I do not own Naruto

Chapter 4

The Whirling Wind Vortex

Amaya struggled to breathe and gasped for air, choking until there were tears in the corner of her gaze, not yet spilling out but just enough moisture for someone else to notice. She lifted a shaking hand to her heaving collarbone and clutched her delicate skin there, swallowing so that muscles contracted. She looked around wildly, desperately attempting to even her erratic breathing and calm herself. Her silver eyes were hazed, unable to focus on anything.

Tobirama stared at her shocked, his mouth open slightly and his red eyes widened in disbelief. His heart beat loudly until that was all that was there until they met their gazes and he was lost in her eyes. He did not not realize that his arms were around her until after she had melted into him. By now she was hyperventilating, short bursts of ragged breath choking on words that made no sense. Some were foreign and others were lamentable and Tobirama's notion about her was finally confirmed: Amaya Mae had lived a very tragic life.

The Senju held her close, suddenly very conscious of how their bodies seemed to fit together perfectly, especially because of her bare form. She eventually pushed away, her mouth parted slightly and unable to meet his eyes. She backed up until she hit a tree and she collapsed to the ground, wrapping the blanket she dropped when she awoke around her shoulders. She finally met Tobirama's eyes again and fidgeted under his scrutinizing gaze and put her arms around her knees.

She opened her mouth to speak and raised her hands but stopped and dropped them. She let the back of her head hit the bark with a thump. She chewed on her lips, holding her hands into tight fists. She at last rubbed her face before glancing at Ryou for a moment and then turning back to Tobirama, nervously. She averted her gaze from his several more times, always looking back up before turning away. Sometimes she stared the forest, eyes searching, maybe for the wolves or maybe for hope. Other times she examined Tobirama, everywhere but his eyes. She stared at the ashes of the fire that had long since burned out before her words suddenly rung out in the silence of the forest aching and full.

"I'm always afraid to sit with my back to a tree," She paused to chew on her lips and her eyes flit to meet Tobirama's before darting away. " I'm scared that someone's going to creep up behind me and slit my throat without me noticing."

Tobirama said nothing for a few moments, the weight of a loose headband in his pocket. He glanced at his own that stuck out of his pack across from him. He took a few steps back to sit against the tree across from the woman.

"That's why you have comrades. They're to look behind trees for throat-slitters." He gave her a weak smile, hoping that she would brighten up in response, or at least explain herself.

Instead she just sighed and shook her head slowly. She glanced at the sky, her eyes reflecting each slow cloud as it floated by lazily. She laughed bitterly, the sound dry and harsh and shook her head. She turned to Tobirama and her gaze became gentle once more before she knit her eyebrows together and she smiled softly and mournfully.

"You aren't my comrade, Senju. You'll fear me too, one day soon." She looked away, at the frosted ground, her eyes agonized and rueful. Her words were not threatening, simply incredibly desolate.

Tobirama stared up at her closely, for the first time really examining her features. She was not perfect in the slightest. Her nose was upturned and tiny and her ears long and delicate. He noticed several scars that he never noticed before, one of which was a silvery spiderweb thin line along her cheekbone. Another shorter one laced the skin above her eyebrow and the last noticeable one swept lightly along her cheek.

Her anguish was beautiful and regal and it was terrible.

His breath caught and the breeze made its way across their campsite. Her hair tugged free from the loose knot at the base of her neck and tangled behind her, some strands whipping across her face. She stared at the leaves as the skittered across the ground before rising in the air disappearing into the forest.

He suddenly tipped forward, crawling until he was resting on his knees directly before the woman. She turned to him, surprised and he leaned closer until her breath warmed his lips. His scarlet eyes searched her face and she flattened herself against the tree trunk, her mouth parting in shock. He was half tempted to capture it there.

She was beautifully enticing. She was flushed, her cheeks red and full and her eyes glimmered in the light that the leaves of the trees overhead let in. Even her scars were delicate and elegant, at least the ones on her face and shoulders, silken lines sweeping across her frame. Thin marks sloped over her collarbone, disappearing beneath the blanket that she had loosened her grip on.

"What?" She jutted her chin out and chewed her lips, furiously. "Why are you staring at me."

He was gorgeous, broad and exquisite with eyes that could melt her with only one glance. She was entranced and frozen, her heart beat wildly in her chest and if he kept looking at her like that, she would no longer be responsible for her actions. She desperately wanted to touch his hair, feel how soft it was. She wanted to give herself up to his piercing gaze and she wanted him to want her too.

These were selfish wishes, she knew.

She could never allow herself to have a love like her parents had. She could never have something so pure. Especially due to what she was about to do. Her parent's had an arranged marriage that blossomed into actual love. They had four children in total, all sons other than Amaya. She had two older brothers and one younger one. Her father had been the leader of her clan, strong and powerful, their clan's jutsu was mighty in his veins.

She missed them terribly.

Her eyes focused once more on Tobirama and he reached for a lock of her hair, almost instinctually. He pulled away suddenly and sat down on the dirt before reaching in his pocket. He freed a forehead protector, one of which was engraved with the symbol of the leaf. He held it out for Amaya who stared at it, wide-eyed.

"I got you forehead protector," He grunted out. Amaya could swear that there was a blush dusting his cheeks. In response, she shook her head and pushed his hand away, her fingertips lightly brushing against the metal. Chills raced through her nerves and she retracted her fingers immediately.

"It'd be best if I was not affiliated with the leaf...for everyone's sake."

Tobirama paused for a moment before pocketing it once more. He nodded, understanding and pushed himself away from her, back to his position against the tree and glanced back up at the sky.

"Shall we move one then?" Tobirama asked. "With dawn rising we should get moving."

Amaya cleared her throat and looked away then rose to her feet. "I'll wake Ryou."

The three of them hid in the trees, silently. Upon Ryou's rough awakening, Amaya had returned to her doll-like state. She was elegant and tall and emotionless and she betrayed nothing that she had only hours before. Her eyes searched the world around her and with a barely decipherable head nod, she alerted Ryou and Tobirama of their enemies. It was fourteen men in total, each armed and each with large amounts of chakra.

The men were oblivious to the ninja in the trees as they packed bags full of kunai and sharpened their blades. Some sparred in the corners of the camp while others stoked the fire. Ryou held his breath, watching Amaya instead of the group of ninja below. Her eyes were hardened into steel and her back was straight and poised.

"Hold on to my clothing when I activate the jutsu," Amaya ordered flatly, her voice was iron and her will was fire. "I will kill you otherwise."

Tobirama turned to the woman, shocked and Ryou narrowed his eyes angrily. He shifted his stance and widened his shoulders, his eyes spinning into the sharingan.

"Was that a threat, princess?" His voice was low and dangerous, causing even Tobirama to startle at the tone. Anyone else would have backed down but Amaya shrugged slowly and turned to him. There was nothing in her gaze and her words were stilted and forced but terrifying nonetheless.

"It was a warning."

Both men turned to each other, almost not by their own volition before turning back to the woman. They only saw a flash of her lavender hair before she dropped to the ground softly, not even the leaves underneath her feet crinkling. Her head tilted up, her eyes searched theirs from the angle she had, bidding them to follow. They were lifeless and horrifying and blank, as if two-dimensional.

Tobirama followed her down first, unable to meet her gaze. He stared at the men who still had noticed their presence behind the bushes. He stood tall and scanned the surrounding area, searching for any members of the camp that had strayed from their main group. After a few moments, Ryou decided to come down as well. He landed against the ground harshly, the ground shivering slightly as he straightened.

He glanced at Tobirama, pausing for a moment and they made an unspoken pact. They were in this together for the moment. They would work as teammates as long as they both reached home safely and most importantly: they would protect each other from Amaya.

Together, they latched their fingers around Amaya's offered belt and she formed her fingers into a blur of unrecognizable hand signs. They seemed to go on forever, one after another, so fast that even Ryou with his sharingan had trouble keeping up. Instead of practiced hand signs, her motions resembled a song of old. It was ancient and grievous full of mourning and woe.

As the jutsu neared completion, the wind suddenly picked up speed and clouds gathered overhead. Leaves swirled around the trio and bugs stopped buzzing and the birds no longer sang. Tobirama held his breath and Ryou froze up. They looked around them as the world began to darken. The most terrifying part of it all was that Amaya began to hum. It was a slow tune, deep and dramatic. It became quick paced at times, furious and violent. Other times it calmed down and appeared serene, though the passion was behind every note.

The wind first came from the north, chilled and strong, wrapping around them. The next strong breeze came from the south, warm and kind. The east and west were next, both battling the sun. They all became stronger, a frenzied dance around each other. The wind became sharp, a lone burst from the east slicing the cheek of Tobirama and smelling of the dryness in the desert. Blood dripped down his jaw but he did nothing to wipe it away.

When the first note from Amaya's hymn hit the campsite, the hand signs had been the finished and the jutsu was in full motion. The whirling vortex had fully gathered now and battled around the trio, beings of the sky chasing each other's tail in circles around them. The sound became a high-pitched whine. Tobirama could simply feel that this jutsu was incredibly powerful and dangerous. The chakra was heavy in the air, weighing down on Tobirama and Ryou though Amaya stood tall.

The men looked up from their campsite at the woman who stalked forward, slowly and deliberately. There was nothing on her face but a blank slate, emotionless and terrifyingly beautiful. The world around them whirled dangerously, tendrils of wind snaked out and lashed around them.

Ryou held a hand out a trembling hand out to touch the wall of wind around them, but Tobirama cleared his throat and shook his head. His red irises followed a leaf that began to skitter closer to the group and it suddenly picked itself up and flew towards the trio. It reached the wall and disappeared, ripped to shreds and disintegrated. The two ninja that still held onto Amaya's belt held their breaths.

The group of men rose together, weapons in their hands and glinting dangerously in the afternoon light. Amaya did nothing as they began to approach until they reached edges of the vortex and her muscles pulsed, all at once. The cocoon widened and the first line of men suddenly disappeared, leaving nothing a spray of scarlet and a stain on the earth. Tobirama and Ryou could not react before the next line of men came tumbling into the wind and were erased from earth.

One man raced through the wall on his own. It opened, almost as if it welcomed him. He stumbled forward, shocked that he still had his life. His happiness was short-lived as his head tumbled from his body and landed to the floor, blood splattering all three inhabitants of the cocoon in scarlet. The woman lowered her now bloodied katana slightly, letting it dip and touch the grass at her feet. Neither Ryou or Tobirama had noticed that she had unsheathed the blade. She continued to move forward, the remaining men now keeping a distance, they were horrified, disgust and fear painting each of their faces, mirroring what surely was on the faces of Ryou and Tobirama.

The woman took a deep breath and breathed out, the cocoon expanding slowly, though it went by too quickly for the men that surrounded them. Tobirama and Ryou could not let out a warning as the jutsu enveloped the men and blood became tiny droplets before falling to the ground. The entire camp had dissolved into nothing but blood staining the earth.

Rain suddenly fell, only a few droplets until it was pouring down in thundering sheets heavy and painful washing away what had happened until there was no trace. The freezing temperatures shocked Ryou and Tobirama away from the monster, from the woman, and watched her carefully.

She turned to them slowly, revealing nothing but steel in her gaze. "We should head back now. Our mission is done."

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