Chapter 4: Bite of the Blind Dragon! (2,361 words) -and sorry it's been a while!
"Dai. Move." Roka signed, with hands shaking from fury, shame and embarrassment.
Barely waiting for Dai to duck out of the way, she flung a kunai as hard as she could at Ryu.
Just in the nick of time, Dai made it out from under Ryu's arm before Roka's Kunai whizzed toward the taller boy. Ryusuke on the other hand almost didn't make it, only jumping out of the way at the last possible second.
"Oi! Projectiles aren't fair Murasaki!"
"I'm a shinobi now Ryu. Why should I be fair?" She retorted in a suspiciously choked voice.
"Some shinobi, crying in the middle of a fight." He retorted.
"I'm! Not! Crying!" She screamed, punctuating every word with a thrown weapon.
Naruto and Sasuke exchanged utterly baffled looks. Ryu dodged sloppily but it didn't matter because Roka's aim was off in her distress.
"Stop it!" Dai yelled but neither paid any mind. Roka took a moment to push up her goggles and furiously wipe her eyes and in her moment of distraction Ryuu tackled her to the ground. She shrieked in surprise and fury.
"Get off!"
"Make me."
They grappled, a tangle of flailing limbs and angry shouts, Roka cursing her opponent out.
"You stupid-!" Ryuu grabbed a fistful of her hair and pushed her face into the ground. She elbowed him and rolled them over. "Ugly-!" He punched her in the face and flipped them again. "Asshole, Moron!" She shoved his face with her hand, pushing his bangs back in the process and Naruto and Sasuke gaped in horror at the sight of the older boy's eyes, or rather, scarred lack thereof. Ryusuke grimaced at the uncomfortable angle of his neck and grabbed Roka's hands and pinned them above her head. "I win." He announced smugly. "as always."
"I hate you." Roka hissed back. Then she simultaneously pulsed her chakra and screamed at the top of her lungs, causing her adversary to flinch as if burned and cover his ears with his hands. Roka took the opportunity to jump to her feet and kick Ryusuke in the face before he made it off the ground. "I! Hate! You!" She screamed with every kick to his side. She took out a kunai, but before she could even begin to proceed with all the things she wanted to do to Ryusuke, a pair of arms wrapped around her middle and pulled her away from him. "Let me go!" She yelled.
Naruto, who'd only just gotten out of his shock at the rapid progression of the fight and change in teammate's behavior protested to his squirming captive, "You can't kill him Roka! I'm all for teaching jerks a lesson but he was already down! You gotta be the better person!"
Roka stilled in his grip as his words sank in, and she saw Ryusuke shakily get to his feet, glaring sightlessly in her direction and wiping the blood off his face. "You were fighting dirty Murasaki! You'll pay for that-!" He threatened, taking a step forward, only to pause as Sasuke stepped in his path. "Uchiha." He said coolly, before spitting a mouthful of blood on the ground.
"I don't know who you think you are," Sasuke stated,
"I'm Ryus-!"
"-and I don't care. This is our team's training ground so leave."
Ryusuke bared his bloody teeth in a furious snarl and took a menacing step towards the younger Uchiha. Sasuke merely gave him an unimpressed look, glancing at how the older boy wobbled on his feet and clutched at his bruised ribs, and turned away from what he no longer considered a threat. His earlier suspicion confirmed, he turned to Roka, who had managed to extricate herself from Naruto's grip in the time his back was turned, "And you-," She stiffened in the act of trying to discretely wipe her tears. Sasuke sneered. "Why the hell didn't you tell us you were from the cripple corps?" Roka stilled in shock, his words like a slap to the face. "I can't believe I got stuck with two complete losers for teammates!" Sasuke ranted. In his self-righteous anger he either didn't notice or care when his white-haired teammate began to shake. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha, I am an avenger! I will not be held back from my goal by being teamed with the dead-last-dobe and a useless, weak, cripple corps nobody!"
His words cut straight to her insecurities and her lips trembled behind her mask, head bowed in shame.
"I've deserved to get this far!" Sasuke continued. "I've done too much to be dragged back! I was top of my class, Rookie of the Year! As the last Uchiha, it is my right to-!"
Sasuke's speech was cut off by a kunai suddenly pressing into his neck from behind.
"Sasuke!" Naruto screeched, jumping forward only to be held back by Roka in an ironic switch of positions. She didn't really feel emotionally up to holding him back, but she knew better to let anyone interfere with Ryu when his chakra felt like that.
So far she liked Naruto better than Sasuke, (even though she thought his cruel assessment of her was right) and if Ryusuke wanted to maim someone, she'd rather it be Uchiha.
"Shut up." Ryusuke uttered ominously. "You don't get to talk to Murasaki that way."
Sasuke merely scoffed. "As if you could really kill me." He immediately regretted his words though as Ryu's hand came up to cover his mouth and yank his head back to better expose his neck. Ryu's kunai traced a trail over Sasuke's pale skin, leaving blood beading in its wake.
"Roka let me go! Let Sasuke go! Stop fighting!" Naruto yelled.
"I could." Ryusuke whispered tauntingly. "I could kill you right now." In a high, cloying voice meant to imitate Sasuke he said, "But the police- But the police are on my side, Uchiha. Funny reversal, don't you think?"
Naruto pulled against Roka's hold. "I don't know what the heck you're talking about, but we all need to calm down or something!"
Sasuke struggled but the hand over his mouth tightened until he was sure there would be finger shaped bruises on his cheeks, and his neck was bent even more painfully back. "Or," Ryu let his knife trail up the side of Sasuke's face until the tip was angled at his temple, "I could take your eyes. Uchiha are so attached to their eyes." He muttered bitterly. "I wonder if you've unlocked your sharingan yet. As I'm sure you've noticed going by the agitation in your chakra signature near the end of Roka's and my little spat, I am in need of a pair of eyes, and yours are so tempting."
"What the hell?" Naruto sputtered, horrified.
Using all of his strength, Sasuke finally managed to pull Ryusuke's surprisingly tight grip from his face so that he could snarl, "Bloodline theft is a crime punishable by death."
Ryu gave the impression he'd be rolling his eyes if he had any. "Sure, kid. Or it's a feat celebrated heroically, depending on the party."
"We're all on the same side here!" Naruto shouted desperately.
Ryu's hand that had been covering Sasuke's mouth tightened its new hold on his scratched neck. No one but Roka noticed his fingers glow medical green; dimming as soon it came.
Sasuke grimaced. "You won't get away with accosting the last Uchiha-!"
"Oh, Get over yourself!" Ryusuke snarled. "Even if the Uchiha were half as great as you think they were, clans die out. You're not so special. Your teacher is the last Hatake. Tsunade-Hime is the last damn Senju. Try picking up a history book. Do you see any other fucking Uzumaki around? You're not even really the last Uchiha! That title belongs to your saint of a brother when he comes back to finish everyone off!"
A great woosh of air left his lungs as Sasuke let go of his hold on the hand around his neck to send a powerful elbow strike into the boy standing behind him, right in the side that Roka had been kicking earlier. Ryu stumbled back in pain and looked up to face an absolutely livid Sasuke, blood smudged around his healed neck where the older boy's weapon had scratched.
"Don't you dare speak of that man to me." He growled.
Naruto too managed to escape his SAF member's half-hearted hold and jumped between each of the other three figures. "I don't know what the heck is going on, but everybody has to stop trying to kill each other!" He shouted.
"Mah, mah," A familiar drawl enunciated, "what's going on here? I could have sworn I only had three cute little genin to take care of."
"Hatake-san." Ryusuke muttered deferentially.
"Kakashi." Sasuke rudely acknowledged. "I want off of this team."
"What took you so long?" Naruto exploded "Everyone's been trying to kill each other and talk about sisters and brothers and eyeballs!"
Roka said nothing.
Kakashi held up his hands in a placating manner. "Mah, one at a time, my cute little genin. I was just helping a fair maiden retrieve her purse that she had dropped in the river when this fine young man came to alert me to the fact that you all were having some trouble." His hand came down upon a wide-eyed Dai's shoulder that no one had noticed leave. "Now, would someone like to explain what is going on?"
"Um, I'm going to leave now." Dai spoke and signed before taking one last nervous glance around and then turning tail.
Naruto burst into a tirade.
"They're all crazy!" Naruto yelled. "Completely nuts! First Dai was here and Roka-chan got mad at me because I didn't know he's deaf, then Ryu came over and started being mean to Roka-chan and that's not cool, but then she tried to kill him, and then Sasuke-teme said some mean stuff to Roka-chan and then Ryu tried to kill him! And if I hadn't stepped in and you came in time, Sasuke-teme would've tried to kill him back! I don't get it! We're comrades, right? You said shinobi who abandon their teammates are worse than trash, so what are shinobi who try to kill their comrades? I thought- I thought having a team wasn't supposed to be like this, I thought it would be different!" Naruto's eyes welled up in frustration and disappointment.
Sasuke merely scoffed at his blatant show of emotion. Jerking a thumb at Ryusuke he muttered ominously, "That asshole has it coming. He attacked me and threatened to take my eyes. And," here he gritted his teeth, "he talked about that man." Sasuke took a breath and stated once again in his usual monotone, "as for the others, they're all weak. I want another team."
"Says the only guy who's still bleeding." Ryusuke mumbled under his breath, ignoring the confused look Roka shot him.
Sasuke sent him a glare. "Says the guy who got his ass handed to him by a sick little cripple corps girl."
"Sasuke-kun, we don't use that term anymore." Kakashi corrected. Sasuke turned his glare to his teacher but Kakashi was unfazed. "And Ryu, was it? You and I will have a talk about attacking my student." Ryusuke nodded grudgingly and Kakashi continued. "Now, if you all want to split the team up, I guess we could figure something out…" And then I won't have to teach you three horrible reminders of my past, he thought. "What do the rest of you say?" He looked hopefully to Naruto, but once the tears were wiped from his eyes, determination clearly shined in his gaze. "I won't give up!" He announced. "We can make this team work, believe it! And then we'll be the best team that Konoha, no, that the world has ever seen!"
Kakashi nodded reluctantly and turned to his last student. "Roka-chan?"
The albino's head was bowed, hair obscuring what little of her face could be seen and hands clenched at her sides. Eventually she whispered, "I'm sorry." It was so soft that they could barely hear it, but in the stillness of the clearing her words reached their ears nonetheless. "I know I'm pathetic and useless and the only thing I'm any good at is chakra sensing. I'm sorry I'm just a burden right now, but… this is the only chance I'll get. I'm sorry. I'm… I'm so sorry."
Kakashi shifted uncomfortably as the strong scent of tears wafted to his masked nose. Luckily for him, Ryu said something before he had to.
"Hey." He muttered gruffly. "Don't put yourself down in front of these assholes."
"Oi!" Naruto yelled indignantly.
Ryu sighed. "Uzumaki's okay I guess. And Hatake-san, you're not an asshole, or at least not that I know of." He distinctly left Sasuke out of his amendments. "Anyway, the point is, I'm the only one allowed to put you down so don't you dare go doing it yourself. That's my job Murasaki. And I'll beat up anyone who takes my job." He glared pointedly at Sasuke.
"Thanks Ryu." Roka choked out. "I still hate you though."
"Hate you too." Ryusuke growled in a way that was almost fond.
"That's… touching." Kakashi commented blandly. "Now that we've got that settled and it seems we're not breaking the team up after all, how about some training!"
"You can't be serious!" Sasuke exclaimed angrily. "I'm not working with those two dead weights!"
"That's too bad," Kakashi drawled. "Then you'll be working against them." Turning to his other students he said, "You two have fifteen minutes to strategize on how to take him down." To Ryusuke he eye-smiled and said, "Oh, and you're free to stay and work with Sasuke-kun if you'd like."
Ryu made a face at that. "I think I'd rather have my eyes torn out again. See you back at the compound, freak!" He called back to Roka as he left. "And stay the hell away from my Kohai!" And with that he was gone.
"All right!" Kakashi said. "You can use these fifteen minutes as a head start, Sasuke-kun, but stay within the training grounds. Roka-chan, Naruto-kun, stay a bit and I'll tell you what to do."
Notes:
Older brother figures, am I right? They're not all they're cracked up to be. (Sorry bro, if you're reading this. It has nothing do with you I swear!) Leave a review if you've got an older brother, or even if you don't.
Acronyms to remember:
SAF= Special Accommodations Force
MAD= Medical Anomalies Division
PID= Physical Impairment Division, sometimes shortened to Physical Division or Physical
SID= Sensory Impairment Division, sometimes shortened to Sensory Division or Sensory
NMP= New Military Police
KonStan= Konoha Standard (referring to sign language)
Next time on, Welcome to the MAD House: How brooders console themselves