Moons: Okay, for those who don't know I have a DA account now (link on my profile). There I'll post the chapters of this story along with some of my crappy drawings of the characters (so far, it's only Sora).
Oh and a little (overdue) thank you to those who are actively reading this story. It's people like you who keep me going -hands out cookies- ^^
That's right....God is created by humans. It's merely something that comes from the hands of men. In that case, what will bring wrath down upon us is not God, but probably "humans."
~Bradley, Full Metal Alchemist
"Damn..." Brom cursed. Sora still didn't look anywhere near ready to calm down and stop attacking. "I didn't want to resort to this, but-" He took a small flask made of clear glass out of one of his numerous pockets. It contained a violet liquid: animal poison. It would be enough to injure Sora. Just bring the kid down to his knees so he could slap some sense into him.
He opened the container and instantly a putrid smell entered the air. Brom dropped the container in disgust as soon as the scent was released. Kanemaru made a gagging sound, but Sora didn't seem to even notice the odor. He seemed to recognize the liquid as poison though.
Some of the poison had spilled onto the ground. Sora lowered the kunai and dipped it in. Brom shouted a warning to his bear, but it was too late. At an extreme speed, Sora had sliced the kunai through Kanemaru's right hind leg. Red and violet liquid dripped to the ground. Kanemaru roared in agony as the poison spread through his bloodstream.
Sure it would only injure Sora or Brom, but that was because they were humans. Kanemaru was an animal and would die if the poison spread far enough.
For some odd reason, Sora seemed satisfied. The demons whispered to him.
"Good, good. Now listen." He did so. "There's a little boy not to far from you. He must have heard the screams. Go to your left and run that way until you find him. We'll guide you to him, and you kill him!"
Brom didn't notice as Sora retreated. He got down to his knees next to the clasped bear. "It's just in the leg so far." Kanemaru reported, "No organs."
Brom breathed heavily. "I'm sorry." He said between breathes. He drew his katana and held it against the leg. There was a quick swing of the sword.
"GGRRRAAAAAAAAAAWWW!!"
And it was almost over. The leg had been cut off before the poison could spread beyond that point. Kanemaru became panting with shock. His leg was unattached. It laid next to him, never to move again. "Now... I know... how Sora-kun...felt." He said, between his own deep breathes.
"What happened to make Sora like that?"
"I don't know. I was sleeping, and he obtained a kunai. Then he was removing my armor, which is what woke me up. Then it was just a fight for my life."
"Damn..." Brom wrapped up the wound before more blood could spill out. "He's gone now. You stay and rest. There's no point in fighting three-legged. I'll take him."
Brom found a pair of broken glasses on the ground. He might be getting close. A few feet later, that proved true when he found a child with gray eyes staring at nothing. He was dead.
Not far from him there was Sora. His boots had been kicked off and his bare feet were bleeding. He had used them to scrap blood around on the ground to make Jashin's symbol. He was now laying on top of it. The kunai had by some miracle been shoved perfectly through his heart.
Brom gave him a light kick. Sora's eyes opened. They looked back at Brom normally. Just their normal light-blue color with no dark lines or blood. "Sempai!" Sora exclaimed, "You caught up!"
"Don't play stupid."
"Huh?"
Brom grabbed Sora by the collar of his shirt, ripped the kunai out of him, and pinned him against a tree. "Why the fuck did you attack us!?"
"Wh-what!?" Sora gasped. "What made you attack Kanemaru and me!?"
"I-I don't remember-"
"Don't give me that shit!" Brom spat coldly. He held the kunai up against the kid's throat and hissed, "You don't have amnesia and there was no one who could have cast genjutsu on you."
"I- I really don't! Honest, Sempai! Pl-"
"Try harder! Remember!"
Sora felt the metal of the kunai press against him and squeezed his eyes shut. He tried to remember. He began to hear them again. He heard "D-demons."
"Say that again?"
"Demons, Sempai... They- they told me to kill Kanemaru." He admitted. He heard their wicked laughter again. There were dozens of them now. Dozens of voices owned by monsters of Hell.
He gagged and spit up blood. His eyes snapped open and bulged out. Blood rushed out of his neck. Brom had slit his throat. He pressed the kunai lower against the upper part of his chest. "Don't give me bullshit like that." He said.
Blood gushed up into his mouth and Sora managed to just barely cry out. "I- I'm telling the truth-"
Brom ripped the upper part of the shirt, right below the collar, off using the kunai. He then flung Sora on to the ground. His body bounced up once from the impact, but he came to a hard stop. Blood shoot up out of his mouth and landed on his face. He splat the blood out and shouted, "It's true -cough cough-" He didn't go on. Brom walked over to him and stared down at him. The icy stare brought fear to Sora. He shut his eyes again.
A few flashes came back to him. He was attacking... He didn't know what. He thought further back. Neghro the demon was talking to him. Telling him...something.
"There was a demon, a freaky creature, it-"
"There are no such things as demons." Brom told him.
"But I saw it! I talked with it!" Sora yelled, his eyes still shut tight. "Please believe me! Sempai! Please! Please don't hurt me!"
Pain rushed into him. He screamed as his eyes jerked open.
"I don't like to be lied to, Sora." Brom told him, ignoring his screams. He dug the kunai deeper into the chest. "Give me bullshit like that again, and there will be consequences."
"It- It was just for Jashin-sama!" Sora cried out. Thinking back, it was technically true. "I needed someone to sacrifice to Jashin-sama! Kanemaru was the only one there!" The kunai stopped. Sora gasped for deep breathes as Brom stood up again.
"Don't ever attack Kanemaru again. He's still on our side. You have just a sacrificed that boy there. You won't need to again for a long while."
Around Sora, there were dozens of demons. They rested in trees and crawled on the ground and they laughed at him. Twin walked up to him. Compared to all the others, he seemed normal.
"Listen closely Sora. Brom-sempai didn't believe you, did he? No, no, nobody believes in demons. He thinks you're crazy. And so will everyone else that hears about us.
"Why?"
"You know what a freak is? The boy who eats glue; the old man who yells at everyone who bends a blade of grass on his precious lawn; the young woman who claims she was raped just for attention; they are all sick and need help, but they're not the freaks. They don't even know what a freak is.
"Now you on the other hand, you see us. You're the only one who sees us. Your mind lets you, but no one else's will. No one else is gonna believe yah. You're the freak."
Breathing heavily Sora promised, "I'm never, ever going to tell anyone about you again. Ever."
"I did that...!?" Sora stared at the missing limb.
Kanemaru glared at him. "Something was different about you." He explained. "You didn't speak and didn't seem to hear us. You were unaffected by anything we threw at you and fought with the skill of a shinobi. Your eyes were one of the scariest things about you. They were heavily bloodshot."
"Are they still-"
"No, they're normal now." Kanemaru said, "And they were normal before when I went to sleep. I fear there is something wrong with you."
'You have no idea...' Sora thought sadly. He changed the subject and tilted his neck up, "How's it look."
Kanemaru examined where the throat was slit. "It stopped bleeding. You immortals are fast healers. You'll be all better in no time."
"Painful as fuckin' hell though." He said, carefully moving his head down. "What about the other one? It hurts just as bad, but could you check it out anyway?"
"It's exceptionally deep. It might leave a scar."
"Great..." Sora muttered. "So how long 'til we get there from here?"
"It's only an hour." Brom said. It was the first time he had spoken since they got back. He was sitting opposite of the other two. "By the way, it'll be better if we find separate places to stay when we're in towns. We may even have to separate every once in awhile between them."
"Wait what!? Why Sempai?"
"I don't want people finding out we're a team. Also I'm a wanted man. If they catch me they'll instantly catch you, unless we split up and only stay together on outskirts. We don't want them figuring out you're alive."
"Er... right. I understand Sempai."
The humans stood up and started to leave. Sora took the lead and Brom turned to look back. "I'm sorry you can't move on three legs. I'll summon you when I find a place for us to stay."
"I know you didn't say the whole reason why you and Sora are separated."
"What of it? The kid's kinda a freak, even by my standards. You should've heard him, spilling crap out about demons or some shit."
Sora gulped as he heard those lines. Brom didn't know he heard. Sora just ran ahead to be sure not to hear anything else.
"Is that the only reason he's a 'freak'?"
"Not really..."
"Why do you hurt him so?"
"Simple. He hurt you."
The cold stung his face. His feet sunk deep into the snow, soaking him. Iwagakure was so much warmer; he hated Yukigakure already.
"You're not from here."
Sora looked up from the ground to see a girl about ten feet from him. She had come quietly, a blue aura of chakra keeping her from sinking into the snow and leaving a mark. She had a brown outfit with a matching forehead protector with four dots on it: Snow shinobi.
"I'm not." He replied casually.
Her blonde hair flew into her face due to a strong gust of wind. She didn't seem to mind. "There's going to be a snow storm soon." She said, "If you don't get shelter, you'll freeze to death."
"That doesn't sound fun." Sora said, shivering.
"If you don't have shelter..." the girl started. She became shy and quiet.
"No, I don't..." Sora said.
"You can... come over to my place..."
"Thanks. Just don't get any ideas of a date-"
"Oh, no, No! The girl exclaimed quickly, "I'm not interested. Besides, you're a little young for me. Heh, heh..."She slapped a smile on her face and Sora sweatdropped.
"Whatever. I get it."
"Um, anyway, as a shinobi I can't just let you go." She pointed uphill to a path. "To get to my home, you follow that path and you'll reach a small subdivision." A gust of wind came in stronger than the last. "We better go."
"Thanks. I'm Sora by the way."
"Natsuki."
The wind was now blowing like crazy. Natsuki led Sora over to the door to her small house. They quickly escaped into the warmth inside. "Mum, I'm home." She called.
"Oh thank God!" A woman's voice slurred from the next room. "I'm starving an' I've had this major headache an'"
"I'm on it." She called again. She opened a cabnet and got out some food. "Instant ramen okay? It's the quickest thing we got."
"Sure, whatever." the women said. Sora peeked into the next room to see her laying in bed. The room was a mess. Soda pop cans, empty bottle, crumbled up papers, and other garbage littered the floor. A few dirty dishes were pilled up on the bedside dresser next to an ashtray. The blonde woman who had to be Natsuki's mother was tucked halfway under the covers, her pajamas still on and a cigarette in her mouth. She was staring at the ceiling, her fingers massaging her forehead.
Natsuki pushed him aside gently. "I got your dinner, Mum." She handed her a cup filled with the fresh noodles.
"Thanks, 'Suki hun." She glanced over to the door and saw Sora. "'Suki?"
"Oh, he's Sora. The storm was coming and he didn't have any shelter, so I gave him a place to stay."
The mother nodded numbly and said, "So, Sora, help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Natsuki-chan will help you with what'cha need. And number one rule," her voice became sharp, "You hurt her, I'll get outta this bed and kick your ass, got it?!"
"Er, yes ma'am."
"Good. Any questions for me?"
"I dunno. How old are you?"
"Thirty-two. Natsuki's thirteen. Now can I speak with her for a second? Alone?"
"Oh, yeah sure." Sora left with a last glance at Natsuki's pale face hidden by her hair.
He sat in the ktichen, bored. He couldn't eat without hands. His stomach growled as he looked over at the fruit bowl. He did his best to ignore it and thought about Natsuki instead.
He found it odd that she didn't notice his disability yet. His sleeves were long enough to cover where his hands should have been, but he thought she would have seen by now. Maybe she just wasn't paying enough attention to him.
There was also her parents. He did the math and Natsuki would have born when her mom was nineteen or maybe eighteen. He might just be judgmental, but that just seemed really young to be a parent to him. Also if mothers were this protective, what about fathers? How would her dad react to her bringing a boy in the house? He didn't know, never having known his own parents.
Natsuki came out, her mom shuffling beside her. She pushed the hair out of her daughter's face muttering, "People wanna see your face."
Natsuki's face was still pale without the blonde hair. It was also sharp and showed she was older than Sora even though she was smaller in size. A small set of pointed bangs covered her headband. The rest of her hair was behind her back and went down past her shoulder blades. Also now, her eyes showed clearly. They were a deep blue. She had probably gotten them from her mother, whose eyes were a dimmer gray-blue from the cigarette smoke.
The mom went down the hall to the bathroom, leaving Sora and Natsuki alone. "So... I'm guessing she thinks I'm your secrete boyfriend."
"Er... yeah." Natsuki blushed a bit, "She didn't fully believe me and said if I was lying whatever I do, don't sleep with-"
Sora gaged. "I'm sorry!" Natsuki exclaimed, "I get it! You don't wanna-"
Sora swallowed what he believed to be vomit and said "No offense, but your mom is sick!"
The redness in Natsuki's face grew. "Kinda..."
"Your dad's better right? Where is he?"
"My parents got divorced years ago. I haven't seen my dad since."
"Thank Jashin!" Sora said, clasping back on the chair. Before Natsuki could ask who Jashin was he asked, "Why does your mom assume something like that!? Can't she tell we're way too young!?" Natsuki shrugged.
"I think she thought you were older than you look. Fifteen or something like that. She's had a fair share of stupid ideas like that. She might as well forget it. Besides, you nearly puked at the idea and no guy's going to... never mind."
"Oh," Sora glance down for a second, "It didn't have anything to do with you. It was just the idea; the whole gross, disgusting 'doing it' part. I'm only frigging twelve here and I think the it's still going to be gross even when I'm twenty-five or something. I'm chaste anyway."
"Er... thanks." Natsuki replied dryly. "For that... talk. You're chaste?"
"Yep."
"So you're a religious type?"
"Yeah. So what?"
"I'm an atheist." Sora looked up at her like she had just called him out, "What?"
"There's lots of scientific evidence out there- evolution, the big bang, the multiverses- all proving more and more that there is no almighty god or deity out there." Natsuki informed him. "I believe that long ago people needed explanations, so they created deities to do that. Some guy made a Bible to put it into detail, and everyone believed it. Now science is explaining. The deities are made up to answer humans questions and now we are simply finding the right answers."
"Bull. Shit." Sora shot at her.
"Alright, I'm sorry." Natsuki said defensively. "That's just what I think. I'm a real world person. I just wonder... what can your religion prove that can't be proven by anything else?"
"What happens when you die." Sora answered. Natsuki looked at him sceptically, "That isn't really proof."
"You'll see the proof when you die." Sora said glaring darkly. They stayed silent for a moment, then,
*growl, moan...*
"You sound starved. Aren't you going to eat?"
"You still haven't noticed?!" He snapped.
"What?"
"I can't eat without hands!" He put his left arm in front of her and shifted the sleeve up to revile the stub he had at the end. Natsuki jumped and covered her mouth to hide her gasp.
"I-I'm- I'm sorry!" She stuttered. Sora cooled back down. "Not your fault... You're not the sick bastard who did this."
"I-I noticed your right arm -it's completely limp at the sleeve- but they took your other hand too!" She said quietly. "... Yeah, that'll make eating difficult."
"No shit." Sora moaned, edging the sleeve back down.
"Do you, um, want some help eating?" Natsuki offered.
"You kidding?! I need help doing everything now!" He ranted, annoyed, before adding, "I mean, whatever. Just give my something that's not a drink."
"Drink?"
"Don't ask why."
"Uh... okay." The blonde pulled up the long sleeves to her sweater and made two sandwiches. Sora stared hungrily at the food as she worked. "You don't get to eat very much, do you?"
"Hey, it's embarrassing when you have to ask for help for every friggin' little thing!" He retorted.
'Wish my mum was like that.' Natsuki sighed in her head, 'I do everything around here...'
It was just a simple peanut butter with jelly, but by the way Sora was drooling over it it could have been Thanksgiving turkey. Natsuki held up the food for him and he bit and tore into it like an animal. Natsuki lost her hold on it, but Sora held it in his jaw.
"-'otit"
"... What?"
Sora opened his mouth to repeat himself, dropping the sandwich in the process. The both dived for the sandwich, crashing to each other, starting a fury of panic and cussing.
It was at that moment Natsuki's mother emerged from the bathroom. And what a sight it was.
Both were on the floor, on top of each other, and just by bad luck Sora's right, armless sleeve had flung so it rested on Natsuki's chest- not that the mother knew it was armless. "It's not what it looks like!"
"You know what..." The mother spoke, "I have such a headache, as long as you two aren't fucking I don't care. So, just, just screw it. I'm leaving." She shuffled back into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.
"Some mom." Sora commented dryly. Natsuki didn't reply. She just got up from the floor and helped Sora up to his own feet. "Er... once the storm lightens up, I need to show you something."
Later,
Natsuki opened the doors to the shed behind her house. "This is my escape."
The room was filled with warmth. There was a furnace for melting metal in the corner. Various metal traps, knifes, blades, tools, and other items hung from a wall. The other wall was covered with drawings, sketches, and notes. They were parts of detailed blueprints of puppets. In the corner opposite of the furnace, there was a pill of carefully carved wood into various shapes. Next to them was a pile of metals that Sora couldn't identify. In another corner was a metal puppet resembling a dog or wolf creature.
Natsuki pulled off her sweater so she was in a brown shirt. "Any loose or long clothing can get easily catch on fire in here." She explained, putting her hair up, "Same with hair, but yours isn't as long as mine. You should be fine." She walked up to the wall of metal and took down an object.
"I've always had sorta a talent with metal. I'm a puppeteer so it worked for me. I discovered this some years ago."
She held up a metal hand. "They call it automail. It allows people who've lost lost limbs to replace them. I was collecting them to study, but I think you need it more."
Moons: It's times like this when I think about Deidara-san and feel sorry for him not because he died, but because he had to go without hands. The more I wrote these chapters, the more I thought about how tough it is without hands. You depend on them for just about everything. For example, you wanna know why Sora said no drinks? You know how drinks tend to go straight through you? :X I'm not going beyond that.
Also, I know I said something like this after Ch 1 but I'll repeat myself. This story isn't me voicing my views of the world in anyway! Different people think differently, so that's how it's going to be in the story. I'm not saying that Natsuki's right, but I'm not saying that about Sora ether. I'm going to try and be neutral.
So, what'cha think? Like it? Don't like it? I took Natsuki's mom too far, didn't I? Review and get a soda.
