Disclaimer: I can't think of a better disclaimer, so here goes: I don't own Naruto. But (looks down and reads story) hey, I own a land!
The Land of Strawberries belongs to me, though. It's a tribute to my friend who likes strawberries.
Warning- prepare for mass murder, random moments, parts that will probably make you laugh or at least smile, and a –wait, that's going to spoil it.
The guards lead us to a stone fortress. I can see guards with telescopes, scanning the area around us. Security is tight; I wonder what they are so anxious about.
Walking down a few corridors, I calm down. Meeting Sakura and Naruto was unsettling, but I guess I have to suck it up and move on. I did get one good thing from that encounter, though. Seeing my friends again motivates me to think harder and start working on my plan to get back to Konoha.
There's a man in royal garments sitting at the front of large room. He's probably the Raikage. I kneel down and bow my head. Deidara looks at me, surprised. I can have manners too, you know! Tugging him down by the sleeve, I try to push him in a respectful position.
"Stop it, un."
"It's manners. Come on." The Raikage hears our squabbling and releases a great chuckle. We look up.
"It's fine. Though I'm glad to know the lovely young lady has respect for me, I would rather get to the point of this mission." I flush lightly. Deidara smirks at me.
"Alright, what's the mission?" he says. I roll my eyes. Does he have to be so blunt?
The man looks grave. "A week ago, my son was kidnapped by a neighbouring country, the Land of Strawberries."
"They sound harmless," I say.
"Perhaps, but we have been at war with them for months now. Yesterday, I received a letter stating that we must hand over 2 million dollars (sorry, I find dollars easier to work with than yen) in three days or else."
"So you want us to get him back, un," says Deidara in a bored voice. That's so predictable, what this Raikage wants us to do. I stand up.
"Let's go," I say. Deidara and I are almost out of the room when the Raikage calls us back.
"Wait! It is best if you follow this plan of attack," he hands me a slip of paper and walks out of the room through another entrance. I take one look at the paper and then chase after the Raikage.
"Sir, this is your timetable," I say. He turns suspiciously red, and after thanking me, hands me the correct paper.
Later, flying to the Land of Strawberries, I turn to find Deidara laughing.
"What?" He looks at me mischievously.
"Did you see that guy, un? That paper must have had something indecent on it to make him turn so red." I laugh.
"What do you think it could have said? 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM- drug experimentation?" Deidara grins at me.
"5:00 to 7:00- having unprotected sex." I make a face.
"That's awful!"
"Yours was just as bad, un."
"Whatever. Hmm… 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM- serial killing."
"Good one, un." We spent a few more minutes throwing ideas back and forth about the Raikage's schedule. Even though most of the ideas are horny- and I actually did punch Deidara in the arm after he suggested that the Raikage was secretly a Chippendale dancer- it was fun to forget about everything and laugh. I look over at Deidara. He's not that bad after all. I pull out the instructions for the mission.
"These are ridiculous," I say. He looks over my shoulder. This is what the paper said:
'It is best to sneak in with a disguise, so as not to incur the wrath of the shinobi army. Also, you must find a way to retrieve the prince, my son, without harming him.'
"Well that's obvious," I mutter. Deidara chuckles.
"So are we just going to fly in there and ask them for the prince back?" I ask. He smirks at me.
"That would be great but then they'd kill him, un."
"Agreed. Ahh… maybe we should use that disguise strategy. You think they would notice a couple of dogs roaming around?"
"A couple of dogs murdering a bunch of guards while flying away on a giant white owl with the captive? Sure, why not, un?" I smile. He's got quite a sense of humor.
"First we'll have to find out exactly where this guy is. Then we break in and I'll make sure they won't behead him or whatever they have planned."
"How?"
"Vectors, remember? Then we can get the heck out of there."
"You're pretty bossy, you know that, un?"
"Can you come up with anything better?" I challenge. He gives me a sideways smirk.
"I bet I could, but let's go with your idea first." I roll my eyes and pretend to look exasperated, but he knows I'm faking it.
Deidara lands the bird outside the Strawberry daimyo's house. He thinks it's most likely the prince will be imprisoned there. There are a few maids walking around a garden near the house, so I hide close to them.
"Aww, Suki-chan, why did we get stuck with emptying out the garbage?" a girl with blond hair smoothes out her maid's uniform and swings a large plastic bag over her shoulder.
"It's a lot better for you than for me, you know! The daimyo takes a liking to you. Otherwise, you'd be emptying out the trash much more often. You're like his plaything." Her friend, a rather chubby girl with choppy brown hair grins at her friend. The other girl grimaces at her. I feel a pang of something strange. They remind me of myself and Sakura, rivals and yet best friends. How long will it be before I can joke with an old friend like these two girls can?
The blond girl stretches. "Yeah, you know the other day he said to me, 'You would be a good geisha, Kiyoko-chan.' Since when does he call me 'Kiyoko-chan'? He's a fat old geezer, and he smells like rotten fish." The two girls laugh, and start to walk away in the direction of the house. I quickly raise two of my vectors and jab the girls on the neck, so they become unconscious. Stepping out of the bush, I wind a few loops of twine around their wrists and ankles and hide them behind a tree. Henge-ing (I don't know the word for it. Is it Henging? Henge-ing?) into the girl called Kiyoko, I nod to Deidara.
"Aren't you coming?"
"Aww, do I have to be her, un" I give him an exasperated look.
"I suppose we could turn you into a dog instead. How about that? Or maybe a horse?" Deidara glares at me but henges into the other girl. I start walking away.
"Come back here when you're done, un," he calls over to me. I wave without turning around. Finally I'm by myself. I walk up the front steps, only to face a large ornate wooden door. It's at least three times my height. I grimace; two seconds into the mission and I'm already intimidated? But I push open the door and walk in anyway.
Inside, the ceiling is painted with woefully nude female angels and is about twenty feet high. But there are pillars with intricate carvings of leaves and flowers on them, and all of them are sprayed with silver paint. I'd say this daimyo is a very rich pervert.
I make my way up several flights of long marble steps. On the way, I pass several maids, who smile at me. They are all wearing the same frilly white and black maid outfit I am. I feel ridiculous, but if my disguise can keep me out of trouble, I'll bear it. Suddenly, a group of giggling teenage maids rush out of an adjoining corridor and rush past me. A couple of the girls wink at me, and most of them even give me warning looks and point their thumbs to the corridor they just came from. As I stand there, confused, a short brunette squeaks to a stop next to me. She looks around frantically, and then gestures for me to come closer. I hesitantly stand next to her.
"The daimyo's coming. He wants you to come to the geisha chambers." Her whispering is fast and scared. She is probably Kiyoko's friend and doesn't want her to fall into the hands of the daimyo. I nod.
"Thanks," I say. She sends me a worried look and hurries after the other girls. When she's out of sight, I place my hands on my hips and walk straight into the corridor which the maids came from. I'm not afraid of some 'fat old fishy geezer' as Kiyoko referred to him. Ok, maybe a bit disgusted at the thought of meeting him, but definitely not scared. I peek into the hall.
An extremely overweight red-faced man is walking into a room. He wears elaborate scarlet and gold robes, which are paired with ridiculous shoes that curve up at the toes. A small golden crown sets off the whole ensemble, but even the glamour of the clothing cannot hide his ugliness. I stick my tongue out.
The daimyo turns to me, a wide grin spreading across his face.
"Kiyoko-chan! Just the woman I wanted to see. Come and make yourself at home," the daimyo says in a voice that most people would find elderly and kind, but ruined by the fact that his eyes trail over my- Kiyoko's- body. I curtsey, and walk over to him. Ugh, now I can see him up close. He's got greasy hair, yellow bloodshot eyes, and a tiny sneer hanging on his lips, which have bits of mustard still clinging to them. I think I might throw up if he wasn't looking.
"Go on, come in, don't be shy," encourages the daimyo. He places his hand on the small of my back and guides me into the room. I swear his hand shifted to my rear for a fraction of a second.
The room is large and attractive, with many oriental paintings of pandas and other nature. Futons lie on the floor, separated from others by a few feet. Bamboo screens divide the sleeping spaces from each other. In the center of the room, a group of a dozen or so geisha in fancy kimonos sit in a circle. A few of them look surprised to see me, but they smile and bow at the daimyo.
"Ladies, this is Kiyoko. She's going to be a novice geisha, so be nice to her," the daimyo unleashes a great laugh and slaps me on the back. I felt his fingers graze the top of my butt again. The geishas all smile at me.
"Kiyoko-san," they say. I smile back.
"It's okay, I shouldn't be called that. I'm very inexperienced. Kiyoko will be fine," I reply. The daimyo starts beside me, but regains his composure.
"Modest as always, Kiyoko-chan," he drawls. Another slap on the rear. I want to spank this guy, right now.
"But modesty isn't the only thing Kiyoko needs. Discipline is also highly valued in this okiya." The daimyo looks around sternly at all the geisha.
"I heard a rumor that you, Aizou-chan," he points at a delicate-looking girl with glossy black hair, who instantly pales. "You had a boyfriend whom you met in a nearby restaurant. You were often going on dates with him and were rumored to have rented a room at a hotel." A few of the geisha gasp. The daimyo accusingly stares at the girl called Aizou. She trembles, and gives the daimyo a pleading look. He calms down slightly.
"I know this rumor to be false, but it has come to my attention that you have indeed been sneaking out at night. This is unacceptable. Yura-chan, please hand me the whipping rod." A geisha in a blue kimono stumbles to the corner of the room and removes a sturdy stick with several spikes protruding from its end. Aizou whimpers and buries her face in her hands. Taking the rod from the geisha, the daimyo smacks the stick several times against the palm of his hand. Then, he yanks at the frightened girl's obi. It instantly falls off and crumples to the floor. Pulling Aizou's kimono off until it bares her naked back, he leans over her and slashes the rod against her skin.
She screams. I see large, wet tears slide down her white cheeks. A large gash is showing clearly on her back. It's a diagonal strike, and blood is already bubbling out of the cut and leaking over her back. The daimyo pulls the rest of the kimono off her, and she lies naked in a sobbing pile on the ground.
"No use soiling this on a disobedient girl like you," he says. Then, he raises the horrible rod again and slashes another diagonal stroke across Aizou's back. She screams again, and now there's a bloody X on her back. Blood runs over her shoulders, into her rear and drips onto the floor. Why is he so cruel?
You can end it all, you know. End this girl's suffering, stop that bast-rd.
I hesitate. But the daimyo has been awful. I want to stop him, put an end to it all.
Let's show him what we're made of.
I exhale a long breath. I didn't realize I've been holding it in since the girl's torture started.
… Ok.
…
"Girls," I say. The geishas all look at me. "You might want to turn around." Now they are staring quizzically at me. I un-henge myself, and snake a vector around the daimyo's stout neck. He splutters and chokes. My vector is invisible, but the geishas know enough to see that they daimyo is going to suffer. All of them turn around.
I face the daimyo. "You have been cruel, as merciless as the devil." I take a step closer. They daimyo is watching me with panic-stricken eyes. I do not care.
"This is for all who have suffered by your hand. I hope you rot in hell." In one sweeping motion, the daimyo's head plummets to the floor. I look at it scornfully. Aizou is still weeping, so I walk over to her and heal the gashes. She looks at me, surprised and yet grateful. I smile at her.
"You're going to be ok," I say. Handing her the kimono, I turn away and stand in front of the daimyo's head. I'm blocking it from the geishas' view.
Placing my vectors around the crown, I easily bend the metal over the daimyo's ears. Now, I can lift the crown and his head will follow. I won't have to touch that awful head. Then, I rip a piece of fabric and drape it on the stump of the daimyo's neck. The fabric is quickly stained with blood, but it spares the sight of decapitation. Now, it just looks like the daimyo went to sleep with a red cloth over his head. I turn around. The geishas are all staring at me, with innocent curiosity in their eyes. I'm glad I spared them the sight of bloodshed.
"Sorry," I say, "I'm a shinobi, sent here to retrieve the prince who was kidnapped from Kumokagure. Could someone tell me where he is?"
A tall girl in a red kimono points to her left. "Go that way, and the third room's the one they're keeping him in." She smiles. "Good luck."
I leave the room and turn the corner. Something drips to the floor, and I realize I'm still holding the daimyo's head by the crown.
"Hey, Ino-chan!" I look up. Deidara is coming towards me, and there's a teenage boy clutching his arm. By the way the prince is clinging to Deidara, and his body position, I think he could be 'fond' of my partner. I smirk inwardly, hopefully Deidara knows what he's in for.
"Hello," I say. Deidara smiles at me, but his smile fades away as we make eye-contact. He's noticed the red eyes. The prince tugs at his arm.
"Senpai, can we go?" The boy whines. He's a pain in the rear, I can already see that. Deidara glances at me again.
"I couldn't get him without getting the guards to notice, so they raised the alarm, un." Right after he says that, I hear the sound of a blaring siren, followed by shouts from the guards.
"Senpai, you'll protect me, right?" says the prince. Deidara looks at him, probably in exasperation.
"You get off me, un." The prince steps away and looks hurt. By then, I've already begun walking down the corridor. There's a balcony in one of the rooms, so I walk into the room and look over the edge of the balcony. An army of guards have assembled in the middle of a courtyard.
"Looks like we'll have to fight our way out," I mutter. Then, I remember what I'm holding and smirk.
"I might as well return something to them."
"Ino-chan, what are you-" Deidara starts to say. I stretch my hand, the one that holds the head of the daimyo, over the balcony and drop it. It plummets down, and finally lands with a wet splat. All the guards look over at the head. The man closest to the head collapses on the ground, dropping his spear in the process.
"It's- it's the d-daimyo!" he exclaims. The other guards look up, and see the three of us on the balcony.
"Hey, are you the ones who killed him?" One of the guards calls to us. I sneer at him.
"Took you long enough to figure it out." My eerie cold voice echoes across the courtyard. I see a few guards shudder. One of the guards makes binoculars with his fingers and peers up at me.
"You're not a bad-looking b-tch. How about you whack all of us and we'll let you off the hook for killing the daimyo?" The other guards wolf-whistle and cheer. I roll my eyes and turn to Deidara.
"You take him and go. I'm going down there."
"But Ino-chan, what if-" I slam two of my vectors into the balcony and push off. I fly in the air for a few moments, and then land in front of the guards.
"Oh kami, she flies!" says one of the guards. I narrow my eyes at them.
"Are you scared to kill me?" I ask. Smirking at them, I raise a few of my vectors and decapitate the first row of soldiers. Blood flies everywhere, and the guards behind them are splattered with the red liquid.
"It's the devil! Run!" yells a guard. A few shinobi run at me with kunais. They throw these at me, but the kunais just bounce off my vectors. I catch a few of them with my vectors and throw them back at the ninjas, at higher speeds. A ninja falls over, I embedded a kunai through his forehead. Blood spurts heavily out of the wound, and another shinobi stops to heal him. There's no hope, he's already dead. Someone runs at me with a Chidori in their hand, but I just slice the offending arm off and kill them while I'm at it.
I take a few steps closer, and everyone within my reach is instantly horribly mutilated. Only pausing to step away from a falling head, and to kick an arm away, I keep walking. Pushing my vectors into the ground, I leave two handprints sunk in the earth. Jumping in the air, I fly over the heads of the shinobi and land directly in the center of the group.
As soon as I land, jutsus filled with chakra come flying and crash into my shield of vectors. There are so many, I can't tell the difference between jutsus.
"It's not working! Retreat!" A shinobi yells. I snort scornfully.
"Oh, you're not going anywhere," I say. Stretching my vectors out, I can see that everyone within my radius, which is all the shinobi here, won't survive. Anticipating the bloodshed, I smirk.
"Farewell, humans," I mutter. Sweeping my vectors in a circle, I watch as the shinobi die in an explosion of blood and limbs. Blood splashes all over me, but I don't care. I'm a diclonius, and this is what I am here for. To end the human race. From the eyes of the fallen around me, I know that my vectors and sweet cruelty was the last thing they saw. Savoring my victory, blood pounding in my ears from the thrill of violence, I let myself slip away.
I open my eyes. I'm standing in the middle of a stone courtyard. Blood is dripping from my clothes, and I have to wipe away the crimson liquid that leaks from my hair. What happened here? There are people beheaded, missing limbs. All of them have fear in their eyes, and more than half are looking at me. I stumble backwards, and trip over my vectors, into a puddle of blood. Then I realize- I'm the reason these people are dead.
Staggering over to a wall, I lean backwards and close my eyes. But nothing can stop the guilt and horror that is pouring out of my heart, filling up every bit of my mind. I said the daimyo had been cruel, but what he was is nothing compared to the demon I have become. Laying my blood-dripping head on my arms, I bury my face in my knees.
Days, hours, minutes, I don't know, later, I hear footsteps. They're approaching me, and every step is squeaking with blood. I screw my eyes shut tightly. I don't want company. My burden, my guilt is for me alone.
"Ino-chan?" I know it's Deidara but I don't look up. I hear movement, and a hand on my shoulder. He shakes me lightly, but I don't stir.
"I know you're awake, un." I slowly raise my head, not looking at him. I'm not sure why I am afraid to face anyone right now. Then I realize- looking at someone, to me, would be admitting that I have done something wrong, done something worse than wrong. So I don't look.
"What's wrong?" He sounds genuinely curious. I don't want to speak, but somehow something breaks inside me and I let go.
"I killed," I say. My voice is heavy, and full of guilt. "Dozens of people. I didn't even want to, it just… happened." Then I lower my head. "Why did I do that? I didn't have to kill them, but something just burst out; maybe I- I really am an awful thing inside. I'm awful, no- worse than that. I'm a cruel murderer who doesn't care about anyone else. I had a choice, I could have let those people live, but instead I killed them all. I should die." I close my eyes halfway. There's movement near me. Maybe Deidara's going to activate that bomb inside me and kill me? But instead, I feel wetness on my cheek.
I look up. His palm is a few centimeters from my face, and the tongue is sticking out. Did it lick me? I blink, and squirm away. Deidara is smiling at me, and I grimace slightly.
"What was that for?"
"It's a reality check, un." I blink again.
"Huh?" He sighs.
"Ino-chan, no one can go through life being perfect. And if you're a true shinobi, you have to kill people sometimes, un. It's like ridding the world of evil, you know?"
"But-"
"Besides," Deidara cuts me off, "would you rather bang all those shinobi just so that idiot and I could run, or kill them all?" I frown.
"That's not much of a choice."
"My point is, saving them wouldn't have been worth it. You didn't kill a bunch of saints. So don't feel too bad about it. You can make up for it by being nice and whatever crap you stand by, un."
"I don't 'stand by crap'." He doesn't seem to notice I said that and examines the blood all over me.
"We better get you to a shower or something. I can't lick the blood off, unless you want me to, un." Deidara holds up his palm. The mouth there is licking its teeth, as if it's anticipating what it is going to taste. I laugh.
"Thanks," I say, and I smile. "You're a good friend." Something flashes in his eyes for a moment, but then it's gone. I think I imagined it. We fly back to Kumokagure, where the Raikage generously offers to have a bath drawn and some clothing to be provided for me. I accept, while Deidara says something about how I better not take too long.
They let me use the maid's washroom, so I sink myself in the large bathtub. Water rushes around my head, and the steam smells of clover. But I shouldn't take too long, so after a few minutes I dry myself and turn to examine the clothing. After a moment of examining the outfit, I smirk. Wait till Deidara sees me.
As I walk into the room, Deidara is sitting on the floor cross-legged. I guess someone gave him a bowl of peanuts, which he's eating, so I wait for a few moments.
"Hey, do I look ok?" I ask. When he finally turns to look at me, I don't think I've ever seen him look so shocked. I smile. It really is quite some outfit that the Raikage gave me.
The shirt is a purple off the shoulder long sleeved top, with golden curling designs on the bottom right corner and under the collar. I always thought that revealing shoulders was a fashion trick many girls don't always take advantage of. I'm also wearing a pair of black fairly loose pants with white snowflakes sewn around the pockets. This is the nicest set of cute-yet-casual clothes I've ever worn. I smile, and he grins back at me. Then, a minister wearing brown robes walks into the room, stops, and ogles at me. A large smile breaks across his face.
"My, my. Who's this pretty young lady? Are you a new geisha? I hope I'm correct. It will be very pleasant to have you entertain at our formal dinners." At that moment, Deidara, I think, chokes on a peanut. But his coughing doesn't sound real. It may sound genuine to anyone who isn't a ninja, but I am one and I can tell the difference. Just in case I'm wrong, I walk over and punch him in the stomach so he can 'breathe' again.
Cough cough cough – then there's a sound which I'm not sure I can describe, but I can describe the sight of it. Deidara spat the peanut out at a very high speed, where it shot across the room and hit the minister in the eye. The man stumbled out of the room, and I made sure we left just as fast. Once we were seated on the bird, I looked accusingly at Deidara.
"Ok, what was that for?"
"I choked, un. Don't they teach you that in Konoha?" I raise my eyebrows.
"I'm a medic-nin, so I can tell the difference between a real cough and a fake cough. And I find it hard to believe that you, while supposedly coughing your lungs out, can spit a peanut so that it directly hits some guy who happened to be flirting with me at that moment." I look straight at Deidara. He smirks.
"Not so witless after all, aren't you, un?"
"I was never useless." He scoffs and brushes hair out of his face. As he does so, I catch a glimpse of a red mark.
"Hey, what's that?"
"What?"
"That!" I point at him. "Did someone slap you or something?" Deidara sighs.
"Idiot prince tried to go at it on me (you interpret this yourself) so I yelled at him and he slapped me. Are you happy?" I giggle at this, and then the giggles turn into full blown laughter. Before I know it, I'm nearly falling off the bird.
"-laugh- I knew it! He -laugh- was gay after all!" I can hardly get out a sentence. "Hahahahaha -cough- you got slapped by a guy -hahahaha!" I've utterly lost it, but I don't mind. Laughter is my way of getting out stress, and can you expect me not to poke fun at the fact that a gay guy tried to hit on Deidara and slapped him?
He waits for me to finish laughing, with a half-amused, half-exasperated face.
"Are you done yet?"
"-cough cough- I think so." I lean backwards on the bird and look at the night sky above.
"What do the stars remind you of?" I ask. He thinks for a moment, and says "Explosions that my art makes."
"That's such a Deidara response," I say. "It's exactly what I expected you to say." I laugh and face the sky again.
"What's wrong with that, un?"
"Nothing." This talk about stars reminds me of something. After a few moments, I sit up.
"I think they're like people weeping."
"Really."
"I heard a song about it once. I think it was about… two lovers who couldn't be together. There was this one beautiful line it in that I really liked."
"What did it say, un?" I turn to face him.
"The stars in the sky are like people weeping for our love. Something like that." There's a sudden gust of wind, and it blows Deidara's hair out of his face. He is looking at me with a strange expression in his eyes. I've never seen anyone look at me like that before. Then the wind stills, and the spell is broken. I lie back on the bird, and he turns away.
"Good night," I say.
"Good night, Ino-chan."
Wow, I thought my previous chapters were long, but this is the longest yet!
That line about the stars is really from a Cantonese song I know. It's by Anita Mui, if you want to know. I don't know the title though. Apparently it's a duet between her and someone else.
Yeah, I know there's a lot of bloodshed in this. But the next chapter is friendlier.
I noticed that we still don't know Ino's vector range and number. That will be revealed in the next chapter.
Thanks for reading and please review!
