Summary: From Heaven above and Hell below, she is the Handmaiden of Death, killing without mercy. Death is her only companion in life; and as she dreams of him, she drowns in tidal waves of blood. Who is she? She is Namikaze Makoto; this is her story.


"It may be he shall take my hand
And lead me into his dark land
And close my eyes and quench my breath—
It may be I shall pass him still.
I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill,
When Spring comes round again this year
And the first meadow-flowers appear."

I Have a Rendezvous with Death, Alan Seeger


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only any original characters.


Safe and Sound
09: Rendezvous with Death

Makoto, with Masaki dragging himself behind her, flared her chakra in the proper pattern that they had been taught that would notify fellow Konoha shinobi of who she was.

Genin, mission compromised, scroll.

With three simple flares, three different shinobi appeared.

"Shinobi number," one demanded.

"Where's the scroll?" another asked.

"The assailants, who were they?" another growled.

Makoto, already on a brink of a nervous breakdown, took an uneasy step into Masaki's shoulder as her chest began to feel heavy and her head light and dizzy.

Too much, too much.

"Our teacher is Sakurai Tsuyoshi and here is the scroll," Masaki interrupted her thoughts by answering their questions to the best of his ability. "The enemy was Kiri-nin. We...our teammate and sensei were left behind."

The leader of the group, the one who had asked for their shinobi number, made a move to say something but Makoto, recovering from her near-nervous breakdown, looked at him. "He...he has to be alive, right?" she hopefully asked.

The man, seeing the fear in the two kids eyes, couldn't help but soften his somewhat hard exterior because they reminded him of his own children. "We'll see."

However, before the fear and adrenaline could settle itself, Makoto and a fellow Konoha shinobi in front of them whirled their heads to the left, and the chunin shouted in alarm, "Incoming enemy-nin!"

The reaction was immediate – several enemy-nin appeared from the woods as Konoha shinobi shot out from the large outpost. "You two, get to the outpost!"

In unison, the duo nodded their head and let out a loud, "Hai," before running towards the tall building.

However, they were intercepted by an enemy only after running for a few meters. Two Kiri-nins stood in front of them, a manic smile on each of their faces.

There was no warning, to sign that started the fight – the enemy-nin's just ran straight at them with weapons in hand.

Makoto, with a kunai in her hand, blocked the sword that had come down on her. She grunted from the impact and the strength that came from the attack as the dug her heels into the ground to stop her from sliding back even further.

They repeated this pattern for what felt like an eternity – he would swing his sword down and she would block it, preventing herself from getting cut down. Then, when she would find a small opening, escape from the attack.

"You annoying little shit, just die!" her assailant growled moments later. He was easily a head and a half taller than her and much more experienced. At the same time, he underestimated her because of her smallness.

Makoto narrowed her eyes before suddenly spitting in the man's eyes. She knew it was dirty, that it was unfair – but she didn't care. She was in a life and death situation, and while she knew this was her first, it wouldn't be her last, and she knew that this moment would make her or break her. Even if she didn't want to, she had to find a way out of this mess.

"Shit–" Momentarily blinded by her so-called attack, with her quick speed Makoto jumped up and roundhouse kicked him. Then, she proceeded to bring the kunai she had in her hand down in his leg. Internally grimacing at the squishing sound it made, she ignored the screech – and the blood, oh shit it's in her mouth – and quickly uprooted the kunai. The man collapsed onto his side as she ran away, towards her teammate.

Masaki, seeing her, fell to the ground as she jumped on his back to kick the enemy's face. They had practiced this move so many times with Sakurai-sensei that it was almost like second nature to them now. She quickly jumped back and moved behind the enemy as Masaki engaged with the man once more.

But as much as they were in sync and giving the enemy hell, they were, sadly, just genin. They were not as skilled, not as powerful, and not as experienced as the man they were currently fighting; it was apparent that they were quickly becoming overwhelmed by the enemy-nin. There was a grunt of pain from next to her and when she quickly looked at Masaki, she saw blood everywhere.

"That's what happens when kids like you play ninja," the Kiri-nin said with a grin, quickly jumping away. Makoto and Masaki stood side by side and worried for her teammate, Makoto quickly assessed his wound. It was quite deep and blood was dripping down onto the ground. However, her attention went back to the Kiri-nin as he did something unbelievably gross – he licked the blood off of the kunai with a crazed grin.

"Oh my god." Her mouth hung open as she took in a breath of disgust at the sight. Fear shot through her as the man brought out another kunai.

Then suddenly, he shot forward towards the two and began attacking them with a speed that rivaled Sakurai-sensei.

Makoto, barely able to keep up with the strikes, cried out as the man nicked her arms and hands as she continued to have them raised to protect herself. Despite knowing that it could get her killed, she couldn't help but watch from the corner of her eye as Masaki struggled alongside her.

Fuck fuck fuck, she internally cursed.

The Konoha-nin they had taken refuge with from earlier that day were fighting various levels of kiri-nin around them as their outpost was being attacked. Sakurai-sensei had yet to return from his fight – because he would come back, he promised – with their remaining teammate.

"Argh!" Masaki was the first to fall and the enemy, seeing an opportunity, pushed her away and–

Landing on her back, she groggily watched in slow motion as he kicked Masaki down onto the ground –

He jumped on him –

The weapon was in the air –

"NO!"

Eyes widening, she scrambled to get up despite the pain in the back of her head, but she didn't let it stop her. She ran as fast as she could – faster than she's ever run in her life – and jumped onto the man –

She brought her kunai down –

"Argh!"

It was softer than she imagined the kunai went straight into his neck as she severed his spinal cord –

Blood splattered into her mouth –

Wait there was so much blood too much blood –

She fell back on her back as the man toppled over, his eyes wide and empty they were so empty where was the life –

"Makoto?"

She just killed him oh no what did she do he was dead –

"Makoto!"

"Why is he looking at me?!" she cried and pushed herself back until she hit something – anything – against her back and she just killed someone. "Make him stop!"

Hands suddenly grabbed her face and pulled her away and don't touch her don't –

"Makoto, look at me," a voice said hands were holding her hands now but don't touch –

"N-No no no –"

"Look at me!" With a shaky breath, she slowly opened her eyes and saw brown eyes looking down at her – they were so familiar why were they so familiar? "It's Masaki, your teammate, remember?"

Her eyes were looking around wildly as she tried remembering – teammate, teammate who?

"Team Eight, Makoto, Team Eight."

Gulping, she looked at the face that stared at her – so much emotion there was so much – and like a fog clearing, her memories of the following day, the following week, the following year, came back.

Her body wouldn't stop shaking but she was somewhat able to calm herself down to the best of her ability, pushing the thought of that dead man to the farthest, deepest, parts of her brain. The two remained in the same position for a few more minutes until she finally pulled away at the realization that his hands were still on her face. His eyes still betrayed his worried as he watched her but she nodded her head to reassure her fellow teammate. "I'm...sorry," she mumbled, refusing to look at him, "I...uh…"

"It's fine." Masaki stood up and offered Makoto a hand – one she gladly took as he pulled her up. "The fight ended a few minutes ago, let's go see the damage." The moment he loosened his grip on her hand to let go, her grip tightened as she now held onto his entire arm, hiding behind him. He pressed his lips but nodded his head as he began walking with her in tow, but he was sure to stay clear of the man that Makoto had killed.

And so the two left in the opposite direction, the man's glassy eyes open and never wavering, forever watching the back of the two Konoha genin that killed him.


Rendezvous with Death


Makoto and Masaki sat next to each other in the corner of the room as several Konoha shinobi shuffled around, reorganizing the mess and sending birds about what had just occurred. No one paid the two any attention, despite one of them being covered in blood.

"Masaki...you should get that looked at," Makoto muttered as she looked at her teammate's wound.

He pulled his hand away before saying, "It's fine, I'll have someone look at it once everything's calmed down." She opened her mouth as if to argue, but he stopped her by holding a hand up and asking, "Where do you think Sakurai-sensei is?"

She pushed his hand away before turning back to look at the shinobi around them. "...I don't know."

"Do you –"

"Hey, identify yourself!"

The two froze as they heard a reply, "Sakurai Tsuyoshi, shinobi number –"

Before he could finish, Makoto and Masaki shot up and evaded the hands that tried to block them as they ran towards their sensei.

"Sensei!"

"Shou!"

Shou and Akamaru trailing behind him, Makoto launched herself into Sakurai's arms as she began sobbing while Masaki rushed to where their last remaining teammate stood.

Sakurai, while making sure not to agitate his injury, placed a hand on the back of Makoto's head as he returned her hug, pushing the sight of his blood-soaked student to the back of his mind for later. He felt her grip on him tightened and when he saw the highest ranked Jounin walk towards him, he quizzically looked at his other student.

"There was a...fight," Masaki mumbled, his hand gripping Kaimaru's fur.

"Identify yourself, shinobi."

After going through the standard check, Sakurai handed the man his dog tags that would inform him through a chakra signature that he was who he was.

As Jounin inspected the chains, Sakurai pulled Makoto away from him. He kneeled to get a better look at the blonde and saw the several cuts and bruises on her arms. "Makoto, look at me." Slowly, but surely, her blue eyes met with his and he saw how bloodshot they were, but that wasn't what made him sigh.

It was the emptiness that they held.

"...Yes, Sensei?"

Coughing, he placed a hand on her shoulder. Although not knowing what had happened, he could incur what did – she had her first kill, judging by how traumatized she was. "Not here, okay?" he quietly said, knowing that breaking down in front of everyone, despite how tempting it was, only gave way for others to criticize someone.

Gulping, Makoto nodded her head and quickly rushed to where Shou and Kaimaru stood. Sakurai watched her as she nearly toppled Shou over with the bone-crushing hug she gave the boy, the relief in all of them slightly uplifting the somber mood.

"Well, Sakurai-san, welcome back."

Team Eight was relatively safe – for now.


Rendezvous with Death – End


A/N: Heyyo! Been a while – I know, but after my computer broke and all the shit with College Applications, I've come back with a new chapter! I had it written out mostly before my laptop went to shit, so thankfully, I just needed to make some edits and bam, a chapter done.

Yes, its short and I'm sorry, but I can't type for SHIT on a phone, and while I think editing and reviewing are great for the small screen, typing a whole entire story is just not a good idea for me.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this relatively short chapter :)

Until next time, don't forget to follow/fav., and please review if you haven't already!