Title: Born of War
Anime: Naruto
Pairings: SasuNaru, SakuOC, KakashiOC.
Author: Vesuvio
Disclaimer: I'm broke. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't own Naruto. And the sarcasm comment is owned by the almighty Terry Pratchett.
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Born of War
Chapter Eight: Welcome to Hell.
A few hours later, the strange woman came back carrying what seemed to be her own weight in dead animal. Naruto stirred and awoke from his doze at the smell. He looked at her and wrinkled his nose.
"Lovely." She looked up and grinned wryly.
"Unconcious to sarcastic in less than 5 seconds? Must be a new record." Naruto scowled at her. "Anywho, how'd ya like yer meat, Monkey-boy? Burnt? Medium? Rare? Blue?" She began to set up a fire as she rattled off the options to him. He collected his scattered mind together enough to make sense of some of what she had said.
"...Don't call me that." he replied. She looked at him in confusion.
"Call you wha...Oh! Monkey-boy! Well, what else should I call you? I don't know yer name and to me you look like a monkey. I mean, I s'pose I could call ya Saru-chan, like yer demon does, but he seems a bit posessive. I could call ya kid but I'm only what? Five years older than ya? I mean, I s'pose that is a long gap, but still. I don' wanna be condescending to you cos' ya seem like a nice enough guy, but I really don't know what to call you."
Naruto sat there dazed for quite a while.
"What, was I talkin' too much? I do that sometimes, y'know, but--"
"Naruto." She stopped.
"Naruto?"
"Mmm. An' Kyuubi says how'd you know about him?" putting down the carcases, she smiled and knocked his head gently. Despite her rough attitude, her eyes were soft and kind.
"Dummy. Can't you feel it? I have a demon too." Naruto realised that this must have been what he and Kyuubi had sensed earlier. "Well there, young one." she continued "You do seem to be taking everything a little too calmly. You did just rip your wrists open in a slightly too artful manner. And you've just woken up in an unfamiliar place. For a ninja, you're not very sharp at the moment, are you?"
"I think I'm in shock" said Naruto quietly. He began to giggle. As she looked on, he started to shake, and tear ran down his pale face.
With a slight tut of concern, she gathered him up in her arms, rocking him gently. Before he fell aasleep he muttered something slightly.
She smiled fondly again.
"Loki. M'name's Loki, little one." she tightened her arms, and, leaning against the tree, fell asleep with him.
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A black, void-like aura sprung up around the clearing. The ninja started in fear, and backed slowly away from the meat he was stealing. Out of the void stalked a sole figure, carrying a bundle in it's arms. As it came into view, he could see it was a woman, carrying a teen in her wiry arms. She had the same void in her eyes.
She spoke quietly.
"You won't steal his food." the ninja's face lost all colour, and as he stumbled backward, the void began pressing in on him. He could feel the pressure gathering around his body, radiating fear into his Limbic system. Every bad memory, every horrible feeling he had ever witnessed was amplified a thousand time in his brain.
"I said, you won't steal his food." this time, the ninja wet himself. He didn't move a muscle as the stream trickled down his leg. Suddenly, the she-demon looked exasperated.
"Oh, fer God's sakes man, get some bloody backbone!" she cried. Seconds later, the ninja disappeared in a spark of ozone.
"Mmmf..." mumbled the bundle in her arms. Instantly, the void disappeared and Loki returned to normal. She knelt down, setting Naruto down in front of her. Brushing back the hair from his forehead, she watched as he woke up.
"Hey there, little one. Hungry much?" He mumbled again, this time accompanied by his rumbling stomach. Loki chuckled. "Quite. Give me minute, I'll have some food ready for you." she walked over to the meat and started preparing a fire. On reflection, Naruto felt it was more sauntered than walked. Loki seemed to saunter everywhere. "We should reach Home before noon. Hold up until then, ne?"
Noon? thought Naruto? He looked to the sky. To his surprise, it was dark, save for the opalescent glimmer of dawn on the horizon.
"What...what day is it today? How long have I been asleep?" Loki turned and grinned at him.
"About a day. You should be grateful, kid. I've been carryin' ya for miles. Today's Friday. Best day o' the week."
When she finished the food and they ate, Naruto attempted to get up. To his surprise, Loki tutted at him and, loading her bag and assorted paraphrenalia on to her back, she picked him up, bundled him in her cloak, and began to walk. Naruto squawked in protest. "No arguments. You ain't fit enough to be walkin' as far as we're goin."
He sighed and relaxed to enjoy the ride.
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Just before noon, as they were reaching the beginnings of a marked trail, Loki stopped. Where the trail started, the trees thickened and it became noticeably darker. Naruto looked around, wondering why they had stopped. Suddenly, Loki spoke.
"I cannot carry him. You must take him from here, my friend."
To Naruto's astonishment, a man he had not sensed appeared from out of the shadows to their right. He bowed slightly, and then took the Naruto from her, leaving behind the cloak. This, Loki shook out and trew around her shoulders. She leaned down to brush the creases out of it, and, as she straightened up, Naruto couldn't help but noticed how regal she appeared.
Though stray hairs were escaping, her blue pigtail hung down elegantly to the small of her back. the cloak she wore was black, with fur edging and blue lining. Only now he realised she was wearing nearly all black. A black shirt and black leather breeches, tucked into black calf boots. She had a wide black sash tied around her waiste, where the shirt was tucked into the breeches.
The only colour about her person was the blue lining of her cloak, two teardrop sapphire earings, and something he hadn't noticed before. On the back of her neck, just to the right, was an angry red fire-brand which contrasted the blue of her hair. It was a pentagram, with an unfamiliar symbol in the middle a bit like a knot.
He couldn't get over how intimidating she was. She looked like the warrior queens he had read about in books, woman forced into a man's position of ruling.
He then realised they were moving again. Unbeknownst to him, Loki had preceded into the dark forest and the man who was holding him fell in behind her. Looking around, he kept seeing things out of the corner of his eye, like figures, ninjas hiding. All of a sudden, an alarmingly loud call sounded out ahead of them. It became an exotic tune that made Naruto's eaars ring.
Loki, just in front of them, threw her head back and answered.
The call soared over the forest and many more calls came, each in counterpoint, forming a message that Naruto could not understand. Then all fell silent.
"We are here." said the man. Naruto started and looked up at him. "M'name is Remy, li'l one. I gotta warn ya. Once we get inside, ya can't talk to Loki here. Y'might get in trouble."
"From her?" Remy shook his head gently. Looking up ahead of them, he replied.
"No. From them."
Following the direction of his gaze, Naruto gaped in amazement as hoards of people slowly poured out from huge, carved wooden gates. In the shadows of the trees around them, ninjas faded into existence.
Amongst the crowds were people dressed similarly to Loki, except they had no cloaks.
The crowd backed away until there was a crescent around one of these people, a man with short, dark hair and an olive complexion. He raised his green eyes to meet Loki's. She gestured for Remy to stop, and then walked forward until she was within 3 feet of the man.
"M'Lady." He barked roughly.
"Masa." replied Loki, in a smooth, powerful voice Naruto had never heard before. The man, Masa, took a visible deep breath.
"I, Masa of the people of the Tao'karr, challenge the Warlord-Queen Loki to a Duel of Final Judgement." he said, quietly.
Loki searched his eyes. She found nothing.
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TBC...
R&R, please!
Vesuvio
