belonging.
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shout out! to:
turtlechick :D the amazingly awesome authorwho let me adopt belonging.
check her stories out.
snip snip (ediiiiit): i know how to capitalize, but i just don't like to but
non-caps hurts some peep's eyes yo.
i disclaim naruto.
&
i
'You feel that?' I ask, my voice hushed. The hair on my arms stand. A demon is nearby. Sakura nods mutely, having sensed it too and whispers back with a smile, 'You want this one?'
Does she even need to ask?
'You know it,' with that being said, I concentrate and take out my bow & arrow. Sakura moves up onto higher ground and waits. I close my eyes and listen. Listen to the earth's whispers, to the singing of the leaves and the roaring of the—
there.
I pull back the arrow, and let go. I don't have to open my eyes to know that i've hit it. Arrogantly cocky of me, most say, but I'm the best at what I do. I grew up doing this, grew up throwing, grew up pinpointing, grew up calculating.
When I open them, Sakura is back on ground, the demon dead at her feet. 'We're all done here, right?' Sakura knows that we are, but asks anyways, I guess, just to double check. Just to make sure.
'Yep, we're all done here. onto the next village in need.' I exclaim. Sakura rolls her eyes at my enthusiasm for demon hunting, for killing as I like to call it, because that's what it is really; just killing. Sakura hates it when I call it that because killing, to her, is a horrible word to describe what we do.
And what do we do exactly?
We (Sakura & me) travel all over in search of villages that need our help with their "pest problems". There are — were — more of us, demon hunters, that is. What happened to them, Sakura and I aren't exactly sure. But Sakura thinks, that they either a) ambushed and slaughtered by demons, b) decided to let the past be the past and live a normal life or c) turned into demons themselves. I've heard about people turning into demons before.
I've never seen it happen before (thankfully) but when I was younger, about four or so, I heard stories. Stories about how horrible it is, to be turned into one. Or to never have even been human.
And it's our sworn duty to prevent that from ever happening.
So, here we are, two teenage traveling demon hunters. All we have is our fists, our weapons and the clothes on our back and—
(we're just looking to belong)
'Hey Sakura … do you, do you think we're any good? I mean, all we seem to be doing these days, is ki-' Sakura glared at me and the almost use of that word, '—fight demon after demon. Sometimes, it feels like we aren't even making a dent.' I had asked one night, as I was getting ready to sleep. Sakura stays up later than me, usually to study scrolls she's given in payment or to practice her skills. Practice makes perfect, she always says, although Sakura rarely ever needs to practice.
I'm not sure why I asked. It was a spur-of-the-moment question, an off-guard type of query, but I asked it anyways, which means I must've wanted to know. Why? What was the reasoning behind what we did?
Sometimes it felt so pointless.
Sakura took a moment to gather her thoughts. We sat in silence, aglow in the warmth that the many candles provided. Then she spoke. 'Well, think about it this way Tenten; We may not be making a dent in the demon population, and sure, all we seem to do is fight demon after demon, but at least the few we do take down won't be able to hurt anyone else's family … like they did mine, like they did yours. I think that's the most important thing. Don't you?'
'Yeah …' I couldn't say anything else, because it felt like I had swallowed sand. So instead I said yeah, and went to sleep.
&
It feels like we've been walking forever. The balls of my feet sting with every step we take, and I am channeling the child in me again, annoyed and crabby and extremely tired, so I whine, 'Sakura, are we almost there yet?'
'… Yes, Tenten, we're almost there. Whining won't help us get there any faster.' Sakura tells me, a smile glued to her face. She's smiling, but I know Sakura better than anyone, so what she really means is: Tenten, ask me one more time and I swear I will—
'Tenten?'
'What?' I know I'm acting pretty unprofessional for a demon hunter, but before I was a demon hunter, I was a girl accustomed to sleeping in futons until noon and baths down near the stream. Sometimes I'm reminded of this past, like now, and I want to be that girl once again. That girl rolling down grassy hills and coming home in dirt-and-grass-and-earth stained robes.
'—We're here.' I'm lost in my thoughts, so when she tells me we're here, albeit in a annoyed voice because I haven't been listening, I take in the kids running around and the (mouth-watering, oh does that smell heavenly) smells wafting outside through open windows from shops and huts.
'It's about time!' I do a little happy dance, even though it hurts (really, really bad) to do it, and then pump my fists in the air. Sakura laughs, shaking her head and I hug her.
'I swear Tenten, you act more and more like a kid everyday. Someone would probably think that you were mine if you weren't as tall as you are … well, other than the fact that I'm pretty.' Sakura runs off, laughing and it clicks.
'Hey!' I holler, laughing too, and run (see: hobble) after her, shaking my fists.
&
There seems to be not one demon in this village. I think we would've sensed if one was by now, from a tickle in the back of your throat (Sakura) or from the hairs standing up (me) or from the feeling that something's just quite not right.
I shouldn't be wishing for a demon, and it's pretty selfish of me, but I (kinda) am. Well, for one won't even require a second thought.
'How much do we have left?' I ask. Sakura knows what I'm talking about, and sighs as she searches about in the small pouch she keeps our money in. 'Not much, I'm afraid. The last village couldn't provide much for our services, and I … well, I didn't have the heart to ask for more.'
'Sakura …' We've been over this more than few times, but I let it go. Sakura says she understands that we have to eat and sleep too, that we're as human as anybody else, but this is where the understanding stops. She believes that if we ask for more than they can give, then that'd be stealing, then we'd be no better than crooks and thiefs and—
Sometimes it's hard to be best friends with self-righteous Sakura.
Sometimes I just want to eat and sleep and drool a little and not care, even though I know (deep, deep down) that she's right.
It was quiet for awhile. I clear my throat and try again. '… What are our options?'
'We can either sleep at a Inn or eat. We have enough to do either, but not enough to do both.' My stomach answers for us with a demonic I-need-food-right-now rumbling, and Sakura tries to smile. Her smile wavers.
'That just means that we'll have to camp out for the night. Now, let's go get some grub.' Sakura and I start towards a small shop, and we talk about anything but the truth. Because, the truth is, neither of us had slept in a bed for at least a month —okay, more than a month, and it's starting to take a toll on our backs.
But, it's the best we can do.
We grab something to eat, vegetable dumplings, grilled chicken skewers, pickled plum rice balls and two free bowls of curry rice, courteous of the owner's wife who is in shock from the way we (and by we, she means me) practically inhaled the food, and then washed down by piping hot tea.
Afterwards, Sakura and I repeatedly thank the owner's wife, who tells us it was nothing, and sends us off with a few croquettes and dumplings. We head into the woods to get a good night's sleep, well as good as it can get.
&
it was so easy back then, back before …