Lightning Strikes
Chapter 9: Campfire Stories
Hello my fellow fanfictioners! I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long but I have just managed to finish updating Him and Her and One Second.
Anyway I'm proud to present the next chapter of Lightning Strikes. Now the purpose of this chapter is to expand my OC's character and history a little bit as well as to establish more firmly the relationship between Raiden and the Wind Rider, although it might not be so obvious.
Disclaimer: I do not in any way claim ownership of the Metal Gear franchise or anything from the Naruto/Naruto Shippuden franchise. Both of these are the rightful and respective properties of Hiedo Kojima and Masashi Kishimoto (and their endless legions of lawyers).
However I do claim ownership of any and all OC's used in this story. I also claim ownership of any and all non-canon histories and locations that are created in the progression of this story (Because they are the same thing as OC's). However if anyone wishes to use one of them then simply let me know and we can discuss it.
I also would like to announce that I am working on a prototype chapter for a new story with a similar theme to the movie, Sword Of The Stranger (be sure to check it out! It's awesome!). SasuHina fans will have something to enjoy I'm sure. ;)
Now then enough of this senseless prattling! Onto the story!
They had been travelling all day.
Ever since their skirmish with the leaf shinobi and after collecting Wolf's remains.
They had been travelling for roughly eight hours and their pace had slowed significantly since then. It appeared that the woman's mount whilst incredibly fast, lacked the constitution to maintain such speed for lengthy periods of time. After only three hours Ayame was forced to dismiss the beast, allowing it to vanish in a cloud of smoke.
She spent the remaining four hours walking beside him in silence. The cyborg noticed that occasionally she would glance at him and the hefty luggage he was carrying around on his shoulders.
Raiden thought it best not to comment, after all it was probably just curiosity over his cybernetic body.
She probably thinks that it's some kind of skin-tight armor.
"We'll camp there for the night." She pointed out an area slightly ahead of them.
Raiden slowed and turned slightly to face her, feeling impatience grip him.
Rose… I need to get to my wife and son!
"Why can't we continue on?"
"It appears that you are incapable of feeling fatigue despite your burden. I can assure you that on that subject we differ enormously, I need my rest and it's getting late… we don't want to be caught in the dark, not here."
Raiden opened his mouth to retort but before he could, a strange shrieking split the silence of the air. This effectively shut him up, especially when he saw the look of fear enter into Ayame's eyes and the speed with which she drew her blade.
"Stand by me Ronin, cover me while I start a fire."
Raiden nodded, setting Wolf on the ground next to him and then proceeding to draw his sword.
"What is going on? What was that noise?"
"Shut up you fool and do as I say! If we don't hurry then we'll both be dead!"
Raiden stood and watched as she removed her cloak and weapons, setting them down on the ground.
"Damn it! I can't believe I didn't notice the time already. Damn that Kakashi!"
The chronometer had been housed in her helmet and now lay crumpled and useless along with the rest of the metallic helm.
It seemed as though the sun had decided to set at an unnaturally fast pace, leaving a visible border of darkness that began sweeping across the golden fields of wheat. In the distance, ruined buildings were visibly present faintly against the skyline.
Something wasn't right, the wind had died as had every sound in the world, save for the crunch of wheat stalks underneath their feet.
He could feel it now, whatever was making Ayame so uneasy.
Something was very wrong.
Ayame fell to her knees and began digging a shallow hole, most likely for a fire pit. As soon as she finished that, she began ripping out stalks of wheat and stacking them in the pit.
Reaching into the small pouch on her back, she removed a small scroll. Unrolling it, she bit her thumb and swiped it across the seal.
With a puff of smoke, a whole mess of goods lay arranged in front of her. Digging amongst the goods, she withdrew some small pieces of wood, placing it in on top of the wheat and then some flint and immediately began to strike it, hoping to create a spark and light the wood and wheat.
It's getting closer
"You better hurry up Samurai, whatever's out there it's coming our way and fast."
Raiden squinted, trying to see the threat.
"There's something out there… I can't make it out."
Something wasn't right about this, the sun was still setting so how could there be darkness already.
Activating his IR vision he focused his attention on the rapidly advancing curtain of darkness.
His eye widened in horror. It wasn't just darkness approaching them.
Wings, he could definitely see wings. Thousands of them, the sound of flapping wings so loud that it sounded like thunder.
"Oh God… Ayame."
They were getting closer, whatever they were.
"Ayame..."
He could see them more clearly now, grotesque gargoyle-like creatures zipping about in the darkness, as though waiting impatiently for the shadow to cover Raiden's form so that they could rip him limb from limb, and to be perfectly honest he wasn't sure that he could stop them if they tried.
"Ayame! Light that fire now!"
He could hear her curse furiously as well as the sound of flint striking. The darkness fell over them and for a split second nothing happened.
Then he could feel sharp talons rake themselves along his skin, creating a deep screeching sound that almost made him wince.
He could hear the snarling so close to his ear that he could almost feel the spittle on his cheek.
Then he went to work, spinning his blade in front of his body so that he could create a barrier between the monsters, himself and Ayame.
He felt his sword cleave through flesh repeatedly and was rewarded with monstrous shrieks of pain.
Well at least I know that they can be hurt, and if they can be hurt then they can be killed.
"Ayame!"
"Got it!"
The light of that small campfire had never seemed so… heavenly. The creatures were nowhere in sight, having retreated immediately out of range of the small, dim light of the fire.
Taking a deep breath whilst keeping his weapon raised towards the blackness, he turned his head slightly to glance at Ayame.
"What the hell were those things?!"
"Nightstalkers… it appears that we strayed a little too close to the Dead Village." She had turned her attention to her small scroll laid out on the ground.
"What the hell are…? Nightstalkers?"
"We might as well bed down here for the night, we're not going to be able to continue on while it's dark, not if we want to live anyway."
He had to stop himself from releasing a groan of frustration at her pointless evasion of his question.
"Pass me the kettle please."
Is she serious?! With those… things less than five feet away!
Nevertheless he complied and lowered his sword to his side, even as he made his way over to her, reaching down to pass her the small tin kettle laid out amongst the assortment of objects on the scroll.
Calmly she filled it with water from a gourd, added some water and herbs and then placed it gently on the fire to heat.
"Nightstalkers… are creatures of the night, monsters that were once human."
Raiden almost choked from the shock.
"Those things were human? I find that a little hard to believe."
"There was a war long ago known as the Second Shinobi World War. A horrific conflict between the four greatest nations in the land, a conflict that wasn't content with its own borders and spread to engulf the entire world, involving all in a fight that most never wanted."
I fail to see the point of this.
"What does that have to do with those… things?"
"The Land of Iron, similar to that of Rain, is surrounded by foreign lands and few of them friendly."
"During the course of the war, we found ourselves in a fight for our very survival against an invading army from the Land of Lightning. Thousands came, attacking with a massive fleet from the sea and they swept across the countryside, killing indiscriminately, civilian and soldier alike."
Raiden frowned.
"So what happened? You're here so I have to assume that you won."
"Barely, the Daimyo sent the samurai to fend off the invasion force whilst our shinobi safeguarded our borders. It took four months of non-stop fighting before we turned away Kumo's armies but by then… it was too late."
"Another army?"
"Yes… and something far worse than men. It was Iwagakure… they unleashed a demon upon us, the Five Tails."
"… You've lost me completely, what is Iwagakure? And a Five-Tailed Demon?"
"Iwa is also known as the Village Hidden in Stone from the Land of Earth. They're a powerful ninja nation with a lot of enemies, including us… formerly."
That's surprising.
"Formerly?"
"During the course of the Third Shinobi World War we were engaged in a fierce battle for domination with the Land of Fire, in particular, with the Village Hidden in the Leaves. To make a long story short we were losing… badly."
"Let me guess… Iwa came to save the day?"
"They did. They also provided war relief and made an extensive effort to repair relations between our two nations. We've maintained a good relationship with them even to this day."
Raiden supposed that made sense. After all, Big Boss himself said that 'today's ally can become tomorrow's enemy' and he supposed that the reverse could also be true.
"And the demon?"
"That's… a long story and if I told it to you then we would be here until spring turned into winter."
Ayame shifted uneasily from her seated position on the ground. When she spoke about the demon, Raiden could almost detect the fear and anger lacing her tone as the words left her mouth.
"Alright… so what happened when this 'demon' was set loose upon you?"
"What do you think happened Ronin? Demons live only to destroy and that's exactly what it did. In a single night the Five Tails annihilated our Shinobi Village and damned the souls of the village's inhabitants… the demon's chakra… it isn't like the other's energies, it… warps things."
Ah, the anger was more noticeable that time.
"It… made those things?"
"Those creatures… are all that is left of our nation's shinobi, all their men, women and children. Now they roam the darkness, searching for flesh to gorge themselves on. They live in the ruins of their village."
"And the fire… they fear it?"
"Not so much the fire as the light, the light burns them and so they're frightened by it."
The light huh? Interesting.
"Scared, Ronin?" Her tone had turned into one of amusement.
"Only a fool wouldn't be."
"Fair enough Ronin, fair enough." She replied through her laughter.
Steam rose through the funnel of the kettle, creating a high pitched whistling sound.
"Enough of the campfire stories Ronin, drink some tea and go to sleep, I'll take the first watch."
"What about them?" He jerked his head in the direction of the ruined buildings to emphasize his point.
"All we can do is pray that the fire doesn't go out."
Well I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I can say with absolute certainty that it was a real challenge to write.
The entire purpose here was to give some history to the Land of Iron which was never really expanded on in the show. I hope I didn't take too many liberties with my whole monster spree, I thought it was an interesting scenario to introduce into the fic, one that I might use later on.
I am aware that I am really adding a whole bunch of new content but don't worry about it. I got a plan my amigos. ;)
Please, please review! If I don't get reviews then I get disheartened and when that happens I don't want to write, and then it takes longer for more chapters to come out.
You guys don't want to wait another year now do you? Pretty please with Sniper Wolf on top? ;)
Until next time, my fellow fanfictioners
Next up!
Chapter 11: The Iron City.