Bitter Fruits: Chapter 4
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The first mistake the enemy made was to attempt to sneak up on them. He'd seen them coming, of course. And the Inuzuka man had smelt them coming, the upwind betraying them. From there, it became a matter of figuring out how many of them there were as opposed to their three.
The scar on his chest pulsed, a reminder of times past. It shouldn't, those days were long gone. He was a decade older, wiser, and history did not repeat itself. That he'd learnt.
The ground changed in consistency as they marched on, becoming wetter. It had recently rained here, and the soil was fertile, clinging to their feet. Not quite mud, but fighting in this would not be good, particularly as they did not know their enemy.
Over the next hour, they were followed in parallel, and then, they moved in closer and Neji felt sure there were four of them, not the two he'd originally sighted. Clearly they had been joined by the rest of their team. They were at a serious disadvantage, skulking about the country side on their way back to the coast, deep in enemy territory. He hoped they were average ninja, easily dispatched. Either they were novices at tracking, or so confident in their abilities that they were trying to scare them, keep them on edge. They needed to find safety, but the nearest town or village was another 30 clicks away. The sea was closer, and that was relative safety, dependent upon the condition of the sea.
These were not the days to belong to.
Their captain motioned a halt. A cousin of TenTen's, Hamaki, it almost felt as though he was working with her. Same sharp sense of humour, and the dedication to their mastery of their art.
The leaves in the tree shifted in a violent motion, and suddenly there was chakra whirling around them, wild pools of it that sort of reminded him of Naruto in half-form. Just without the malevolence, the heat, the oppression of it. This one felt relatively clean in comparison. A sickening crunch to his right tells him that Inuzuka's arm has been broken. He depends on strength, and lacks the finesse to gracefully avoid direct attack. Neji thinks that's why they chose him first – Hamaki's waving weapons from both arms and an exploding tag is pinned between his lips.
The attack on them both comes at the same time, he feels Hamaki dodge next to him, and does so himself from the senbon needles that have been aimed at them. He doesn't want to reveal his strength too soon, lest they re-think their plan. He wants to draw them in, lull them into a false sense of security.
A bone pops somewhere in the background noise of battle, and as Neji moves, he can see the Inuzuka man grimacing as he resets the bone, wrapping bandage around it as he bounces away from the chakra attacks.
It sort of reminds him of Temari's fans, but he doesn't give it more thought, thinking instead of his attacker that he now knows is hiding in the brush in front of him. He can see her, she looks about fifteen. Her forehead protector is obscured under her heavy mouse-brown fringe, and he wonders how she can go out to patrol, or fight with it like that.
He's not yet in stance, but then it wouldn't be good to betray his fighting style just yet.
She cocks her head, and Neji decides to be the cat this time, throwing a kunai lazily in her direction. Perhaps she'll guess. Perhaps not. Her lips purse into a surprised 'o', and then she launches herself at him, hands twirling a seal and he thinks it may be wise to brace himself – but nothing happens, and instead she's still coming closer, hands twirled into fists and they start fighting for real. Taking the time to assess her moves, he sticks to Academy style attacks. She's more graceful than he thought as he blocks punches aimed in quick succession at his face, his neck and his chest, then jumps to avoid the sweep of her legs.
The first punch he lands on her face twists her neck sideways, and for a second he thinks it might have broken her neck. Instead she shakes her head, and he sees brown eyes before she begins to aim punches at him again. It didn't even faze her. Perhaps that was what the hand seals did, numbing her nerves and pain receptors. Without the aid of soldier pills – if he made it out of here he'd have to tell someone about it.
So perhaps he would have to stop her dead in her tracks, and abruptly he switched to his usual style, bringing his shoulder around to barge it into her chest. She falls back, and again there is surprise plastered across her face.
Novice. But Neji doesn't dare smile. His spine straightened, a leg brought forward and open palms in front, he faced her.
Behind him he could tell that the Inuzuka guy was doing a lot better, and Hamaki had managed to injure one, keeping the other one at bay. He needed to finish her, quickly, and aid the others. Fighting with a broken arm was nigh impossible.
This time he ran at her, making false seals and hoping she wouldn't guess his attempts to fight at close range. She didn't, bracing herself instead. The first few hits he got in for free, before the surprised look on her face turned into one of realisation. But by that point it was already too late, and Neji didn't have to even think as he blocked her futile movements, cutting off her chakra points one by one. He didn't feel anything as he saw the blood began to drip out of her mouth, and the corners of her eyes until she collapsed in front of him, shaking slightly. A chop to her neck and she was out cold. Neji turned his attention to the others around him, noting that Hamaki had just dispatched one of their attackers and was doing well against the other. Inuzuka was struggling slightly, so he went to help him, seals forming a leaf shield that warded off kunai.
"Thanks." he rasped out, and Neji nodded in acknowledgement. A dull thud behind them confirmed Hamaki's successful dispatch. That left one for them all, and Neji felt the adrenalin in his blood stream waver and slow down. This battle was almost won.
The one in front of them was an older man, roughly of Hamaki's stature. Strong build, firm and compact. The look on his face was one of stubborn resignation, and Neji knew then that this was going to turn out fine.
Suddenly there was an impact of chakra, a dark force. Not as clean as the one beforehand, but not as oppressive as that of Naruto's in full-fledged shift either. It pressed against them, dank and unwelcome, swirling into their open mouthes, choking. Neji was unsure whether this was real or a genjutsu, breaking out of his shocked stillness into the Great Heavenly Spin. The chakra retreats, but he notes blindly that his compatriots are unconscious on the ground next to him. He refrains from uttering the string of expletives hovering on the tip of his tongue, settling instead into stance.
The man in front of him lightly dances towards him, and for a moment he thinks of Lee drunk. He shakes the image out of his head, directing a palm blast at his opponent. He dances out of its reach, but Neji doesn't mind. Moving forward, he approaches the enemy, both mirroring each others actions they circle one another. The man throws a punch that Neji parries, his fingers fluidly finding their mark in two chakra points that he cuts off with a gentle pulse. Through his eyes he sees the coils of chakra in his body readjusting to the absence of two points. They continue on, parrying kicks and punches, the man landing a fair few on Neji. But for everyone he lands, Neji cuts off another two points, and then the man begins to falter. He sways unsteadily on his legs, then falls to his knees, clutching his neck and coughing blood.
"Why did you attack us?" Neji pants out harshly, glancing over at his compatriots, one of whom was stirring. The girl was still out cold, the other two dead.
The man kept his silence, gurgling slightly on his own blood. Neji wanted to shout at him, but he refused to give the dying man the satisfaction of seeing his calm broken.
The man died quietly.
No identifying marks, nothing to point them to a particular village or faction. He'd never seen them in the bingo book before either, but that didn't mean much. They hadn't been that strong in the first place.
"The girl, Neji." Hamaka reminds him, breaking all protocols with the use of his name. Not that it matters, they always knew who they were fighting with.
He steels himself, walking over to her body while Hamaka rouses the Inuzuka, hoping that she hasn't woken. He places his palm on her chest and pushes his chakra in, stopping her heart. He doesn't allow himself to feel anything but the fact that survival is paramount.
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I believe the next chapter will be the last one. The events in this story foreshadow the second part of The Little Things. Hinata & Neji will be making an appearance there, but the focus won't be on them. Forgive me for the short chapters, but I find it best to write like this these days. R & R warmly welcomed.
