Author's Note: Sadly, Kakashi doesn't appear in this chapter. I just couldn't fit him in. But don't cry (or hurt me) yet! He will, I repeat, will appear in the next chapter. Scratch that, the entire chapter will be from his point of view. (dances a happy dance) Alright this chapter is a little longer and somewhat a cliff hanger...kukuku...I hope I am doing an OK job with this. Please let me know how I'm doing. Enjoy!
Chapter 2: Hide and Kill
I was surrounded. Oh crap. Well, isn't that wonderful! Maybe Tala had not growled from annoyance, but as a warning. And as always, I was being a stubborn donkey and didn't heed her. Oh, well. This just means I'll have a bit more of a challenge. It's been a while since... uh oh. I forgot. No moon. Lunar eclipse. For some reason, on the nights of no moon, my chacra level plummets until I barely have enough to fight a genin. I am in deep trouble, mm-hm.
I can't fight them tonight. I have to wait until the sun rises. Darn it. Back to observation mode. There's one shinobi directly in front of me. Another two to my right, each about four feet away, and three feet apart. Three more behind me, four feet away and two feet apart. And finally four to my left. These hunter-nin are five feet away and have different lengths of space between, but not enough to slip through. There is no one below me. I look up at the shinobi in front of me and smirk. His head moves slightly as he checks to make sure his squad is in place. He glances below and realizes his mistake. Too late, bud. I'm already falling. I land on the balls of my feet and sprint. I have no idea where my legs are taking me. As I run I hear the distant whoosh of a river and veer towards that. Shuriken flashes by my head, cutting a few strands of my long brown and gold hair. I dodge between the trunks of the trees, leaping, twisting, ducking, jerking, and basically making random movements. A constantly moving target is harder to hit. Especially if that target is running like they're drunk or something.
But these shinobi aren't hunter-nin for nothing. Every weapon thrown at me almost hits me. They are also getting closer. I want to use as little of my depleted chacra as I can, but if I have to do so to run faster... then again, I could ease up on the random movements. That's probably what's slowing me down. The wind blows causing a patch of grass to bend. Something was not right. I took the time to glance at the grass. Sometimes doing this, taking time to look at your surroundings, could cause you to lose your life. Or it just might save it. You have to know when it's the right time and when it's the wrong time. The grass bent to the wind, but the top quarter of the grass bent back on itself, as if something was stopping it. Wires. A trap! I jump into the branches of the closest tree, only to find paper bombs everywhere. Oh, come on! Without thinking I jump into the air and clear the forest canopy, completely exposing myself. This was my second mistake. Weapons flew at me, from what seemed, every direction. I dodged them as best I could, but that's kind of hard when there is nothing stable to brace yourself against. A shuriken sliced through the sleeve of my tunic, cutting my arm. I hiss in pain. It's only a scratch, but I have a low tolerance for pain. Then a kunai (I swear it came out of nowhere) hurled into my left leg burying itself up to the handle. This time I yelp. Oh, these ninjas were going to pay. I break through the green roof of the forest. The trees, bless them, shield me from more weapons, giving me a moment of peace. I land on my right leg, perfectly balanced. Gingerly, I put my left foot down on the branch. So far, so good. Now put a little weight on it... nice and slow...ARRHHGGGGG!!! Pain shoots through my leg forcing me to put all my weight on my right leg. There's no way I can fight with one leg. I sigh as I lean back against the trunk of the tree, and slowly ease down to sit on my backside. I smile at how the fates love to torture me. They put me in the worst possible situations and then right before I am killed, something happens that saves me. Problem is most of the time, my savior leads to another awkward or dangerous situation. A few branches rustle quietly to my left.
"I warn you, a wounded wolf is very dangerous," I snarled as I glared at the unseen enemy.
"Yeah, I know." came the reply
At first I can't say anything, I'm so shocked. Then I smile.
"About time you got here."
Tala jumps down onto the branch directly in front of me. Good thing it was her. I had been bluffing, big time. I mean, come on. What was I going to do? Beat them to death with a tree branch? Tala sat down and looked at me her eyes full of hurt.
"Didn't you recognize me?" she complained. I stared at her, my anger rising within me. I have a kunai in my leg up to the handle, bleeding rivers, in agony no less, and she is ticked off because I didn't recognize her? What the heck?!
"Why, you selfish, pompous, no good, spoiled rotten, sorry excuse for a mutt!"
Tala flinched back and stared at me with surprised eyes. To the canine world 'mutt' is the worst thing you can call a fellow canine. If I wasn't so far gone I would have stopped there. But I was way past being mad. I was definitely past furious. I was downright, unbelievably outraged.
"You disappear for five minutes only to show up after I've been wounded and then you get the gull to feel sorry for yourself! I swear, I've got wooden spoons brighter than you! And to think I got stuck traveling with the wolf who's late to help her sister fight off hunter-nin! I'd be better off traveling alone!"
"But the druid said-"
"The druid? Who listens to a man wearing an elk skull on his head!"
"But he-"
"Shut it!!"
Tala fell silent, probably stunned from my rant. Maybe also because the druid is my foster brother and I hold him in the highest respect. Never in my life had I spoken ill of him and never have I stood by while others spoke ill of him and not confront them. Now however...
"We should go." Tala said a little subdued.
"Oh, what a grand idea! You must have inherited the brains from your family!"
"It is just common sense." She answers patiently.
"It is, huh? Well how you plannin' on gettin' us out?"
"I hope silently." Her eyes close half-way the way they do when she's annoyed.
"Well, I cut my leg, I cannot walk. It hurts!"
Tala sighed, then before I can stop her, she lunged forward, grasped the kunai in her canine fangs, and pulled the weapon out. I gasped at the new pain and glared at her.
"I'm sorry," she murmured as she began to lick my wound*. The fresh pain cleared my mind and a wave of guilt crashed down on me soon followed by overwhelming hurt. Did I really say all those things? I can't believe myself! The pox on my big mouth. I'm such a jerk! A selfish jerk who cares only about herself. Tala could have been in a worst situation then I was in and I didn't even ask her if she was okay. Tala is so good to me, and this is how I repay her? I can feel the tears well up in my eyes as I silently yell at myself. I'm almost never emotional, but the battle of emotions inside my chest, coupled with the stress of the morning (not to mention my leg) was taking it's toll on me.
" Tala..."
The she-wolf looked up with an unreadable expression in her eyes. I know she can't see mine because my hair is in the way. When I do look up, however, her masked eyes shatters and melts into sympathy and shared pain. I take a shuddering breath.
"I-"
"It's alright, dear one. Hush now and hold still." Tala crooned to me as if talking to a newborn cub in the nursery. She knows what I am feeling and has already forgiven me. Bless her heart. She continued to clean my leg. I relaxed under her administrations. Then something occurred to me. Frowning I looked down at Tala.
"Where were you anyway?"
"They put a genjustu on me." she answered. I blinked. And again. And again. Wow. That must have been one heck of a jutsu. It takes an extremely powerful genjutsu to affect either of us. The last person to get to us was Itachi Uchiha with his mangekyo sharingan. Even then we were able to break free before he did any real damage. I gave the sky above a look of disgust. The sun hasn't risen yet. For the love of all that's good and great! How long does it take for the sun to rise! Ugh. I leaned back and listened to the crickets play their song. There was no noise other than that. Weird.
"It's quiet," I observe frowning. Tala raised her head and perked her ears up in an attempt to hear better. We sat still for a few moments. The hairs on the back of my neck start to stand on end. I don't like sitting in one place for too long. "Let's get moving." I whisper.
"Hai," Tala agrees. When we finally get out of the tree, we start moving towards the river I had heard earlier. At first cautiously, pausing every now and then to listen or scan the surrounding woods, then more boldly. After what seems an eternity I start to glimpse the river between the trees.
"If I remember correctly, this river goes by the Leaf Village." Tala whispers nonchalantly.
"You're memory is as sharp as ever," I reply bluntly. I'm more concerned of those hunter-nin that had just disappeared. They couldn't have given up. They know I am wounded. So why are they staying in the shadows. Why not just attack us, rather than wait for us to recuperate from their first attack? We reached the edge of the forest, where the underbrush turned to rock, then to the soft sand that lined the dark sapphire river. Looking over to the east I can see the beginnings of dawn. I love watching the sun rise and I automatically relaxed at the sight of the pearl light slowly turning to turquoise and ending in the dark midnight blue. Beautiful. How ironic. Women wake up early in the morning to preen and prick and polish themselves in front of mirrors instead of enjoying mother earth's wonders. Whoa, hold up. Did I just say that? Land sakes. It must come from living out in the wild for three years. After being away from beauty products for that long you start to appreciate the beauty around you. Ack, there I go again! I sound like my grandmother, going all sentimental over the smallest things. I look at the sunrise again, and a strong feeling crashed into my chest. The feeling of a presence, somebody watching the dawn just as I was. Maybe it was him... whoa now! Don't even go there! I certainly wouldn't be feeling his presence from such a distance. Not after what happened. While I was trying to tame the torrent of thoughts in my head I unconsciously shifted my weight to my left leg. Owweeeeee! First I better bind up my leg or I'll bleed to death. Sighing, I turn my torso around to reach into my bag for my gauze and came face to face with the hunter-nin. Mentally I groaned. Grr-eee-aaa-tuh. The shinobi's arm flashed towards me holding a kunai. Twisting the rest of my body around I lean back limbo style so his arm is parallel with my torso. Placing my hands flat on the rock, I wrapped my legs around his neck. Pushing off of the ground in a mighty shove I sent myself and the ninja into the sky spinning like a top. When the earth come closer I suddenly snap my legs down successfully snapping my quarry's spine in half. Landing on my feet, I wince as my leg screams in protest. Bracing myself for the pain, I stood and sprinted towards the river. Or at least I tried. Every time I put my left foot on the ground my leg kind of half-buckles so now I'm running with this oh so graceful limp/stumble/run. How the heck are these hunter-nin not falling out of the trees laughing?
Now they are starting to appear. Once again I'm surrounded, but this time I am not alone. Also they have not cut me off from the river. I just have to get to the river. Weapons fly at me from every direction. Using only my right leg for balance, I move along the ground dodging the weapons one at a time. Duck my head, now quick jump to the right! Move left and swerve. Turn my body 180 to the right, now to the left. Jump up and lean back. Oh brother. This feels more like the cha cha dance than a fight.
I'm almost to the river. The ANBU see my beeline and vainly try to cut me off. Just a few more steps and... I'm there! These ninjas are so screwed. I think. My main power is I can control water. Maybe with the coming dawn and the river combined I'll be able to defend myself somewhat until the sun rises and I will be able to kick butt. I position my arms in front of me and raise them. The water around me rises to shield me from more weapons thrown my way. Yes! The shinobi form a ring around me. Where's Tala? Oh, there in the river beside me. As soon as I am distracted the water falters and falls back to the river soaking me to the bone. Whoops, I have to do better. A kunoichi in front of me makes a series of hand signs. I recognize it instantly and make my own hand signs to counter attack. The Water Dragon rises above my head, its gaping mouth snapping as it lunges towards me. The water rises around me once more, but this time it forms a dome. Infusing my chacra into it I am able to make it hard as cement. The Water Dragon crashes down on my water dome. I can feel the drain on my body as my chacra burns out of my system. I'm starting to pant and my legs are shaking. I can't go on much longer. Either that sun rise or a miracle happen. Because, I am so totally dead. Miraculously my dome withstands the attack. When I am finally able to see out I can't see any of the ANBU. Not good. I can see the wave rising before me but for some reason my mind doesn't register it.
"Move!" I snarl to myself. I start to release my jutsu.
"No, too late!" Tala yelped. The wave has already crested and is heading straight towards us. We'll have to try to wait it out. The wave crashed down upon us. My dome didn't have a chance. The weight of the water was overwhelming. It crushed the breath out of my chest and sent me head over heels. Everything was blue. Nothing made sense. The only sound was the roaring of the wave. Rocks and debris hit my body, bruising and cutting it mercilessly. The surface! Get to the surface! Everything inside me screamed for me to swim to safety or at least someplace with air.
Obediently, I fought the powerful current, pumping my arms and legs. Black spots appeared in my vision. No! My lungs burned and my heart pounded painfully against my ribs. When I thought for sure I would drown, I broke the surface. Gasping in the blessed air a wave unexpectedly pulls me under causing me to inhale water as well. I broke the surface once more and this time I was able to keep my head up. Then I heard a noise that I just couldn't put a name to. The water frothed ahead of me and suddenly I knew. A waterfall. Before I could try to swim the opposite way I was flung out into empty space. At first I go straight then I seem to slow down and pause for a milli-second. Then I drop down. I've got too much water in my lungs and I can't breathe properly. Blackness creeps upon my vision once more. I can't see Tala. I can't see the world. Time seemed to slow for me as I fell and everything came into focus. I could finally think straight. I knew there were rocks at the bottom of this waterfall. I know I am completely out of chacra. I know the sun hasn't risen yet. I know that Tala isn't anywhere near me. And I know I'm going to die. I don't like to scream. It hurts my throat afterwards. But I was going to die. I was afraid. What the heck? I took as big a breathe as I could and screamed. I sang to the wind my song of death as I plummeted to the rocks below.
*That's how animals clean their wounds.
Author's Note: To me it didn't sound like that much of a cliff hanger but hey! You guys are the reader, so you be the judge. Announcement time! Kakashi will be in the next chapter when he sees the main character. So far I'm playing around with the idea of next chapter Kobayashi's POV fourth chapter Alsoomse's POV, then the rest of the chapters I'll just go second person. Okay so please review let me know how I'm doing, if you have any suggestions, comments, or constructive criticism then please e-mail or PM or send it in a review. Bye!
Wolfsong01