-Lol I don't own Naruto or else mostly this would be happening!-
Chapter I
It was midnight, a clear starry sky with a full moon overhead. A perfect night. There were vast expanses of browning tree leaves, both in the trees and littering the forest floor. An autumn breeze passed through, and the forest felt alive. It was the kind of night that made you feel calm, and that nothing could go wrong.
There were five people enjoying the forest, one leaning against a tree trunk, and the other four in the branches above. They had been going for hours now and were looking for a good place to stop. The girl on the ground was taking a breather, when something hard hit her on the head.
The sound of the plunk on her scalp was followed by a giggle in the trees.
"Ow!" The girl exclaimed. "Raiden! Don't do that."
A tall brunette boy jumped down from his spot in the leaves, and joined his friend. "Hey, that wasn't me, Hotaru!" He gave her a cheeky grin, then smacked her upside the head. "But that was."
She gave him a dirty look, and he flicked her cat ears. "Aw, lighten up!" He said. She just scowled, and tried to burn a hole in his head with her chocolate-hued eyes. It wasn't working.
Another girl swung and hung upside down on the branch she was sitting on. "It's a hopeless cause, Rai. Lightning bug here won't even smile on watch. Too serious about watching for psycho ninjas."
Rai laughed. "Mizuki, what are you doing?"
"Having fun." Her aquamarine eyes twinkled mischievously, and Hotaru's lips twitched upward in response.
Mizuki's eyes widened, and she fell off the branch she was on. "Doth my eyes deceive me? Did Hotaru just smile on watch? I must be going blind."
"I'll make you blind if you make another crack about me." Hotaru smirked.
"Okay, fair enough." She brushed her self off, flicked her auburn hair, and started to head back up, but stopped when another of their friends yelled "MIZUKI! Stop messing with my fucking hair!"
"I'm on the ground, Kiku!"
"RAI!"
He rolled his eyes. "I'm hurt. Since when do I sound like such a retard?" Mizuki gave him a looked of feigned sadness, and he winked at her.
A dark haired girl with dark eyes came down, and laughed. "Kiku's split ends were talking to each other. And then they smacked her in the face." She leaned in closer to them. "She deserved it." she whispered
"I HEARD THAT, YUSA!!"
Mizuki snickered. "Someone's feeling awfully shouty today." She looked up to the trees, and laughed. "Kiku, get your fat ass down here."
A vine swing lowered from the tree, and sitting on it, giving her best death glare was Kiku. Against the dark background of trees and grass, her pale skin, silver hair, and white eyes sharply contrasted. She looked at Mizuki, and sneered. "I know you weren't telling me to get my 'fat ass' down here. Check yours."
She turned her head to look at her behind, and Hotaru laughed. "She's got a point. Even you say it yourself, Roly-poly."
"Ay, watchit, Debbie Downer! Only I am allowed to make fun of my butt! And at least I don't have a fox tail like you four do."
Raiden laughed and ruffled her hair between her dog ears. "Don't you mean 'Foxy' tail?"
The five laughed, and Hotaru cleared her throat. "Not like this isn't fun or anything, but all five of us in the open isn't real smart."
Yusa smiled. "You're right. We should go back up."
"Aw man!" Mizuki exclaimed. "The party's over already? We just got down here!"
Raiden laughed. "You're only upset because it took a while for you to get up. Kiku's right about the fat ass, Mizuki."
"At least I'm not stupid." She shot back.
He glared at her. "Oh yeah, well you're a dumbass."
She snorted. "I'm not the dumbass, you're the dumbass!"
"Oh yeah? Well, YOU'RE never gonna get laid!"
"Oho, yes I am!"
Hotaru held back a laugh, and tried to look fierce. "Can you two not talk about your sexual activity right now? Geez, I thought you were intelligent..."
Raiden looked at her with dark brown eyes. "Okay, we'll shut up." He helped Mizuki up the tree and the two disappeared into the leaves, and everything went quiet.
But then, seemingly out of nowhere, presences made themselves known, and the tides turned.
Hotaru tensed, her ears twitching. She cracked her neck twice, signaling for her friends not to make a move. Then five men in cloaks with red clouds had her surrounded. One had blonde hair, one was blue, one had strange purple markings around his eyes, one had a scythe, and the last had red eyes.
She was holding a defensive stance. Something about these men made her uneasy… They started talking, "A fine specimen, un." "Yes I agree." "We should keep it." "But what about-" "Shut it!"
One out of the five was staring right at her. The one with purple markings. He was studying her. It made her stomach churn with fear, not a very familiar emotion. As soon as one of the other men got his attention, she turned her head, found an opening, and started edging her way towards it.
When she turned around to run however, her stomach connected with a fist, knocking the wind out of her. She fell to her knees, panting for air. Whoever the person was said nothing. He grabbed her by the front of her shirt, dragging her up to eye level. "Call out the others." He ordered.
Her gaze was still unfocused but she managed to belt out, "Never."
She was struck again, being backhanded across the face, her head snapping to the side. "I won't ask again without worse consequences to be had."
A rustle came from the leaves overhead and the Hotaru in his grip whipped her head around and hissed at it. The man with the red eyes who was holding her up simply said, "Come out if you and your friend don't want to die."
Slowly, Kiku, Yusa, Raiden, and Mizuki came out from the branches. Mizuki grabbed onto Raiden, and Yusa looked at Kiku worriedly.
"Hmm, what might all this be?" 'Shit. We're taking too long in capturing these travelers.' Orochimaru thought.
A man suddenly appeared in the shadows, when he moved more into the light, he was revealed to have reddish orange hair and multiple piercings. "Itachi, put that one down." "Hai Pein-sama." The man named Itachi complied, dropping her into the dust. She quickly scampered over to where her friends were. This knocked Kiku to her knees.
Pein walked over to her, crouching down in front of her. Grabbing her by her chin, he forced her face upward, "Hmmm…I think I'll take this one." With her face tilted up like this she had to admit this guy was too easy.
She spit, hitting the right side of his face, mistake number one. He backhanded her across the face right after he let go. She was hit with such force that she just fell over and smashed her face into the dirt. She lay there, small crescents from Pein's nails causing her cheek to bleed.
Kiku inhaled the scent of the soft dirt. 'Perfect. my element.' she scowled at her attackers then gave them a malicious grin. They never expected plants to take them down. Kiku got up and with a flick of her wrist, the five men were sputtering with dirt in their mouths. "Come on!" she shouted to her friends. "We have to go!"
Raiden rushed them away calling after them, "I'll hold them off!" He turned and got into a defensive stance before yelling once more, "MIZUKI! Don't even think about it just go now!" Mizuki turned around a little slower than usual before disappearing into the night.
Raiden kept facing Pein. Pein just turned around and stared at the people who were just…standing there and not capturing the fleeing people. Needless to say they weren't standing there much longer.
"I challenge you to a fight to the death!" Pein smirked slightly getting into his own battle stance. This was going to be too easy. "What are the terms?" "If I win the girls and I go free, if you win, you have a dead me and you get to keep the girls." Pein laughed in his head, this guy was overconfident in his abilities.
He sneered. "Fine, it's your move."
--Ten Minutes Later...--
The girls were being pushed back to the area they had last seen Raiden in, arms held together folded at the elbow behind their backs. "Get the fuck off me!" Hotaru growled. "Really, let go, damn it!"
When they entered the clearing, all they saw momentarily was Pein's back, but as he pulled away they saw a kunai glinting in the moonlight coated in blood. When he backed away fully Raiden fell to the ground, blood soaking his left side, and a small amount of blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth.
All four girls gasped, and Mizuki cried out for Raiden. But she was silenced quickly. 'Not Rai...' She begged in her mind. 'Oh please, not Rai!'
Kiku growled and tried to summon up some plants to keep Pein away from Raiden, but she felt a sharp pain in the back of her head before her world went black. Hotaru didn't want to be knocked out, she had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
All of her other friends were now knocked out. She hung her head down and all of a sudden the clap of thunder resonated through the clearing before a heavy rain made lighter by the trees and chilled by the cooler autumn air fell to earth.
Pein looked up at the quickly darkening sky before calling all the people back to him, picking Raiden off the ground, and walking through a well-hidden path in the woods.
They walked for a while before they came upon a large house. It was five stories high and probably had a basement. It was a dark green color, which soon was revealed to come from vines running up the walls of the house. It was actually made from gray stones.
When they went in they walked down a long hallway before making a long series of turns that Hotaru couldn't remember for the life of her and going down a set of stairs before coming to a large metal door.
Upon opening it, it was revealed to be a room with dark gray walls, a window on the door, a barred window or two in the room, a few floor mats, around six to be exact, and chains. Lots of chains.
When she was set down, she felt cold metal going around her neck, her eyes widen in fear but she didn't dare look up. She heard more clanking and other such noises, indicating that her other companions were being chained up too. When she heard the sound of footsteps and a large bang indicating the door was closing, she cautiously raised her head.
Nobody was in there but her and her friends now. Well…except for Raiden. She examined her chain, it was very thick and chunky and had a fitted metal collar around her neck that looked as if it was unbreakable. She tested the distance she could get on the line, it kept her out of reach of the door and the window. The moonlight between bars would've been her only light at this hour, but dark clouds covered the sky.
She shivered, it was cold in here, before curling up on one of the mats. She couldn't sleep as she was accustomed to but tucking her knees up to her chest, she settled her tail over her legs…well…the bottom part anyway. Anything for warmth.
She wasn't truly brave, she only appeared that way in front of her friends. A long time ago she had decided she would do anything for them. Even stare death in the face. She was however very stubborn and had a set limit for people who told her what to do. Some things she would do, other times she wouldn't. It was to the wind.
--Two hours later...--
The rest of the girls had woken up. Kiku's hands had been chained to the wall, while Yusa's feet had been shackled, and Mizuki was bound by her middle. Hotaru explained the whole situation with Raiden, her facade up again, earning a few gasps and such.
"I guess you were right to be so serious. There were actually psycho ninjas..." Mizuki laughed mirthlessly. "I'm so stupid. I should've listened to you!"
"Mizuki, it's no one's fault." Hotaru said. "We're just... unlucky. Everything's going to work out, alright?"
"Okay. I just hope Rai's okay..." Mizuki trailed.
God, how she hated to be the bearer of bad news. She looked out the window of the cell, and sighed.
It hadn't stopped raining since she had seen Raiden.
--MEANWHILE, IN THE DEPTHS OF THE BASEMENT...--
Raiden's cries of pain were echoing off the walls as he felt the last bone in his right hand break. "Keep screaming. This is like space. Nobody can hear you scream."