"Beyond Hearts and Minds"
by XyoushaX
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, whose creator is Masashi Kishimoto. I do not own The Raven, the writer thereof is Edgar Allen Poe. I do not own any great quantity of money or property. I'm a STUDENT; that's why I'm poor, okay?
"Quotations"
'Inner Thoughts'
(( Flashback ))
Chapter 21: Souls of Glass
Sakura took a deep breath, and held it. Her hand brushed one large rosary bead.
For a moment, the pupils of Sakura's eyes diluted.
The bead shattered between her fingers. The glass-like pieces flew apart in a blue light, breaking Sakura free from one rope.
A sharp intake of breath sounded from Chie. Her blue eyes were wide open with shock. "That's... impossible!" she whispered. "You can't break a soul!"
Chie's voice snapped Sakura out of her nightmare. Her green eyes locked onto Chie.
Sakura's freed hand slapped onto the beads around her tied-up ankles, and jiggled the chains around. With some intricate footwork and visualization of the knot, she twisted her feet in the correct direction. The rosary slid off like silk.
"Argh!" Sakura was still hanging, her left wrist and waist tied up in a nest of beads. The medic-nin finally let out a shout of anger. "Let GO!"
The dark-haired kunoichi from the Waterfall felt her heart crumble. Then panic grew. "Return!" Chie ordered.
The beaded ropes shrunk and retracted back into the arena wall. A shriek escaped Sakura as the beads tossed her up. The rosary severed contact while she was still mid-air, and disappeared into the arena walls, flinging the kunoichi up through the air like a sling-shot.
Sakura saw the hard wall zooming at her. She closed her eyes for the impact.
The audience winced as the rock wall burst. They had not heard the fighters' conversation because of all the cheering and calling. But they had definitely felt that crash.
Chie yanked the rosary, and twisted it back on her arm. She swallowed, a trail of sweat soaking her back. 'I was wrong.' The dark-haired girl turned around with regret in her face. 'I'm sorry, Haruno-san. I mistook you for the wrong person...'
Kakashi silently cursed as Chie walked away. This was the end for Sakura. He only hoped that he could catch Sakura's body when it tumbled down the arena wall.
Nothing came.
A cloud of dust floated away from the point of impact. A dirty Sakura appeared, her gloved hands and sandaled feet plastered to the stone with chakra. The wall around her was nearly rubble. But she was attached to the wall, and very much conscious.
"Yeah, Sakura-chan!" Naruto whooped. "Did yah see that, Sasuke? Huh, huh? She used chakra to soften the impact!"
"I saw it." Sasuke tried to loosen himself up. When those weird chains had caught Sakura, he felt as though the world had stopped. He had his Sharingan on during that time, and a powerful chakra appeared to leak out of the rosary. Yet it did not seem to affect Sakura — it encircled her body instead of penetrating her. And thank God she had reflexes to put some safety in that collision.
Chie halted in her footsteps when the crowd yelled. The kunoichi turned around. 'No way...'
Sakura was already behind Chie. "What did you say back there," she spoke slowly, yet articulately, "what those beads are?"
Chie felt weak in her knees. It didn't make sense to her anymore. And she was terrified of that outraged look in Sakura's green eyes.
Okay, so it was true. Chie's shaman technique bound onto youkai and spiritually-gifted humans, whether good or bad, and immobilized them. It could also catch normal people — even shaman made mistakes in judgment — but it would loosen after a few struggles. Sakura was unaffected by the rosary, save physical torture on her limbs from hanging in the chains. Sakura was normal.
But the fact that Sakura was confronting Chie about it was NOT something a normal person would do. Most people would just label Chie's skill as a neat trick, or designate it to a bloodline limit. Fear or admiration; one of the two came from common folk, and certainly ninja.
Sakura curled her hands together. "Referee!" she barked at her former teacher. "Stop me if you feel like it."
The silver-haired jounin stilled as he followed through with her hands. Kakashi was not surprised that she could control such a technique, but the cleanliness and lack of hesitation to use it on Sakura's part made him tense. The only time she used torture-related genjutsu was to run away...
Chie only collapsed to the ground. Her world turned black and white. She saw her arm bleeding, decaying. Maggots crawled in and out of the gash, gnawing away at her flesh. She was dying; her holy rosary was gone...
Tears dripped down from Chie's eyes. She did not even scream. "I... I give up," Chie whispered.
Kakashi raised his hand. Chie's voice had been barely coherent, yet the rules marked it as a surrender. "Winner: Haruno Sakura."
Sakura did not seem to heed Kakashi, or the shouts echoing from the stands. She strode towards Chie, and lifted her up by the scruff of her neck. "Tell me again," Sakura hissed, "what those beads are made of."
"Let me go..." Chie sobbed.
"SPILL IT!" Sakura yelled out.
The jounin's one eye creased. So that was why Sakura had used genjutsu, despite her good position to hit her opponent — Sakura wanted Chie to retain the ability of speaking coherently in an interrogation. "Sakura," Kakashi said in an admonishing tone, "she's given up. Are you trying to win a match or a cat-fight?"
His former student looked at him. Sakura felt something akin to trembling within her — from rage or shame, she did not know. That was the first time Kakashi told her off for anything. Now that she thought about it, it was about time. He really never enforced anything on her while on Team Seven.
Sakura's fingers loosened from Chie's clothing, dropping the terrified girl. The Taki-nin slowly got up, and backed away from Sakura. Chie turned her heels and ran, drops of tears escaping her blue eyes.
Sakura pushed back a loose strand of pink hair. "You shouldn't have stopped me, Sensei."
"She's harmless," Kakashi said with a shrug. He looked intently at Sakura. "Although your escape methods were good, a display of anger will drastically lower your chances for going to chuunin."
"But I don't want to be chuunin," Sakura said quietly through grit teeth.
Kakashi scratched his bushy mane. If there was any feeling of surprise in him, it was unnoticeable. The mask sure came in handy at times.
A two-hour break was issued before the Final Four round. Aside offering the spectators time to eat lunch and shop a bit, the period of rest also bestowed something of physical rest to the contestants.
Hardly anybody knew that a genin hid herself in a dirt-floor room, underneath the stands.
Chie sobbed quietly in the corner.
She had been so sure that her target was Haruno Sakura. But her failure to assassinate the Priestess was of no importance to her anymore. The rosary of her wrist was showing the first signs of decay. Within the hour, she would surely die.
'A human broke it. She broke it!'
Chie wasn't angry at Sakura anymore. She had no reason to be. Sakura was not the Priestess of Souls. It was Chie's own fault for misjudging. If a normal human broke it, it was a sign of her own incompetence.
A bead fell from the string, and rolled away. As the rosary crumbled, a rash developed into a boil. The skin began to open up, a bleeding wound forming.
Chie laid herself down. She did not want to face anybody now. Maybe the infection would just go away... But she had been suppressing it for nearly a year.
(( A raven-haired woman in a kimono nudged a young Chie towards the priest. The girl seemed hesitant.
"Mama, he's scary," the little one whimpered.
"Don't worry," Chie's mother whispered. "He's the wisest of our house. You have the blood from a long line of powerful priests and priestesses. You'll make me proud." ))
A quiet gasp came from the darkness.
Chie weakly opened her eyes at the foreign sound. So somebody found her hiding place. Was a stranger going to witness her death? Or even worse: take her to a cold hospital, giving random doctors the chance to marvel at how her arm rotted before their eyes?
A girl with midnight hair and the palest eyes stood above Chie's prone form. "Are you alright?"
Hinata knelt down to Chie. 'How did she receive this wound?' Hinata wondered. 'Sakura-san didn't even use weapons against her in the match!' The heiress reached for Chie's swollen arm.
"Don't touch it!" Chie cried out, cradling the disfiguring limb out of sight. She gasped, trying to clear her stuffed nose. "Please... go away..."
"You have to see a doctor for that," Hinata insisted. "As a guest ninja, you have access to Konoha's medical facilities—"
"No doctor can cure me of this!" Chie screamed, frightening Hinata for a brief moment. Hinata's lavender eyes took a closer look — she saw the despair in the Taki-nin's face. "This... is a wound from a monster," Chie whispered out. She didn't know why, but she felt as though this stranger would understand the predicament she was in. Chie carefully got up. Blood trickled from her left arm. "I've had it for a year. Nobody can cure it. Not even my family, a clan of priests..."
Hinata stared at Chie's arm. The beads were falling apart from the rosary. The wound opened slowly but surely. It revealed flesh, muscle... and was that white spot an area of bone?
"Don't stand up!" Hinata exclaimed. She reached for Chie's wound, but she was thrown back by a rough shove.
"Let me die in peace!" the former Priestess retorted. At that moment, the string with the last three beads fell from her arm. Chie collapsed against the wall, and slowly slid down. "Let me..."
Hinata picked herself. She noticed that a fleck of Chie's blood was on her cheek. Her finger traced the blood, and held it in front of her face. Her lavender eyes began to glow white. Hinata gasped at what she saw in the red liquid.
The flesh around Chie's left arm began to curl and shrivel up. A bitter smile traced her lips. So this was how she was going to die: watched by some girl from Konoha. At least death was not as painful as she had imagined it to be. The cold and agony of her arm began to fade away.
Sweat formed on Hinata's brow as she molded chakra. Chie arm had an infection of foreign aura — more specifically, miasma. It seemed like there had been a gash there for a long time, but the rosary kept Chie's arm together by force, putting a seal on the destructive energy. That is, until it broke in the last match.
Lines of swirling white chakra danced between Hinata's palms. The web-like strings of white collected to the center. They were repelled, like a drop of oil onto water. Although Chie's body seemed only glad to have some service, the infesting miasma recognized the nature of Hinata's touch. It felt how inexperienced she was, and decided to thrash out. Yet Hinata held her stance.
After a minute of treatment and still going, Hinata realized that a normal person would have already called for a medic. "Somebody, please help!" Hinata screamed as loud as she could. Leaving this genin's side even for a second was out of the question.
Blood seeped out from Chie's arm. 'I beg to you, gods, spare this girl!' Hinata prayed frantically.
Chie was slowly gaining consciousness, but only barely. Punctured with small cries, she murmured out for her parents, her master, and other people. They started with apologies, pertaining to her weakness as a priestess, and then as a fighter — then they transferred to helpless wails, pleading others to just leave her alone.
"She's lost hope," a voice echoed.
Hinata looked up, and saw the bouyant form of Zashiki Warashi. A sad look was on the ghost's face, as if he had seen this scene before far too many times.
"She's what?" Hinata asked.
"She's lost her will to live," Warashi said. "Although her body is willing, her soul and the foreign youki are rejecting your powers as the Priestess."
Hinata kept one glowing hand on the wound, while raising the other to Chie's shoulder and shaking it. "Morikawa-san!"
Warashi paused at the name. "Morikawa..." He stared at Chie, and recognition passed his eyes. He shook his head. "It's no use, Hinata-neechan," Warashi muttered. "Even if she lasted this long with her fujutsu, she doesn't want to live anymore."
"Chie!" Hinata cried out, hoping that addressing the girl so would make her feel more comfortable. "Please, don't die — you have friends, family!"
Chie barely reacted. "I used to have them." Her breathing was shallow. "I failed my clan."
"Ignore the expectations of your clan!" Hinata pleaded. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "There has to be one person who loves you for who you are! You only need one!"
The words rung in Chie's ears. One person like that? She couldn't imagine.
Well... there was Koujirou. Did that count? She had known him since they were little. 'Didn't Koujirou ask me something really dumb back then?'
(( A five-year-old Koujirou thrust a rough bouquet of dandelions into Chie's nose. "Chie-chan..." he mumbled. "When we're older, will you marry me?"
The little Chie blinked. "What does 'marry' mean?" she asked innocently.
The brown-haired boy's ears turned crimson. He turned around, and bolted from the playground.
"Wait!" Chie shouted. "That's not fair; you're smarter than me! What does that word mean?" ))
Her parents teased her about it when she asked. They said that a one-time romance with Koujirou was fine, but she certainly wouldn't be able to marry him: she was already engaged to someone else within the clan. Koujirou looked disappointed at the news, but only temporarily — he kept on being her playmate. As they grew older, Koujirou began training as a ninja, and somehow Chie found herself throwing shuriken just was well as he was. Much to the reluctance of her family, they let her train as a shinobi.
When Chie was accepted by a guardian ghost, naturally her family was ecstatic. Little did she know, however, that the clan had been predicting this moment in history for almost three centuries. She dropped out as a shinobi, and became a fulltime priestess. She rarely saw Koujirou or other friends while she was bogged down with missions in finding demons. As part of the Morikawa clan, it was insisted that she do her work alone, for 'strength purposes'. It went all fine and well. Chie was even entrusted by the village to extract holy water from the ancient tree, a rare and important ritual.
But one night, it all went terribly wrong. After several months of working, Chie simply burned out. Four youkai had cornered her in her weakened state. Chie had been able to slay three. The last monster slashed her left arm with poisonous claws. Had not one of the clan elders intervened and put the rosary on her arm, the miasma would have killed Chie within the hour.
And that was when the guardian ghost left Chie, the Priestess of Souls.
It gave no explanation why it was leaving her, not even a goodbye. But Chie was sure it had something to do with her arm. Only later did she find out the truth about her rosary.
(( "The beads are souls of vengeful spirits?" Chie stood up in the gathering room of her family's mansion, in front of all her seated relatives. "How... how dare you place this unclean thing on me! No wonder my ghost abandoned me, he—"
"Silence, you ungrateful brat!" her uncle roared. Chie flinched. "That 'unclean thing' was the only item powerful enough to seal your arm and save your pathetic life. It was due to your own incompetence that you were struck by that demon in the first place!"
The head elder motioned his temperamental son to quiet down. "It is a very serious matter that you were stripped of your title as the Priestess of Souls, Chie." He sighed. "As you are... no more fit for that role, you may go back to your former job as a kunoichi. We will not hinder you. The rosary is yours to keep. Speak of this to no one." ))
Koujirou was confused at first, and then glad, when Chie showed up for missions once more. He asked her what made her change her mind. She stiffened only, and walked away. The boy found out later from the village gossip that Chie had suffered a lowering in rank within her clan. Nevertheless, Koujirou ran after her, and tried to cheer her up a bit. He felt a little uncomfortable with her bitter remarks. But to Chie's surprise, he put up with her frozen attitude, mission after mission.
(( "I... I'm just worried about you." ))
Now that Chie thought about it, Koujirou was the only faithful friend she ever had.
Hinata felt her ki rush into Chie's arm. The energy laced into the wound with more freedom. "Warashi-chan! I think she's accepting me!"
The impurities hissed out. Even bits of what looked like claws bubbled out from the open wound. Hinata pulled them out gently with tweezers from her medical kit, careful not to pock any pressure points or blood vessels.
"She must have gone through a lot of pain with that curse," Warashi commented. "She's from the Morikawa, a clan of shamans near the Hidden Village of Waterfall. I had no idea they still kept up their art." He glanced at the strewn rosary beads in the room. "We have to pick these up."
"Not yet, Warashi-chan." Hinata tore a piece of cloth from her thin jacket, and used it to bandage the gash in Chie's arm. Even though the miasma was gone and dispelled, there was still a physical wound left over.
The door of the room opened with a bang. Uchiha Sasuke had kicked the door in, after Naruto's 'lock pick' got jammed in the keyhole and then broke off.
"And the bodyguards come right on time!" the ghost said cheerfully, if not sarcastically.
"Hey, you stupid poltergeist, these omamori ought to point towards Hinata at all times, not just during youkai attacks!" Naruto shouted at the small Warashi.
"The omamori don't point to Hinata-neechan; they point to youkai," Warashi said. "Besides, as much as she likes you," he commented with a snicker, "I don't think Hinata-neechan wants a stalker for a boyfriend." Naruto's face burned.
Hinata blushed as red as Naruto did. 'Actually, I stalked Naruto a few times. But I won't mention that.' After bandaging the arm, Hinata gently pushed Chie into the recovery position.
Naruto noticed something on the floor, resembling a stray marble. His hand reached out for it — he drew back when Kyuubi's instinct jumped in. "Hinata-chan, did you check this with your eyes? Because I feel a weird chakra around it."
"Naruto-kun," Hinata said, gesturing to the mess of beads scattered all around, "there's chakra coming from all of these."
The blond's hand smacked on his hitai-ate. "We have to pick up ALL of them?"
Sasuke's eyes converted to the Sharingan. His red eyes studied one bead: blue chakra leaked out of it.
When no explosion took place, Sasuke cautiously neared his hands towards the bead. His finger-tip brushed past the aura: he immediately identified it as a human force. But how could it have gone into a little glass sphere like this?
Subconsciously, his vision fell into the bead's shining surface — an image of someone stabbing a knife into him flashed by. He heard a scream.
The very pale Sasuke felt his arm brutally yanked up.
Naruto held Sasuke's wrist tightly. "Don't touch those," Naruto said. The blond's courtesy was immediately awarded with a punch to the shoulder. "Hey!"
"I will do what is necessary," Sasuke muttered.
"Don't touch them," Warashi said, repeating Naruto's words. "Inside each bead is a compacted soul, who suffered painful or treacherous deaths. In other words, hungry ghosts. Sasuke-niichan, you particularly stay away." The ghost turned to Hinata. "Okay, I'll teach you a jutsu that comes in handy for messes like these. First, hold your hands out like so..."
Meanwhile, Naruto tapped a few signals into his electronic headpiece, courtesy of the security crew. "This is the Fox speaking. We have a wounded genin from the Waterfall, Morikawa Chie, in section D of the first floor, over." He heard several voices through the microphone. "No, Bushy Crow did not attack her," Naruto growled.
"My codename is the Raven," Sasuke emphasized.
"Nevermore," Naruto said, glancing only slightly to his rival. "Bushy Crow fits you better." Several more crackling messages went through the headpiece.
Sakura inhaled deeply. It was a face-off against Hirosuke.
She felt terrible. For lunch, she had only been able to force down one rice-ball. The match with Chie had mentally shaken Sakura, especially that bead. She was too nervous to eat.
Not to mention, those leers he shot at her were disgusting. He had the gall to do that in the arena, of all places.
Hirosuke's fingers ran through his hair. Sakura noticed that the sunshine revealed a hint of green in the teenager's dark hair, much in the way Sasuke's hair had an iris-blue tint under the right conditions.
Kakashi felt the tense air between the two fighters. 'The match hasn't even started yet,' he commented to himself.
Sakura glared at her opponent, trying to look as serious as possible. The screams of her lesbian fangirls in the stands did not help much — they only encouraged the Cheshire smile on Hirosuke's face to broaden.
When the Taki-nin addressed her, his voice was smooth and confident. "Before we start, Haruno-san, I want to say that I was impressed with you bypassing Chie's jutsu."
"Your point?" Sakura spat.
Hirosuke cocked his head. "You have certain... abilities, is what I'm saying."
"That's enough." Kakashi raised his arm. "Hoshino Hirosuke versus Haruno Sakura. Ready — GO!"
Sakura sprinted towards Hirosuke, and aimed a punch at him. He tilted his head sideways to evade it, and threw a fist towards her chest. Her leg was faster than his arm; she spun around and kicked his chest. A direct hit, the Taki-nin went flying backwards.
The pink-haired kunochi took in several deep breaths, observing her enemy carefully. 'Blood escaping his mouth,' Sakura noted. 'Probably a rib fracture, since I kicked him in the chest.' She ran with chakra in her feet, and jumped in the air.
Hirosuke's eyes opened. The pink-haired kunochi dropped above him with her knees curled downward, clearly intending to nail a crushing blow to his stomach with her body weight as power.
He rolled over in the last moment, causing Sakura to hit the bare ground painfully on her knees. She lifted herself upward with a wince.
Hirosuke already knew that there were two large bruises forming on her kneecaps. Sakura crouched down slightly, almost like a child who experienced their first scrape by a fall to the ground.
The Taki-nin laughed. "You probably were thinking, 'Oh, he's coughing up blood; I must have broken one of his ribs.' Right?" Hirosuke sneered. "I bit my lip so that you'd run in, thinking you had a chance. Overestimating injuries... Typical medic-nin." He pulled out a kunai from his holster, and aimed to stab Sakura's hunched form.
Sakura suddenly caught his wrist, and twisted it. He screamed out in pain, and dropped the kunai. Sakura used this feint to throw a knee upward into his jaw.
Holding both of his wrists in a tight grip, Sakura smirked at his bruised chin. "You probably were thinking, 'Oh, she's hurt both of her knees, so she won't be able to run and kick well.' Right?" The kunoichi raised her knee again, this time giving a searing pain into his groin. "While you were laughing your sorry ass off, I healed those bruises with the Chiyute no Jutsu. A bruise is nothing but a wound under the skin, after all." Her green eyes gave off a lazy air. "Typical medic-nin."
Hirosuke twisted one wrist from Sakura, and grabbed at the front of her shirt. He was aiming to pull her over his head in a martial arts throw. But the feel of his grip, and the dangerous glint in his eyes, triggered something in Sakura's mind.
(( "Please, please, let me go!"
"You are mine, " A voice hissed. "Don't try to fight it."
"I know nothing!" the woman screamed. "Just leave me be..." Sobbing misted the blurry image. A writhing pain stabbed her. A shriek escaped her mouth. "NO!" ))
Sakura counter-twisted the tug, and threw Hirosuke off. She backed away several paces, as if Hirosuke was covered in filth.
Her breathing was hard. That vision had not been her own personal experience; it was that of a person now dead. Sakura had seen it before: when she broke that rosary bead during her fight with Chie. And that frightened look on Hinata's face in the locker room...
(( "I would be dead by him if Naruto-kun didn't rescue me. And under NO circumstances should you go into a closed room with him!" ))
Sakura's gaze froze onto the face of her opponent. 'This guy...'
Hirosuke raised an eyebrow at the new rage in Sakura's green eyes. She suddenly charged at him.
The Taki-nin stepped backwards carefully. He barely evaded her boxing arms; her sudden anger was powering her. With a burst of chakra, he retreated ten meters back.
Hirosuke saw the panting form of Sakura, and smirked. The girl had wasted her strength. "I suppose I should get to the point." Hirosuke curled one hand into a seal, and reached behind his back.
Kakashi creased his brow. 'No way...'
Sakura's green eyes opened wide. She backed away — but it was too late. Hirosuke was up close and personal, holding a sword. He grabbed a hold of the kunoichi's green shirt, and made an upward cut.
The tearing noise echoed in her ears, triggering her memory. Again, the unknown girl's voice echoed in Sakura's mind.
(( "LEAVE ME ALONE!" ))
Hirosuke lifted his sword, and rested it over his shoulder. "I recognize chest-binding when I see it. Or in your case, stomach-binding."
Sakura's felt her arms trembling. Her green top had a long slash, showing her black undergarments. Lower down, ivory strips of canvas loosened from Sakura's abdomen.
Kakashi was first confused at what the canvas was — and then he recognized its symbols and kanji.
"A sealing scroll," Hirosuke identified, pointing at the shredded pieces of canvas. "The only reason why Chie's shaman technique didn't work against you was because you were already sealed." His tongue licked his lips. "Keeping in power like that is such a shame."
Sakura's hands grew cold. He had known all this time about the sealing. And he pretty much stripped her before the entire crowd. Even her former teacher had to watch this on the sidelines...
"Won't you thank me for releasing your binds? I'd rather have you thrash out more in combat." Hirosuke's eyes trailed down Sakura's chest. "You're beautiful, you know. A sight like that gives me chills."
Sakura's lips tightened. She felt the remains of the scroll drop away from her waist. Her shirt was barely intact.
Venom laced Sakura's whisper. "You want to see it, huh?" The kunoichi ripped off the green cloth and the remains of the sealing scroll, leaving her torso in nothing but a fishnet undershirt with a solid black bra. "You've just signed your death warrant!" she shouted.
Kakashi pushed up his forehead protector, revealed the Sharingan eye with the faint scar. From the furious look Sakura was giving off, and the fact that Hirosuke, a genin, knew how to utilize a sword, this was a high-risk combat. 'I again thank you for this eye, Obito... Sakura, don't lose your focus.'
Sakura ran towards her opponent, and then disappeared. She appeared above Hirosuke, her face contorted with rage.
"I'll beat you to a bloody pulp!" the medic-nin screamed, her leg swinging down. Hirosuke dodged the axe-kick. The ground next to him burst as the chakra-infused heel crashed into the ground: the blow caved a meter-wide crater into the earth.
"There we go," Hirosuke muttered. "A real match." The armed shinobi lunged towards her with a shout. "Get ready, bitch priestess!"
Sakura evaded each move, stepping meticulously. Hirosuke could swing his heavy sword well, so she had to aim her lower kicks and side-punches with the utmost care. She molded chakra, and crossed her hands for an illusion — Hirosuke's sword ripped through the air, dispelling the lines of genjutsu before they reached his sensory points.
Sakura huffed. Hirosuke could put special chakra in his sword as well, albeit small. Standing ten meters away from her opponent, she paused to catch her breath. 'How am I supposed to land a hit without getting sliced?' she wondered. 'And where the hell did he get that sword? It's as if he pulled it out of thin air!'
Sakura appeared behind Hirosuke, readying several shuriken. Her eyes trailed on his back. There were two scabbards tied to his back.
Her thoughts halted. Two scabbards?
As Sakura's foot made contact with his ankle, the kunoichi recalled what happened, right before Hirosuke's sword appeared: he had used one hand-seal, reached for something behind his back. 'There was also paper with markings stuffed in those scabbards,' Sakura thought. 'Is it possible that...'
She made a quick hypothesis, and decided to give it a try.
Sakura folded her hands. She willed an illusion of pink petals to drape around her form.
Hirosuke felt a shadow cover him. He looked up to see a flower-covered Sakura, dropping at him with a kunai in her hand. "I told you, that doesn't WORK!" he shouted.
Kakashi tensed up, ready to push away Sakura from the Taki-nin. Hirosuke was too close. Yet he stopped himself: his Sharingan eye caught a glint in her hand.
Hirosuke thrust his weapon upwards. He felt his sword clash against metal. Sakura's kunai firmly kept back his sword — she had the physical strength, no doubt about that. Hirosuke's second hand laced over the other, and pivoted the sword in the right direction: the kunai was thrown out of Sakura's hand. "Game over!" he shouted.
Sakura crossed her fingers into the hand-seal. She reached for the air behind Hirosuke's neck. Her fingers brushed something solid. "There!" she whispered. She grabbed at whatever it was, and pulled. The sound of metal hummed through the air.
Sakura drew a second sword out of Hirosuke's back.
Before he could attack her, Sakura kicked off his shoulders, and flew backwards in the air. She landed on her feet and knees.
The Konoha-nin raised herself up. She looked at the broadsword within her grasp.
"You little thief," Hirosuke muttered.
Notes:
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please tell me! If I suck, by all means tell me. In an intelligent manner.