Worlds Apart
Part 11
By Mieren
/\/\/\/\/\
Team Seven was in the middle of yet another argument between Sakura and Duo. For whatever reason, the pilot seemed delighted in seeing the ninja girl riled up and took every chance to get her in that state. Not that Kakashi and Sasuke were immune, but they weren't targeted nearly as often. Unfortunately, the topic of the current argument had escalated to almost deafening levels thanks to Sakura. The topic of the argument, sadly enough, was Sasuke.
"I may not have breasts, but my ass is tighter," Duo said cheerfully.
"SASUKE IS NOT ATTRACTED TO MEN! ESPECIALLY NOT YOU!" Sakura screamed.
This had been going on for nearly an hour. The sun had started to set and the moment it had become too murky for Duo to see to work, he had started in on Sakura. Once the topic had come up, the girl had instantly exploded. Sasuke had turned red and moved far in front of the group, trying his best not to listen to the two psychos argue over who he was going to sleep with when they set up camp.
Kakashi was just trying not to laugh. Logically, the jounin knew that noise of that amplitude was probably a bad idea, but he really was having fun watching Sakura's blood pressure rise to dangerous levels. He couldn't quite describe the color of her face. At that point, no one could even begin to understand her anymore, and Duo had abandoned the argument to laugh. That only spurred Sakura to become even louder.
The entire group was so distracted that no one knew what was happening until their situation was beyond critical. Six sound-nin dropped out of the trees and rushed them. Sakura was hit immediately with a thrown kunai, the hilt protruding from her left shoulder. Sasuke and Kakashi managed to dodge and mount a weak defense, but they were too late to keep two of the sound-nin from snagging Duo and hauling him out into the woods. Muffled cursing vanished as the pilot was abducted.
Kakashi pulled out his best attacks instantly, knowing that he was in a bad situation all around. If he went after Duo, assuming that he could even make it past the sound-nin, he'd be abandoning his students to certain death. If he stayed to fight, he doubted that he would be able to find Duo. Desperate for time, he uncovered his Sharingan and launched himself at the nearest sound-nin. He was preparing to Chidori the man's ass when the battle came to an abrupt halt.
/\/\/\/\/\
Duo was pissed, plain and simple. Despite the fact that he spent most of his time riling Sakura into a killing mood to gleefully watch her face turn a lovely shade of 'I'm-going-to-kill-you' puce, he liked her. Of the six men who had attacked them, one had stabbed Sakura with a thick throwing knife, and two others were attempting to kidnap him.
Ticked, Duo wrenched his hand at a weird angle to access a weapon on his back. Though unable to draw or aim it, he pulled the trigger several times in rapid succession. The pulse rifle was designed not to kill, but a series of vicious blows to the kidneys is enough to make anyone lose their hold. The sound-nin dropped him with a strangled yelp, clearly not expecting the attack. Completely disabled from the impact to his gut, he staggered a few feet away, leaving his companion to deal with the pissed pilot.
The distraction was enough to allow Duo to roll to his feet with the pulse rifle in hand. Aiming for the non-injured ninja, he snapped off a shot just as the man raised his hands and returned fire, releasing a small burst of force designed to knock Duo off his feet and little more. The pulse rifle ended up taking the blow, the combination of his shot and the attack blowing the last two inches off of the end of the barrel.
Damaged, the pulse rifle discharged the entirety of the confined charge. An explosion rocked the area, incinerating everything near the vicinity of the muzzle. The backlash launched both the damaged gun and Duo over forty feet, thankfully clear of the initial explosion.
Dropping the totaled weapon, the Gundam pilot sprinted back towards the original site of the battle, pulling a new weapon as he ran.
/\/\/\/\/\
The night sky lit up in a blinding flash followed by an immediate shockwave and an earth-shaking boom. The blast was strong enough to knock all of the combatants off their feet. To the east, debris was raining down from a huge column of black smoke. One sound-nin shot off towards the source of the explosion.
The sound-nin made it just into the trees when a small bright light flared up just in front of him. His head flew back into the road, cleanly severed at the neck and fully cauterized. Duo came running out behind the corpse, looking decidedly singed and covered in soot. In his hands was the metal rod that had mystified Sakura earlier, now clearly a scythe, though the blade was a glowing bluish white light.
The three remaining sound-nin split up to deal with them, one blocking Kakashi, one keeping Sasuke and Sakura busy, and the third heading straight for Duo. The blond gracelessly but savagely swung the scythe at the sound-nin which the ninja caught effortlessly, making the rest of Team Seven sure that the first victory had been a stroke of luck resulting from sure surprise. They were proved wrong instantly.
Duo dropped one hand to his hip and drew a revolver, unloading it into a surprised sound-nin. His method of fighting was so unusual that the ninja couldn't seem to compensate quickly enough.
Dropping the empty gun, Duo made a beeline towards the sound-nin that Sasuke had just kicked in the head when he jumped at the sound of the gunshots. Scythe leading, Duo attacked, the weapon again being caught before connecting. This time, he flipped a switch on the handle and dropped it. The thermal blade flickered off and an enormous jolt of electricity shot through the sound-nin. He went rigid, smoke rising from his clothes and hair before collapsing, fingers still forcibly coiled around the shaft of the scythe.
Cackling, Duo rounded on the final sound-nin still rounding off with Kakashi. The solitary ninja was smart enough to realize that he was outnumbered four to one, one of which had brutally killed his five comrades. He ran like hell.
Duo shoved past a stunned Kakashi, whipping an enormous gun off his back using the sling for leverage to snap it into his hands. He flipped a switch that resounded in a popping click followed by a loud deep hum that quickly built up into a high-pitched shrieking whine. Light flickered along panels on the sides, a ball of blinding power forming at the opening at the end. Bracing his legs for the recoil, Duo pulled the trigger.
A blast of sheer energy rocketed forward, leveling a path over twenty feet wide and five feet deep for almost half a mile. The following shockwave caused Team Seven to stagger and the recoil shoved Duo back several yards, his feet leaving trenches in the soil. After regaining his balance, he raised his gaze towards the tunnel of destruction he had unleashed, squinting at the smoldering molten path.
"Did I get him?" he called eagerly.
"Holy shit," Sakura managed weakly from behind. Her eyes were the size of saucers. Even Sasuke's jaw had dropped.
"Probably," Kakashi managed to answer, trying to decide whether to stare at Duo's weapon or look for the escaped sound-nin. The pilot noticed the looks and grinned maniacally, powering down his gun and slinging it across his shoulders once more. He started back towards Sakura to check on her, slapping Kakashi on the shoulder as he passed by.
"And you were worried about the poor little assassin," Duo teased.
"Assassin?" Sasuke asked, jumping on the word.
"I thought you told them," Duo said wryly, not really minding that the information had the other two teenagers staring at him like he had grown an extra head. He was used to it.
"Not everything," Kakashi sighed. Duo nodded in acceptance, returning to his original task.
"Are you okay, Sakura?" he asked. "Sparky here got you with a knife when he showed up." He motioned towards the smoking corpse still holding his scythe.
"Fine!" Sakura answered hastily, yanking the kunai free and stepping back. Duo was a bit shocked that she seemed to be afraid of him.
"Cool it," he chuckled, continuing on his course. "I'm on your side, you know. Now lose the shirt." He was immediately hit upside the head.
"Pervert!" Sakura roared.
"You don't have anything I haven't seen," Duo said placidly, grinning despite the fact that he had a new lump on his skull. "I have medical training."
"She can handle it," Kakashi interrupted before the situation could escalate into another fight. Duo gave up willingly since they seemed sure of what they were doing to whatever extent.
"So, what do we do with Sparky, Stumpy and Swiss Cheese here?" Duo asked, waving towards the corpses. "And who are these weenies anyways?"
"You killed them without even knowing who they were?" Sakura asked, rather loudly. Duo looked at her like she was insane.
"They stuck a knife in you and carried me off in a headlock," Duo said flatly. "I was going to just beat the crap out of them, but they started doing that finger wiggling thing at me and I had no choice."
Finger wiggling? Kyuubi asked, amused.
"What exactly did you use against them?" Kakashi asked slowly. Duo looked vexed.
"I was just using a simple pulse rifle, but one of them caused it to overload. It looked like they were using their hands to fight the same way my rifle works," Duo said, his explanation falling into idle musing. His mission reports were never entirely coherent.
"How exactly does a pulse rifle work?" Kakashi asked, interrupting the rambling.
"Exactly like it sounds," Duo shrugged. "It's a pulse rifle. It pulses."
"So you basically used sound against a sound-nin?" Sasuke said drolly.
"In my defense, it worked great when they were dumb enough to cut the end off of it," he chuckled. "Besides, I didn't see you three winning either."
"Baka!" Sakura shouted. Duo smirked. At least she wasn't afraid of him anymore. "You only won because you cheated!"
"Now then," Duo continued, cheerfully ignoring the insult to his gadgets. "You didn't answer my question. What do we do with the vulture meat here?" He motioned towards one of the corpses, noticing that the electrocuted ninja still had his thermal scythe. He pulled it free, ignoring the shock he received from the residual electricity still in the weapon, flipping it off to allow it to recharge.
"We'll bury them here," Kakashi said, eyeing the trench Duo had created. The blond raised his eyebrows.
"No investigation at all?"
"Sound-nin attack fairly regularly," the jounin explained. "Besides, it's rather obvious what they wanted."
"Yeah, well…"
"Where are the other two?"
"If you want to sweep up the ashes, that's your prerogative," Duo deliberately brushed some of the soot from his arm. Kakashi eyed his buster rifle, causing the pilot to chuckle. "Other one," he corrected. "Had they damaged this one, none of us would be here." That created a collective flinch from the rest of his team.
"Maybe you shouldn't carry those," Sasuke said flatly, clearly unhappy that items like that were anywhere near him, even less so that they were near Duo.
"Bah," Duo dismissed. "The fun ones aren't even finished."
"Fun ones?" Sakura asked, honestly worried.
"You just got lucky, Duo. You shouldn't brag," Kakashi finally said. "Any ninja who has seen you fight even once would be able to defeat you."
"Really?" Duo asked, eyes glittering with an evil look. "You've seen me fight. Could you defeat me?"
"Yes," came the three-way chorus. Duo folded his arms and tilted his head at a cocky angle, smirking. He moved three large paces back.
"Hit me," he said simply.
"Dobe."
"We are not going to hit you," Sakura seconded.
"If any one of you can hit me in the next five minutes, I'll shut up for the rest of the trip," Duo offered. He knew quite well that his yammering was annoying the crap out of Sasuke, and he expected the dark-haired boy to be the first to snap. He wasn't disappointed.
Sasuke darted forward with the intent to punch Duo quickly in the gut. The offer of silence was just too good to pass up. Kakashi and Sakura saw Duo's delighted grin at the attack, but neither had the time to warn Sasuke that the blond seemed far too happy for someone about to be punched. Sasuke let fly.
And promptly took a flight of his own. An electrical jolt, weaker than the one that had killed the sound-nin, shot through Sasuke as his fist landed just short of Duo's stomach. The electricity caused all of Sasuke's reflexes to fire and he fell over after a clumsy lurch back. Duo let out a victory cry and pumped both hands in the air, only then displaying that he had been fiddling with something wired into his jacket. Flat on his butt, Sasuke just blinked dazedly, his hair standing slightly on end.
"It works! Take that G! I stabilized the field without blowing myself up!" Duo cheered. "I didn't even need your fancy-ass lab to do it!"
Seeing Duo cheering like a moron and dancing around, Kakashi casually noted that the teenager's hands were no longer in his jacket. Moving forward swiftly, he punched Duo in the back of the skull. The blond clutched his head and glared.
"What was that for?" Duo yelped. Kakashi smiled, eyebrow arching up happily.
"Shut up."
/\/\/\/\/\
To Be Continued…
Now I have to put away the notebook and go back to being a good little student. I'll update later after I get this presentation out of the way for class. R&R!
