I panted heavily, sweat dripping down my face. My tail swung back and forth, and my ears were flat to my head. Across the room, my two brothers were watching me, not allowed to participate. A blow from a fist nearly hit me before I ducked, flipping backward and away. I wiped my shoulder-length brown hair from my face.
"Very nice, at least one of you little snow leopard freaks has talent."
I bared my teeth at Kakuzu, and charged at him. He easily dodged and blocked my strikes, and again I wished for some sort of blade. How I'd love to just slice him to pieces, him and Hidan. How I wished I could weave my signs without being shocked by the damn collar around my neck.
His threads wrapped around me and tossed me at my brothers, who caught me easily. Their ice blue eyes, which matched mine, stared down at me.
"Thanks Seiko, Isao." I said to my older and younger brother. The smile they shot me matched each other, like everything else about them. The same shaggy blonde hair, same pale skin, the same face, our fathers face. The only difference was the age, Seiko being nineteen, Isao being twelve, and me in the middle at fifteen.
Kakuzu approached us slowly. "Alright, that's enough training for today. You're coming along very nicely Sachi, we'll be able to use you soon enough. Your brothers however, are useless."
I snarled at him and attempted to lunge, but they held me back.
"It's not worth it." Seiko said before releasing me. Kakuzu led the way back through the hideout to our cell. We froze in the entrance, the cell was already occupied with over a dozen men and women. I wanted to back away; I've never met anyone besides Akatsuki before. "Who are they?" Seiko asked.
"Prisoners, to be sent to Leader as he needs them. They'll be sharing your cell from now on." He pushed us inside and locked the steel door behind us.
The prisoners stared at us. No, not at our faces, at our ears and tails. I licked my lips nervously and went to the opposite side of the cell with my brothers. Sliding down the wall, I sat in between them. We stared across the room at each other, nobody sure what to say. I've never meet people before; I was born and raised underground. But I'm curious.
"You're...you're from outside?" I addressed all of them, and hoped someone was brave enough to answer.
One woman was. "Yes, we are."
"What does it look like?"
She looked surprised. "You've never been outside?"
I shook my head. "I was raised here."
"It's beautiful outside. There's grass and trees and animals. The sky is blue in the day, and black at night. But even then it's beautiful."
I leaned forward, anxious to hear more. The door opened and interrupted her. Hidan stood in the opening.
"I've already trained today." I told him.
But he wasn't looking at me, he was looking at the prisoners. At the nice woman. He strode towards her and grabbed her arm, yanking her up. She cried out and struggled. A man lunged at Hidan, who easily knocked him back. I lunged next, pulling her away and standing in front of her. Hidan smirked. "Well, well, the little freak has a noble side. How sweet. But one of these women is coming with me. I won't kill them, I just need them for a few hours. A little⦠ritual I need to perform."
I stood firm. "You can't have them."
"Well someone's got to volunteer."
I caught Seiko's eye, and he must have seen what I was thinking. "I'll volunteer." I said, just as he jumped up. Isao followed behind him as they went up to Hidan.
"You're not taking anyone." Seiko growled, close to Hidan's face.
He only grinned back. "You know you can't do shit about it." He grabbed my arm and kicked Seiko away. Isao looked between him, me and Hidan. I nodded towards Seiko and mouthed "It's okay." I let Hidan drag me out of the cell. I may have volunteered, but I wasn't going to make it easy.
He shoved me back into the cell a few hours later, and I fell on my knees. I heard his chuckle before the door was sealed shut again. My brothers rushed over to me and moved me to sit against the wall. Isao was shaking and he leaned against me. Seiko was staring, horrified, at the bruises on my body, and the blood staining my thighs. The woman hesitantly came over to me with her husband, and kneeled beside me. Her eyes were red, like she had been crying. "Thank you so much." She squeezed my hand, "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Tell me more about outside."
He kept coming back, every couple of days. He always tried to take another woman, but I couldn't let him. I couldn't let anyone else suffer if I could prevent it. The stories Kotone, the woman, tells us about the outside make it better. I've learned so much about the world, the lands, and the villages. Kakuzu was complaining that my training was suffering, but he never did anything. Today was particularly brutal. I couldn't even walk, Hidan had to drag me back and throw me into the cell. I laid there as several hands moved me around, propping me against the wall. My hair was matted to the left side of my face with blood. As someone pulled it away I hissed and opened one eye. Only one. Kotone covered her mouth with her hand, my blood on her fingertips.
I chuckled weakly. "Is it that bad?"
She only nodded, and my smile dropped. She ripped a piece of fabric from her dress and dabbed gently at my face. I looked over at Seiko. "What's it look like?"
"You may have lost that eye. And there's going to be a lot of scaring on that side."
"Well damn, there go my good looks. Hey, maybe he'll lose interest." I was the only one who laughed.
"How can you possible joke about this?" Seiko asked, furious.
I rolled my eye. "Because you and Isao are too serious all the time, just like mom. Our lives suck, I'm trying to make it better." And because I have to protect them, I can't let them see me suffer.
"And you don't take anything seriously enough! You aren't invincible, Damn it. You're vulnerable just like everybody else. You can't keep doing this, you can't save everybody. You're just like dad, and that's why they killed him."
I narrowed my eye. "Then I will die knowing I tried. I can't just do nothing."
I opened my eye weakly, and the room swan before me. I groaned and moved my hand to my face. My hand came away sticky, covered in blood and yellow ooze. Yup, defiantly infected. Isao was at my side instantly, dabbing at my face. I knocked his hand away, it hurt too much. "Will this kill me?"
He couldn't look at me. "Maybe."
Shit. I sighed and attempted to stand up. Isao helped me and I nudged Seiko with my foot. He woke with a start and stood quickly. "We're escaping."
He blinked a few times. "We're doing what now?"
"You heard me. Isao says I could die. First, I'd rather not like to die. And second, if I die, who'll protect you guys. So we're getting out of here."
"How?"
"I'm blowing the wall down."
"But what about the collar?"
"I'll work through the pain. Now go wake everybody else up."
Seiko stopped arguing and went over to the prisoners. Kotone and her husband stood in front, just behind Seiko. I pushed Isao over to them and faced the furthest wall. Taking a deep breath I weaved the signs. Immediately the collar sent volts of electricity through my body. I clenched my teeth but managed to mutter "Shooting Star Jutsu." My fingertips glowed white and I aimed them at the wall. Fist-sized balls of white fire shot out colliding with the stone. Dust and rubble rained over all of us and I collapsed when the pain stopped.
I heard their gasps and opened my eye. I gaped at the hole. Light was flooding the cell, the brightest thing I've ever seen. The ground was green with grass and the sky was so blue. It was so beautiful. I stumbled out first, and stared up at the sky. It was so wide, so high, it made me a bit dizzy. Though that could just be the infection and the fever. Seiko came up behind me and stared too.
"It's beautiful." Isao had come up to my side.
Seiko put a hand on my shoulder. "We have to get moving, they'll be after us soon. Kotone and the others can't run like us."
I nodded and weaved more signs. The shocks were so bad I fell to my knees in pain. Still I managed to bite my thumb and say "Summoning Jutsu." In a cloud ofsmoke a troop of horse-sized cats had appeared before us. The white twins in front leaned down to me.
The female licked my cheek. "Sachi! It's been years, what's going on?" Her brother looked on anxiously.
"I'll explain on the way Aneko, right now we need your help."
They each nodded and we managed to fit all the civilians on their backs. "Lead the way." said her brother Katsuro. Seiko started running and we all followed him. As we gained speed, the three of us started running on all four limbs, our tails streaming behind us and our ears flat. "Seiko, where are we going?" I called.
He looked back at me. "Home."
It took hours to get to our destination. Honestly I'm not sure how I managed to make it. My head is throbbing and my wounds burn. I just want to sleep. I looked up and saw gates. I turned to Seiko. "Where are we?"
He looked back and smiled at me. "Like I said, home. Konohagakure."
"Oh, that's nice." I stumbled a bit. "I'm going to faint now." I hit the dirt almost immediately. My eyes closed involuntarily as people swarmed around me. I had the feeling of being lifted before I drifted off.
I was warm, nice and cozy. I snuggled deeper into the soft material. Wait, what material? I opened my eye and hissed at the color. White, everything was white. It hurt like hell. I rubbed my eye and my fingers brushed against bandages. I touched my left side, it was wrapped heavily. It didn't burn anymore, it barely even hurt. I looked at my hand and froze. I touched my arms and hands. Not a speck of dirt or grim or anything. I was clean, for the first time in my life I was clean.
"Wow I'm so pale, like a ghost."
"You're awake!" Isao launched himself at my bed and wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him back fiercely. He let go of me and studied my face. Sniffing quickly he smiled, "No infection."
I grinned toothily. "Guess that means were in a hospital." Stretching I moved off the bed, and caught sight of the window. I walked over to it and stared, just stared at the sky. There were little things flying around, they must be birds. I'm so grateful to Kotone right now, she told us so much.
Isao came up to my side. "I've been staring outside all day, just trying to get used to it. It's so big and bright, I can't believe it. The underground was so dark, but I guess I never really knew that until now."
"I want to go outside." I saw a tree, not that far from the window ledge. I wonder if I can make it.
Isao was watching me. "Sachi, I know what you're thinking. Don't do it. You just woke up, you need rest."
I laughed, "I've rested enough. I spent my life underground, I want to stretch my legs." I slid the window open and took a deep breath of the air. It was so fresh out here, full of interesting sounds and smells. I hopped up in the ledge, thankful that the hospital outfit was pants and a shirt, and that they had cut a little hole for my tail. That'll make balancing easily. I crouched and pushed off with my legs. I cleared the leap easily and landed in the tree branches. I ran my hands along the branch, and then through the leaves. I inhaled deeply, and couldn't help but purr. It's been so long since I've purred. "This is wonderful!" I turned back to the window, wanting Isao to join me.
Seiko was standing behind him, fuming. I heard other people in the room. They must have entered right after I jumped. "Ah crap."
My first story published, yay! I hope you liked it, and if not then oh well. I'll continue the story of Sachi and her brothers as soon as I can. There's so much for them to learn I can't wait myself. Reviews are, of course, welcome but not necessary, and if you want to see the siblings learning something specific that you want to see, no matter how trivial, tell me! I'm open to ideas at all times, and it could be funny having them all trying to learn random things. Anyway, lots of love to you all!
-LB
