CROCODILES AND MONSTERS

Chapter Seven

In the dark with her hands cupping the walls of the tunnel, Shion felt a moment of apprehension when she heard the sound of footsteps above her. She glanced towards her two teammates with a silent hope for them to be silent as the footstep faded into the distance. For a moment, it almost seemed like the tunnel would never stop, but just as she began to feel impatient, she stumbled onto a dead end.

Once more, she cupped the dirt, feeling for some kind of exit, but all she found was more dirt. From her position at the end, she felt Misaki bump into her back, earning a light and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Shion lifted her hand, having to stand on her tippy toes just to brush her fingertips against the ceiling of dirt and cement. It was sturdy and Shion earnestly did not know enough Jutsu to break it.

She turned her head where she knew Hikaru was and gripped his shirt to pull him forward. He stumbled with a whispered curse as Shion raised to her tippy toes once more to whisper into his ear.

"Give me a boost," she ordered, but she didn't wait for his compliance as she shoved him to his hands and knees and stepped on his back.

She built up Chakra into her fist and slammed it into the ceiling, causing dirt and debris to splatter into her face. She made sure to close her eyes before she made any impact, however her teammates had no such luck as they coughed up their lungs in attempts to cancel out the dirt flying into their mouths.

"Shion, what the fuck," Misaki complained in between coughs. Shion continued to use Hikaru as a boost as she climbed into the main hallway that had been above them. Her shoes made a mark of dirt on Hikaru's shirt and he let out a hiss.

"What is your problem?" Hikaru asked after all three climbed out of the hole.

"I said I need a boost," Shion responded, uncertain why he was so pissy.

"And did I get a say? No you just do things on your own like you always do," he told her with a scowl.

"I'm sorry." He almost missed the sarcasm in her voice. In the meantime, Misaki attempted to calm both of them down. "Next time, I'll be sure to write you a letter formatting what I am going to do. Maybe I'll do that in fight. You will see me writing 'Shion will dodge' before every attack, that way you remain appropriately ready for anything."

"This smart ass nature of yours is why we always get yelled at," Hikaru retorted, and Misaki tried to shush them both.

"This isn't me being a smart ass. This is you being an eternal moron," she replied just as fiercely.

"I am not a moron," he told her.

"No. You're right. Misaki is a moron, and you are so much worse," Shion took a step forward, her eyes narrowing,

"Hey," Misaki's eyes narrowed on her pink haired teammate with a scowl forming on the usual pucker of her lips.

"Of course, you just have to put everyone down, now don't you? Why don't you just get off that high horse of yours and see that you're not as great as you think you are," Hikaru snapped and before Shion could reply, she heard the slight sound of rope moving against the ground.

She jumped forward, tossing Misaki and Hikaru to the side so they landed back into the dark tunnel underneath the ground as she dodged the five kunai headed her way.

"What's this? A pest crawling out from burrows under the ground?" The voice that spoke was enough to nearly make Shion shiver. It was spoken in a slither that she felt as if it caressed her skin.

"Well," Shion stood up straight, biting her lip as she glanced over to Hikaru and Misaki who had fallen back into the tunnel. "Looks like I am finally getting that fight that I wanted."

It was her chance to prove herself, and Shion refused to waste it as she darted forward, applying Chakra into her feet as she leapt behind the enemy, tossing kunai all the while. The woman only took calm steps forward, almost looking like it was a dance as she dodged all of them.

Shion leapt from the wall with a well timed strike towards the woman. Instead of how it went down in Shion's mind, the woman turned so fast that she barely had a moment to process the hands that curled around Shion's wrists. They tightened and she felt the steel like grip pulsate throughout her bones.

The woman leaned in close, pulling Shion forward. "My name is Kazehaya Mineko, and my poisons are absolute. You are completely out of your league child."

As the woman said, Shion felt her skin begin to burn underneath Mineko's grasp until she began to wonder if her skin would bubble from the pressure. Shion leaned her head back, gathering Chakra into her skull before she bucked her head forward, slamming it into Mineko's unaware face.

"Poopie," Shion cursed, her hand cupping her forehead. Even though she had gathered her Chakra to attempt to lessen the blow, it still throbbed. "That is not how I thought it would feel based on my books."

"You little bitch," Mineko was less than amused and her vibrant green eyes lit with fury.

Whatever calm the woman had promptly disappeared and her body bolted forward so fast Shion barely had enough time to dodge it. She thought this was rather funny, considering she backed all her time on perfecting Taijutsu only to be humiliated at the end of this battle.

Shion's eyes narrowed, pushing her entire body into her dodge before she slammed her leg into Mineko's stomach. She used her Chakra to add precision and strength behind the childish muscles and bones beneath the surface. For a moment, the enemy ninja looked winded but the flare of anger in her eyes lit once more and she leaned forward, grabbing the child by her neck.

"I should warn you, my lips are poison. Back in my youth, I used them to narrowly murder the traitor dog, Koneko Anomie. Since then I have improved the recipe and unlike before, this one had no cure."

Shion felt a moment of danger creep into her spine, and for a moment the oddest image of a black haired girl covered in IVs, staring out the window from her hospital bed just crept into her mind without warning. She saw it as if it were right in front of her, as real as Mineko was right now. She felt the clammy hands and even the small trickle of sunlight from the window to her left.

By the time she came through, Mineko's poison lips had already neared hers but before they could connect, she saw Hikaru and Misaki jump to attack Mineko's unprotected sides. This forced her to drop Shion, who collapsed, coughing into the ground.

"Never took you to give up, Shion. What about your dream of being the best Shinobi in existence?" Hikaru asked while Shion gave him a look of surprise.

"That's not my dream," Shion whispered, standing up as she attempted to stand up with as much grace as she could muster. Her throat still burned with the mark of Mineko's fingers, but Shion ignored it as her two teammates took a protective stance in front of her.

"We won't have any dreams if we don't work together from here on out," Misaki warned the two, forcing Shion to let out a reluctant nod of her head.

"Perhaps you're right," Shion murmured in a low tone of voice, putting her pride behind her as she turned towards her teammates. Her voice shook at first, but the more she spoke, the clearer her words became. "Hikaru, activate your Byakugan and use the pressure points Tsukasa-sensei taught us. Misaki, defend Hikaru's blindspot."

"And what about you?" Misaki asked, watching Mineko began to advance closer. The older woman's eyes were coy, mocking, and all together arrogant. Shion made a silent vow to wipe that spur of self-confidence away from existence.

"I'll do what I do best," Shion answered.

"What's that? Being annoying?" Hikaru asked, the veins around his eyes bulging as he took a step forward.

"Very annoying," Shion agreed, holding up her hands and making a quick clone Jutsu, leaping forward after Hikaru's every hit. She flanked left every time she moved to go right, and she was slowly able to see the chips in Mineko's defense as their team moved as one unit.

Hikaru was the eyes, Misaki the body, while Shion was the hands.

Mineko's big words were surrounded by poison. It was her talent and the team gave her no chance to use it as Taijutsu had never been her strong point. With that in mind, the woman leapt back and took out fistfuls of senbon needles. Shion's eyes narrowed, her reflexes just barely fast enough to dodge them. By the way Hikaru's eyes widened, she could tell that he could see them clearly as they flew towards him, but his reflexes were slow. Misaki was worse off, and Shion felt a moment of panic fill the crevices of her heart.

It wasn't enough.

"Retreat back," Shion ordered, and for a moment she thought her teammates weren't going to listen, but they quickly jumped back, allowing Shion to block the rest of the never-ending barrage of poisoned senbon.

"What happened to all that confidence?" Mineko asked, taking a step forward. The way her eyes lit up with arrogance as her fingers curled around senbon needles with accurate grace made Shion nervous.

At this rate, they wouldn't win. Hikaru's eyes could only see the attacks but his body was not yet quick enough to dodge them. In the meantime, Misaki could perhaps dodge them, but her sight was to weak to see the needles, let alone hear them coming like Shion could.

Shion didn't have long to access what her teammates could and could not do, but she attempted to reorganize her strategy. After she ultimately decided what must be done, she spared a glance at her teammates and back towards the narrow hallway that made any further retreat impossible.

She faced an enemy who was faster and stronger. "Hikaru, Misaki...I can't do this. You're on your own."

"Wait...what?" Hikaru asked in surprise as he watched his usually arrogant teammate's legs begin to shake as she collapsed to the ground. The girl's hands trembled as she glanced up with her wide brown eyed stare that looked a tad more crazed.

"I'm only ten years old. I'm not ready to be a ninja. You were right," she whispered, causing the enemy ninja to laugh.

"Now isn't the time for a mental breakdown, Shion," Misaki exclaimed, the panic seeping into her gaze. "Get up and fight."

"I can't," Shion told her while Hikaru and Misaki's eyes connected with slight panic.

That was until Hikaru pulled the child up by the scruff of her collar, nearly yanking her feet up off the ground. "After all that talk? All those speeches? I was crazy to think you might be more than just a child, even for a minute!"

Hikaru and Misaki charged forward towards the amused Mineko, their attacks predictable and easy to avoid. Mineko swiped them aside with ease, and just as she raised her palm to deal the finishing blow, a small kunai pierced the supple skin of her back and twisted up.

Hikaru and Misaki stared with shock at the hands of Shion, the little girl who was sobbing only minutes prior, now held the enemy ninja in her clutches. The dirt tunnel from underneath proved as an effective trap as the Shion that had been sobbing before disappeared in a cloud of smoke. As the clone dissolved, in its absence revealed a small hole in the ground where the girl had escaped through, only to spring up from the ground behind Mineko.

"What happened to all that confidence?" Shion asked, twisting the blade as Mineko gurgled out blood before collapsing on the ground in front of them.

Hikaru and Misaki stood, as if to ask what happened, perhaps they planned on lecturing the child too. This never came to pass as the kunai fell from Shion's trembling grip, clattering to the ground with an echo and a thud.

Shion's hands shook. She noticed the blood that coated her fingers with calm certainty. Only a month prior, they had been covered in red paint as she vandalized the Hokage statues. Only a month ago she never knew the sounds someone would make right before they died. It was messy and blood spurt out as if she had just popped a water balloon. She saw it remained underneath her nails.

It must be freezing down here, Shion thought with a glance towards the dead woman at her feet. "That would explain why I can't stop shivering."

"Shion," Misaki's voice broke through the girl's frigid state of quiet panic. Misaki took a step forward, causing Shion to retreat back, her foot stumbling into the hole she had dug to spring out and end someone's life.

She killed someone. She did that.

"She's in shock," Hikaru took a step forward, kneeling down and offering his hand towards her as if she were a dog. "Shion, do you hear me?"

"She's in shock. Not deaf," Misaki snapped and Hikaru scowled up at her.

"What else am I supposed to do?" Hikaru's annoyed voice broke through the calm tone he was trying to install into his frightened teammate.

"We have to get her mind off of it," Misaki answered, but the girl obviously had no idea how to do that, so she settled for grabbing Shion's hands instead as the child began to hyperventilate.

Misaki covered the blood with her slightly larger palms, her eyes resting on her teammate's brown eyed stare. Shion's hands were clammy and cold, and Misaki felt them shake from underneath her grasp.

"It's okay," Misaki whispered and watched as Shion shook her head back and forth.

Unknowledgeable about how to deal with a child going into shock, Hikaru and Misaki could only exchange glances as their wide eyes were uncertain with worry. They were obviously at a loss with what to do, so they stayed by Shion's side as the girl attempted to silence her own sobs. "It's not my fault. I was forced to do it."

"No one's judging you Shion," Misaki whispered with a gentle coo, finally seeing all the girl's pride and bravado collapse from under her.

"Misaki, we can't stay here. We have to find Itachi or Anko," Hikaru's voice was urgent, gathering in Shion's ears as her mind went back to that vision of before, of herself, covered in IVs. "Shion, you have to put yourself together."

That's right...these painful memories are of no use.

Shion's brows furrowed, her fingers touching the damp and clammy skin that covered her cheeks. She glanced around, seeing a body on the ground, covered in blood. Much blood scattered across her hands. She jumped back, falling on her butt as she looked around the cramped tunnel before her confused gaze finally moved back to Misaki and Hikaru.

"What happened?" Shion's voice held innocence, and that further confused Misaki and Hikaru. "That chick must of knocked me out...did one of you take her out?" Mineko was faced down, making it impossible to see that the enemy's throat was slashed. "...Is she alive?"

Hikaru and Misaki exchanged glances, but Hikaru was quick to speak. "Yes, she's just unconscious. We, however, need to leave."

"Oh...okay then," Shion stood, attempting to get a closer look at the woman on the ground, but something in her chest told her to look away. "Let's find Itachi and Anko then."

The walk was silent from there, and Shion was oblivious to the tension.

It was then that they came across what could only be described as a laboratory, but to Shion, it looked more like a tomb. Inside, there was glass containers, filled with an indescribable liquid, and inside were men, women, and children. The three Genin exchanged worried glances before they stepped inside, clearly unprepared for the sight of a child, younger than even Shion, suspended in a glass of liquid. In the child's veins were many tubes, and upon stepping inside, the child's eyes cracked open. Her weak gaze lingered on the three as her hand twitched before slowly moving to rest her palm against the glass.

"We need to get them out," Shion said, rushing forward towards the container.

"Don't exactly know how to do that," Misaki told her with a slight frown.

"We have to try," Shion said, her brows furrowed as she turned towards the other two.

"Us trying could do more harm than good. Who knows what will happen if we just drain the water," Hikaru agreed with Misaki, causing Shion's eyes to narrow.

"Well, I don't plan on leaving all these people here," she said, walking over to a stack of papers next to one of the containers.

"We have to find Itachi and Anko and get some direction. We don't know what we're doing here," Misaki said, taking a step forward. By now, her body was already tired and every time she blinked she saw the way Mineko's blood gushed out when Shion's blade slit her throat. She didn't have the luxury to just forget it happened as Shion did.

"We're Shinobi now. Adults. We make our own decisions depending on the situation," Shion glanced towards the little girl. "I won't let them suffer any longer."

Hikaru, who had been silent most of the while, sighed. "Well, I'm not about to go out there without Shion."

Misaki frowned, glancing towards her teammate with a scowl. "Hikaru, don't side with her, she's speaking nonsense, we're just kids."

"Nonsense or not, Shion is the best fighter here. Let's be real, me and you can't take down many strong opponents divided," Hikaru said, watching Shion grin with pride as she handed a stack of papers to her teammate.

"There's got to be information on how to help them somewhere," Shion said, watching as Misaki let out a sigh of defeat and took a stack of papers of her own.

"What if someone strong comes inside?" Misaki asked, but Shion was already absorbed in the documents.

A couple seconds later, she got her distant reply, "It's no different than if we run into someone out there."

"Besides, Itachi and Anko will find us easier if we stay put," Hikaru agreed.

"I suppose," Misaki finally agreed, reluctantly grabbing a stack of papers to read.

"Did something happen that you two aren't telling me?" Shion asked after a couple minutes of silent tension, causing her two teammates to freeze over their piles of documents.

"No..." Misaki murmured, rather unconvincingly.

"Nothing," Hikaru said with a nonchalant shrug.

Author's Note

Has it really been so long since my last update? Well, golly, time flies when you are on a writer's block.

I inserted a rather, Peter Pan like element in this chapter. Peter Pan, who wants nothing more than to not grow up, forgot his parents and all the bad stuff. Shion is very much like that in her own way. It's a rather obvious coping mechanism. Lord knows that I wish I could forget all the bad stuff .

Wouldn't that just make life easier?

Thank you for reading everybody!