Taiga's hair blew behind her in a disarray. After the small skirmish with the Konoha ninja, there wasn't a single moment to waste, never mind arrange her hair into a ponytail. It was a good thing she kept it just below the neck or otherwise her hair might have tangled in the branches above her. Considering the speed she was going at a knot might have been ripped off directly from her scalp, not something pretty to be thinking about.
Her next leap was just short of the branch she was aiming at. It was close enough to plant her feet against a trunk and stick with chakra, however. Shaking her head Taiga walked the length of the trunk to the ground below and sat down. Putting the boy on the ground she moved her shoulder in small circles trying to get the smartening to stop. If she carried the boy some more it might damage some muscles around her arm. That prospect was unacceptable as it would affect their chances to live. If someone attacked them again she would not be able to fight like before. Her chakra was a hair strand from being depleted, something obvious considering her lackluster performance in the previous jump.
Stretching her other arm she began to think while looking up. Although the canopy covered most of the sky there were still patches of blue peeking through the foliage. Small sun rays filled the air making dust particles dance in the air. It was something pretty to look at, nothing like the sky in Water Country. At the islands, the sky was gray most of the time while occasionally sunny, although that was as rare as rain in Wind Country.
Having finished her stretches she got up, gathered the unconscious boy, and begun walking on the ground. Traveling by branch jumping was out of the question as her chakra need to regenerate. After some yards she stopped altogether and looked in front of her without really seeing. She stood paralyzed, eyes clouded over and sweat running down her face. It was a flower on the ground that had caught her attention.
It was barely more than an inch above the ground and the stem looked fragile, a miracle it was growing upright. The true allure of the flower was its petals. They were a dull red with the border being an ocean blue. The center, instead of a usual yellow, was a bright green that made a nice contrast to the petals. While the flower was without a doubt beautiful and exotic it was not what was really interesting about it. The fact that it was intact in a sea of prone bodies captivated Taiga's attention.
The flower stood in the center of the forest floor while bodies surrounded it. The gray vest was a giveaway to what nation they belonged to. Puddles of blood surrounding the bodies intermingled and formed a gory river that ran close the flower and down towards Taiga's feet. Some of the cadavers were missing limbs and other were charred to a disgusting black. A particular body was facing up, its eyes closed to the beautiful afternoon sky.
Taiga fell down to her knees, dropping her load in the process. A small breeze passed through the forest bringing the pungent smell of charred meat and hair. Covering her mouth and nose with her hand she breathed deeply, trying not to vomit. Closing her eyes she began to count slowly until reaching seven. After some time passed Taiga walked towards the cadavers. She reached the body who was facing up and let out a small shriek.
It was the captain of her battalion, a stern man with strong hands and stronger jutsu. He had the respect of everyone he met, may they be higher ranking officials or rookies from the academy. It was an inert talent that he had, something Taiga was strongly jealous about. To see him on the ground with various shuriken embedded into his chest was disheartening. The captain was the foundation of everyone, if he fell then the rest were sure to follow. Although it was obvious he went down fighting as he still held a bloody kunai with an incredible grip.
Shaking her head Taiga went around the bodies looking at the faces that were not burned and turning over those that were facing down. When she arrived near her ex-captain again she was sure half of these people were from her battalion and the other half reinforcements. They must of have converged and run back to camp but sadly ran into an ambush. This was bad, really bad. The lack of evidence that Konoha ninja were killed meant it was a big group to overwhelm a dozen of her comrades. It was a good thing she was held back by helping the boy. If not she would probably be with this lot, dead and burned beyond recognition. It would be a shame to end her stellar career in such a fashion.
What really bugged her was that the Konoha ninja had the courage to push her line so far back. It was only a few hours on foot until she reached the West Camp. Meaning it was filled to the brim with Kiri ninja ready to defend oncoming attacks. Now that Taiga really thought about it, it was peculiar that a chunin team advancing on enemy ground would stop to deal with a genin.
Even if it was for interrogation purposes brats like the boy were the lowest rank and did not have any valuable information for the enemy. Hell, even she, a chunin, was in the dark about things that would seem useful to the enemy. The most she knew was the day's patrol route, and that changed almost daily. Besides, it looked like they were trying to kill the boy instead of capturing him, weird.
Shrugging her shoulders and deciding to ask the boy about his fight later Taiga put the matter on the back burner. The brunette went about collecting the ID tags of the dead ninjas. It was code to collect the identifications of fallen comrades, that way the village could more easily manage their personal, knowing who was dead and all. It also brought the plus to know who to deliver the bad news to. During her task Taiga borrowed a bandanna from one of the dead and covered her mouth and nose; no sense in smelling an odor that would make her vomit.
While going through her second burned body, and fifth overall, to see if the ID had survived her head snapped towards some rustling. It was the boy who seemed to be waking up. That was good, it meant she could have a helper in the gruesome task. She quickly finished her search, not finding and ID which was a shame, and walked towards the boy who seemed to be finally awake. Before she could even utter a single word the boy spoke.
"I didn't even kill anyone yet. I should be in heaven!"
Okay. Weird, but not the strangest thing she heard in her lifetime. Sitting beside the laying boy she turned her gaze towards him. It was clear he was scared, his eyes gave it away immediately. Thinking he was probably having a panic attack Taiga tried to calm him down. "Hey, don't worry boy-o, you're safe."
He did not seem to hear anything as he tried to edge away from her. It was useless as he had a broken arm and probably a concussion. The action irritated Taiga to no end. She, a gentle and pure soul, saved this boy when he needed help and all she received was being treated like a demon. "OI! Didn't you hear? You. Are. Save"
His response was something even weirder than before. "Stay away from me, demon!"
Demon? Could the brat read minds? Most importantly to be called a demon, the nerve. She wasn't that bad looking. Hell, she even got asked out on dates every once in a blue moon. Then again, the guys were drunk, it was a bar, and the lights were dimmed, but all that was beside the point. "All right. What the hell are you talking about, boy-o?" The boy made a thin line with his lips and kept on shuffling. Shaking her head she analyzed the boy for the first time.
His hair was a dull white although that might have been the dirt. A small scar was on his cheek, still pink in color, probably the work of a hurried healing by a medic-nin. His chin was sharp, similar to his nose, with some light stubble on it. The boy was probably an older genin then, unusual in wartime. Most genin were promoted before the age where they hit puberty. He was clothed in a gray hoodie with black pants and, of course, the trusty sandals of every ninja. His headband was tied around his bicep, unorthodox, but there was not a set code on how to wear it.
It seemed the boy resigned to get away and stopped his movements. His eyes still were paranoid though probably expecting a surprise attack or something. She spoke in a slow manner as to not alert the boy further. "Look, boy-o, you really are safe," her eyes flickered to the bodies for a moment. "How about telling me your name? Mine's Taiga."
The boy squinted his eyes and looked somewhere above Taiga's head. "Why would you like to know my name? It's so you can torture me while mocking me, right? Get away demon!"
Alright, screw being sensitive around the brat. "Listen here you little brat, when I count to three you are going to apologize, you hear me?" The boy turned his head away from Taiga.
"One" His movements begun a new. Just like a worm he tried to slide away. He might actually get hurt while doing this. After all, he was still hurt from his previous fights.
"Two" Oh? Was that just an inch that he advanced towards the left? Maybe the boy was stronger than he looked.
"Two-and-a-half" Nah, just her imagination. He was still in the same place as before.
"Three!" He stopped moving altogether. His breathing became calm and stabilized, nothing like before. Taiga moved the boy with the tip of her foot. Nothing happened, not even the groan she was expecting. Moving him harder it was clear he had passed out again. Shaking her head she looked towards the sky and cursed god once again. Now her helper was sleeping while she had to go back and search dead bodies. Joy.
Wiping her brow with the back of her hand Taiga looked at her handiwork. All the bodies were moved under a bush at the base of a tree. They had been placed one over another to make an organized pile. While she could have done better it was best if she advanced towards her camp as soon as possible, better if she beat the sunset. There were maybe another two hours before it became dark and the real problems began.
"Why did you do that?"
Ah! So the brat had decided to speak. She was aware that he had regained consciousness for a while now. Seeing how their last chat had ended it seemed better to leave him be. Besides, there was no way he was getting away without help. Turning towards the boy she asked, "Feeling better?"
After he passed out she propped him against a tree so he was sitting down. He narrowed his eyes and spoke slowly, "You are not a demon. Are you?"
"Sorry to disappoint but it's just me, a perfect beauty from heaven." That seemed to do something as the boy instantly brightened his mood.
"So you are an angel! I knew it."
Taiga shook her head in disgust. "No. I am a human being, just like you."
They boy narrowed his eyes again and looked and his surroundings intently. "So, I'm not dead?"
That caught her off guard. Dead? "Er...sorry to disappoint?"
His eyes widened and he became very still. After a moment he looked at her as if looking for an answer. Finally, he asked something that should have been obvious from the start. "So, you were the person that I saw in the trees!"
Taiga nodded slowly, was this kid that dense? "Yeah, and I'm the one who also saved you after you passed out like a sissy." Call her mean but she could not resist insulting the little brat where it hurt most, his manly pride.
For his part the boy did not react negatively at all, instead, he smiled. "Holy mothering shit, I fought three chunin and lived!" He stared at Taiga happily without a care in the world. "This will make them promote me for sure!"
Taiga doubted it as she did the bulk of the work but it was better not to pop the boy's bubble. It was still curious though, why did three chunin target a simple genin while being behind enemy lines? "Oi, boy-o, let me ask you something."
"Name's Akita."
"Yeah whatever, listen, tell me exactly how you encountered those chunin," Taiga said while looking up, "and make it quick, we are losing daylight."
According to Akita, he was on his way to deliver a message, containing the info for the incoming reinforcements, to her battalion. He was making a good time until there was an explosion some kilometers ahead of him. After abandoning the road and heading for cover in the forest he encountered Konoha ninja advancing towards the camp that he had left, he supposed. Thinking fast he made a dome of earth somewhat hidden. By the mercy of a nonexistent god, no one noticed it until the main force passed and some stragglers happened to come to close to his dome. After that, it was a chase until they cornered him inside the clearing where Taiga found him.
"And thank god you found me, Taiga, or I would of been a goner."
"Yeah." It was really lucky of the boy that no one from the main force noticed him. Still, something really troubled her. "So just to be clear, you never encountered a Kiri-nin other than me?"
He shook his head.
Something was up. The main force that Akita saw must have been the one chasing her retreating battalion meaning in front of the Konoha ninja there must have been some of her comrades. But that was not the case here, instead, it seemed as if there were already Konoha ninja inside Kiri territory. That only left a possibility that was not pretty to think about. She stood up and carried Akita on her back after some weak protest from the boy. She headed towards the bush with the bodies in it. "Oi, boy-o, these people, were they the reinforcements?"
"Y-yeah, they were." His tone was somber. Probably some of the cadavers were acquaintances. "But there were many more than just six people traveling together."
"How many more?"
"No idea. I have an encoded message with the details for the battalion leader though."
Taiga sighed, "Not much help as the guy is with this lot. Are you sure there were more than just a small group?"
"Yeah, many more."
Bad, bad, bad, bad, so fucking bad. "You know what this means, right?"
"Er...maybe?" Akita shrugged when Taiga turned her head and gave him a sharp look.
"Idiot! It means they passed our lines."
"Meaning...?"
"That we are in a shitload of trouble." And it was true. If Konoha ninjas managed to pass through her line undetected it meant another line had been broken before hers and no news had gotten out. Seeing as the Konoha ninjas managed to scatter the reinforcements it seemed as if the advancing force was a platoon. And platoons were only used in frontal attacks to push back enemies.
She sat down to think while Akita slid off her back. If that was happening this far West it meant it could be happening all over the peninsula that was the current battlefield. It was an all-out attack against Kirigakure forces. If what she thought was correct her rendezvous point and main camp of the West was overrun with Konoha ninja by now. It meant they were the ones behind enemy lines as of the moment. No wonder the chunin took time out of their schedule to deal with a genin.
Nodding to herself she began to scratch a bastardized map of her current position with a kunai. She then marked where all the other Kiri-camps were. Sad to say there were only three scratches in the map; being a chunin she only knew the main one in the four cardinal positions. The North was probably destroyed and the East and West were most likely being destroyed at the moment. The only position left was the South Camp, the biggest one as it was the first one established in the Land of Fire.
The sky was now a light orange, only an hour or so until sunset. The light would last her until she arrived at the halfway point to the South Camp, maybe. If she headed West then it would probably last until she made it to the edges of the Camp. Of course that way was filled with Konoha ninja ready to kill them on sight.
"Taiga, you're mumbling," said Akita what seemed in forever.
The brunette stopped her moving hand. When did she star to move it? The map was filled with various arrows going to West and South with some directed towards the East. It was a mess. She had lost herself while thinking again. Shaking her head she responded, "Can you walk?"
Akita turned his head to the side. "I probably could if I had a soldier pill."
Taiga pressed her lips together. "How about half?"
He shrugged his shoulders. Taking her kunai she wiped it on her pants and cut a soldier pill in half. She gave Akita one half and the other she took herself. After swallowing it and making a face, due to the taste, she stood followed shortly by Akita.
She kicked the dirt and got rid of the map before stretching her arms. The sky was orange with hints of indigo. "Alright, boy-o here's what we're gonna do. We'll head West and stay behind the enemy as it goes towards the South Camp. If we play our cards right the enemy won't know we're there and we can regroup when they reach it." Sparring a look towards Akita she asked, "Still with me?"
"Sure. Follow behind the Konoha assholes and pray they don't see us. Piece of cake!" Akita said with a smile on his face.
The plot thickens. Next Chapter and the one after that a fight ensues.
Thanks for reading.