Left Behind - Root Chronicles

Capture equals death

~An excerpt from the Roots Manuel page# 75

The first part of the mission is accomplished...a thought spiraled in darkness. Things playing back slowly as consciousness started to seep back slowly into the light.

His target's back would hit the ground ...blood smearing the dirt as he fell. The scream of the horses would call all eyes upon the bouncing body as in their fear, the cart would actually roll backwards across the dead man's head. The sicken crunch that followed made the fallen man's comrades wince. It is only then that their eyes would rise to find his assassin, the only one still standing upon the top of the cart as his eyes met theirs...darkness in death and darkness in life as Sai gave a ghost of a smile.

A chill ran up their spines.

The consciousness ...would see their chance then ...but they could not take it. If only there had been a change in the past. A spark of something other than hate, a twist in something given, if only the orders were different. If only the mission required something else.

They would retreat in success and these men would let them go in failure.

At that moment, they were scared, confused, broken.

Yet, that wasn't the order ...that wasn't what the mission required, and thus, there would be many a body that lay cooling in the dirt. For in this battle of three against thirty, three has never look more intimidating. The Rookie would slice open another opponent in their moment of disbelief and hesitation. The twin blades he fought with seem to be a whirlwind of death as he carve the unfortunate man open from chin to groin in a flurry of movement so fast that he would be finished before the blood would spray. It would mark him from face to chest as the new body hitting the ground would break the spell of last. The rookie would laugh loudly before he grunted heavily in pain. A throwing knife was buried deep in his thigh as the man who threw it seemed to swell with rage. The rookie saw in him ...his death as his own eyes narrowed in regards to his anger.

Sai gave him only another 15 minutes at the most to live.

15 minutes ...before the end.

Sai could only give his blank smile as the moment of hesitation ended for everyone.

The charge to end the life of the one who had killed their boss began, and he was forced to focus everything on staying alive. The first to reach him, would be hit in the throat and left to die without the ability to take another breathe. The second would see nothing else, Sai's kunai in his other hand would flash across his face ..taking his eyes. He would realize only then that he had let his tanto in the body of the Boss he had slain as he would dart away from the third, and the fourth that had climb the cart from the opposite side would try and take his back. His blade would cut into flesh, but it wasn't enough to cause a deep injury. A bit of black fabric would float in the air ...as Sai spun to handle the one at his back first. His kunai would disappear into the man's throat. The boy could only wonder briefly if the end point found the brain at the angle he had lodge it ...as he caught the blade of the fourth one with a new kunai he had pulled free of its case at the same moment. His eyes would search over this man's shoulder for it ...as a fifth and sixth would claim the top of the cart. A glint of steel would catch his eyes for a moment, and he would see it.

The death of the Deviant ...a body thrusted forward to tangle in his blade as his opponent would side step and thrust with a bladed staff. He wouldn't fall then, as he cut the man's head from his body. The bladed staff still in his side as another two would charge forward seeing their chances ...and Sai knew. He took a deep breathe at the realization, soon he would be alone, he pushes off hard against the one his kunai was locked with. The shove saved his life as he steps back a few steps and the blade of the sixth would cut in the space where his head had been only moments before. He couldn't stop his momentum, there was two in front, but one behind ...as he back flipped ...as that man's sword would cut just a bit beneath his leap.

Catching himself on his hands and pushing onto his feet as he twirls the kunai once.

Their eyes mirrored disbelief at their failure even as they searched his for truimph.

But, there would be none . Sai would only let his blank smile show through, because, he knew that wasn't the plan. He wasn't meant to die at their hands, and that was enough assurance to have him fight on.

He would not give up and surrender his life to them.

Soon, the odds that was already against him would grow worst, the number went from five to ten, and from ten to fifteen, and there it would stay. The rookie and deviant had managed to take down quite a few before their deaths . Though that wasn't enough to give him a better fight as Sai's vision would blur, as his wounds became more and more numerous ..., and finally they stop simply charging him and form a circle of steel and pain.

They knew that Sai ...the assassin ...was on his last legs.

The smile was gone then. His body was haunch over ...as he kept his legs spread so that he wouldn't slip in his own blood or that of the others. His position on the cart had changed numerous times, but he hadn't touch on the ground and that alone kept him from being over run and killed. They still could only get so many men on the top of the cart with him there, and so far, that number was 0. The circle had to keep their distance surrounding the cart on the ground. He had been cutting them down as fast as they had been arriving...but everything came with a toll. His hair now dripping sweat or blood in his vision... (he was not sure which) ...gave him varies blind spots. His hands trembling so badly with fatigue and numbness that he had to glance down ever so often to make sure that he still clutch his last kunai.

Everything was so heavy.

He was so ...tired.

Sai didn't even feel his eyes slide close. The kunai starting to slip out of nerveless fingers ...

~You better not be dead, dumbass.~

The words were a whisper that would would shock him back to consciousness even as his body moves to avoid the blade's fatal strike to his heart. The pain jarring, but, his mind wasn't focus on the wound. His eyes would lock on his attacker, and to all that stood around him, he was ignoring the fact that there was a three inch wide blade carving into his flesh as he rose a little higher. His positioning would make them move backwards ...even as the one brave soul would release the katana in his shoulder in shock. Sai's movements would be swift then ...as that brave soul ..would fall away from him in a shower of his own blood.

"...I am ...not, dickless."

Sai would mutter back brokenly ...he trotters on the edge of unconsciousness.

His vision darkening around the edges ...as he drops to his knees after that strike. His muscles straining to try and rise again as his hand tries to close around a kunai that was no longer there. His last had been left in the body of the brave, and now he was badly injured, unarmed, and surrounded by the enemy. Death ...would not come easily as two of the men would smile as they realized his situation. They would move to attack, but not with their blades as one kicked him across the face, and the other grabbed his hair to keep him from landing in the dirt. His other hand would find his wound as the man dug his fingers into it hard ...using pain to drive the unconsciousness away.

"You little bastard ...no way are you sleeping through this."

He would mutter darkly into his ears.

Sai's eyes were unfocus as blood drip down the side of his face from the corner of his mouth. Even in the muddle of everything, the smile would curl upon his lips as he declares lightly.

"No ...not yet, dickless."

The man's eyes were wide ...as he growled angrily at him. The first part made no sense to him, but he hadn't miss the insult of being called dickless. He would dig his fingers deeper into the wound as his eyes promise pain and maybe later death. Sai's eyes reflected nothing ...even as they beat him without mercy ...all the way home.

The second part of the mission has began...

The village was within sight as Sakura wipe at the tears in her eyes. It was bad ...bad to know he was gone, it was worst when she realized ...they would have to break the news to the others. That ...this was real ...he was never going to come back again. The tears started again, and as she looked back at Naruto whose eyes were glue to the ground and Sasuke who would turning his head away from stares as if he was ashamed at the way she acted ...the tears would well up in her eyes again.

He really was gone.

The sniffling sound was too much for him then ...as Naruto would pick up speed. He would push past her, he was going to head into the village. He was going to go and tell the old hag, ask for her to let him go back out to try and find him, again. There was no body. This wasn't it ...Sai wasn't dead. He knew it ...something inside of him whisper it ...like a underline truth. Yet, so much blood ...Sasuke had told them both that is was a sure thing. That he had more than likely been killed on the cart, and they had taken him away ...his body to be dealt with as a form of revenge for their boss. That, there was no hope left.

That he would be chasing after a corpse.

Naruto rounded the corner ...as his anger burst free, and he unleashed it on the last of the trees ...that stood before the path to the village. He would slam one fist against the tree ...hard ..making it shake and Sakura jump as Sasuke look at him sharply. Sasuke was expecting him to break down, and Naruto was about to fulfill that expectations as tears threaten at the edge of his vision.

Anger dissolving to grief.

Sai ...you aren't dead right?

Naruto asked himself ...he knew there was be no answer. The silences after that was just a testament to the fact that he should just give up ...and as he closed his eyes and press his head against the same tree he had struck the world seemed to tilt slightly ...a whisper in the wind would answer him.

"...I am ...not, dickless."

The shock would make him push away. Once more startling the other two as they drew closer to him, his own shock expression would have Sasuke pulling his kunai while Sakura rush to his side. Though he was ignoring her ...as he looked over her shoulder.

"Naruto?"

The boy's look would slowly darken as he looks around himself, looking for the source, but he found nothing. He knew he would find nothing as determination would glint once in his eyes. But, ...he had asked for some sort of an answer ...maybe ..just maybe.

"This isn't over, Sakura."

He would finally acknowledge her as she move to his side. The smile there ..the one he gave her ..didn't exactly look sane as Sasuke would only sigh. This was not over, and he knew it.

"Dobe."

(CHAPTER 10- Completed)