～映画物語～

藤原のムラサキ

XxX

The months had passed monotonous succession, Murasaki now confined to the Missions room and the Hokage's office. Why Sarutobi had suddenly chosen to tighten her reigns evaded her, but she took the work like a good little soldier. Nothing could erase the effect of the Conflict: she was so much changed, as was everyone else who had experienced it.

Murasaki's heart had festered with antipathy for Kakashi, stemming from his mocking kiss. For some reason, this had changed her personality greatly. She didn't feel like laughing the way she had before, she simply set about her tasks with mindless monotony. It was as if life had lost all meaning and beauty.

There was no stirring in her heart to write anymore, her inkstone laying forgotten in the drawer of her desk, the inksticks and brushes scattered about the floor in a midst of clothes and papers. Depression had seized Murasaki, and not even the cheerful company of Gai or the secretly codependent attitude of Iruka could bring her out of it.

But somehow, in these situations, people find the strength to pick up and move on. It was a struggle for Murasaki, Kakashi's jeering actions always laying under the surface of her mind, but she found that she could at least pretend to not dwell on it.

It was a blissfully mild mid-summer morning. Murasaki sat at the kitchen counter-turned table, her usually heavy, traditional clothing reduced to a pair of shorts and a loose t-shirt, her chocolate hair pulled away from her neck in a high ponytail.

Today was one of those beautiful, rare days that she had devoid of any duty as a kunoichi that didn't come by nature. Today, she was merely a teenage girl.
Jiraiya came out into the room, stretching his muscles in the cool air and scratching his stomach.

Without a word he came into the kitchen, kissing the top of his daughters head, and opening the refrigerator.

"What are you planning on doing today?"

"I didn't really have plans, I just figured I'd relax…"

"Relax? You mean you aren't go to train today?"

Somehow, the placid surface of Murasaki's brain rippled, and she forced herself not to think of the reason why she trained so hard on her days off.

"No…I think I deserve a break." Murasaki said as Jiraiya popped the marble on his soda bottle.

"Oh do you?" He asked, his dark eyes glittering with amusement. "Careful you don't get rusty."

Murasaki scoffed, stretching her back, reaching an open hand towards the white ceiling. She felt miles away from the woman she'd been on the battlefield so many months before, and perhaps, for the first time in many years, she felt mildly normal, if such a thing existed.

There was a knock on the door and both father and daughter paused, Murasaki staring at the door in horror. Jiraiya glanced at her as he set the soda bottle down with a frown.

"Murasaki?"

Without giving her father a chance to stop her, she bounded over the counter, wrenching the door open with the fierceness of a lioness.
Uchiha Sanjo stood there, his frame oddly frail looking as he smiled broadly at her, pulling his hat off to expose his tousled black locks.
"Saki-chan, are you surprised to see me?"

Murasaki felt her father yank her out of the way as a kunai missed her throat by a hairsbreadth, crimson roaring in the Uchiha's eyes like two inextinguishable flames.

"Dad! Don't look into his eyes!" Murasaki cried as her father threw her with such force, the sheetrock caved as her spine collided with the wall. She got back up again, spitting the dust out of her mouth as her father engaged the rogue Uchiha in combat, grappling him and throwing him to the ground. Sanjo was clearly not concerned with his own safety, fighting free of Jiraiya and making the hand seals for a katon technique.

Jiraiya and Murasaki moved on either sides of him as a steady stream of fire burst forth. Jiraiya tossed a kunai, and Murasaki caught her finger in the looped handle, spinning it in her hand. The father and daughter team struck strategically into Sanjo's neck. Blood poured forth, but he wasn't about to relent, his own kunai swiping at Murasaki in desperation, gashing her shirt across the stomach.

"Murasaki, run, get out of here!" Jiraiya snapped, stepping between them faster than Murasaki could detect, the flames from the katon jutsu licking up behind her, the kitchen now scorched and black as the apartment filled with caustic smoke.

"Dad…"

"Just go." he roared over the flames, grabbing Sanjo's black hair as he plunged a kunai into the teens lower back.

Murasaki sped past them, Sanjo's kunai nicking Murasaki's cheek as she ran into the early morning sunlight, her eyes watering from the smoke. Sanjo was on her heels, his face resembling that of a demon as he pursued her. They only advantage she had over him was her relatively uninjured state, though her cheek stung slightly from the gash.

She turned, launching a kunai straight at his chest. He blocked it deftly, his Sharingan almost gleaming in the sunlight.

Murasaki tripped over a trashcan as she clutched the wall for support, the gravel street biting at her bare feet. The kunoichi leapt onto a rooftop, gripping the clay tiles for support as she dangled for a moment. Sanjo grabbed her heel, and she let go, turning and kicking him in the face with a terrible crunch as the ball of her foot crushed his cheekbone and she broke her own large toe.

He let go and she landed on her feet, twisting her ankle, but not ready to give up the ghost. She reversed the pursuit, chasing after him as he scrambled away, her former teammate flinging shiruken wildly at her as he backed away. Murasaki was aware that some were lodged in her arms, but she had to continue her advance, drawing on her chakra and striking with her bad foot. First kick failed, but she pirouetted, disrupting and redirecting the airflow like a blade and struck directly into his torso, her chakra going much deeper than she expected. He wretched, coughing up blood and seized her leg as if to tear it out of it's socket.

The shamaness fell hard, bruising her hip as he clawed his way on top of her, his face dripping blood.

"Come on, Saki-chan…you couldn't kill me…" He whispered with a smooth sweetness she'd never heard before, his face dipping close enough that his lips brushed against her cheek.

Murasaki curled her leg to her chest, kneeing him between the legs before scrambling away, running along the busy street.
Murasaki's mind was numb. She wasn't actually going to kill him, was she? No, she couldn't possibly! They were comrades, teammates, friends…she couldn't…
But he could.

Murasaki took a deep breath: it was just a matter of either outrunning or outsmarting him. The Sanjo she knew was relatively easy to outsmart, but how much of that was an act, she no longer could be certain.

She bolted up the street, her ankle finally giving out as she pitched forward, a burst of blood coming from her nose as her face collided with the dirt. For no reason at all save pain, tears sprang into her eyes and she got up, stumbling forward. Sanjo was closing in on her…
Her nimble fingers were slick with blood and sweat as she formed hand seals: bird, dragon, tiger...

"Crown Chakra Gate Spiritual Release: five percent limitation."

XxX

Kakashi quickened his pace as he leapt through the trees on a return trip to the Village. It had been a reluctant trip back, knowing he would face many questions from Jiraiya and Sarutobi-sama alike, questions requiring details Kakashi wasn't entirely certain he wanted to answer. But he was glad to be rid of Megumi for a while, free from her nagging, simpering presence.

The Village was drawing closer, or vise versa, the scent of smoke tinting the air slightly. Kakashi quickened his pace, his limbs tingling with excitement and energy. There was chakra in the air, a large amount of it, and it made his skin crawl slightly.

His feet had no more touched ground just inside the gate when three ANBU rushed past him as sirens screeched through the summer air.
"What happened?" Kakashi asked, turning to the gate-guards for an answer. One of them shrugged with mild interest before returning to his paperwork, while the other raised an eyebrow.

"Someone's kid set their apartment on fire with a katon or something…"

Kakashi let out a sigh of relief, easing his shoulders. If that's all that it was…

But still, there was a strange feeling deep in his chest that there was something amiss.

The clouds floated across the sky on their lazy way, the smoke disappearing into the vast expanse of blue.

A/N: hmm, sorry for the short chapter and lack of updates. Life is throwing me a few punches this year :(

I loved coming up with her jutsu's. I got the inspiration for her Spiritual Release from Trinity Blood and a little bit Bleach. Just be glad I'm not drawing inspiration from Hellsing ;)