And cue part two of the flashback! ;3
It took a while in the dark, but there were enough obvious signs to keep Kyra and Hotori walking through the night at a steady pace.
Kaida must have run into something important and, not having time to call out to her two teammates, left an easy trail for them to follow, Kyra decided.
Of course, it didn't help any when Hotori pointed out the possibility that someone had captured Kaida and left the easy trail to lure the other two into a trap. Kyra didn't want to accept that, though she knew any ninja would have to be prepared in case it was a trap.
A very large building came into view a couple hours later. All the previous signs led to inside that building. Kyra and Hotori put out their fires and crouched behind some bushes, a few lights from the building slightly illuminating the outside as well, even though it was past midnight.
"This is not good," Hotori muttered. "This is way out of our way to our mission."
"Our mission will be accomplished more easily with a full squad," Kyra hissed in return. She was not going to just leave Kaida, and that was final.
Even in the dark, Kyra could have sworn she saw Hotori roll his eyes. "Fine. Do we have any kind of detailed plan, or do we just run in, bust some heads, get Kaida, and run out? I have to say I like the second better, actually."
Kyra thought for a moment. "Stealth," she decided. "We get in, find Kaida, and get back out. No getting seen by the enemy at all."
And so minutes later, the two were crawling on hands and knees in the shadows along the border of the building, searching for a way in. They eventually came to a window in which there was no light shining. Hotori pried it open and he and Kyra slipped inside.
They crept around the building, sticking to shadows. They only ducked into lighted areas a couple times to search a different part of the building, and they always went back into the shadowed areas before long.
Then, as they entered another section of the building, Kyra stopped so suddenly that Hotori nearly ran into her.
"What?" he whispered.
Kyra shook her head mutely and pointed.
Up ahead, visible in flickering candlelight, was a woman. She was lying motionless on the floor in a pool of blood. She was severely wounded in several places, but the worst one was a long gash along her side. Kyra supplied details that weren't clearly visible in the dim light: her hair would be red, her eyes would be a hazel green, and the symbol in the headband she wore would be a leaf.
Kaida.
"No!" Kyra gasped, forgetting to keep her voice to a whisper. Before Hotori could stop her, she rushed forward to kneel beside her best friend and teammate.
But then before she could reach her something blocked her path – or rather, someone. He let out a short, cold laugh that sent chills up and down Kyra's spine.
"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," he said, sounding pleased.
"What have you done to her?" Kyra asked, trying to stop the trembling that was spreading throughout her body. She wasn't sure whether it was fear or rage, or both.
She was vaguely aware that Hotori had come up beside her.
"I?" the man said. "Nothing. But my friends... Well, they like to play rough sometimes, and controlling them is often such a difficult task. It's really a shame about your friend. She was so beautiful, and it seemed her wedding ring she wore was one from a man already passed on. It would have been nicer all around if she'd lived."
"What's what this was all about?" Hotori demanded when Kyra lost her voice again from anger. "You captured our teammate because you thought she would make a nice addition to your little home here, and then you just kill her?"
The man snapped his fingers, and instantly, the room was filled with people with greedy expressions, as though they couldn't wait to tear into their new prey. They wore ninja headbands, but Kyra couldn't make out what symbol was on it.
"That pretty much sums it up," the man said. "The two of you, however, mean nothing to me. Shall I have my friends escort you to the door, or to the afterlife?"
"She could still be alive," Kyra muttered desperately, her low voice making sure none but Hotori heard her. "She looks badly hurt, but maybe she's still alive. We have to get to her and get medical help for her."
Hotori didn't seem to acknowledge her words, but both pulled out weapons at about the same time. The man laughed again, and, with a quick sign from him, the dozens of ninja attacked.
Kyra and Hotori definitely weren't very good friends, if at all, but years of being on the same squad had taught them how to work together in battle. During this particular battle, Kyra fought her way straight towards Kaida, and Hotori backed her up.
Kyra made a few quick handsigns and water came out of nowhere. She controlled it with swift movements of her hands and drowned a few ninja where they stood, knocking a couple others out of her way.
She made it to Kaida, but she only had enough time to register that up close her wounds seemed even worse before Kyra was attacked by another ninja. Fist met face in a good old-fashioned punch from Kyra, and she sent her water towards the person to finish the job.
After she made sure Hotori was still going strong, she knelt beside Kaida and felt desperately for a pulse.
...Nothing. Not even an extremely weak one.
Kyra searched desperately for another way to keep hoping.
Genjutsu. Maybe this was just an illusion.
She had to struggle for a while with another ninja before she could try it, but she managed to get another breathing space. She made a handsign to focus her chakra. "Release!"
Again, nothing.
Tears blurred her vision, but she managed to fend off another couple of shinobi attacks. She scrubbed furiously at her eyes, wiping away the wetness, and rejoined Hotori. He glanced at her, then, in one swift movement, heaved away the ninja he'd been struggling with.
"Are you crying?" he asked.
"No," Kyra replied, glaring, though not necessarily at Hotori. "Some water from my jutsu just splashed on my face, is all." A shinobi must never show her tears. It was a sign of weakness. At least for the duration of the mission, Kyra would keep them bottled up. Sai would let her cry on his shoulder when she got back to Konoha.
Hotori didn't respond, which was unlike him. Then again, maybe it was just because he had his hands full with another ninja that attacked him.
"Kaida's dead, and it's not genjutsu," Kyra told him, trying to keep her voice steady. "We need to get out of here and complete our mission."
Hotori nodded, then grunted and yanked a knife from his arm that hadn't been there a moment ago. "I hate to run away," he grumbled, giving the enemy a glare.
"Tactical retreat," Kyra corrected, even though she sort of felt the same way.
It was how Kaida would have felt, too.
Kyra shook it off, though, and made herself think of other things.
Then she glanced back at her friend. She wanted to take the body with to give it a decent burial, but it would only slow them down as they fled the scene. With one last, long, sad look, she followed Hotori towards an exit.
~End Flashback~
"Hotori and I finished the mission with little hassle," Kyra said. "None of the thieves were ninja, so we were able to start back home almost immediately."
Hotori must be the final person in the photo of Shikami's mom's team, Shikami decided. Only aged now, of course.
It hadn't been the mission they were sent on that had killed his mom. The mission itself had actually had little to nothing to do with the entire story.
Shikami stared up at the ceiling, the room seeming eerily quiet now that the story had stopped. Rue and Shin had appeared in the living room about halfway through, and they sat in silence as well.
Kyra had not easily believed that her teammate was gone, but if even she was convinced that Shikami's mom had died, he shouldn't question it.
And yet he did. He still didn't believe that his mom had died, no matter that an eyewitness had confirmed both that her heart was no longer beating and that it hadn't been an illusion jutsu.
"Where was this place that you found her?" Shikami asked.
Kyra's eyes widened. "Shikami, no."
"What?" he asked, feigning innocence.
"Don't give me that; you're not a very good liar," Kyra replied sternly. "You are not, under any circumstances, to try and find this place. You can't even leave the village without the Hokage assigning a mission, which won't be for a while, since you're not even a ninja now. But do not even think about it, understand?"
Shikami bit his lip, which was a bad move, because it just made yet another place on his body ache. "Yeah," he finally responded.
Kyra's look softened. "I'm really, really sorry about this, Shikami. But for as long as you want, you'll always have a home here."
Y'know, I actually have how this happened pretty planned out from Kaida's PoV... Only problem is she's not exactly accessible to tell it... :/
Maybe I'll make up a seperate oneshot about it later. Anyways...
Taylor, just take it for granted from here on out that anytime your OCs and Sai make an appearance, you're to tell me how I did portraying them. xD
And, once more, peoplez, be sure to leave a review for meh! xP