Okay! New chapter, finally. AND 100 REVIEWS OH MY GOD YOU GUYS ARE UTTERLY FANTASTIC Thank you so so so so so so much BloodyGirl, Jasmine-.-Momo-chan, Animelover XD, akeginu, Sakura'sGhettoInner, ForgottenAngelOfTheShadows, Reina Kuran, Jane Odair, AdotD, .O, ShiraSakura, Nuria Sato, redxcherrie, Animelover351, and an anonymous!
You guys are my inspiration, and I'm so happy that you guys all reviewed. Honestly, I was prepared to get like…a couple reviews. Max. So thank you so much or supporting the story and giving my your feedback. ENOUGH WITH THE SAP. On with the action.
And I'm also going to go ahead and say that I listened to kill your heroes by AWOLNATION while writing this and it helped me so much. Just saying.
I couldn't breathe when the vision ended and I found myself back at the temporary camp. My throat seized up in panic and I had to waste a burst of chakra to calm the constricting muscles when I began to see spots in my vision. When I finally calmed enough to breathe properly, I looked up to see that it was already morning. Time passed so quickly.
Time travel is a fickle thing.
Shaking my head violently, I glanced back over at Naruto and Sasuke asleep on the forest floor. I had haphazardly shoved them under some shrubbery that I set up as something like a fort, so that they might be a bit hidden from view. It wouldn't help in battle at all, but it helped make me a bit more comfortable that we weren't all sitting out here in the open in this clearing.
I went through the fight that I knew was coming at least ten times in my head, trying to prepare myself. They didn't fall for any traps I sent, but now I saw it as a blessing. They see a weak genin with novice traps, go in for the kill, then receive a broken jaw. It was the plan, anyway.
A small squirrel rustled out of a bush, running towards me, and I distractedly threw a kunai in its direction to stop it from ruining any poorly set traps. I replaced a damp towel on Sasuke's head and glanced back in the direction of the squirrel. Sending a tentative sweep of my chakra, I sensed the sound ninja, just barely, just outside of the clearing.
I contemplated calling them out, but I decided it would be a better idea to await their arrival. My best bet would be underestimation. If they think I'm weak, they won't prepare for a tough fight. Then I can quickly kick their asses and keep Sasuke and Naruto safe. At least, that's what I was hoping for.
I heard them land in the clearing before they spoke. The front one who was always hunched over and covered in bandages spoke first, mocking my ability to keep my team safe. I clenched my fist, ignoring the urge to pound the ground in to show them just how not-pathetic I was.
The annoying one, Zaku, I think, spoke next, as cocky and arrogant as ever. He stated his plan to kill me and then kill Sasuke, which sent another wave of rage throughout me that I had to repress. Dosu stopped him, uncovered my trap, mocked me again, and then they all leaped toward me.
"Clearly, you have no talent as a nin—" I cut him off by punching him right in the goddamn face.
When they had leapt for me, I jumped up to meet them halfway, sending Dosu back in the opposite direction and into a tree, then I spun my body in the air, kicking Kin off to the side and chucking various weapons at Zaku. They all ended up on separate ends of the clearing. It was silent when I landed back on the ground, and Dosu was gripping at his face, more in anger than pain.
"Sorry if I broke your nose," I apologized, standing up straight, "I was aiming for your jaw."
"Oh, it's going to be fun to kill this bitch," Zaku spoke, effectively calling my attention to him to see his smirk. I was too exhausted with these exams to even smirk back.
"So I underestimated you," Dosu spoke, stepping forward and pulling his sleeve back to reveal that metal contraption on his arm, and I quickly strengthened my stance. "It won't happen again."
When he rushed toward me, I knew there was no chance of avoiding his attack, so I settled for getting him the hell away from me instead. Gathering chakra into my fist, I drew it up above my head, and slammed it down on the ground. Pain immediately shot up my arm and I had to waste even more chakra quickly healing the nerves, but it was worth it to see the way the earth cracked under my hand like it used to. Dosu stumbled, nearly falling flat on his face, and I took the opportunity to kick an overturned piece of earth straight into his abdomen. He was sent back to where he stood before, and I smirked triumphantly at the sight.
"What was that about not underestimating me?" I asked, clenching my injured fist to make sure it still moved without any pain.
"Right," He responded, "You are much stronger than you look." I was ready to respond, I had a witty reply stored for that line already, but he beat me to the chase, "Zaku. Go."
Zaku, ever the loyal servant, jumped forward smirking, knowing exactly what Dosu was planning even when I stood here clueless. He held his hands out in front of him, with the odd metal holes in his palms, and a torrent of wind suddenly came toward me, blurring my vision and making me have to turn away. I noted that Dosu was rushing toward me, and while I tried to get a kunai in my hand to defend myself, I couldn't concentrate enough to focus chakra into any part of me to do damage. I awaited his attack with his sound gauntlet, but suddenly it all stopped.
I noticed now that at some point I had dropped to me knees, and I had to look up from my place on the ground. I was both thrilled and terrified to see Lee standing there. It was almost comical the way he stood there in his bright spandex with a squirrel, of all things, on his shoulder.
But nothing about this situation as comical, I reminded myself. Nothing.
He and Dosu engaged in some sort of tussle, and while I remembered very vividly Lee falling to his knees at the (figurative) hands of Dosu's sound waves, I knew I couldn't help him. So, doing quick hand signs for a replacement jutsu, I hid myself in the outside trees of the clearing and made my way toward Kin. While definitely not weak, she was the weakest out of the three, and possibly the only one I had a chance at incapacitating. So, with some sort of satisfaction at the change of position, I pulled her back by her hair and swung her out of the clearing.
We weren't far enough away to be hidden, but we were far enough away for be forgotten for a moment. I let go of her hair and stepped back, not remembered exactly what her battle tactic was and not wanting to find out. She smirked at me, opening her mouth to speak, but I suddenly snapped at the thought of her saying anything to me, and I punched her square in the jaw.
The feel of the bone fracturing was satisfying only for as long as she stayed still, but then she was on me and it wasn't nearly as gratifying. She seemed to be going for some sort of taijutsu approach, but I was careful not to get too close to her unless I was planning to hit. I didn't want to risk getting indisposed.
The fight was a bit of a blur, honestly. It was a flurry of punches and kicks and hits and misses and curses and battle cries and then suddenly, Zaku was there. I managed to throw a rock at his arm before he could sent another tornado of wind at me, and even caught his arm and shoved a pebble in the hole before he shot it out and nearly shot it through my shoulder.
Then Kin had me pinned to the ground, similar to the last time but I was flat on the ground and she was crouched on top of me, pulling my head back at a painful angle by my hair.
"You think you're tough, do you?" She hissed, tightening her grip on my hair.
"I fractured your jaw, broke two of your ribs, severely bruised your abdomen, and I think you have internal bleeding." She pulled back on my hair sharply, and though a grunt slipped past my lips, I continued, "I think you should know I'm at least tougher then I look."
"Which isn't saying much." She growled.
"Kin," Zaku spoke authoritatively, "Let's get her back to where Dosu is."
Kin pulled me onto my back and proceeded to drag me by my hair toward the clearing, and while Zaku was distracted, and Kin thought she won, I lifted my elbow and slammed it into the ground, upsetting her balance and causing her to lose grip on my hair. I slammed my body into hers, quickly reaching up to grip the side of her head and used our momentum and some chakra to slam her temple against the side of the tree. She slumped against it, unconscious, and Zaku turned back to me, his face twisting into a furious sneer when he saw Kin lying by the tree. I prepared to defend myself, but he lifted his hands before I could, and blasted me. It lasted only a second, and then he was behind me, blasting me again and sending me into the clearing.
"Dosu!" Zaku called out, dragging Kin into the clearing, "Let's just hurry up and kill the bitch so we can deal with the Uchiha! She already got Kin!"
I saw Lee lying in the clearing unmoving, and as worried as I was for him, I had to tear my eyes away.
"She got Kin?" He sounded moderately surprised, turning to face me completely. "Do what you want."
Zaku rushed at me, but I quickly cast a replacement jutsu and hid up in the trees. This worked last time, and even though I got my face beat in, I could defend myself better now that this was all familiar. He knew what I was up to immediately, and pinpointed where I was before I did it again. He destroyed the second replacement, and I jumped down from my hiding place. He threw a kunai that imbedded itself shallowly into my abdomen and looked around, but I was on top of him before he could realize I had tricked him.
"A little help?" I wish I would've figured out what Zaku meant by that before it happened, because before I could really react, Dosu was within touching distance and sent a punch at me. It was all I could do to dodge, and then I found myself feeling the overwhelming need to curl up into myself and throw up.
Zaku sent a whirlwind at me and I was sent back into a tree. My back screamed at the impact, but before I could recover Zaku was practically on top of me. His whole body pressed mine into the tree, and his hand was wrapped around my throat. With his other hand, he gripped the kunai that was still in my abdomen and dug it further into me. I gritted my teeth, only a grunt of pain escaping. His hand tightened on my throat, sadistic glee overwhelming his features.
I couldn't breathe anymore, and soon the pain of the kunai in my abdomen wasn't felt. I started to feel lightheaded, seeing boxes appear in the corner of my vision, I struggled to stay conscious. Then, he let go, and all the oxygen rushed back into my head making my dizzy, and the pain of the kunai came back full throttle. I let out a small cry of pain on accident, and his smirk widened. Then, his hand clenched again.
He did this three more times, squeezing until the moment before I passed out and then letting go.
"Hurry, Zaku," Dosu ordered impatiently, but Zaku didn't listen.
"Scared yet?" Zaku asked, rotating the kunai in my abdomen after letting go of my neck. Much to my disgust, I let out a whimper and he looked absolutely gleeful. "Maybe I'll do this to your little friend too, after I kill you."
"If you're…" I choked when his grip tightened, but struggled to talk anyway, "trying to kill me, why are you taking so long"
"I'm savoring this," He said, leaning in closer to me, "Aren't you?"
I was ready to curse something back at him, but my vision was going hazy again and I couldn't form words. My mind was going black again before he let go of my throat and I was forced to draw in another breath as my body shook with coughs. I couldn't turn my head to see how Naruto and Sasuke and Lee were. For the brief moment my mind was back, I remembered Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were supposed to show up, but I wondered if I was even still in sight of the clearing. His hand closed around my throat again, before I had even caught my breath completely, and I was suffocating again.
It was shameful how badly I had failed. Because last time I wasn't preparing to face my death. Sure, I hadn't fought much, people had done the majority of fighting for me, and I was beat up pretty bad, but I wasn't suffocating and bleeding all over the place.
When the boxes filled my vision and he didn't stop, I wondered if he was going to let my pass out. But I didn't want to, because passing out meant death. But the boxes slowly began to take over and I was losing control of my thought. It jumped around hazy pictures and broken thoughts. And Sasuke. Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke.
Then suddenly my throat was free, and Zaku was gone, and I felt myself drop to the floor and start gasping for breath, but my coughs were making it difficult.
"What—" But I couldn't say anything because coughs took over again, and I couldn't move from my spot hunched over on the ground because my abdomen was aflame with unbearable pain, and I realized the kunai was still there. I weakly pulled it out and threw it to the side. Looking up, my mind began to piece together my situation.
Sasuke, chakra swirling around his form, eyes red with sharingan, and half of his body overtaken with the curse mark, practically tearing Zaku apart.
"Sas—" But I couldn't speak, because my throat was too sore. I began hacking, struggling to ignore the pain the coughing caused in my abdomen. Sasuke slammed Zaku up against a tree, and when Zaku tried to lift a hand to blast him with that wind, Sasuke simply grabbed his wrist and slammed it against the tree so hard I heard the snap of his wrist.
This was worse than the last time Sasuke beat up Zaku, because last time he fought him with a calm precision and unrivaled grace. This time, graceful as he was, he fought him like an animal. Moving around Zaku like a predator tearing apart its prey, and rather than the cool demeanor that Sasuke had fought Zaku with the last time, though his face appeared emotionless, his eyes were wide, manic, wild, and terrifyingly angry. And when he finally came to the point where he stood with his foot on Zaku's back, holding his arms, I could just darely hear him before he practically ripped his arms out of their sockets, and all he said was a single, furious command.
"Don't you ever fucking touch her."
"No!" I rasped, my voice sounding so terrifyingly weak, I even broke into a furious coughing fit after. He dropped Zaku to the ground, and I shakily got my hand splayed across my abdomen to sloppily heal my wound there as Sasuke made his way toward Dosu. It still hurt like hell, and I was fully aware of the fact that I was dangerously close to turning into a sobbing, blubbering mess, and I vaguely noted that Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji were here and were standing safely to the side, I pulled myself to my feet and stumbled as quickly as I could toward Sasuke.
Because all it took was a hug right?
I probably should have said something, but I knew I couldn't without going into another coughing fit, so I gripped his shoulder, and with strength I didn't realize I could muster at the moment, turned him around and threw my arms around his shoulders, burying my head in the crook of his neck. I felt his body tense, as if ready to attack me, and a sob escaped my throat without my permission, causing me to start coughing again.
"Stop," I rasped, "Don't do this. Don't you dare do this to me." I don't think he knew what I meant. He couldn't have known. Because was I was asking for wasn't for him to stop attacking the sound ninja. I don't know really what I was asking for. Maybe I was asking for him not to leave me. Maybe I was asking him to forgive me for failing to protect him. Maybe I was asking him not to give in to the hate. But whether he really understood or not, I couldn't explain to anyone the relief I felt when he pressed one hand tentatively against my lower back, and then wrapped the other arm around my waist as well, gripping me like he had when he first got the mark. Slowly, ever so slowly, I saw the marks begin to recede. He weakly slumped onto the ground, and for the life of me, I couldn't let go.
"You're strong, Sasuke." Dosu spoke, and Sasuke, pulled at my waist as if to turn me away from him, but I wouldn't let go, and after his first attempt, he settled for unwrapping his arms and I felt him shift to watch Dosu.
"I'll make a deal with you," Dosu spoke again, "I'll give you the scroll if you let us go." It was silent for a moment, then I heard Dosu lift Zaku and Kin on his shoulders. "We underestimated you. But rest assured, if we ever meet again in battle, we will not run or hide." I could hear his receding footsteps, and though I refused to remove my face from Sasuke's neck, I could feel Sasuke lifting the arm that had previously been covered in the curse mark.
"What…" He mumbled, "What am I?"
And because I knew exactly what it was, what he was, what he would do and where he would go, it was all I could do to tighten my grip around his neck and sob into his shoulder. But I took comfort in the fact that he very, very slowly reciprocated, and wrapped his arms around me slowly, as if he thought he might break me, and let his chin rest against my shoulder, and let his body relax, if only a little bit.