill yah." Kureji muttered.
"Get a life idiots..." Kimichi sighed.
"Oh go die, Kimichi!" Reina hissed.
Emi rolled her eyes. "How did I get captured by such... idiots?"
"Welcome to the Fountain Village..." Yua said sacastically with a sarcatic laugh. "You'll love it."
"I hate it now." Emi shook her head.
"You and me both." Yua whispered to Emi.
Emi shot Yua a look of confusion. "Are you not related to them?" She whispered back.
Yua was taken back with complete disgust. "I thought the whole, "he's already taken" would've been enough of a clue."
Emi shrugged. "My mind is a bit disoriented. I have lost a lot of blood on the way here."
Yua looked up to Reina. "She's an idiot. Sorry about that."
Emi shook her head. "It wasn't her, it was the other one."
"I had to, she was gonna escape." Kimichi shrugged.
Yua slowly turned to look at Kimichi with her mouth wide open. "Ms. Innocence actually acted?"
Kimichi shrugged again. "I suppose I did."
Kureji let out a loud laugh before quickly covering his mouth. He quickly ran over to Kimichi and pulled her head in a head lock. "I knew you had it in you!" He said while rubbing his fist on the top of her head with a stupid grin on his face.
"Aw, Kureji! Cut it out!" Kimichi groaned, trying to escape his head lock.
"Kill me now." Emi sighed.
"Later! We need to get info from you first!" Reina smirked.
"I'm not telling you anything!"
"You can speak none at all for all the time you want, but try to escape and you'll be running around the streets for ages. You have to had memorize the entire blueprints of our village to know which direction to head. Even if you were to get to the gate the leads to the exit of this village, you still have to go through completely darkness and know which path to take, or where the walls are for that matter, and then! To makes matters more complicated, you have to find your way to the shifty button to switch the blueprints and then finally find the exit. Oh, and then you have to know how to get back to your-"
"I get it, I get it! No escaping." Emi sighed. "Can you guys at least let me out of these vines?"
"So you can attack us? Reina would be an idiot to let you go!" Yua laughed before turning to glare at the said woman.
Emi shook her head. "I can barely remain conscience right now, why would I attack?"
"She has a point." Kimichi murmured. "Maybe we should tend to her wounds a bit..."
"NEVER! We cannot do that! That will make us look like good people!" Reina gasped.
"But... we kinda are..." Kimichi sighed.
"Are not!" Reina growled.
"Mhmm. All we do is cause people pain, and they usually escape in the end." Kimichi stated.
"Whatever. If we want information, we need her health." Yua said before picking Emi up over her shoulder and carrying her out of the room to her and Kureji's shared room. She threw Emi down on the bed before slicing the vines with her sword. "Better?" She asked.
Emi nodded weakly as she closed her eyes. "Wh-where am I now..?" She slurred.
"Mine and Kureji's room. I'm going to tend to your wounds so you don't get infected by the stupid Fernu's poison." Yua replied. "After being poisoned by Reina the first two years of dating Kureji, and Kureji always having to reverse the poison, I've just come up with an antidote."
Emi nodded. "Th-thank you... you don't seem as bad as the others.."
"Tell Reina that. She hates my guts." Yua rolled her non-visible eyes.
Emi let out a deep breath as she opened her eyes again. "Wh-what will happen to me if I don't tell them anything...?"
"I doubt Kureji will allow anybody to kill you. But you will probably be severely tortured if you don't answer." Yua shrugged as she pulled her hat off to set on the bed and pulled her hair back into a bun.
Emi gulped as she closed her eyes again. She wished she had seen Ryuu one last time before being captured by the Fernu clan.
"First things first, I need you to drink this. Beware, though, it's the worst tasting stuff you'd ever drink."
Emi sat up weakly and took the drink from Yua. She set the drink to her lips and began hacking. "A-And you've taken th-this before?" Emi asked, still coughing from the tiny taste she had gotten.
"Just a few hundred times; and I am still not use to the taste."
A shiver travelled down Emi's spine as she drank what was left of the bitter liquid.
"Now that will take twenty to thirty minutes to work through your entire system, and you will feel sharp pains every once in a while. But after, you won't die from the poison!" Yua smiled. "And meanwhile, I need to bandage your wounds." She cracked her knuckles before setting out to bandage the wounds.
"Why are you bandaging the prisoner, Yua?" Kureji asked as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him.
"Because I know her pain. And if I hadn't given her my antidote she would have eventually died." Yua replied.
Kureji raised his eyebrows as he noticed Yua's hair in a bun. "Really?" he asked.
"Well, I thought it would be more inviting, and besides, I didn't want any blood in my hair." Yua shrugged before turning back to Emi.
"Reina will not be impressed."
"She doesn't need to know." Yua shrugged once again.
Emi had moved herself into a sitting position as she gripped her head as a sharp pain travelled through her body. Her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to bare it.
"She's probably going to pass out from the pain. You could of just came and got me to take the poison out." Kureji said.
"Yeah, no." Yua replied, shooting a look of anger at him.
"I did it for you..." Kureji growled.
"For me!" Yua gasped. "But I wouldn't want you to for her!"
"Jealous~!" Kureji laughed.
"And?" Yua hissed. "Besides, she doesn't want you touching her."
Emi had blocked out the conversation as she fell over onto her side, her conscience fading.
"Here." Kureji had retrieved a small face cloth and soaked it in freezing cold water before throwing it to Yua. Yua caught the cloth and pulled Emi's headband off before applying the wet cloth to top of Emi's face.
"Wh-why would you treat m-me nicely... i-if your the e-enemy?" Emi slurred.
"I already said, I know how it feels. Besides, we need the information you hold." Yua shrugged.
"We never wanted you to die, or be harmed." Kureji shrugged. "But that's what happens when you fight."
Emi sighed. She felt so weak that she could barely think straight. Of course they didn't care about her, it was just that they needed her alive to get the information she held. She sighe deeply as darkness took her.
"Great, she's out." Kureji stated.
"Good job for noticing! You get a golden star!" Yua clapped happily.
Kureji glared at Yua. "Shut up."
"This is rediculous." Ryuu said as he held Ryo's hand. "I knew I shouldn't have brought you."
"At least I know the way." Ryo sighed before smirking. "Guess this would be a bad time to tell you I'm gay."
Ryuu stopped dead in his tracks, causing Ryo to stop in his. "I will kill you if you think this means anything."
"I'm gay, not stupid. I know it doesn't." He laughed and resumed walking though the dark. "Calm down. I have a boyfriend."
"I feel...as if I'm taking it away from you." Ryuu stated before cautiously following Ryo once again. He's nearly tripped twice and he didn't want to look like a fool to completely fall.
Ryo sighed as he followed his memory. He actually hated travelling through the Fountain Village, even when he was going to see his friend, however he knew Emi's importance to the Sand Village and therefore refused to let enemies get information from her. Ryo made a U-turn before saying, "There are stairs now, watch your step."
Ryuu quickly made his way up the stairs, and when he spotted light he let go of Ryo's hand before running to the light. "This is completely unlike me." Ryuu stated like it was an epiphany.
Ryo shrugged. "That's alright. It's because of that girl, right?" He laguhed.
"That has nothing to do with it." Ryuu snapped.
"Then... the Fountin Village getting to you? Some people can't handle it." Ryo said and laughed again.
"What? No- Uh, what about these doors? Some hand seals right?" Ryuu asked. "Come on, hurry up."
Ryo rolled his eyes as he walked to the middle of the room and knelt down on one knee. He made several hand seals and murmured something before the large black doors creaked open. "You will be happy to know that there is light from here to the Fernu Mansion."
"Good." Ryuu stated plainly before walking through the doors into the bright sunshine. It was still cold but with Ryuu's Akatsuki cloak, it was tolerable. He walked forward until he came to a four way stop. He kept walking forward, turning to see if Ryo was following.
Ryo smiled. "Sure you haven't been here before?"
"Never in my entire life. I just see the mansion." Ryuu pointed ahead before turning right at the next conjunction.
Ryo nodded. "Keep going, I will correct you if you go the wrong way."
Ryuu ignored Ryo and kept heading in the direction he thought was pliable. On when he was about to make the wrong turn and Ryo said something, did Ryuu pay attention and turned down the street Ryo directed him down. It wasn't long until the reached the Fernu's front barred gate. On the other side of the gate, there was no snow; grass grew and plants ran up the sides of the mansion walls. Ryuu and yo made their way over the gate and run to the front door.
"No hands seals here?" Ryuu asked.
"It's just someones home. There are no tricks besides the Fernu's that live inside." Ryo replied.
"Yua, there are people outside the entrance." Kureji stated as he waited patiently against their dresser.
"For Emi?" Yua assumed.
Kureji nodded. "You know where to take her."
Yua nodded before pulling her hair from the bun and putting her hat back on. She picked Emi up carefully before moving out the door Kureji held open and quickly made her way to the door that led to the basement. She moved gracefully down the stares and moved to the door diagonally from where she stood. Once she had the door open she walked through and locked the door behind her before running down the hall and disappearing around the corner.