o-o Quite short and not the best, but… Yea.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! MASASHI KISHIMOTO DOES! I also do not own any of the OCs introduced, except the following:
Tsukuyomi Clan
Nero
Hajin
Miyuki
Botan
Random Kumogakure Team
A/N: Beginning part is Nero's POV! Sorry I keep switching, again. I'm so indecisive on who's POV it should stay. TwT
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Chapter Ten: Maturity Growing. The Growing Hunger!
Ruriko was light as I carried her piggyback, following behind Akira, who yawned every so often after we took a break to sleep, revealing it to be the next day when we woke up. I could tell Akira was as concerned as I was at Ruriko's outburst the day prior. It wasn't like Ruriko to be like that. Sure she was kind of selfish, cocky, and pessimistic, but she would never say what she did…
"Do you think Daiki said something to make her like that?" Akira asked me softly as we walked over the dew moistened grass. I frowned, shrugging a little.
"Hell if I know… I'm sorry, but I hope that asshole gets backslapped by karma." I muttered, shifting Ruriko slightly so her head rested on my shoulder. Akira glanced at me with a faint, sad smile before looking forward again with a frown.
"Nero… We can't give up." He stated. I blinked and stared at him.
"What?" I asked. Akira nibbled his lip for a bit before continuing, sounding suddenly more confident, definitely not the Akira I was used to.
"We can't give up on these exams, Nero. Up until now, being shinobi was probably just a game. We toyed with the thought of being ninja for selfish reasons, without once considering what it truly meant. And now that we're faced with the real meaning of being a shinobi, we're backing down because we realize now that being a shinobi means to place your life on the line. It's like that Ibiki guy said. There are no words to describe a shinobi… We need to stand up, even if they push us down. Damn it, we're not cowards! I don't know about you, but I'm ditching my childish ways. I'm gonna grow up!" Akira snapped, jabbing himself in the chest with his thumb. I stared at him in complete awe.
"Akira…" I managed.
Akira definitely was effected by what had just happened to us. Past the cuts and bruises and the tear streaks on his face, I saw an adult, not a kid. Not the Akira who made jokes, acted like a pervert, and goofed off.
He frowned at me and reached up, untying his headband while at the same time letting down his shoulder-length inky black hair.
"I don't know about you, but this headband means being a shinobi. If you're going to ditch being a shinobi, I want you to throw yours on the ground and stomp on it." He stated before retying his tightly over his forehead. I frowned as we stood in silence for a moment.
"What're we standing around here for," I murmured, making Akira blink, "Let's go find us a tower." Akira slowly beamed at me before clenching his fists.
"All right! Let's do this!" He whooped, his voice echoing off the trees. I smirked.
What a moron.
Ruriko's POV
I woke up, finding myself oddly warm… My back was kind of sore and my eyes too, but I opened them anyway. My vision focused until I found myself staring at a thick blue river and a grassy shoreline. I blinked and sat upright, looking down to find Nero's cloak draped over me. I picked it up, looking at it for a second before lifting my eyes back to the river to see Nero burst up from the water with a loud gasp.
"Akira, you jerk! You could at least help, ya know!" He barked at Akira, who was sitting a couple feet in front of me on a boulder with his shirt off as he dabbed some ointment on his cuts. He glanced up, scowling at Nero.
"Use your teeth, dummy!"
"Easy for you to say! You have sharp teeth!" Nero threw back, earning a smirk from Akira. I stared, wondering for a moment if I was transported into the future. Akira suddenly seemed way more mature and not just the fact that he had let his hair down and taken off his shirt. Something in the way he smirked said 'I'm not a little kid anymore'.
"Hey, look who's awake." Nero mused aloud as he climbed onto shore, looking at me. I stared at him blankly at first, having no words to describe how confused I was. Akira looked up, turning on the boulder.
"Awesome. Now Nero doesn't have to carry you." He joked, making Nero roll his eyes. I felt a bit of heat in my cheeks as I held out the cloak. Nero smiled a little, taking the cloak and slipping it on.
"What happened?" I asked. The last thing I remembered was passing out after acting like a total bitch to my teammates. Nero and Akira shared looks, then shrugged.
"You passed out." Nero replied, sitting in front of me. Akira nodded, standing up on bare feet.
"Probably all the excitement and blood loss probably knocked ya out. You should be better now, though… Nero and I tried to treat as many of your wounds as we could." He explained.
"Thanks." I muttered. Nero smirked, then scanned me over real quick.
"You seem fine… Think you can get us some dinner?" He asked. I blinked, then smiled slowly.
"Sure. I could go for a swim… But do me a favor and go somewhere else. Both of you so I can take off my clothes and not waste my time getting them wet." I muttered. Nero opened his mouth to make a smart ass comment, but Akira was behind him in a second, jerking on the collar of his cloak.
"On your feet, pervert. You're not looking at my sister in her underwear!" Akira commanded, dragging a complaining and in denial Nero off into the woods. I smirked and climbed to my feet, dropping my kunai pouch in the process. I undid my vest, tossing it on the ground with my shoes, stripping off my jumpsuit next to stand in my plain black underwear.
No, I was no fan of fancy underclothes. No one was supposed to see that anyway. I reached up and undid my hair, heading to the river. I didn't step in or try and look good doing it. In fact, I leapt right in, diving. The water was crystal blue and multiple colored stones littered the sandy floor. I touched the bottom with my fingertips before doing a little flip to get used to the water. My lungs and tummy felt odd and empty until I came up to the surface, gasping for air. I floated there for a bit, listening and watching fish dart around. I could hear crickets and other annoying bugs chirping and creek-creeking. My eyes caught a large fish that darted in toward me to investigate. I quickly dunked under and went after it.
Most people caught fish with weapons or their hands, taking their time and being all fancy and strategic about it when really it was a waste of time. I dove right in and went in for the chase, but swam pretty fast since I didn't use my hands to catch fish…
No, I used what ever Tsukuyomi -excluding Kazuya- used to fight and or survive. The fish darted off to the side to avoid me, but I lunged in, opening my mouth. I felt the scales against my tongue just as I sank my teeth down. Bubbles fluttered around everywhere as the thing thrashed for a split second before dying and going limp in my mouth. My lungs were tight and pained by now and I shot up to the surface, gasping past the fish in my mouth.
"That's attractive." A voice said. I blinked the water from my eyes and looked up, gritting my teeth tighter around the fish in my mouth as the figure made their appearance known. It was none other than Kawaguchi Ryuuko. I slunk up to the shore, spitting the fish at his feet and glaring up at him past my wet hair, keeping under the water.
"What the hell? You don't sneak up on people like that!" I snapped angrily. Ryuuko frowned.
"What're you doing, hunting fish like that?" He asked. I scowled, gripping the side of the shore.
"It's none of your business! What are you doing here anyway?" I demanded in annoyance. Ryuuko ignored the question, lifting his eyes up across the river. I frowned and opened my mouth to snap at him again, but the sound of a loud grumbling made me whip around. Slinking out of the thick brush was an oversized centipede. Right away, I screamed. Ryuuko winced as the big bug scuttled toward the river, but stopped in front of it.
"Fucking bugs! Always bugs!" I yelled, but more to myself than Ryuuko, who immediately went down and hooked his arms under mine, jerking me out of the water to my complete surprise. I started to yell at him to let me go, but I realized why he did it. The centipede stuck its head in the water, releasing some purple liquid which resulted in the death of every living thing in the river in a matter of seconds. I was breathing hard now as Ryuuko whipped out a kunai, which stuck right into the centipede's face as it emerged from the water, only to fall back in, dead.
"You didn't know that was there?" Ryuuko asked, glancing at me with a look that said 'you moron'. I scowled, folding my arms tightly over my chest.
"Shut up! I was driven by hunger. I'm like a shark. One I have food, nothing else matters." I muttered. Ryuuko averted his eyes, closing them as if giving up on questions.
"The reason I'm here is because I'm looking for Honoka and Ayaka. I heard splashing and figured it was Ayaka, but I guess not…" His voice trailed. I blinked.
"Honoka and Ayaka are missing?" I asked, surprised. Ryuuko nodded, frowning now and the concern on his face didn't go unnoticed.
"I turned my back for a second and someone knocked me out. When I came to, Honoka and Ayaka were gone… And so was the scroll that I was carrying." He muttered. I frowned.
"That sucks… Well, at least you weren't almost eaten by a giant lizard and a giant centipede, right?" I tried. Ryuuko looked at me, raising an eyebrow at my attempt at lightening his mood.
"Where are your teammates?" He decided to ask now. I blinked and glanced around, then shrugged.
"Hell if I know. I told them to leave…" My voice trailed with realization. I had told them to leave so they wouldn't see me in my underwear. I flinched, feeling my face grow hot. Ryuuko seemed to realize it too and quickly looked in the opposite direction.
"Sorry." He apologized, closing his eyes. I could feel my entire body heat up with embarrassment. He probably didn't even notice until just now that I was soaking wet in my underwear…. At least he had the courtesy to apologize and look away! He let me get dressed again, his back to me.
"You need help finding Ayaka and Honoka, no worries," I said when Ryuuko didn't answer my question about why he was still even there, "It's not like my team is busy… We have what? Four more days until the tower needs to be reached." This time Ryuuko looked at me with curious eyes.
"Four days? Were you knocked out or something?"
"Why?"
"The mandatory arrival time is tomorrow afternoon at the tower." Ryuuko murmured. I stared at him for a moment.
"… ARE YOU SERIOUS? How long was I asleep? Oh my god, you're kidding, right?" I cried, but Ryuuko shook his head. I groaned and plopped down on the boulder nearby, covering my face with my hands.
"Unbelievable! I slept for four days! Ugh!" I complained. Ryuuko sweat dropped, then blinked at the sound of hissing.
"Uhm, I don't mean to interrupt you, but I think we should move now or we're going to end up fighting off an army of those centipedes." That got me up and running, snatching up my kunai pouch. Ryuuko was right behind me as we bolted into the trees.
"We'll find Nero and Akira and help you find your teammates." I told Ryuuko as we moved.
"Will they even agree to it?" Ryuuko asked, glancing at me out the corner of his eye. I blinked, then laughed.
"Oh yea. Trust me. They'll do it alright." I replied, earning a quizzical stare before I bolted ahead slightly. That was when I felt Ryuuko grab the back of my shirt, jerking me to a stop.
"Wait! Listen." He ordered. We went silent, listening to the bugs chirp and the trees rustle, the sound of the river behind us flowing steadily. That's when I heard it…
"Disgusting! Get your fucking bugs off us!" Ayaka's voice for sure and she sounded really pissed. Ryuuko immediately shot after the yelling and I followed close behind. We finally landed behind some brush, peering through to see Ayaka wrapped up by one of the centipede's. She was squirming against it and biting it uselessly. Beside her, Honoka was kneeling in front of an opened scroll, her eyes hazy and expression blank to show that the Genjutsu was released and pretty damn heavy. Across the clearing, a team of Kumogakure shinobi were positioned and looking pretty damn proud of their one, one of them pulling the strings on the bugs.
I winced and shuddered at the sight of the giant centipede's. Ryuuko looked like he was busy assessing the situation until I interrupted his thought process.
"Ryuuko," I stated, "Let me go in there and distract them. I'll do my best to get them down, but you should probably let your teammates go."
"I can't let you do all the work." Ryuuko started, but I was already stepping out and he hissed an unwanted curse after me. As soon as I stepped out, one of the kunoichi, a blue-eyed brunette with gauze on her cheeks whipped around.
"Intruder!" She yelled immediately.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" I retorted and made hand signs quickly, snapping my fingers in their direction to spark bolts of lightening. They were dodged and the one controlling the centipede's yelped, falling backwards. I realized that this little bug puppet kid was way younger than us, maybe six or something.
"Who the hell are you?" The older boy barked at me, his snake-like eyes flickering.
"I'd like to know the same thing. What the hell is a snot-nosed brat doing on your team?" I demanded.
"Don't make fun of him!" The kunoichi protested and went to make hand signs, but I threw a kunai at her, making her back flip to dodge.
"Shut up, Chi! Use your water jutsu while we get the last of the information!" The older boy ordered. The kunoichi, Chi, whipped out some hand signs, sending a huge wave of water that seemed to fall from the sky on its own, racing at me. I winced and bolted out of the water, but got splashed most of the way anyway. That pissed me off. I went to all that embarrassment before to avoid getting my clothes wet!
I whipped around, getting a glance of Ryuuko moving out the corner of my eye. I bolted at Chi, ducking my head low to avoid her shuriken attack. She yelped when I appeared in front of her and she put her arm up as if to block an attack, but she thought I was going to hit her…
Instead, I jerked my head up and bit down on her arm tightly, my canines sinking into her skin cleanly. She screamed and started to shake her arm. It was stupid how some people automatically did that. It just made their skin tear, and if I'm lucky, their bone. I heard gasps from the team.
"She's biting me! She's going to tear my arm off! Shichi, get her off me!" Chi screeched and jerked her arm back. I felt the older boy's grip get around my waist, tearing me backwards. I took a chunk of flesh out of the girl's arm in the process, making her wail in agony, falling to her knees. My head tossed back against Shichi's shoulder as I swallowed the meat only to open my mouth back open and bite a chunk of his ear off, making him howl in agony, letting me go.
I smirked, licking the blood off my lips and whipping around to see Ryuuko releasing the Genjutsu on Honoka, in turn allowing her to use an earth style jutsu to destroy the centipede around Ayaka. I looked around in time for the little kid who was controlling the bugs to scramble to his feet.
"Chi! Shichi!" He cried in a high voice, confirming my suspicions of his super young age. I glared at him, grabbing the collars of his two teammates.
"Take your trash out of here." I snapped. The boy nodded rapidly and complied. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. I frowned, seeing the blood smear on it. I sighed and glanced up, listening to Honoka thank Ryuuko excessively, bowing her head and smiling at him. Ayaka nagged about how he didn't show up soon enough, demanding how he could pass out so easily from a blow to the head. Ryuuko just took the insults from her with grace, staring at her as if he wasn't even listening.
"Hey, Ryuuko," I called, making him and his team look up, "Hope you can make it to the tower… Those jerks stole your scroll and offered to give you theirs." I pulled their stolen scrolls from my vest, tossing them so Ryuuko and Ayaka both caught one. Ryuuko frowned.
"Don't you need one?" He asked, but even as he said it, he didn't look like he was going to give it up, so I just laughed at him.
"What the hell would I with those things?" I asked, then turned and went into the forest. A nagging voice told me I should have asked them to come with me, but I went into the woods anyway, following the instinct that kept saying food food food. I grimaced as my tummy growled, my hand clasping over my gut. If there was one bad habit about the Tsukuyomi Clan, it was that once we got a bit of meat, we had to have more. Enough to fill us up for a quite a while. I sighed in aggravation at the hunger, deciding to go off and find Nero and Akira.
Stumbling through the woods and avoiding giant bugs, I finally found Akira and Nero all right. Nero was yelling in pain, Akira jerking big fat blood filled leeches off his back. I stared in disgust.
"Ugh! How did that happen?" I cried.
"Thanks for your concern- OW!" Nero howled and brought his hand up to bite into it. Akira rolled his eyes, tossing the leech to the forest floor before stomping on it so it was a spatter of blood.
"Idiot… He didn't bother to check the tree he just climbed in." He muttered.
"Shut up! You were about to do it." Nero growled, evident tears of pain in the corner of his eyes. Akira sweat dropped.
"Liar." He accused, but I could tell Akira was the liar here, so I just shook my head and walked over, but stopped dead in my tracks a couple feet away. The horribly sweet, yet metallic scent of blood was heavy in the air, suffocating me. I stared at Nero's bloody back, watching the fluid run in thick red beads down his pale, scarred skin. Akira wiped his hands on his shorts, sighing in exasperation.
"Dummy… I'll go grab something to wash this off." He sighed, turning his back. I walked forward, crouching in front of Nero's back.
"Does it hurt?" I asked.
"Duh." Nero managed to say. I leaned in a little, my mouth watering. It was wrong of me to get hungry around excessive blood, but I really couldn't help it… Blood was a beautiful thing. So rich and so dark red, it was almost black. Before I knew what was happening, I was licking the blood on Nero's back. I felt him gasp and hiss past clenched teeth. My saliva was probably stinging the open wounds.
I got a grip on his shoulders, dragging my tongue along his shoulder blade, listening to him hiss out curses before a strong jerk pulled my hair. I yelped and whipped around to glare at Akira, who was glaring back at me.
"Don't! Whatever happened to make you that hungry, forget about it. Nero's our teammate." Akira snapped. I frowned, then twitched.
"Ugh. Sorry… I don't know why I did that…" I muttered. Nero just nodded. Akira sighed and helped Nero clean his wounds. When the smell of fresh blood began to fade, so did my hunger and I was very thankful for that. I would have killed myself if I had eaten Nero.
For some reason, as we walked toward the tower, which was now visible over the tops of the trees, I got the feeling that this whole experience had changed all of us. Akira was definitely more mature than he was and he was cautious too. Nero seemed a little more… Risky, I guess? He kept volunteering for everything Akira asked for. I hardly got to do anything, but I knew my time would come as we walked the cement steps to the main door.
I had information. I had strength. Damn it, I had a plan and it was going to sweep my teammates as well as my family off their feet!
With this in mind, I tore the doors open to the tower, my face probably growing smug again.
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A/N: I really hope this one was better and that the OCs were in character! It's two thirty in the morning and I might have some mistakes in there…. So beg pardon if there are any! It was kind of random… Sort of a filler… Sort of not. Hopefully you catch my drift! Anyway, the next part is the Chuunin Exams Preliminary Rounds. Before I start that, I would like to tell you all to please not eat my face off if your character loses a battle. :/ Not everyone wins, ya know… Well, I think that's it. Thanks very much for reading, hope the Ocs are okay, and your reviews are welcomed with open arms!