!NOT EDITED!
MOON SAYS: FORGIVETH ME! It has been so long, and I AM SOOOO SORRY! College got away with me, that and I started playing my video games...cough, Kingdom Hearts, God of War, etc. I posted this chapter even though I should be doing school work, but you know what? I need a break. Though I took that when I was watching my Naruto Shippuden DVDs last week...I had through the 3rd box set. Now I have 4 and 5! And soon the next movie, heehee! Soon the next chapter will be completed...once it gets started. It should be long, not as long as this. This I didn't think was going to be as long as it was. Anyway, time for the chapter!
WORDS: 5, 497
PAGES: 13
ENJOY!
~Hunters~
Chapter 9
Why did Fate hate her so?
Every time she turned around, her traitorous heart tried to give itself away. Wasn't this human nature? A voice deep inside of her mind questioned as the thoughts made itself known.
She agreed with where this train of thought was going, because it was human nature to connect with others, whether it was as a friend, family, or lover.
But she wasn't human was she? At least not completely…
Freya didn't understand why after all the heartache she had experienced over her life, so why did her continue to want to go after others? Wasn't there supposed to be a survival instinct or something like to stop her from making a mistake that could cause such pain again? Was her heart, or by proxy herself, a masochist because she just kept coming back for more?
Bonds only hurt you. She should have known this because of all the pain she had experienced because of it. More than once. So she knew, no felt, what would happen by doing this.
There was even a rumor in the other time line that her flame believed the same. He believed that bonds were useless, that they slowed you down, that they needed to be severed completely. Well, except that stupid revenge bond he held. But the others, the ones that were "positive," were the ones that tied him down, that gave him a weakness. Didn't he almost kill Minato's flesh and blood, his heir, his child in an attempt to destroy those bonds?
This confused the half demon greatly. She couldn't understand any of this. Why would she do this over and over? Was it because she wanted it? Was this one of those situations where the phrase "just more time" applies? Bonds were double edged swords just like emotions.
Freya would not deny or argue that bonds were only negative. No, a bond could make you feel like you were the greatest thing in the world. Bonds were a way to justify your purpose in life. It gave you a reason to live. Yet, was it worth it? Was the risk of the negative side outweighed by the positive? Was the positive side worth it?
She wanted to scream! This indecision was tearing her apart. Should she risk it? Were the fleeting moments of love and feelings resulting from various bonds worth the inevitable pain that was sure to come after they were broken?
For bonds always ended up broken. No matter what one did, the bonds would break. Freya knew this was for this lesson had been etched deep inside her soul. Every bond she had ever had, ended up snapping and coming back to hit her and wound her deeply. The bonds in the beginning of her life—with her family, that damn tutor, the demons; the ones centered around the creation of the Leaf Village, the horrible situation that ended her relationship with the Sannin, her grandfather, and Minato; and finally the friendship between the Uchiha's before either massacre.
She wasn't even going to include her time with her fellow half-demons, because, yes there were bonds, but none that would hurt her.
And yet, the incident back at the house came and struck her across the face. She knew none of them understood what was going on. None of them understood the turmoil ripping her apart. They didn't know about her indecision concerning her two…she didn't want to even think about what they were to her.
Bonds…friends…lovers…
If you had a bond with someone, if you trusted someone, shouldn't this mean that you tell them if something is wrong? If you are wounded, whether internally or externally? Did this mean that she had kept true to herself, and didn't let that trust leave her as her heart wanted to? She wanted to trust them; she wanted to spill all her secrets…especially to those two. They lov…they cared deeply for her.
Did she feel the same? Did she want too?
Freya tore her eyes from whatever she wasn't looking and drug them to the sky, which was crying for her.
The question wasn't about them or how they would hurt her, or anything of the sort. The question was did she want these bonds? Did she want these emotions, these people…?
Freya knew without a doubt that she did want it. She wanted to stop feeling alone; she wanted to stop being separated. She wanted what her parents had, what her grandfather had more than once.
There was no doubt about it, she wanted it, and she probably needed it too.
But was it worth it? All these people before her felt that because they had risked it.
But that other voice inside of her head responded with the counter. Yes they risked it, but in the end, every situation, every couple, ended up on the wrong side of that bet. It was like Tsunade and her betting…
They had good times…but it was like all that happiness was based on borrowed time.
There was never enough time for the happiness…but everyone felt it was worth it.
Should she risk it?
Even with what she knew? Was it worth it with the nature of her mission?
That borrowed time wouldn't long; it would be so short…
But wasn't that what it was about? Wasn't that what others always said? As a ninja or a hunter, your life was borrowed time. Any minute you could be taken out by an enemy, whether they are stronger than you or not.
Was love, bonds in general, the same risk, the same bet, as being what she was?
If it was, then why wouldn't she risk it? If it was, Freya was already making the gamble with her life at stake. Was her life worth more than the emotional pain would be?
Sometimes she wasn't so sure.
Why did everything become so complicated? After everything that happened between those cursed Uchiha, she had finally settled own, almost content with her fellow half demons. The half demon princess had finally gotten over her past; she had finally put it behind her. And yet, after seeing that group and accidently bringing them into the past to save them, they had changed her. Her feelings of content were violently replaced with confusion and desire. There was just something about the two of them that made her want them, that made her feel as if they were her destiny.
Just like she had come to terms and realized that she wanted those bonds, she knew that she wanted, no needed them.
But how could fate be so cruel?
Her mission...
The risk…
The debate and analysis of bonds, if the risk was worth it, and those two ended with no warning. Freya was so deep in thought, deep within herself, her mind, that her guard had completely fallen.
There was no warning, nor a chance to defend.
Freya had been so worried about the pain of her heart, about emotional and mental pain, that the thought of physical pain didn't even register.
And for the first couple minutes after the attack had struck her unawares, she didn't even register this new physical pain. Nor the damage it was doing to her body. Her mind, it seemed, was taking too much time coming from deep inside of her to the reality world.
~~XX~~
The Demon Queen didn't concern herself with the questions that immediately arose from the group at her command, instead she turned toward the two half demons.
"Did you send the message I requested?"
The female red headed half demon nodded. "The Hokage, we were informed by the summon, received the scroll and has agreed to send at least five of her ninja. She has no more that she can spare."
Her male partner continued where she left off. "She will be sending four ANBU and one unknown."
The demon nodded and focused once more on the humans. "As of right now, I am sending you on a mission as hunters. Akatsuki has caught two Jinchuriki and are doing the sealing on them in a day. You mission is to wipe them out, got it?"
They nodded, but Shika had a few questions. But he wasn't stupid enough to think that any of his questions would get answered, or be received positively, so he just asked one pertaining to what she ordered.
"Who will be fighting who? Where is the enemy's location?"
She tilted her head and thought about it. "You decide, but remember, they all have to be killed, so spread out your forces wisely. This job needs to be quick, because your leader is in trouble. Here is the location: it's a map with a big red X, marking the spot. Now go, you are wasting time." She commanded as tossed the scroll at them
The group wasted no time as they grabbed their stuff, and ran right out the door without any more comments or any delaying tactics. Though there were two things that no one seemed to notice: the half-demons had stayed behind, nor the fact that the Queen had said "your leader is in trouble."
Or maybe they did hear the last part, and that was why they wasted no time.
Sasuke had grabbed the scroll with the location marked as they left their base. The flame Shinobi quickly ran his eyes across it with his Sharingan, and then lit it up. Only after it was nothing but ashes, scattered to the four winds of course, did he start voicing what he had seen.
"The base seemed to be in between Otogakure and Amegakure…" the once Avenger trailed off as his mind tried to make sense of the information. "The location seemed, at least to my eye, to serve two purposes. One was as a barrier between Orochimaru and his Sound Village."
Sasuke didn't even have to finish because Shika did it for him. 'It's also a barrier and last stand defense against anyone trying to get in to Rain. Which makes sense, especially since we have taken the offense this time, but I can only assume by the sound of your voice and hesitation, that this base wasn't there in the other time line?"
The Uchiha nodded his confirmation. "It was actually a base that Snake bastard had, which is why I was confused. That was the base where I first meet Karin, but as soon as I saw it and left, something had happened and Orochimaru had moved Karin away from it. Maybe he felt that his threat was turning against him?"
Temari stepped up into the conversation next. "That makes more sense. He probably made it in the first place to keep an eye on Akatsuki, but when toward the end they were coming out of the closet so to speak."
"So do you propose that the reason they took it the first time around was because it was a reason that they weren't going to stay hidden anymore? That this was their first launch of an attack?" Kankuro questioned as they came out of the forest only to run for ten minutes and back into another one.
"It makes sense, especially this time around, seeing as we haven't given them much of a choice. They need the one-tail and nine-tails the most—they are the strongest after all. So are they going after the others to build up their power? That was what we had figured before…but after that last attack, it seems like they are done playing…almost desperate." Hinata added her two senses in.
Neji could see the logic. "Maybe it's because of how easy—to them, not us—we took out four of their members in one go. Last time we did no such thing. First it was Sasori, but then we did a double kill with Hidan and his partner. But it was never more than one, except for Shika's battle…so maybe we forced their hand?"
Shika took in all the information that his comrades had presented him and it was clear to him. "Neji you're right; all of you are right. We forced their hand, their desperate. They're afraid that if they waste any more time then they will lose. So no there is no doubt that wherever we find them, they will be in the process of a sealing. The only real question is if Madara will be there, because if so, we are shit out of luck."
~~XX~~
Her eyes closed without a second thought or will on her part. It had been so long since she had truly been out of it. And even then there was never any pain involved in it…well, physical at least.
There had only been a few times that her mind had relocated her deep inside of herself…after watching her mother and grandmother murdered in front of her, hearing that the First Hokage and his brother were considering the rumor, on top of the fact that he fought Madara—and killed him—the last had been when she had heard that Minato knew her secrets, the ones she tried to keep from him for so long. Well, the massacre was automatically included in that, there was no questions—why wouldn't she freak out after she killed her sister, mother, and what was left of her village?
She only went this deep when her mind, body, and soul were in such deep turmoil. She had figured that after her soul had been completed there would be no more of that bullshit, but here she was. Why did bad things always happen when she did this?
She knew that her body being physically abused, but her mind wasn't letting her feel it. As she started to come out of it more, her touch senses were returning, but only the one that let her feel her skin. She could feel that hot liquid running all over her skin, every bit of skin.
She felt something again; she wondered if what she felt just then was a sword? The touch seemed to be curvy with teeth…
Yet, it seemed like forever and a day before her mind had surfaced, and by then the pain had stopped—the addition of pain, that is...what she had experienced while her head was "stuck in the ground" was still there, but as the seconds went on, it started to become a dull, but painful, ache. When her mind returned the sight to her eyes she saw something that warmed, terrified, and was flat out painful to see.
Her childhood loves, closest friends, and of course pillows, in fighting positions right in front of her, protecting her.
Was she still in her childhood? Did nothing really happen? Did she really never known Madara, Orochimaru, Minato, or the next generation's heirs? Did she never meet with those who she was afraid to see as mates?
Or did they somehow break their seals just to come to her rescue? If this was so, where those mates of hers? Weren't mates supposed to know when her heart was pained? Weren't they supposed to know when her body was a mess? When she was swimming in a pool of her own blood?
The growls of her friends and guardians slammed her back into reality, as did the fight they entered.
But she was confused. If she had mates, then why were they not the ones seeking revenge? Why were two of the Demon Council doing so?
Her head ached, and when she held it a painful hiss escaped her mouth, and she pulled it back and saw the blood.
Her hair was pure red now…as was her skin…it was no longer the pale white it had been.
Just what had happened to this body of hers while her mind was retreated into itself?
~~XX~~
Shika's mind started running at top speeds. "Maybe if we have those Ninja from the Leaf hold him off, Naruto and I will be trying our damnest to kill Pein off as quickly as possible. Neji and Sasuke you are on Itachi duty, between the two of your Kekkai Genkai, you should be able to do okay. The female member…I want Kankuro and Hinata on her. To be honest, I'm still not sure what her Jutsu are, considering we got her last time because of her attachment to Pein. That leaves Kisame and Zetsu. Gaara and Temari I assign Kisame to you because you're long distant fighters, but beware his water. Temari your Wind attacks it won't matter, but Gaara, your sand will be difficult to use."
Gaara understood. "It's the Charka problem. Everyone else has mostly Charka centered attacks, or rather the Jutsus. His sword absorbs it, but if I can get it away from him, and use my sand to keep it away, then we'll be fine. That just leaves me to find a way to harden my sand, so that he can't summon it or whatever."
With that explained, and most of the battle figured out, Shika knew he had trouble with finding who to fight against Zetsu…he chuckled; it seemed he always forgot about those two. Quickly he looked behind him and motioned for the two half demons to approach, and when they were close enough he filled them in on their part.
"We need you to take care of and distract Zetsu. We don't want to give him time to use any of his shifting abilities, so if you can keep him on his toes, then we won't have to worry if the person we are depending on to help us kill the enemy is in fact, the enemy."
Lezara didn't hesitate in her response. "Don't worry, we have him covered."
Once that was taken care of, he turned toward their Kages. "Pein is going to be the most powerful, besides Madara. To be honest, you are going to need Sasuke as well. So if worse comes to worse, and the Leaf Ninja are killed while keeping him occupied, I will switch with Gaara. This way, Pein is dead no matter what. Before, he could barely handle Naruto at eight, and if we add yours Gaara, then we won't need to risk Naruto going all out with all Nine Tails."
Naruto chuckled. "Do you really believe that I the same strength, or any of us are, that we were during the War? If I have to go beyond four this time, we have a problem. And Gaara doesn't even need to go a tail; he has enough on his own without it, just like the rest of us."
With a quick verbal confirmation, they agreed onto the plan and doubled their speed. They would be at the hideout in less than ten minutes at the rate they were going.
~~XX~~
There were a total of five ninjas in formation running through the treetops at top speed.
"Inu- taichou! How far till we get to the rondevu point?" the ANBU Shinobi behind him asked him through hand signals.
The man leading them, but running behind the one who asked, answered with words instead of responded the way the other asked. "In two minutes we will be coming upon them, but I want all of you to listen up, especially our newest team member. When we get on the field, I am not in charge. If ANY of the others give you a command, you obey him or her. Got it?"
"Hai!" was chorused among the others and they continued on.
Exactly two minutes later, they came across a group of eight people hunched down watching a cave. When they landed behind they recognized every single one of the ninja in front of them, except the two standing toward the side, their charka felt off.
Without wasting time, the Nara explained the plan. They were to distract and THE Uchiha Madara.
The three ANBU knew that they would die before the others—kids—would defeat their selective target. They could see the looks in their taichou and the new member, those two believed they would survive this battle. Was it because those two had experience and personal relationships with their new commanders?
No doubt, but their Hokage had commanded that they do what they can in this fight. This fight was for their village and for their Kage. There would be no way that they would give the others the longest amount of them they could give. They just hoped that it would be enough.
~~XX~~
Freya was strong, stronger than most, but she was fragile. It was something that she kept hidden and didn't want anyone to know. She was the princess and direct heir to the demon throne and because of this she could never show any weakness. She trained herself to not feel pain, but if it passed her threshold, she tried her damnest to keep it hidden and off of her face. But there were some times when it would slip.
Right now was one of those times.
Whatever torture they put her body through, caused more than enough agony to cross her pain threshold. And combined with the thought and seeing it, of her precious and longest friends getting hurt. She broke.
Freya had never wanted to become attached to others, even if for her sanity and just for herself she needed. Those two didn't even have to try to worm their way into her heart. It was as if as soon as she saw them, and even before then, that a place in there was always for them.
And just the thought of something happening to them, was beyond devastating to her. When she had heard that Shukaku was captured and sealed inside of a boy she almost lost control of herself—she would have destroyed that village. But she held herself in check, reassuring herself that nothing else would happen to him. Then he gets taken by Akatsuki? That just reaffirmed her mission against them.
Kyuubi was a different story. When she found out that he was inside of that Uzumaki bitch, and so close too, she almost killed the host. Even her husband couldn't stop her, but when Kyuubi took over her body and reminded her that if she died, he did as well, she stopped. Never again did that woman go near her.
And now? They were ready to die to defend her in her weakened state. Did they not understand that if they did she would as well?
Those thoughts combined with the pain, made her voice echo it with cries that attacked both of their hearts. Without a second though, they acted on instinct: they moved with speed they weren't sure they possessed. They stood in front of her ready to do anything to help or defend her.
They knew if she was crying out in pain, they couldn't waste time fighting those two who hurt her. This needed to end, they had to get her to safety, and wait until she healed.
~~XX~~
Before the Leaf ANBU knew what was happening, the ones they had labeled as kids had moved with a speed none of them could watch, and blew up—or it looked like it—the cave.
With this attack the enemy had no choice but to evacuate their base. When they came out and stood in front of it, there was no sign of a host. So the damned things were still inside, if there was more than one. Hoakge-sama hadn't told them if there were going to be any, just that there might be more than one.
This wasn't one of those Chuunin matches where the ninja are assigned someone. This wasn't a "one by one" where each group went with their chosen.
No, this was an "all for one" attack.
As soon as the Uchiha, Itachi, was out the younger one was on top of him, giving him no time to do anything but defend with a kunai. But the ANBU had never seen anyone really defend or do it long when it was a kunai against a sword. It seemed from the sound the male Hyuuga made that he expected, but didn't like how the younger Uchiha was acting.
Of course the others were just a tad bit slower; Uzumaki and Nara launched their attacks a split second later against the leader: Pein. Next up was, in complete sync—with surprised the ANBU—were the male sand Shinobi and the Hyuuga girl against the only female member of Akatsuki.
The two who had the weird chakra that reminded them a little of Kyuubi's and the other two Suna Shinobi waited and stayed back for a few seconds because their targets were nowhere in sight.
But the group from Konoha's was…with a deep breath they took, before they all launched themselves into their assault on the older Uchiha.
~~XX~~
The two Demon Lords only had to wait a few seconds before something happened after their retreat. The blue one started rocking back and forth before he fell to the ground. The plant ninja held himself up, but he was on the verge of falling over as well.
"Kisame," the black half hissed.
"We need to go, Leader-sama is summoning us." the white half informed before they started sinking into the ground.
The blue fish man just growled at him as he picked himself up. Once he did that, he flew through quite a few hand signs, and then he disappeared into a puddle of water.
After they left, the two demons shrunk in size, and curled around their Mistress, very careful not hurt her injuries.
Freya knew she needed to follow them. No doubt the others launched an attack on Akatsuki. That had been her plan after all.
Once she had taken out the four members, she had sent a summon on her way back to the base to the Hokage informing her of what had happened. No doubt those five would be meeting her group…was it still her group? Or had she forfeited that right once she abandoned and banished them all?
She moved to get up; she didn't have time to waste. She was worried again…were they strong enough to think on the final members? What about Sasuke? Could he take out Itachi knowing there was a possibility that he could reverse the possession?
No…he knew. Her flame had banished that hope as soon as she had given him the lesson in possessions. The time limit depended on how strong their will was, or if the rogue left as quickly as it had come. Itachi was a strong son of a bitch, but for it to last this long? If he was lucky, the first time he meet Naruto in the time line he was probably on his last legs struggling against the demon.
It was too late now.
Freya's eyes searched the sky as she rested, because as soon as she could block the pain, her ass was going to be with her team…her family.
~~XX~~
Itachi was pissing Sasuke off enough for the younger to think it was his older brother. But the real question was how the fuck did this rogue know that Sasuke was fucking Neji? Not only that, but how did he know that Sasuke had, during his dark avenger phase, wanted to repopulate his clan?
Sasuke couldn't remember shouting that out to the rooftops, but only once, and that was during Team Seven's introduction…and this time around it didn't happen. So what the hell was going on?
It also didn't help that as Sasuke was contemplating this, Neji was going all emo because he couldn't bare kids, that the Rogue Itachi got them caught in some kind of Genjustu. But this was different…it felt like there was demonic charka added into it. And God only knew what was going to happen with that combination.
~~XX~~
The others weren't making any progress, but the two missing Akatsuki members showed up…smelling of their Mistress' blood. Their Mistress' mates, once they smelt the blood—they hadn't yet, thank Kami—were going to go berserk. Though it was weird because Gaara was fighting one of her attackers, maybe
This was the only real thing going on that the two half demons noticed before they remembered the Queen's reminded before they had left the base.
They had a job today, but the female half demon had made a promise, and their target had showed up.
Peyowa just sighed. "You made the promise, so you get to kill him. I will take care of our mission."
They nodded and went their separate ways.
~~XX~~
The only female ANBU knew that she had predicted her death was the truth, and it was about to happen. But as the killing blow was struck she couldn't help but notice that the male with the weird charka was going into the destroyed cave. She just prayed that Uzumaki finished their enemy of quickly…wait, where was the Nara going?
~~XX~~
When Peyowa came back to his teammate, he chuckled when he observed that she was just playing with the plant. With that woman playing around, there was no doubt that she was doing the job that the pineapple head had assigned her.
Speaking of that ninja, he had just switched with his Mistress' mate to be with his lover. So they were desperate to kill of the enemy then. Speaking of, Peyowa took a quick glance and saw Madara unoccupled and realized that was why there was the switch.
"Damnit! Stop playing woman, the Leaf are dead." he growled at the woman, who took no time following his order.
AS Zetsu took his last breath, his glaze went to Pein and he saw something he was not expecting: a red woman.
~~XX~~
Freya knew time was getting short, so whether or not her body was ready for the battle, she would still be in it.
Her body was not ready for it, but it had healed enough where the pain was manageable.
Without a second thought she was gone, with her faithful guardians at her heels, toward the battle where everyone she had come to care for was. She would not let anyone die; there was no way that she was going to leave their lives in their own hands. Bad things always seemed to happen then.
With those thoughts, her strength was renewed and the pain pushed so far back into her mind she was sure it was never going to come back.
Locating the charka of her mates, she channeled some of her demonic charka into her feet and it took her no time to get here. As she looked around she noticed two things: Madara had killed at least four people, and the life force of two inside the cave just went out.
Freya didn't waste a second and she found where the real Pein was, and she took no time in taking his head off with one of her favorite swords. With that done, she quickly existed his hiding place made sure to incapacitate each one of his paths, just to make sure they weren't able to walk around even after that fool was dead.
Through her actions, she noticed that the others took advantage of them and made damn sure their targets were killed and completely dead.
The only one left was Madara and Freya quietly walked toward where his body stood. Her body covered in her own blood, a sword completely red as well.
"You are charged as rogue, you are found to be a rogue, and your sentence is death." Freya's voice was calm, but colder than ice.
Madara laughed as he watched the One and Nine Tail rush to her side; he wasn't stupid, he could see how possessive they were. The rogue inside of him could tell that the two had claimed her.
"I'm surprised that they are supporting you, Princess. I had wondered why they had not accepted the offers that the other Rogues had sent to them. You had no doubt killed any that came close enough." He laughed, throwing his head back. "I can see why. Was it a good fuck? Good enough to—"
Neither Freya nor her minions let him get farther. Freya stabbed her sword through his mouth; Peyowa had his mini sword buried from the back to the front, straight through the heart; and Lezara had cut of his balls.
They redrew their weapons and watched the body sink down to the ground with a grim satisfaction that their mission was completed. The rain fell on them and the sense of completion fully hit them as it cleansed the group's bodies, minds, and souls.
Until a humanoid bear appeared in front of Freya and kneeled. It was only then did she remember something her mother had once told her: "Don't count your chickens before they hatch," or maybe she should have knocked on wood…
To be continued...
