Darkness Risen

Darkness Risen

Chapter 2: Discovery

By: Shinju Nozomi

"What's the point of all this?" Hikari said to her sensei as her team walked to where all the teams from all the villages would meet. "The point of what?" he asked. "The exams, our ranks, why there are rules to being a shinobi", said Hikari. Her sensei looked at her somewhat shocked. "There are rules because even the system of shinobi in our village needs order and we need to make sure no one gets too powerful. Also, the exams help determine ranks to see if that person is strong enough and to also help keep order. Its part of the process", he said. Hikari thought to herself, what's wrong with being powerful and who defines what is too powerful? She continued walking and thinking about what her sensei had said until they got to the meeting point.

Hikari studied the competition; no one knew but she had a secret drive inside of her to want to be the best at whatever she did and settle for nothing less. Hikari also somewhat liked the attention she got and wanted her name to be known to all as a powerful shinobi and she wouldn't let anyone get in the way of that.

She noticed a particular boy from the water country, who was talking to the boy on her team, staring at her. He motioned for her to come over so she decided that it wouldn't hurt. She walked over to see what he wanted. He smiled introducing himself as Tsuneo and as if he was some great person, telling Hikari how beautiful she was. Hikari smirked, almost laughing at this boy who thought he was so great but to her he was absolutely nothing. When he took her hand and pulled her closer to him, Hikari's expression changed to one of anger. He whispered in her ear that he wanted to see more of her while running his other hand over her body. She looked around to see if anyone else was noticing this before returning her attention to the boy saying "Let go of me" while trying to stay calm. He looked at her confused and slightly annoyed that she was rejecting him. Right before he went to kiss her, Hikari pulled herself lose from his grip and punched him straight in the face and broke his nose. "How dare you talk to me and treat me that way!" she screamed. As she was about to punch him again, her sensei grabbed her by the back of her head and threw her into the wall. She glared at him and walked out of the building. He followed before grabbing her by the back of her head again and dragging her to a remote area in the forest.

"What were you thinking!" he shouted at her. "That was a complete embarrassment to you, me, and Konoha! "I can't believe that you would be so stupid to do something like that!" Hikari glared at him "I am not stupid and you have no idea what he even said to me, so who are you to be the judge of my actions" she shouted back. "Shut up!" he yelled at her. "Don't even speak, you will do as I say from now on or else you will no longer be able to participate in the chuunin exams". Hikari was furious, she was angrier than she ever had been. Very calmly she said, "You know what sensei, I think that from now on I will do whatever I want to and I will follow my own rules". "No one will tell me what to do". Her sensei was about to scream at her again but was cut short when Hikari ran away as fast as she could. He let her go; at his point he thought she had gone crazy.

Hikari ran until she fell to the ground, out of breath and tired. She hated her sensei, her team, her boring life, how everything had rules; she wanted to get away. She laid there for a while, her breathing returning to normal; she listened to the intense silence, broken only by the wind and the crickets. Suddenly she heard a sound unfamiliar to the place she was in and jumped up. Hikari heard a snicker from behind the trees. Walking out from behind them was the boy on her team. She glared at him, "What do you want?" she said angrily. "Just came to see how you were doing" he laughed. "What do you really want" Hikari said while keeping her guard up. "That was perfect the way you reacted earlier" he said smiling. "What the hell are you talking about" Hikari said angrily. "You see Hikari, I told Tsuneo to say those things to you". "You have a temper so I knew you would react the way you did and it worked perfectly" He said. "Why would you do that" Hikari said angrily. "Well you see Hikari all your life you've been great, your smart, beautiful, you always get what you want, and you've never failed". "Well I wanted to show you what its like to fail, how it is when you always out shine me and treat me like crap; I want to become a chuunin without you getting in the way of my dreams". "That's what you are, some wall that needs to be torn down" He said. Hikari shook with anger saying, "I'm still taking the exams". "I was afraid of that, that's why I came here" he said.

In a split second, Hikari flipped as four kunai went flying just past her face. "Your aims as bad as ever" said Hikari, mocking her teammate. He clenched his fists, running towards her throwing punches and kicks, taijutsu being his strength. Unfortunately, it was Hikari's too and she evenly matched his skill, if not outdoing him. Some people might say something inside of her snapped while others say that this was just the defining moment of who she was going to be. When she saw the chance, she reached for the long katana she always carried at her side to fight with and struck. A quick strike, a flash of red, a few gasping breaths, and it was over.

She stared at his body, limp and lifeless. She checked his vital signs and when there was nothing to say he was still alive, she dropped to the ground beside him on her knees, taking in what she had just done. She stared at his body for a long time before the corner of her mouth began to twitch and slowly turned into a smile. It was an evil smile, one that had realized what she had done and in the end had no regret and was happy to rid herself of a burden in her life. She laughed hysterically, eyes wide and blood-shot, while her body trembled. She eventually calmed down and took everything in, realizing what she had become. She thought for a long time before deciding what to do with the body, to hide the evidence and prevent her teammate's death being linked to her.

After she disposed of the body she stared at the blood on her hands. The rich and beautiful color had attached itself to her and she licked her lips with bloodlust. She cleaned herself off and changed before burning the clothes to further dispose of evidence. By this time is was dark and she quietly rushed home and slipped into her bed without a single sound, smiling as she went to sleep knowing that tonight she would have pleasant dreams.