Moons: Wow, it's been almost a month since I've updated this. Sorry, readers. I've started a new fanfic and with school it all just made typing this longer.
Anyway, I had a request to add a new OC into the story: Kitai. He's property of EmoDeidara13 and I have her permission to use him.
'Cause everyone is falling away
Feel like they're stolen from me
Wish everything didn't happen to me
All I want is faith, love and happiness
Everytime one runs away
Another one's returning
Wish everyone could just see you face
Faith, love and happiness
~Faith, love, and happiness, Thousand Foot Krutch
"I have a place for you to stay." The teenager told him. "But first, are you from Kumo?"
"Huh? You mean Kumogakure (Village in the Clouds)?" Sora said, "No, I'm not."
"Good. You got a place to stay."
"What do you have against that village?" Sora asked, "Are you racist against black people or something?"
"No," The cutter spoke in a flat tone, "My friends and I have nothing against the color of their skin. We don't care if it's darker than those of other lands. What we hate is their beliefs. The stuff they do."
"Like torture?"
The cutter looked at him strangely and said, "So have they done that to you?"
Sora looked down at the ground and held up his right arm. The teen grabbed hold of the arm and saw the metal. "I see...!"
"At least I didn't do it on purpose." Sora snapped. The cutter ignored him. "What happened?!"
"The man had a dark tan, brown eyes, brown spiked hair." Sora recalled the horrible memory again. "He even had the headband to prove he was from the Cloud. He was asking me questions and when I didn't answer he started stabbing away at my right arm. In the end, he gave me a choice. I could go with him and join his religion, become his follower kinda, or else."
"Not much of a choice." The cutter commented sadly.
"No, but I still took the or else."
"Oh..." The cutter dropped the arm. "Com'mon. We have to get to the house."
"Hai..." Sora said. His eyes were still locked on the ground as he trailed behind his host. 'I still remember his face. Thank Jashin I haven't forgotten. I'm going to remember that face so that the next time I see it, I'll kill it!'
He entered the house that was not only occupied by the guy helping him, but two others as well. He met the first one from down on the floor. The minute he entered the house, he was glomped and wound up on said floor.
The attacker was a smiling girl about sixteen with candy-pink eyes hair, some of the hair put up into to pigtails that went behind her head. She wore a black shirt covered by a short pink jacket along with a pink skirt and fishnets coming down from her knees. The feature worse than all the pink: an exceptionally large chest that was crushing Sora. "Hiya~!" She chimed.
"Jeez, at least let him breathe." The second girl spoke as she entered the room. She was the same age as the cutter and had dark raven hair dyed so it had purple streaks. Her outfit was a white tank-top with fishnets on the arms, and baggy tan pants. A lit cigarette was in her hand. "Be careful with her, new guy. She's a glomper."
"Glomp?"
"Tackle-hug~!"
"... can you get off?"
"Sorry..." The girl said in a cute voice (sickeningly cute to Sora). The girl got off of him and Sora got a bit of a better view of them, namely their headbands. The pink girl's was black and wrapped around her waist as a belt. It had the clouds on it, but a line was slashed through it to mark her as missing-nin. 'She's missing-nin!?'
"Yeah, she's a missing-nin." The smoking teenager said. Her headband was attached to the leg of her pants and had the Hayashigakure village symbol: a triangle with two wave-like shapes coming from it. "So what's he doin' here?"
"He needed a place to stay." The cutter explained walking up next to the girl. "And..." The rest was a whisper that Sora couldn't make out. The girl nodded and put the cancer-stick in her mouth.
"Meet my team. We're Team Chiri (dirt). I'm known as Gaki here." The teen said. The girl next to him blow out a little smoke and said, "Kemuri."
"And I'm Neko!" The pink-haired girl squeeked. "So, what'cha gonna be called? Huh?"
"Called?"
"Yeah, silly. We don't use our real names."
'This girl is scaring me.'
"She scares everyone." Kemuri told him, taking out the cigarette. "You'll get used to her. It just takes time. And before you say it, I don't read minds. I just read your face."
The girl didn't seem to be insulted by Kemuri's words. "Kemuri-chan is very smart. So, any requests? Something sound cool?"
"Not really." Sora told them. "Why do you make up names?"
"So people we knew wouldn't ever find us." Gaki said. "We all have enemies that come from Kumogakure and we were outcast there. You too, remember?" He reached over and pulled up the red sleeve. "You said they did this to you."
"He did." Sora said, coldness growing in his voice, "And I'll never forget his face so I can sacrifice him."
"Sacrifice?" Neko cocked her head, "Does that mean you worship a deity of some sort?"
"Jashin-sama." Sora answered.
"So, they hate you because of your believes too." Sora could only stare as the cheerful face suddenly grew sad. Neko hung her head in sorrow, her pink hair falling and blocking her face.
"You okay, er, Neko."
"Yeah... just tired suddenly." She left the room.
Sora looked at Kemuri. "What's with her?"
Kemuri sighed, "It's... well... she's a homosexual."
"Huh?! You mean she's a lesbian!?"
Kemuri nodded. "And that's the cause of her becoming a missing-nin. The religion up in Kumogakure... they don't like people like her. Her own mum kicked her out of the house!... and no one would take her in." Her gray eyes were sad. "We'll tell you more in the morning. It's late."
Gaki agreed. "My room's just over there. You can have it and I'll crash on the couch."
"Thanks." Sora muttered. "Jashin-sama doesn't give two shits about sexuality of others. He just wants his followers to be pure, chaste...'
When the door closed Kemuri looked at her friend. "He still needs a name." She pointed out.
"He's obviously very religious. He lost his left hand and right arm in torture because of it." Gaki noted.
"And they were replaced with metal." Kemuri said. She put out the cigarette and smiled. "He'll be know as the Metal Zealot. Cloud shinobi everywhere will learn to fear him." It was one of those rare moments where Kemuri spoke of her influence in the criminal world and where she made Gaki smile.
"He said Jashin-sama, right?"
"Right. That's not a problem is it?"
"No, in fact it works to his advantage. We'll get him and that Mist-nin together."
Sora woke up with more surprises from the pink missing-nin. This time...
"What the hell are you doing!?"
"Just sittin'."
"On my bed! While I'm sleeping!"
"Oh... right. Watchin' people sleep is creepy..." Sora twitched. 'Screw blonde jokes, they need pink-hair jokes!'
Neko wasn't wearing her jacket. The black tee-shirt wasn't blank as Sora assumed. It had a white picture of two stick-figure women holding hands. She really did support gays if anything.
"Anyway, I wanted you to meet Tenshi!" Neko held up something Sora didn't notice before, despite its' squeaks. A small hedgehog, just bigger than Neko's hands. "She's my summoning animal. Isn't she cute!"
Tenshi gave a small squeak and Sora honestly couldn't tell how she was feeling. Neko started mumbling away. "Aren't chu so cute~ Now say hi to Zealot-kun~!"
"Zealot... kun?" Sora repeated.
"That's what Kemuri named you. The Metal Zealot."
Sora blinked. "... And you planned on telling me this...?"
"Just now."
"Riiiiight." Some time passed.
"You can go away now."
"Oh! Sorry." The teen left the room, cuddling her hedgehog in her arms. Sora got out of his bed and in front of a mirror. He noticed Kanemaru's predictions came true. His neck had healed greatly, leaving no mark. His chest however had a long scar running across it. He tried his best to shrug it off and got dressed.
Sora roamed the streets, bored. Nothing to do in this rainy village. Team Chiri had given him some standard shinobi boots that he was beginning to like. They were practically required in the village, due to the water lining the ground everywhere.
"Sora!"
"Br-brom-sempai!?"
Brom ran into an ally and gestured Sora to follow. When Sora did, Brom put his hands on his shoulders, "Listen carefully Sora. Some enemies of mine are in this village. I can't kill them here, they'll all know it was me. I'm gonna have to run and get to Kanemaru in Yukigakure. I can't let yah get involved in this. Promise me no matter what you'll stay here."
"Sempai...?"
"Promise me you won't leave this village!" Sora nodded almost unconsciously as Brom stared down at him. "I... I promise."
Brom let go of his shoulders. "Good." He sighed.
"What'd you do, sempai?"
"Dunno. But the guy who's after me doesn't have the greatest history with me, so I'm not in the least bit surprised that he's pissed. In the meantime however, I got yah this." He reached behind him and pulled out a weapon.
It was a katana, still in it's case. The handle was wrapped with a cloth and fit well into his hands when he grabbed it.
Brom handed him a note with it. "A few basic instructions."
Sora stared down at the sword and slowly took it out of the case. It was a steel silver that he could see his reflection in. "Sempai... I don't know what to-"
He looked up. Brom had disappeared without a trace.
"Dammit... Damn it!" Sora kicked at the ground. "You bastard! How come you always keep leaving me!?"
"Yo Zealot."
"I have a name."
"And we don't like names." Gaki replied nonchalantly, "Anyway, the people who are feared the most are given names. If we spread your name, 'The Metal Zealot', everyone will know you and fear you. And it's also kind of a … cover-up."
"Cover up?"
"It's not that uncommon that we need to get two people together in villages like this. So when we do that, we only call them by the titles we give them and shinobi or whoever we're against don't have a clue who the hell we're talking about.
"Speaking of which, we may be able to help you a little bit."
"Huh? Why would I need your help?"
"Well, beside the fact that your staying here, Kemuri noticed that you didn't a rosary or anything on you."
Sora looked down from the view of the roof."... I had a pendant."
The ramen can crashed onto the floor. The leader was grabbing Sora's wrists and forcing them behind his back.
"What the hell!?"
"C'mon! Restrain him!"
"What the fuck is going on!?"
"You're under arrest!" The shinobi hold him up said, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and w-"
"Why the fuck am I being arrested!?" Sora shouted.
"For starters, resisting arrest."
Through a lot of cursing, yelling, and fighting the shinobi managed to drag him out of the house. On the counter the wooden little pendent was left abandoned, later to be burned.
"Long gone now."
"Well, I know someone who might be able to help you."
"You do? With what?"
"I haven't met him personally." Gaki admitted. "He's about my age and already growing pretty famous. He's even S-rank if I remember right!"
"No shit?" Sora said, suddenly interested.
"Nope." Gaki said, "I'm dead serious. And he's the best person to go to for a rosary for your Jashin. Or so I've heard."
"Is he... like me? A Jashinist?" Sora asked. Something inside him was disparate to meet this guy.
"From what I've heard, yes. But as far as I know they're only rumors. You can't be sure." Gaki reported, "The guy's in Iwagakure (Hidden Stone Village). That I know."
"Iwagakure! I- I'm not allowed to leave the village!" 'He can't be all the way over there! I can't travel!'
Gaki sighed. "You know, there are times when you have to break the rules. But personally, I can't believe you. You're a criminal. Your job is to break the rules." He walked over to the edge of the roof. "I got work to do. I'm still a shinobi of this village; I guard the walls with archers to protect people inside. Your stuff is still in my room when you're ready to go." He didn't even look at Sora. "The Dangerous Mist. Don't forget it."
"God damn it." Sora looked at the map over and over again. 'I know I'm in Iwagakure, but besides that I'm hopelessly lost!' He balled up the map in his fists and tossed it aside. "Useless piece of crap."
"Hey! Get back here!" Sora turned around and saw two Rock shinobi run toward him. One stopped next to him.
"Have you seen a kid with bright red hair run through here?"
"No." Sora answered. It was the truth anyway.
"Keep an eye out for him." He warned before running after his partner.
"Tch, yeah right." Sora scoffed. 'Like I give a crap.'
He walked some more, only to be stopped again by another person. He came out of no where and was in no hurry.
"Hey dude, thanks for not ratting me out."
The boy was about 15, maybe a year ether way. He had bright red hair like the shinobi had said that went past his shoulders and fell into his face, covering his right eye. His eyes were red also and resembled blood. He wore a blue sleeveless shirt with black pants and a Mist headband with a cross running through it. On his left shoulder was a black tattoo that Sora knew well: A circle with an upside-down triangle! Just like the silver rosary that hung from neck!
"I- I didn't even see you. Y-you're the Dangerous Mist!?" Sora couldn't stop staring.
The missing-nin sweat-dropped. "Okay, then. Stop stuttering already. And it's Kitai. Misuto Kitai."
Moons: So... something tells me that I'm gonna get a review saying this is crap. Ether that or I offended somebody. C'mon, bring on the flames! -puts on fire-fighter gear-
Just a quick disclaimer: I have nothing against the Cloud Village. I only read the spoilers for Naruto now, but Cloud has Killer Bee! A guy like that makes the village awesome! I used them as the antigonist village because 1) Some fanfiction (from around '07, kinda old) believed that the Cloud were very religious and that led me to believe that they could be anti-Jashin and 2) That's what you get for being the only village without an Akatsuki member.
So anyway, R&R and hopefully I'll get the next chapter out sooner and it'll be better. ^^