Must Not Succumb to the Cliche Chapter 14: Tried to Hit, a naruto fanfic

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, but in need more. Come on my peeps send some more my way. I'm addicted to your reviews, so feed my need and send some thoughts my way.

Chapter 14: Tried to Hit but Failed and Mist- part 1

"Hurry up," Kakashi whispered urgently in my ear. I glared at him before finishing bandaging my side.

(Re-cap)

" Good morning Seira, how are you doing today?" The Hokage was puffing away genially on his pipe.

"I'm fine Hokage-sama, and you?" He smiled at me.

"I'm doing fine my dear. Now you have been doing well on the C-rank missions I have been giving you so I am going to send you out on a B-rank one. It will be a fairly easy retrieval mission and is only ranked a B-rank due to the requests the client made."

"What kind of requests sir?" I paused and smiled sheepishly realizing I had had just interrupted him. "Sorry." He chuckled and waved away my apology.

"He requested at least a jounin, but due to the political climate of Kirigakure at this time I wish to send a medic with him, just incase. I chose you because you are one of our most talented," I blushed at the praise, "and it should be an easy transition mission. Do you accept it?" I nodded, my face set in a determined manner. " Very good. You leave from the east gate in two hours. The mission parameters are three weeks to retrieve a sensitive document from a village just outside of Kirigakure. You're dismissed." I shushined back to my apartment, Ha I can do that now too. The packing was quick and easy.

I had a scroll with my supply of about a bazillion senbon, medicine, clothes, the works. I changed into my mission attire that consisted of black cargo pants, standard black sandals, and a black thermal with two holes on the shoulders to allow easier movement with a green vest over top. I pulled my hair up into ponytail and tied my headband around my neck. I looked at the clock and realized that I had ten minutes to get to the gate. I kissed Naruto good-bye, a nice big and sloppy one, before heading over to meet Kakashi. It turned out that Izumo and Kotetsu had guard duty.

"Well if it isn't our little medic." He draped himself on my shoulders. I swatted him away.

"Get off of me you hunk of useless man-meat." He pouted before grabbing my hand and smirking.

"But Seira, I'm here to fulfill your every sexual fantasy." His smirk grew more pronounced, I paused and took a thoughtful pose.

"Hmm, you mean you've got both a donkey and a two-by-four?" I kept my face completely straight as he tried to comprehend the statement. Izumo was close to hysterics as Kotetsu starting shaking his head.

"I just . . . how do you reply to that?" I was also laughing by this point. Some one cleared their throat behind us and we all turned to see Kakashi standing off to the side.

"You're not very observant, are you?" I stared a minute before scrutinizing him. Shaking my I walked over and held out my hand.

"Hi, I'm Seira, and I'm guessing that you're Kakashi?" He nodded before shaking my hand.

"Hmm, I've plotted our course so that we can miss the mist patrols if we're careful. The objective is to get the scroll and get out." I gave a sharp nod to show him that I understood. I was surprised by his professional manner, compared to the Kakashi from the anime, but I guess at this point he was just coming out of the ANBU. I took a good look at him while he checked something on the map. I have to admit, the anime didn't do him justice. His visible eye was a light blue that glinted in the light. His silver hair was shorter and in my professional opinion, it looked much better than the hair Naruto would later make fun of. The lower part of his face was covered in the familiar mask, but his jaw was well formed. Overall he was quite handsome in that 'I'm only showing a small patch of my actual skin' kind of way.

"Kakashi, I think we should have a keyword incase we get separated." He nodded before raising an eyebrow for me to continue. " How about I'll use my dog's name Kaze and you can use . . ." I trailed off hoping he would supply a word of some sort.

"Pakkun." Yes, one I can actually remember. With that we took to the trees and headed for Kiri. It took us a week to get to the village while avoiding the annoying Mist patrols. By the time we arrived I was wet, soggy, and did I mention WET. Ever since we landed in Water country we were met with mist, thunderstorms, and minor floods. Most nights we couldn't even get a fire to light, most nights we couldn't risk it. Sitting around the unlit pile of wood each night would have been unbearable if not for my partner in crime. We had a love-hate relationship manifesting. During the trip I had come to enjoy Kakashi's odd sense of humor, but his arrogant attitude pissed me off. Are main arguments were about who did what when it came to the mission. Kakashi had basically delegated me to all of the menial chores around camp while he would scout the area or check for patrols. We had argued several times, but he outranked me. So what if I wasn't a Jounin at age two, I was still a capable ninja.

" So what's the plan to get the scroll?" I watched him as he stared into the wood silently.

" I want you to be my look out while I go in and get the scroll. I have more experience so-,"

"You'll get the scroll. How could I have been stupid enough to think that little old me would even have an ounce of the skill needed to grab the piece of paper?" I hope the sarcasm in my voice wasn't too obvious, not. He sent me an annoyed glare.

"I've told you, you're not skilled enough in real combat to see underneath the underneath. We want this mission to be clean, because-,"

"Mist is volatile right now due to the bloodline cleansings and civil war." I gave him a cheeky grin before heading to my bedroll. It was soggy, like everything else.

We waited until the next night to steal . . . I mean borrow the scroll. It had started off fine, I was standing guard while Kakashi slipped in to get it. After a grand total of fifteen minutes an alarm started blaring and a copious amount of intricate traps were set off. I quickly ran into the building to find Kakashi dodging a water dragon. He slipped on some of the water throughout the room and managed to get slammed into the wall by the liquidy beast of doom. I launch several senbon at the guy's jugular before grabbing Kakashi and yanking him out of the room. I gave him a cursory check while we ran and I found that he had a slight head injury, just enough to slow down his motor functions. We quickly found ourselves being chased by a group of kiri ninja as we tried to flee the scene of the crime.

Suddenly a man with a very large sword cut us off. I cursed as he took a swing that would have cut us in half. I dragged Kakashi to the side, but I wasn't quick enough to avoid total injury as the sword smashed into my side breaking a few ribs and leaving a long gash running from my hip to my chest. We darted into an alleyway in an attempt to get away from the pursuing ninja and for a moment it worked. With Kakashi's help we hid in an empty attic of one of the several huts in the area. I healed his light head wound before collapsing in a tired heap. I grabbed bandages from my pack and I began to wrap my wound. I wanted to save my chakra in case it was needed later.

"What the hell happened?' I kept my voice low so that it couldn't be heard over the alarms outside.

"There was a genjutsu in place that I wasn't able to detect." His voice was perfectly normal as he told me that it was his carelessness that caused an easy mission to turn into a nightmare. I returned to taking care of my wound, too mad to speak to the idiot at the moment. "Hurry up," Kakashi whispered urgently in my ear. I glared at him before finishing bandaging my side.

"I wouldn't have to do this if you weren't such an overconfident prick, O great copy-nin. Genius my ass. What happened to looking underneath the fucking underneath. " I whispered back with an edge to my voice. What did you expect? I had a huge gash in my side, I was sore, and I was soaking wet. These conditions didn't make for a happy Sara. He growled before moving away. I followed with a slight limp. We waited for the coast to be clear before exiting silently through a window and making our way towards the forest. I felt arms grab me from behind, before I elbowed the guy in the solar plexus. I jumped away and found myself back to back with Kakashi as Kiri-nin surrounded us. I felt his muscles tense as we both jumped towards the nearest enemy. I coated my hands in razor sharp chakra before engaging my opponents in taijutsu. I cringed as I easily sliced through tendons and bones, I didn't enjoy doing this. I turned as Kakashi shouted a warning before something clubbed me in the back of the head. I was down for the count.

"Ugh, my head." I had awoken to the sight of a dank cell and a pounding headache. My surroundings shifted as I looked around. I had no idea where I was, the night before was little more than a blur. I gazed at the stonewalls, covered in grime and algae through bleary eyes. I wasn't scared, I didn't feel any emotion really, just confusion. I couldn't really concentrated as my eyes raced from wall to wall. While I was still staring dazedly around the room the door to my cell opened with an excruciatingly loud grating. Two men stood in the doorway watching me. The first was the larger of the two obviously the brawn of the duo. He had a boastful sneer on his face, he was obviously happy about some thing. I racked my brain trying to remember what he could have been happy about. Why can't I remember anything? I sighed before scrutinizing the second man. He was stoic and his posture held barely contained power. I shivered slightly as I looked into cruel cold eyes. He was the most dangerous of the pair, the brain.

The first one, 'Brawn' as I lovingly dubbed him , walked in and kicked me in my injured side. I yelped in shock and agony, my wound reopened as I laid on the ground panting.

" How do you like that, you little piece of Konoha trash? Honestly sending the bitches in to do a man's work. How does it feel to know that your comrade," he sneered this word, "abandoned you. Just like trash." I stared at him confused. Who was my comrade? What was going on? 'Brain' seemed to notice my confusion and pushed Brawn out of the way before abruptly grabbing my chin and looking into my eyes. His finger moved in front of my gaze and I struggled to concentrate on the moving digit. He grunted before standing up.

"She seems to have a concussion, she won't be of use with it. Let us leave." His statement was brief, but it held a sense of finality. Brawn trailed after him with a final kick to my side. It was a warning of things to some. I waited quietly until they left before I let the tears stream down my face. I tried to focus on what Brain had said. I had a concussion; why did that sound familiar? Something tugged at the edge my memory.

"Hold still Naruto, I want to make sure you don't have a concussion."

"What's that?"

"It means you hit your head and it messes up your brain. You have trouble concentrating, your vision gets all blurry, and you have the biggest headache in the world. Sometimes people will have trouble remembering things."

"how do you fix it?" hands glowed with green chakra as they moved to the boy's temple. There was a pulse of energy and then a warm feeling.

"Just. like. that."

I slowly began to remember about how to treat a concussion. I reached my hands up to my temple and I got ready to channel chakra into my wounded noggin. I felt the warm rush of energy has it flooded to my hands, but that ended as an excruciating jolt of electricity arched from a strange device strapped to my chest through my body into my hands. I screamed as the pulsating current electrocuted me. It ended as I quickly let go of the molded chakra. My body twitched sporadically as the remaining electricity left my system. Sweat was dripping off of my body as I gasped for air. I heard laughter from outside the door as I groaned.

" How do you like the new tech from Snow, it's the newest in chakra suppression. A prototype that the Mizukage was able to get." I could feel a sticky liquid coating my arm and I saw that it was blood from the gash I had received . . . my mind came up with another blank. I shivered as the cool night air wrapped around me and penetrated to my bones.

The next few days were little more than a blur as I passed in and out of consciousness. At times I would hum a rhythm less tune to stay awake, but I found my time in the damp chamber laced with blackness as my body gave away to sleep. The wound on my side had become infected and the shackles on my wrists had started to rub away the skin underneath them. I was give one meal a day and it was little more than a bowl of rice and dirty water. I hadn't been visited by either Brain or Brawn, but I had started to remember the events that had led up to my capture. The realization that Kakashi hadn't returned had left me numb. Rationally I knew that there was little he could do to help me, but it still caused my heart to ache with grief. It was similar to how I had felt after my fight with Suzume. Empty. Worthless. For all his preaching about comrades he had still thrown me aside, a lost cause. Like trash. I wonder if anyone will remember me? Will anyone care?

I was staring at the wall when Brain and Brawn entered. I gazed at them impassively as the scrutinized my condition. My body shivered, the effects of fever starting to set in due to the infection. Brawn reached over and hauled me to my feet roughly by my shoulder. I gritted my teeth to prevent any noise from escaping. I had always been a stubborn brat, as my mom would fondly state. To show pain was to give them another victory. He let go of my shoulder and without the support I fell to the ground limply. I heard him growl before I was thrown over his shoulder. We traveled for a good ten minutes before arriving at a brightly lit white room.

I was thrown down into a chair and my shackles were attached to chains on the ground. The bright light was blinding compared to the oppressive darkness I had become used too in the past few days. The door closed as someone shuffled around the room. My eyes adjusted and I saw a doctor readying various supplies. He walked over and cut the remaining fabric of my shirt off so that all I was wearing were the bandages I had used to cover my laceration. His actions were mechanical, detached, and clumsy as he worked to rid the injury of infection. I felt nauseous as his chakra reached through my body, it was so invasive and uncomfortable, he was obviously and inexperienced medic-nin. I shifted in my chair, well as far as the chains would allow anyway. I vaguely acknowledged that this was standard procedure for interrogation candidates. How many times had Ibiki or Anko called me in to heal a wounded prisoner? Enough times that I had started to pick up some of Ibiki's mind games, and I had started a pick-up line contest with Anko, similar to the one I had with Kotetsu.

Soon the doctor finished. I was given a coarse shirt and I was blindfolded . They forced me to stumble through the halls as we marched to our destination. Soon I tripped and stumbled enough times to be roughly thrown over a large shoulder, again. I was jostled as we made our way up several flights of stairs until a door was opened and light flooded through the cloth covering my eyes. The room we entered was full of noise, but that quickly changed as the occupants noticed our entourage. I remained motionless, my head resting on Brawn's large shoulder. We passed into another room and I was dropped into a wooden chair. The blindfold was ripped off; intense light flooded my vision as I cringed, my eyes shutting to escape the pain. I opened them slowly in an effort to acclimate myself to the glaring brightness. I was seated with Brain on one side of me and Brawn on the other.

In front of me sat a tall strong looking man in white and grey robes. Atop his head was a grey and white hat with the Kanji for Mizu and Kage. I quickly put two-and-two together. Shit, not good, not good. His stormy grey eyes watched me, they were cold and calculating, similar to Itachi's. However unlike Itachi I didn't know or understand these eyes. I stared into his gaze and he responded with killing intent. I fought back the urge to shiver and quake. I listened to my heartbeat and I breathed in rhythm with it. This was how I coped with Itachi's paralyzing power so I assumed it would work for the Mizukage's. He continued to add pressure as I continued to breathed evenly, in and out. Finally the pressure lifted from my shoulders and I sighed in relief.

"So it seems Konoha has decided that it is to good to honor the treaties that it has put in place." His voice was smooth and deep. I stared at him impassively, I knew that any acknowledgement to his words would only end badly for Konoha. "Has a shark got your tongue. Explain to me why two Konoha shinobi were found snooping around our walls. Explain why you were after," he held up the scroll we were trying to get, "this." I continued to stare at him. All of those staring contests were coming in handy right now. His returned the scroll to a table beside him.. "I am a reasonable man," I wanted to snort here, "give me Konoha's secrets and become a medic-nin for Kiri," I started as he said this. He chuckled, " Yes Seira, I know exactly who you are. You would be a valuable addition to our ranks. Join and I will act as if this mishap never occurred. If you refuse, as you o so noble leaf-nin tend to do, well let's just say that public executions are good for morale."

He folded his hands and rest his chin on them, staring at me. My mind was racing a mile a minute. What do you do in these kinds of situations? My head was bowed as I gazed into my lap. Maybe I should take the deal. I'm no good to this world if I'm dead., I shook my head to rid myself of these thoughts. Those were the words of a coward. Even if I was going to die, it was better to die with honor than live in shame. For my precious people to remain safe I would do anything.

"No." My voice was hoarse from disuse ad fatigue. I stared into the Mizukage's darkening eyes with as much defiance I could muster. He growled before stalking up to me and yanking me forward by my hair.

"You will regret this." I stared impassively at him before replying.

"I only regret that I have but one life to give for my village.

(1)" He growled in disgust before throwing me at Brawn.

"Get her out of my sight. Schedule the execution for tomorrow night at sundown." I was walked out the doors into a room crowded with solemn looking ninja. I kept my face blank as the watched us cross the room. I met the eyes of a young boy, most likely a genin. He had dark brown eyes that held an ounce of compassion in them, compassion I could see him trying desperately to hide. I gave him an imperceptible nod of respect before turning to look straight ahead. We made our way down into the abyss that made the dungeons of the Tower. As we entered the stretch of hallway that was lined with prisoners crying out for mercy I began to loose my nerve. I began to mumble a poem I had learned from my father when I was younger and afraid.

"If I can endure for this minute whatever is happening to me . . .

No matter how heavy my heart is or how dark the moment might be . . .

If I can but keep on believing what I know in my heart to be true . . .

That darkness will fade with morning and that this will pass away, too . . .

Then nothing can ever disturb me or fill me with uncertain fear . . .

For as sure as night brings dawning, my morning is bound to appear."

I held my head higher as I felt a warmth fill me. I could still imagine my father smiling at me as he would hold me close and whisper it into my ear. His voice seemed to recite it alongside me. I smiled as I held the memory close to my heart. I remembered Naruto coming to me one night in fear and I too had embraced him as I whispered the same poem into his ear. Brain was watching me closely from my side, but I paid him little heed. Instead of stumbling I forced myself to take determined steps. I had been given a renewed hope and acceptance of my situation. I would not die the death of a sniveling child. I would die the death of a strong warrior. I was thrust into my cell as we ended our journey.

I slid to the ground as I closed my eyes. I began to hum softly as I thought of all of my friends and family members. I gazed up through the small window in the roof of my cell. I could make out the stars in the sky, twinkling down on me, providing a comfort that I welcomed. Would you be proud of me? Tears began to fall silently down my cheeks. Will we meet again one day? Will someone be there for Naruto? Will I be allowed to watch over him? I was frightened by the events to come tomorrow, but I still knew that this was the course I had to take. I eventually fell to sleep as I hummed a soft lullaby to myself allowing my dreams to give me a sense of freedom before my death.

A/N: There is another part to this chapter I will post in the next few days. I hope you like this so far.

(1) Nathan Hale said this to the british before he was hung. He was a spy for the revolutionists.