Author's Notes:
My legs hurt. I have an alibi to stay seated. And so, I have more time to write :D
And my mom decided that I WOULD do something productive with my life and told me to take my sister out to the park for two hours today. Which is why I couldn't post sooner. Sorry =="
Warning: This chapter might be a little confusing, so if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask =="
Anyways, uhh... yeah. Beginning of the first challenge. This one will have about 2 to 3 parts, because, well, it's long (: And, uhh... Yeah. Love ya all~
Thanks a bunch to my awesome reviewers: *takes a deep breath* DecepticonDefenestrater (keep holding on, okay? (: It'll work out fine), HarajukuSushi, avietar, Josephin Tonks, Nutbrain, Killergirl01, Teenage Neko, Midnight Moonfly and .lolcatsrule. (:
ENJOOOOY~
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Out of the three hours, we had spent an hour and a half sleeping, as the last test had mentally drained me. After that, we ate some stuff Kurenai had in her fridge while we discussed battle tactics.
By the end of the three hours, we were standing in the field, waiting for our second, crazy proctor to come out of nowhere again and explain to us what our second test would be.
We were all sitting down, chitchatting, when suddenly, the proctor just walked in from one side of the field, chewing on some dango. I briefly flashed Itachi in front of my eyes as I saw her chew the dango, but then she arrived in front of us and stopped.
That's it? No flashy entrance?
The proctor suddenly exploded in white clouds, and the actual body fell down from the tree next to us, stretching and yawning.
"HI THERE, LADIES!" she called. "Had a nice nap? I did for sure." She yawned again and grinned. "Alright, now listen well, losers, cause I'm only gonna explain once. The entire point of the second exam is to collect scrolls!" she announced. "Yeah, boring, I know, right?" she sighed out. "That's why it'll be spiced up by having no rules! A free for all, if you will." She grinned evilly.
"We're just gonna go in there and fight each other then?" someone asked.
"Did I ask if you had question?" she asked rhetorically, then shook her head. "NO!" she sighed. "But basically, that's it. Each person in your team will receive one scroll! These scrolls must be on you at all times! The entire point of the test is to keep these with you." She pointed up at the forest in front of us. It was deep and dense, with a tower in the middle. An electric fence was set up all around it to prevent intruders from coming in. "And, of course, if you want less challenges in the next round, then you might as well defeat other teams and steal their scrolls." She added with a wry smirk.
"So, if I get this right, the entire point of the test is to steal other people's scrolls?" someone asked.
"Did I ask for clarification? No! But yeah, that's pretty much it. From now on, everyone is on their own. If someone from your team loses their scroll or is... unable to fight." She grinned evilly at that. "The rest of the team will be able to carry on without their comrade. But always remember that you cannot achieve anything alone, so before mugging your own partners, think of your acts." She advised. I nodded, listening seriously.
There was a small silence where I directed my attention to the Chuunin who were setting up a stand next to the fence, a pile of scrolls on the table.
"You all have five days to complete your challenge, and get to the tower. If you finish those days without any scrolls, only the scroll you started with, or don't finish them at all, you're eliminated. If you want less of a challenge, then you might as well grab the scrolls of as many people as you can while out there. The gates around the tower will only open at the beginning of the fourth day. That way, you're all obliged to spend at least three days out in the wild. No extra points are accorded to the first ones there, though the ones who have collected the most scrolls do get a little something in extra." She checked her watch and nodded, looking at us fiercely. "It's time."
She then pointed at the gates and grinned evilly.
"Welcome to Sector 73, ladies. Also known as the Forest of Death."
................
We received our scrolls along with the other teams, but were lead towards a separate gate by a Chuunin instructor. He simply made sure we didn't get a head start. Until the time had come, we simply chatted about our strategies.
"And just in case that plan fails, we can use Echo's sensor abilities to check which one of them is fake, and two of us open a path while the other converges towards the real one." Moonshadow was explaining when the Chuunin cleared his throat.
"Be ready to depart, girls." He announced.
We all looked at each other, determined, and nodded, placing ourselves in front of the towering gate.
"Ready?" the Chuunin asked, grabbing the lock. "Good luck, you three." He took the lock off. "Three, two, one, go!" he announced, throwing the gate open.
We didn't let the gate open completely before jumping in and quickly claiming the treetops.
"What's the initial plan?" Kurenai asked once we were up in the trees.
"Since no one will waste time heading for the tower right now, we might as well change directions and head for the other gates, where hopefully, we'll be able to find other teams, and steal their scrolls." Echo planned. "Sounds good?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "I saw another gate about thirty degrees northwest. We should head there, since it crosses through other gates' territories, giving us more chances of encounter." I added.
"Right!" Moonshadow nodded seriously, switching to thirty degrees northwest. We followed her.
"Do you have a mental map of the forest, Echo?" I asked once we started heading in a straight line.
"Yes." She nodded calmly.
"Alright, where could we spend the night undisturbed, and with an easy access to resources?" I asked.
"Well, there's a river a bit far back. If we backtrack a bit, no one will think that we have retreated, and we could probably have the riverbanks to ourselves. At worst, we battle one or two weakened teams who want to recover before heading deeper, but that's all the better for us." She explained.
"Right. How about the terrain?" Kurenai asked.
"We have to cross over a mountain, and then a jungle-like mass of trees. Right now, we're in the forest division. We should be able to reach the mountain by tomorrow afternoon if we backtrack to the river tonight." She informed.
"Okay, that's a plan. We'll retreat to the river tonight and camp there." Our leader nodded, then motioned to Kurenai. "Any signs of chakra?"
Echo closed her eyes, making hand signs, then whipped them open, looking around.
"I see... One team of three, seventy-eight degrees north! They're heading for the mountains as well, but they're pretty slow. One's leg has no more chakra circulating in it, so I figure he must have fallen into an early trap and it's no longer alive." She gasped. "They're easy prey. At the rate they're moving, and the secrecy they're using, they're hoping not to get attacked." She nodded.
"Perfect! They're our first targets then!" Moonshadow nodded, switching directions.
I silently followed, mentally praising them for their awesome collaboration and teamwork. If only I could have that kind of teamwork with Danna, who was my partner, and so, had to have good teamwork with me.
"Closer?" Kurenai asked after a bit of time.
"Yes. They're about two hundred meters from here. And it appears as though they have a sensor too." She muttered. "Hide your chakras."
I did as I was told, forcing my chakra back into my body. It was a forcing activity, but at least we couldn't be detected in distance.
We stayed silent until Kurenai made a move for us to stop. We all landed on different branches, crouching low to see through the leaves.
"I can't believe you fell for a trick like that." One of the ninjas muttered, holding up another one. That one's leg was bandaged and bloody.
"Chakra sucking leeches." The third one muttered. "Should've seen that coming. They suck the chakra right out of your body. Five minutes, and you're dead. You're lucky we saved you in time." He smirked at the one hanging on the first for support.
"S-Shut up and keep walking. We need to find someplace to stay undetected until I can recover." He coughed out. "Any signs of the enemy?" he weakly asked.
"No Sir." The one supporting him muttered, looking around. I made sure I was hiding my chakra as I felt a wave of chakra entering my body, looking for traces of human life.
Kurenai raised her hand suddenly, and I carefully watched her movements. One of her hands went to the giant sword strapped on her back, and the other went in the air.
A signal.
Gulping down, I silently drew two kunai for defence and watched as Echo twirled her wrists to prepare for battle.
As soon as the Genin turned around to walk away, Kurenai's hand went down.
My chakra suddenly flared as I let it burst out, jumping down to the ground behind Moonshadow. Next to me, Echo twirled her ankles, heating them up for the battle.
The three Genin almost immediately noticed, their sensor being the first to turn with a gasp.
"Hand over your scrolls and we'll let you live." Kurenai threatened in a serious tone. I tried to keep my face straight and threatening too as the three Genin looked at each other and laughed.
"How cute, you little girlies want to play?" their leader, ironically the one who needed help from his partners, snickered.
"We're not joking." Echo called out in a flat tone I'd never heard the motherly girl use.
"Alright then, we won't either." The two uninjured Genin put their boss on the ground and stood protectively in front of him, forming hand seals.
"Katon!" one of them screamed.
I braced myself for a jump.
"Futon!" the other added, and my eyes widened.
"COMBO ATTACK! Flaming tornado!" they called out, promptly spitting out fire and strong gusts of wind at the same time.
"Fall back!" Kurenai called, and I quickly jumped back at the tornado formed, seemingly pulled towards us.
"That tornado's sensing our chakras! It'll follow us until it kills us!" Echo screamed over the gusting wind.
"I'll distract the tornado and get it away! You two hide your chakras and run for the casters!" I called out.
"Right!" both girls nodded without hesitation.
Taking my role very seriously, I made my chakra flare and quickly started fleeing into the treetops.
Right behind me, the flames licked higher as the gusts of wind fed them. I started sweating from the heat and the anxiety. The wind current was also strong, and if I got too close, I could get sucked right into the inferno.
Silently hoping the girls would be done soon, I jumped faster and faster on the branches, fleeing the eruption.
I had almost gotten in when suddenly, someone screamed. It was a girl's scream.
"No!" I screamed, recognizing the voice as Echo's. My teammate had been hurt!
Well shit.
Turning around, I met the flame tornado right in the face as it got close enough to suck me in. This is what I get for being distracted easily.
I gathered chakra at my feet to try and resist the air current, but the chakra-infused wind quickly disabled my attempts and the wind quickly pulled me in. In a last attempt to hold on, I grabbed some nearby branches.
Those too, betrayed me as they snapped. Out of options, I simply hoped that Kurenai and Echo would be done soon as the air current sucked me in.
I immediately felt dizzy as the world started literally spinning. I slowly lifted up in the air, sometimes falling back down, then being manipulated again by the wind. If I didn't know better, I'd call this being wind-handled.
I was broken out of my reverie as something hot tickled my exposed left arm. I quickly flashed a panicked look towards the flames that were slowly consuming the air around me, heading in for the kill. Now trapped inside a bubble of fire, with nowhere to go, I started breathing heavily, sweat rolling off in beads from my forehead. The air started getting tighter as I struggled to breathe. Slowly, but surely, the flames consumed my left arm, and I bit my lip as I endured the pain, curling up to avoid any more premature damage.
Just as I thought I was done for, though, the flame suddenly retreated, as did the wind.
I blinked, surprised, and my mouth opened in a gasp.
Before I knew it, I was freefalling towards the ground at high velocity. The flame tornado had completely disappeared, only leaving traces of burns and lots of ashes in its wake.
Gaining control of myself as I hit rougher air currents, I turned around, and, cradling my left arm against my chest, I used my right arm to try and grab a tree branch.
It took me a couple of tries, but then I successfully grabbed onto a half-charred branch, slowly my descent. A few seconds later, it snapped, letting me fall roughly to the ground.
Leaving a cloud of smoke where I landed, I got up, shaking, and looked at where I'd last seen my comrades and enemies. They were still there, but the positions had changed.
"Give us your scrolls, or you'll end up like your friend there." Moonshadow threatened, kinda shaken, as she held a kunai to the Genin's neck. Echo was holding the same position to their boss. The third Genin was lying a few feet away in a mass of his own blood.
Feeling nauseous, I quickly ran for them, not forgetting my wounded arm.
"What happened?" I gasped.
"One of those freaks wounded Echo, and in her rage, she killed him." Kurenai muttered.
"I-I didn't do it on purpose." The latter cried out desperately.
"Do it again. We shall never yield to you little girls." The leader spat all over Echo's sandals.
Grimacing in disgust, I nodded at them.
"Let's go. We have to do something about Echo's wound before it gets bad." I muttered out.
"Alright." Moonshadow nodded, and, closing her eyes, she lifted her kunai. "I'm sorry." She called out before plunging the blade into the Genin's neck.
The Genin's eyes opened wide, then he dropped limp in our leader's arms.
She gently laid him on his back, closed his eyes and recited a quick prayer. On her side, Echo was doing the same.
Once done, they left their bloodied weapons next to their kills and headed for me.
"What was that?" I asked, kind of shaken at the easiness with which they had killed those Genin.
"A small rite. To ask pardon of those we killed and let their spirits rest in peace." Kurenai sighed. "I suppose you don't remember since you obviously had a personal trainer, but in our years in the Amegakure academy, they taught us to never leave a pleading enemy alive." She shook her head. "Echo and I... We've killed a lot before... We were taught that if the enemy desires death instead of defeat, then we must give it to him honourably."
Wishing I had gotten the same training as them, I nodded.
"My master taught me that killing should be used as a last resort." I looked up at the sky. "I guess I should have insisted on staying at the academy." I muttered.
"Anyways." Echo cut in, trying to brighten the mood. "Akaiame, your arm is pretty badly burnt. We should wrap that up."
"Yeah, that cut on your leg should be treated too." I nodded. "Sit down. I think I might know enough medical ninjutsu to pull this off." I muttered.
She nodded and sat down on the ground, Kurenai kneeling to check my work, interested.
Remembering the crash courses that Kakuzu had given me on medical ninjutsu, I concentrated the raw power of my chakra to my palms, filtering the power into regeneration waves. A light green glow covered my palms as I applied my hands to her cut.
"You never told us you were a medical ninja too." Moonshadow noted.
"I didn't know either." I grunted from the strain put on my untrained body. "It's the first time I'm using it, actually. My master's medical friend gave me a couple of crash courses on medical ninjutsu, so I know the basics... But don't count on me to save your life." I removed my hand, looking proudly at Echo's closed wound. "I can barely go on with that." I muttered, applying my hands to my own arms.
Thankfully, the burns were superficial, and a couple of minutes later, they were gone.
"Thank you." Echo nodded gratefully, helping me up.
"No problem." I smiled lightly, feeling dizzy. Shit, I should have practiced some more on those birds before attempting it on a human being. Damn, I screwed up. Ignoring the darkness creeping into my vision field, I grabbed her and got up, wavering.
"You okay?" Kurenai asked, apparently noticing my drunk-like wavering.
"Yeah, I'm just fi-"
I couldn't finish because the images suddenly faded, and I fell forward into someone's arms before I blacked out.
.......................
"My head, un..." was the first thing I muttered when I regained consciousness.
"Akaiame!"
Akaiame, where had I heard that before?
"You're awake!"
Oh, right, I was undercover in Konoha as a girl from Amegakure, and my name was supposed to be Akaiame.
"How are you feeling?"
Swallow down your tic, idiot, it's not time to say it once again! Once is more than enough!
"I-I'm okay." I nodded, pushing myself up into a sitting position and rubbing my head.
"You shouldn't push yourself like that anymore." Moonshadow muttered from next to me, and I realized we were in a clearing, as she was leaning against a tree.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know I would faint." I looked up and noticed the shining stars. "Nor did I expect to be out for so long."
"We lost an entire day right now. We should have been able to get to the mountains by now, but since you were out, we were forced to retreat back to the river." Echo explained softly, patting my head. "You sure you're okay?"
"I feel fine." I nodded, getting up and stretching. "Since we lost so much time because of me, I don't want to be selfish, but maybe we could move by night?" I suggested.
"Not selfish at all." Kurenai nodded, getting up. "In fact, we were planning on moving by night, so we took turns watching guard during the day and rested well so that we could be at full power for the night." She nodded towards Echo. "You feeling ready to go?"
"Yes. You guys should eat these. I caught them during my guard shift." She nodded, handing out three grilled fishes on a stick. My tummy rumbled at the fresh scent of grilled fish, and I grabbed one eagerly.
"Itadakimasu." I called before taking a large bite out of the fish, finding it to be delicious.
"Echo, when did you cook these?" Kurenai asked as my two companions started eating too.
"Right before you woke up. I quickly extinguished it though, don't worry." Echo nodded silently.
"Alright..." Kurenai nodded, slowly chewing in her fish.
We all ate in silence when suddenly, out of nowhere, I piped up.
"You know, enemies might have spotted us because of the smoke from Echo's fire."
The two other girls stopped eating and looked at each other.
"WHAT!?" they screamed, and I face-palmed. How could they have not thought of that?
"Wait!" Echo nodded, quickly checking around for enemy ninja.
"And?" Kurenai asked, whispering.
"The nearest enemies are about three kilometres away. Or they're right here... and they're hiding their chakra." She added, whirling around and throwing a kunai into the trees.
The leaves ruffled, and suddenly, a scream pierced the night.
"On guard!" Moonshadow ordered, and I dropped my almost-finished fish and grabbed some kunai, dropping into a defensive position.
"Looks like we underestimated these Rain Genin." A new voice came in, and soon, three Genin dropped down from the tree, one of them hit in the shoulder by Echo's kunai.
"We won't repeat that mistake again." The other one nodded, putting his palms together in the Snake sign, the sign of Earth Type jutsu.
The world suddenly spiralling down, I felt dizzy again, but this time from emotion. Slowly, as if fearing my eyes could burn at any moment now, I lifted my gaze towards the first one's forehead. As soon as my single-eyed gaze met with the headband, my hands dropped the kunai.
"What's wrong? Never knew that Ame was afraid of Iwa!" the third one taunted, fixing his headband.
"Akaiame?" Echo asked from behind me. "What's wrong?"
"N-Nothing." I gulped, raising my eyes again, and through the red veil on my eyes, I recognized the Genin. "They're mine." I announced, gulping down confidently.
"What!? You can't take three Genin at once! You just woke up too!" Kurenai screamed. "As your squad leader, I order you to-"
"SHUT UP!" I screamed, feeling angry tears running down my cheeks. "I HAVE TO DO THIS!" I screamed again, shaking in anger and excitement. "Please..." I added in a desperate undertone.
My two team members looked at each other hesitantly, then Moonshadow sighed.
"Fine, but we're interrupting if anything goes wrong." She announced.
"Thanks." I smiled appreciatively, turning to the smirking Iwa Genin that I identified as the bully of my old school. He hadn't changed much in these last three months. Still had that dumb look on his face. "On guard." I warned, cracking my knuckles. And eye for an eye, right?
"Bring it, kid." My former bully spat on the side, and, smirking, he advanced slowly, his teammates watching carefully from the sidelines.
"You got it." I smirked back, and promptly disappeared from sight.
"Huh!?" was the only thing the Genin had to say before my leg smashed right in his back. He screamed in pain, growling as he twirled around, drawing kunai. "You won't get me again!" he screamed.
"Right." I smirked aggravatingly, disappearing again.
He watched around carefully. Right when he was back to me, I quickly broke away from my quick circular movements and attacked.
To my infinite surprise, though, he twirled around, grabbed my leg, and I had to deflect my attack to avoid getting it broken. Instead, I punched him in the jaw, but it barely seemed to faze him as he grabbed tighter, almost squeezing my bones until they snapped. Then, he took momentum from my punch, and, twirling, sent me flying into a nearby tree.
I grunted as I hit the bark, falling down, coughing out in pain.
"Overconfident, I'd say." The Iwa Genin nodded evilly, grabbing my throat and raising me up. "It'll be your death!"
"We'll see!" I screamed, swinging my legs back, then swinging back in front. He used his free hand to grab my right leg, but I twisted painfully again to hit him in the face with my left leg.
He let me go to retreat, rubbing his jaw painfully. I back flipped away as well, rubbing my throat to clear the pain away.
"Alright, time to get serious." He spat out some blood, then started making some hand signs.
"Just what I was gonna say." I smirked back, making some hand signs of my own.
"Stone Pikes No Jutsu!" the older Genin screamed, and almost instantly, spears of rock shot out from the ground, all aiming to impale me.
I quickly jumped off the ground, not stopping my own hand signs for the least. As soon as I got some safe ground, I slapped my palms to the ground.
"Giant Mudslide no Jutsu!" I cried out, mud quickly spurting out of the ground, quickly covering the small clearing.
"Ooh, mud, I'm scared!" my former bully grinned sarcastically.
"Yeah!?" I grinned back, getting back and thrusting my hand towards him. "Muddy Tsunami!"
A wall of mud promptly raised up from the mud on the ground, lifting up to about ten feet. The Iwa Genin gaped and stared wide-eyed as I sent the wave smashing down on him.
There was a deafening noise, and the wall of mud crashed down. I grinned wildly, seeing the wall of mud harden.
I stood there, panting, the sounds of a battle behind me. Guess the other Genin had tried to help their leader and Kurenai and Echo had engaged in battle with them. Good. Two less distractions for me.
I slowly walked over the mud towards the place where there was a lump, and carefully dug through the mud. At one point, I just ordered the mud to melt off, and it did, leaving a bloody Iwa Genin lying on the ground, panting heavily.
"Who's laughing now?" I asked, anger flaring in me. More pain. This wasn't enough. I would get my revenge. I would make him feel what I felt those eleven years he made me endure.
So I punched him.
"Answer me!" I screamed, enraged. Revenge felt so good.
"I don't answer to brats." The defeated Genin muttered lightly.
Just to see him wince just like I did every time he hurt me, I punched him again, and once more.
"How does all that pain feel?" I hissed venomously.
"I don't feel it at all." He grinned haughtily.
"My ass." I spat on his face, lifting him up and throwing him a little more under the trees, away from my friends' battleground.
"I underestimated Ame's Genin." The Iwa-nin sighed, slowly pushing himself up even if he was limping, one of my legs broken, and his left arm obviously dislocated. His face was also a mess, his brown hair streaked with red wildly covering his eyes.
"You won't make that mistake again." I gritted my teeth, advancing for him. Somehow, a kunai made its way into my hand, and I relished the feel of cool metal under my grip.
"Yeah. Just wait till I come back. You'll regret this." He spat out some blood, a thin stream pooling down the corners of his mouth.
"I'm sorry." I grinned wildly, feeling adrenaline pumping through my veins as I towered over him. One strong push sent him to the ground as he was too weak to hold himself up anymore. "But there won't be a next time."
"W-Wait..." his eyes widened in realization. "Y-You're not gonna kill me, are you?" he gaped, horrified.
"Did you read my mind?" I feigned a surprised expression as he backed up against a tree, looking genuinely scared for the first time in his life.
"P-Please, w-wait! I haven't done anything to you! Please!" he pleaded.
"You've done more than you think you've done, Itami." I hardened my eyes, biting my lip.
"W-Who are you?! How do you know my name!?" the terrified Iwa-nin asked, eyes wide.
"Since you're about to die, I suppose it's alright if you knew." I shrugged, leaning in next to him.
"W-Wait, Akaiame, right!? Wait Akaiame, we can fix a deal or something!" he screamed out, looking terrified at the thought of me getting closer. I enjoyed every minute of his fear.
"I'm sorry. I'm just getting payback for everything you've done to me." I gritted my teeth, remembering the pain I suffered because of him.
"I have never met you before!" he screamed out.
"Well, you haven't met Akaiame before." I muttered, pulling my hairclip out of my hair. My blond bangs slowly fell over my eyes, covering my blind eye.
The bully must have seen something new because his eyes widened larger, if they could.
"Akaiame is my infiltration name." I whispered into his ear, leaning back and raising my kunai over his head. He was shaking tremendously under my grip. "You can call me by my real name, though, Itami." I flipped the kunai to its sharp side. "Name's Deidara." His eyes welled up in tears as he finally seemed to recognize me.
"D-Dei-"
"Nice meeting you, Itami."
And with that, I swung my kunai down. The only sound he made as I slit his throat was a loud scream.
And then it all stopped.
Standing over the dead body of my past torturer, I started panting. My bloody hand dropped my knife, and it planted itself in the pool of blood under our feet.
My breath coming out in short gasps, I smelled the metallic scent of death and blood hovering in the air. I slowly got up, and slowly staggered back, watching the mess I'd made.
Oh dear Kami.
My legs felt too weak to hold me up anymore, and so I fell down against the hard ground, breathing heavily. Tears slowly started rolling down my bloody cheeks, dragging some blood down with them.
"I killed him..." I shakily breathed out, horrified. "I didn't even think about it, too." I whispered to myself, watching the night go by.
Was this what I was becoming? A cold hearted murderer?
No, I didn't want to become a heartless killer. I wanted revenge, yet... but... killing felt so foreign. I don't want to kill anymore. I'll get my revenge another way. Please. No more bloodshed.
"No more..." I verbalized my thoughts, turning over and getting on all four, noticing the blood smeared all across my arms and knees, as well as clothes. "NO MORE!" I screamed out loud, bloody tears dripping down my cheeks.
Slowly, I turned around and still on all four, looked at the corpse of my past enemy. His eyes were still open wide, his mouth in a gasp. Shakily crawling towards him again, I closed his now-cold eyelids, as well as his cold lips, and gently laid him down.
"I'm sorry." I sniffled, crawling away.
The weight of what I done finally crashed on me. The strings of my heart pulled so bad that I gripped my shirt in a desperate attempt to calm my frantic heartbeats. Bile rose up my throat as more bloody tears splashed onto the dusty ground, dying the brown soil a disgusting red.
I finally threw up, feeling a load taken off of me. Bile splashed down on the ground, and I twisted over to fall on my stomach right next to the spot where the clear internal liquid mixed with bloody tears.
It seemed like forever that I stood there, crying. My tears had blocked out my ears, and I couldn't tell if the battle in the clearing was finished yet.
I was given my answer when footsteps suddenly approached me, stopping next to me.
"Akaiame..."
"I'm sorry." I whimpered lightly.
"Shit. Look."
"Holy-"
"I didn't think it'd feel so bad!" I screamed, tears streaming down my cheeks.
The two girls next to me bit their lips and looked at me. They both simultaneously bent down and hugged me, lifting me up to my wobbly feet.
"I know what it feels like to kill for the first time..." Kurenai started. "It feels horrible, and it makes you feel like a murderer, right?"
"R-Right..." I sniffled, burying my bloody face into Echo's warm embrace.
"You'll get used to it though. Ninjas HAVE to be strong. We're supposed to have no emotions, but that won't stop us from feeling bad once in a while." She ran her fingers through my hair. "I feel bad about killing people too once in a while, but it comes so naturally to me now. I killed my first victim when I was seven." She sighed. "I felt like you too. But pull yourself together..."
"That guy had obviously hurt you a lot..." Echo stated.
"He did." I nodded, my tears slowly drying up.
"I don't know how you two know each other, or what happened, but you're done now. He's dead. He won't bother your thoughts anymore. Don't mourn over him, it'll stain his memory. If you cry over him, it means you didn't completely hate him, and so, don't mourn so you won't stain his spirit." She advised.
"O-Okay..." I sniffled, pulling away. "I'm sorry for being such a crybaby." I snickered sarcastically. "I mean, to think someone like me is aiming to become a Chuunin..."
"We'll help each other get there." Moonshadow nodded gently, putting a hand on my shoulder.
"And we'll do it together." Echo did the same with my other shoulder.
"You're part of our team, right?" Kurenai giggled.
"Nothing will pull us apart now." Echo smiled meekly.
My heart soared at those words, and a warm smile split my face. I felt so... loved. It was a really good feeling. Really.
"Thanks, you guys." I looked up at the pitch-black sky. "Now, maybe we should get moving, before anyone else is attracted here." I looked back at them, and, smiling, we jumped onto the first tree branch, travelling north towards the mountains. We should get there by sunrise.
I only looked back once, and bit my lip. Turning back in front, I gulped everything down and pinned my hair back up. I was Akaiame now.
Akaiame might have been a ruthless, heartless killer.
But I'd personally make sure Deidara wouldn't.
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Author's Notes:
The emotions were the main concern in this chapter. I think it's fine Deidara acted this way. I mean, he just killed someone without even giving it a thought... for the first time ever O_o Though you'll see that he'll grow up desensitized to death, since he's such an "artist" in Shippuuden (and loves making people explode xD). I'll explain all that in time, my children xDD
Do you guys remember the bully from the first chapter? :O WELL HE APPEARS HERE! AND HE DISAPPEARS TOO! ^^ *failed pun alert*
Yeah, uhh... I guess I imagined Deidara as a guy who can do pretty much everything, but is not especially skilled in anything in particular. Except his kekkei genkai, but he can't use that. So for the sake of the story, Deidei will have like this emergency-only-because-I'm-not-reliable kind of medical ninjutsu.
SHAMELESS PLUG! :D If you guys like Pokemon, and like torturing smexeh blond fandom guys, then check out Nutbrain's awesome fic, it's called Exiled! Yeah, uhh... It's about Volkner... I like it, anyway (:
... I still love Airel (: She'll make an appearance in the next chapters too, probably (:
Yeah, uhh... I'm 30 minutes late for my curfew, so better go before my mom yells at me... again xD Love ya all, please do me a favour and review *chibi puppy dog eyes and all xD* And, uhh, take your time thinking on what the next chapter's name could mean (:
--Next time: A White Snake's Poison Bite