Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
/
A convoy of 1944 Studebaker army trucks weaved carefully along a high Rocky Mountain pass. The view out of the back of the convoy was beautiful at this high altitude. Nothing but snow-topped peaks and fir forests for miles, but occasionally they would pass by deer that would quickly be out of sight again. This morning was crisp without a cloud in sight but dew still clung to everything. It was a refreshing feeling. Usagi needed this feeling. Although fear and doubt still gripped her heart, the beautiful morning helped comfort her with hope.
This whole week past seemed like an eternity. Usagi and Jiraiya had made their way mostly on foot 1500 miles in five days somehow through countless checkpoints with fake IDs to a militia outpost in Colorado. From there they joined some 120 other hopeful escapees. Most of them were defected soldiers, both American and foreign. From there the convoy of restored Studebaker trucks (they looked so old, how would they get anywhere in them?) carried the group and their necessary supplied heading north, through the mountains, towards the Canadian border. It was extremely difficult for foreign mercenaries to navigate this mountain range, so it was the escapees best bet for getting as far as possible without being noticed. They had departed the night before around 8 o'clock and had not run into any trouble thus far.
The plan was to reach the Canadian border by nightfall where they would follow a series of rivers on boats north through Alberta, then west through the North West and Yukon territories until they reached Anchorage. According to the militia's intelligence data, Goodwin had neglected to yet send mercenaries to secure Alaska, and the major US bases there had since heard the news and defected completely. At the moment it was a sanctuary for refugees. Hopefully that wouldn't change before they were able to pass through. Usagi and Jiraiya were part of a much smaller group that would be boarding an old military helicopter to the Kamchatka peninsula of Russia where a group of Chechen rebels would be refueling the helicopter to complete the trip into Hokkaido. Even once safe in Japan, they would have to take a train down to Konoha on Kyushu. The difficult part there would be convincing Japanese gate agents that they were truly Japanese citizens and not foreigners seeking refuge. Both Usagi and Jiraiya were white and while the number of foreign races possessing Japanese citizenship was increasing yearly, it was still considered highly unusual.
Jiraiya had been placed with other seniors and a pregnant woman – against his obvious protest – in a truck center the convoy. Usagi was in the very last truck, a single civilian among an entire group of thirteen defected mercenaries and soldiers. The idea was to put the fittest with the most combative experience in the front and rear in case of an ambush. Jiraiya in his dumbass loud-mouth drunkery last night had bragged to the militia commander that Usagi had held off several soldiers on her own at Libertopia with nothing but a 1911 pistol and three magazine rounds. This was only half-true: Usagi had only held off one soldier and even that was with the assistance of two other convention-goers. Unfortunately for Usagi, however, the commander believed her fucking retarded guardian and armed her with an AR-15 and flack-jacket equipped with extra filled magazines and some emergency rations. Apparently she was one of the boys now.
The trip had been mostly silent. Nearly everyone was strangers and in these times soldiers had become extremely untrustworthy. They dare not even trust others of their own kind. No one dared speak, risking both cover and information security. It was times like these that Usagi would pull out her father's book and draw comfort from his letter and the passion he put into his work. Normally she would keep it in her inside coat pocket, but she lost the book in the Libertopia raid. Usagi felt as if she had lost a piece of her soul; she was restless and uneasy, constantly bouncing her knee and eyes shifting back and forth. Her nervous bouncing finally annoyed one mercenary with a whole facial tattoo fashioning him to look a rag-doll with mouth stitching so much he hissed in some sort of African accent, "You dumb girl, you're going to annoy us all to death before the military can even have a chance to kill us off!" Another mercenary with a whole body tattoo that resembled a shark and spikey navy hair grunted in affirmation, "Hn, commander musta gon wahoo, trustin' a little gumpy mole like you ta keep up with us. Don't look like a joe for sure." He had an Australian accent.
Usagi didn't have to put up with bullshit from tools. She didn't even want to be here. However, whenever Usagi actually wanted to deck someone out, she usually ended up using sharp sarcasm instead. "No, I'm an Usagi. You're so observant!"
The shark-man's bulky muscled body jumped to confront her, making the whole truck shake slightly, but was pushed down by a deep red-headed ex-American soldier with a child-like face. His voice was calm and monotonous as he reprimanded his fellow arms man, "Kisame, don't let a child with pigtails rile you up."
Kisame showed his razor-sharp teeth in a grin, "Right-o, mate." Obviously the reprimand was meant to amuse the blue-skinned freak into behaving rather than actually correcting him. It was an effective technique, apparently. Subconsciously Usagi's right hand moved away from the rifle in her lap up to the black lace bow holding her right pigtail. The ribbons had been a gift from her late mother. Usagi took them out only to sleep, shower, and brush her hair. Now with her father's book gone, these ribbons were all that was left of her parents. She would be damned if she let these asses know they were something so sacred. As if they would know what that word meant.
"Funny, coming from Lt. Babyface. I thought you had to at least finish middle school before they let you into the military. I guess they'll take anyone nowadays. I at least look my sixteen years."
A few of the other arms men around the Studebaker tried to hide their laughter and failed. The lanky red-headed man didn't jump up like his friend did, but he did glare awfully hard and would not let up. He could do it for the rest of the ride for all Usagi cared as long as he didn't end up shooting her in the back. To her left another ex-soldier with a weird spiral orange mask holding only one eyehole patted her on the shoulder like a child would a daycare worker. Even though his expression couldn't be seen through the mask, the gesture was friendly so Usagi felt minutely at ease.
"Don't worry Pretty Lady, Tobi does funny things when he's nervous, too. Everyone does." The rag-doll man from before inserted a "who's nervous?! I'm just pissed I can't be paid for babysitting" but was largely ignored. A lot of the other men nodded in agreement with Tobi inserting their own comfort into the conversation. One soldier even made Usagi laugh out loud with his comment, "Nervous? I think I've already shit my pants!" She felt gratitude and somewhat better, but she didn't think anyone really expected to have a bright disposition at the moment. The group carried on with conversation and laughter in this way well on into the day and Usagi for a short time forgot the certain danger lurking just ahead in her future.
/
The convoy reached the border on schedule right after nightfall, but not all was going according to plan. The mountain pass they had planned to take straight through to Alberta had been caved-in by a rock slide. Sasori (Usagi had later learned was Lt. Babyface's name) informed the commander that the cave-in looked as if it had been man-made, probably by a demolition team. Suddenly the once beautiful snow-capped slopes felt like a prison fortress. This was possibly a trap. It was determined that the convoy would have to turn around and go two-miles west through a checkpoint. The combative trucks were independently, as not to alarm the civilians, told to prepare for a fight. Those who could fight would have to ambush the guards and secure the checkpoint for passing. If the guards contacted back-up then the entire convoy was jeopardized. A ragtag strategy was made in less than 20-minutes using a local map and guestimates.
No pressure.
Usagi tried her best to steady her nerves to no avail. The assault rifle visibly rattled in her hands and she took deep breaths. She felt so guilty for being so cowardly when she was certainly not the only one having to go through this. Usagi remembered the pregnant woman, and the family of five, and all the others defenseless depending on her to be brave. She thought of Jiraiya not being armed and her brother Naruto clueless at home in Japan where it was still safe… at the moment. This thought caused her to straighten her back and at least lessen her shaking, placing a determined grit on her facade. Usagi would not let what happen to her home happen to Naruto's home. She would make it through this alive no matter what.
Once the checkpoint was reached, the convoy stopped a quarter-mile ahead where they were hidden behind a hump in the combatants in Usagi's truck would continue ahead on foot where the men would position themselves hiding among the trees and brush while Usagi played a very… special distraction. Tobi had helped rip her clothes in revealing places, rub her with lots of dirt and grass, and made a shallow cut in her side just deep enough to make it look like she was bleeding out. It hurt like hell but Usagi was able to block out the pain by thinking of getting through the checkpoint alive. Slowly the blonde girl dragged her way toward the checkpoint blockade.
At first their plan was working. A soldier rushed to catch Usagi right before she collapsed into his arms, whispering weakly about the "dirty traitors resorting to vulgarity in the woods" and how she just managed to get away from them. While this was happening the convoy's men began circling the checkpoint still hidden by the shadows of the forest, each one had sights trained on a different guard. The guards bought it and began to carry Usagi to a medical truck when one of the guards lifted a walkie-talkie to his face and all hell broke loose.
The guard was shot in the temporal lobe before he had the device to his chin and immediately the other checkpoint guards were firing on the trees. The guard holding Usagi dropped her, scrambling for his SAIGA assault rifle when he was shot in the back and landed on top of her. Quickly she shoved the dying man away and made for the gate, as planned. She couldn't let herself think of the lives they were taking. This was self-defense, she reminded herself, but tears still came to her eyes and sobs racked her chest. Regardless of the overwhelming waves of emotion washing over her she refused to completely break-down. Usagi had to do her part. She had to make it out alive. Even while crying uncontrollably, the teenager managed to make it to the control panel on the gate where she slammed her fist on the "OPEN" button to allow the convoy through.
After that, supplies were looted from the checkpoint camp, Usagi received treatment for her side and the convoy continued through to the first waterway they would use to travel north. Her truck was emptier now as five men had been shot and killed at the checkpoint. The empty seats were haunting, so the men placed their packs in between one another to fill the gaps, but the feeling did not leave. Everyone felt numb with shock and loss and couldn't speak at all for fear they would further jinx their situation. Luckily there was only one more incident involving American soldiers between boarding the river boats and reaching Alaska three days later. Luckier still there were no casualties. However, once in Alaska and travelling on the Yukon River, things seemed to turn for the worst. An out-of-season blizzard hit the group, causing the entire line to take shore and seek shelter in a cave until it passed. It didn't pass until two days later. Everyone was out of food and an elderly couple had frozen to death during the night.
Unlike the arms men that died at the border, the elderly couple was able to receive a proper burial although no one knew them personally so there were no memory rites. The group decided to set-up camp long enough for food to be acquired and enough stocked to finish the two day journey to Anchorage. A group of skilled hunters was among them, and before nightfall of the next day they had tracked a herd of caribou and obtained meat from them. It was a gruesome affair but no one was complaining about their filled stomachs afterwards. While everyone was packing camp the next morning Usagi left to use the restroom. When she had not returned after a long time Jiraiya convinced the commander to wait another hour, but when she still had not returned the commander said that they could not wait any longer.
"I cannot lead these people into anymore danger if I can help it," he reasoned. "If the girl takes much longer then we risk getting caught by a ranger patrol. Fairbanks is two mountains south and we don't know their status in this situation. They could be hostile to refugees. It's safer to avoid it completely."
No one could really disagree with his logic, but Jiraiya pleaded that they at least leave behind a jon boat with some supplies in case she eventually made her way back. Kisame agreed this was a good plan and also volunteered to stay behind and wait for her to return. "I've grown rather fond of the cow. If she doesn't return from the toot by tomorrow I'll use the boat to catch-up." The commander agreed they had enough supplies to spare, but only if Jiraiya continued on with the group. They could leave enough for two people, but not three. Reluctantly Jiraiya agreed and they all left Kisame to wait alone for Usagi's improbable return.
Meanwhile, Usagi had gotten horribly lost. Didn't she pass that tree already? She had never seen that boulder before. The blonde had always been horrible with directions. She only went a few feet from the camp to take a piss! Or so she had thought. How could this have happen? Eventually after hours of wandering around she sat cross-legged against a tree and shut her eyes. How on Earth was she going to make it out of here? Usagi knew the group planned to leave shortly after dawn and it was late morning now. Would they wait for her? The commander was responsible for some hundred other people so if he was being logical she doubted he would. The cold was numbing her limbs and she was quickly becoming sleepy which she knew to be symptoms of oncoming hypothermia. Usagi knew she should have eaten more than one strip of jerky last night (her first meal in three days), but there had been a child shorted on food...
Slipping in and out of consciousness Usagi opened her eyes straight ahead. She couldn't feel her body anymore so she hadn't felt the large raven that had begun tugging on her pants leg, but now she could see it. 'Great,' she thought, 'I'm dead enough that scavengers can already sense it.' She managed to find her right leg enough to kick the raven away, but he just came back. Fat tears just drifted down her cheeks at a lazy pace. This was it Usagi supposed. The dancer wouldn't be able to make it home alive like she promised herself. Thank goodness she was numb, at least, so she wouldn't be able to feel the raven picking out her organs later. Opening her eyes again a few minutes later she saw the raven had moved to her stomach, sharp beak rubbing softly against her wet face.
Was Usagi hallucinating? If she were she would claim the bird was wiping away her tears, but logically she knew this was stupid. It was probably just enjoying the chance at warm water. The sight forced her to keep her eyes open, though, as she watched it hop off of her and in the direction to the left a bit before turning back to her and tugging on her pants leg once more. The raven repeated this action five or six more times. It wanted Usagi to follow it? Now she knew she was hallucinating but what the hell did she have to lose? Even this crazy imagining of hers could give her enough will to at least make it to a spot she could die in peace. Using all the willpower she possessed, Usagi forced herself through the numbness over onto her side and used the tree to pull herself up on to her feet.
The large black bird began to hop gingerly through the forest in a slightly familiar direction. All of the trees and snow and rocks began to blend together in Usagi's mind, however, and the only form she could distinctly make out was the raven. It stopped occasionally, probably allowing her to catch-up as she stumbled after it like a gimp zombie, and she dutifully followed. It took less than an hour of following the raven before the rocks began to slope and the sound of a river raged in earnest. It was a beautiful sound. Suddenly Usagi had hope and hobbled faster after the raven; when they crossed through a thicket of tall yellow grass she could see a blue human-shaped blur by the river in the distance. Was that Kisame? She barely remember calling out his name – it sounded more to her like the caw of a raven – before she could not walk any further and passed out from cold and exhaustion.
Before consciousness left her completely, Usagi watched the raven fly towards the blinding cloudless Alaskan sky and thought that fate had never before played a big role in her life, but she could not help the niggling notion in the back of her brain that told her that she would become very intimate with Fate from now on.
/
I am still trying to understand exactly how the new FanFiction document manager works. It's very complicated and confusing. Please bear with me while I figure out exactly what does and does not show up here.