To all the people in which I've sent the link of my doujinshi page…
Assuming that the link didn't show up on the damned reply boxes, I've place the link right here, again, in a hard way…
http :// www. xanga. com/ seireitei tamashii04
IMPORTANT: On the link above, between the word 'seireitei' and 'tamashii04', there's an UNDERSCORE. I didn't put it there because it won't show up T-T
This is how it works: delete ALL the spaces you can see. It'll work. I think. (God I've never hated FF .net that much…T-T)
Chapter 22: Underestimated
Jiraiya sat at his desk, glaring at two empty bottles and pile of wriggling Flobberworms. Glancing at the slippery creatures with a look of pure disgust, Jiraiya bit his lip, "You're not serious, are you?" and looking up from the worms, he then added quickly, "Sir?"
Snape, who was unceremoniously interrupted from his paper work, glared up at Jiraiya as though he would like nothing but to throw him out the window, "20 points from Gryffindor for asking stupid questions. And yes, I'm dead serious, with no protective gloves. Go ahead and start or else it'll be another 10 points for wasting time."
Jiraiya's mouth twitched as he glared at the Potions master, but said nothing as his hand reached out and plucked out a worm from the huge pile, hastily dropping it into one of the bottles that read "Rotten Flobberworms". Even he too, had to admit that Snape's detention methods weren't any better than Umbridge's, though of course, at least you wouldn't have embarrassing scares stuck to the back of your hand for the rest of your life.
It was still raining hard outside and this surely didn't improve Jiraiya's mood at all; This was the second night of his detention in Snape's gloomy office, and it seemed as though his only available company were rows of glass jars in which contained all sorts of mysterious body parts and old, cobweb-full books that lined themselves across the vast selves.
Jiraiya sighed as he picked at more Flobberworms, thinking that perhaps the happiest person among his friends would be Tsunade, who was probably playing wizard chess and card games with Harry and his friends right now in number twelve, Grimmauld Place, while he, on the other hand, was forced to sort out rotten Flobberworms.
As for Orochimaru…I wonder what's he doing? Jiraiya pictured his teammate sulking, as usual, inside the Slytherin Common room and glaring at every single passerby. This made his giggle a little, causing Snape to look up and narrow his eyes suspiciously at him.
Suddenly, a dry cough could be heard and both of them looked up, to see a man with dark beard and sharp eyes walking into an empty portrait. He smirked when he saw Jiraiya, who was about to place a worm into the bottle and was dangling it in midair.
"My my Severus," he said lazily as he learned against the portrait frame, "How many poor, little souls have you punctured—"
"What do you want, Phineas," snarled Snape in a relatively dangerous voice as he glared up at the ex-Headmaster.
Phineas glared back, "How rude, since you're not the Headmaster, you should address me as sir, seeing that I did run this school—"
"Just tell me what happened!"
"Dumbledore said he won't change his mind, you're going to teach the boy and that's that," Phineas said in a resentful tone with his eyes still glaring down at the Potions Master, feeling both angry and insulted by the lack of Snape's politeness.
"For the last time, I'm not giving bloody lessons to that brat!" a dark cloud had passed over Snape's head and Jiraiya thought that the cloud might as well produce some thunder and lightning, seeing that Snape too, looked rather frustrated and angry.
"Don't yell at me! I'm only playing my bloody messenger part!" Phineas snapped, but his expression changed suddenly and was replaced by what seemed to be an evil grin, "But then again, I should wish you good luck with your lessons, 'cause I don't reckon it will be pretty."
And with that, Phineas turned and left the portrait, smirking slightly to himself, leaving Snape to curse at his own desk.
"…Er," Jiraiya said after a long while, indicating that there was actually a third person in the room when the heated argument took place. And indeed, when Snap looked up he was slightly surprised to see that there was a student sitting awkwardly in front of him.
Snape stood up moodily and walked across the room. Without turning back, he said, "Your detention ends here, you may go." He then ignored Jiraiya's sigh of relief and continued to rummage through bottles of ingredients.
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Meanwhile, on the other side, things weren't as good as Jiraiya had expected. Before Tsunade and Remus knew it, several more shadows jumped down all around them, surrounding the two so that no escape route was available.
Tsunade looked frantically around at the masked ANBUs, her heart thudding madly and her mind racing; there were currently four ANBUs in sight…and they all came from our dimension…that means they would go back after they are done killing me…they would go back…they know how to go back…but they won't tell me how…
Ever wondered what it felt like, when hope was dangling right in front of you, the moment you thought that you might as well give up, swaying helplessly…and you reached out pleadingly, with happiness and joyfulness and your fingers outstretched, but suddenly realized that you could never reach it, however close it was…and your resolve, immediately crumbled into pieces.
"I can't believe it…I'm not wrong…there are more of them!" Remus shouted as he took one step back. A few paces in front of him Tsunade didn't seem to respond, in fact, she knelt down on the grass, her hand holding the kunai trembling.
"Tsunade!" Lupin ran towards her looking both surprised and terrified, "Tsunade! Are you okay? Tsunade!"
The werewolf desperately waved his hand in front of Tsunade's face, but her expression remained blank. Remus couldn't think of an explanation as to why the girl was suddenly so out of character, but he picked up his wand and aimed it at the ANBUs now edging toward them.
Though Remus's wand hand was steady, the ANBU could still see fear in his golden eyes. He laughed and said with a Japanese accent, "There are four of us here against the two of you. It's no use, you won't win!"
And with that he lashed out, aiming one of his deadly weapons at Lupin's heart. Yet to his surprise, the werewolf dodged it.
"How…?"
The ANBU paused for a split second as though Stunned, leaving a huge gap for Remus to attack. Indeed Remus shouted 'Stupefy!' and before the ANBU knew it, he was hit by a jet of red light and was sent flying backwards into a bush. The other masked ninjas watched in shock as their comrade's limp body lay still on the ground like a piece of dead wood.
"That's one down, three to go," panted Lupin, clutching his wand tightly. Even he too, was rather surprised about the fact that he had managed to dodge the weapon even though it was soaring towards him at top speed. Then he realized that perhaps the reason for this was connected to his transformation.
Remus assumed this to be the cause. Indeed, his vision was more focused than before, yet the bad part was that the colors around him seemed to be fading; his sense of smell was stronger, and he could hear more clearly. The discouraging part though, probably would be fact that once he was turned into a wolf, he would never be able to hold a wand, let alone cast a spell…
He would have to end this fight as quick as possible.
"We underestimated you, you're not like the other useless wizards!" Takeyari sounded rather amused as he jumped down casually from a nearby tree and looked up; Lupin noticed that he was the only one not wearing a mask.
"Now, at least, I may have some fun killing you as well." Takeyari laughed as Remus gritted his teeth, looking around hopefully for any passersby, preferably members of the Order. But the grass field was deserted, and the only thing Remus could see besides the greenery was the extremely faint outline of Grimmauld Place; which meant it would be near to impossible to call for help.
Without warning, Takeyari disappeared in a puff of smoke. Remus immediately snapped back to his senses and jumped out of the way just in time as Takeyari appeared right behind him and released a deadly Jutsu— sending millions of gleaming needles to shoot out of his sleeve.
When Remus turned around, he noticed that Takeyari was grinning. It was not a pleasant grin. The ANBU's eyes gleamed with glee,
"You sure…you want to dodge that?"
Suddenly realizing what he meant, Remus's eyes went wide as he spun himself around and, sure enough, the needles were shooting toward Tsunade, whose back was turned and was looking as absent-minded as ever.
"TSUNADE! BEHIND YOU!" Remus bellowed fearfully as he scrambled to his feet, with his wand raised, "TSUNADE! I SAID GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
But Tsunade still didn't seem to have heard him, and the razor sharp needles were cutting through air without any mercy.
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Hedwig soared through the gloomy night sky, looking down once in a while to check that the big black dog speeding below her was still there.
The two of them would have to hurry, or else they won't make it in time and Hedwig had feared if they arrived a little too late, Remus and the visitor she saw earlier might be in serious danger.
…Ah, there it was. The grass field in which the fight had occurred. Hedwig looked down at the black dog and gave a signaling hoot. The dog returned with a bark and sped on ever faster.
It could see the opening of the grass field now, and also saw little dots moving around somewhere in there…
The black dog eagerly ran on and stopped immediately as it reached the entrance made up of trees and bushes, and searched around. Suddenly he gave an eager and excited bark as he took in the shape of Remus.
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Remus turned his head around, whose face lit up almost at once.
"Sirius!" he called what seemed to be in a desperate and hopeful voice. The dog gave another bark and transformed back into the shape of Sirius as Hedwig soared downwards and landed on his shoulder.
"Remus, what happened? Hedwig sort of told me that when she went out to hunt for a bit, she saw you guys fighting a whole bunch of…of…where are they?" his expression changed from the look of concern into a look of complete confusion as he scanned the clearing. His eyes than spotted Tsunade on the grass, with a hand clasped onto her bleeding shoulder, and gasped, "Bloody hell…what happened to you?"
As Sirius knelt down beside Tsunade to examine her wounded shoulder, Remus looked around cautiously. "Look, Sirius…" he whispered, "You'd better go and contact the others, those ninjas are still here watching us…hurry up…"
"Wait," Sirius jerked his head up and looked at his friend, his eyes narrowed, "Did you just say…ninjas? They are the ones fighting you?"
And for the first time, Tsunade spoke in a trembling voice, "Please…just…hurry up and find help…" and without warning, she devoured herself into a wet, tearful sob.
Sirius stared at her in disbelief, and Remus looked helpless.
Unable to stand the awkwardness, Sirius dug his hand deep into his coat and took out a cell phone. Remembering there was also a single phone sitting on the table on the 2nd floor of Grimmauld Place, he quickly dialed the number and waited.
A few seconds passed and Sirius could hear the phone on the other end click, and silence filled both the phones when finally there was an awkward-sounding voice, "Uh…anyone knows what this is?"
Recognizing Moody's voice at once, Sirius shouted through his cell phone, "Oi! MadEye! Don't hang up, it's me, Sirius!"
"Sirius?" MadEye growled into the receiver suspiciously, "What's this? What in the world are you doing in there?"
Harry, who was also woken by the phone call, sighed and took the receiver from him, "Sirius, I never know you knew how to use a phone!" On the other end of the phone Sirius grinned, "I learnt how to use one before, when I was still on the run…well I'm still on the run right now but that's not my point…" he cast Remus a questioning look.
"Tell them that 'we need help immediately, one of us is injured…and don't ask questions!'" Remus added hastily as he looked around the clearing. They're still hiding, studying our every move…we wouldn't want to escape back to Grimmauld Place right now or else they might as well figure out the place of our headquarters…
"Harry, I need you to wake Tonks as well. Remus and Tsunade's with me but we're all in danger!" Sirius said into the phone, though he had the faintest idea of exactly how much trouble they were in right now.
"…Look, don't ask questions. Just tell Moody and Tonks to come to the clearing I've told you…no, you can't come! I don't want you to get involved…and don't wake your friends…"
Meanwhile up in a nearby tree, the ANBUs took in every word of Sirius's conversation. "They're calling backups, eh?" Takahashi snorted. He turned to face Takeyari, who seemed to be muttering curses and sulking. "Dammit…I almost got her…why the hell did she HAVE to come back to her senses at that very moment?" The ANBU looked furious now.
Takahashi cast him a look that plainly said 'Shut up and stop being furious at yourself' and turned his head around to face the other still conscious ANBU, "Yuurei…How's Gatsu?"
Gatsu, the ANBU who was Stunned by Remus, had still remained unconscious on the female ANBU's lap. "He didn't even stir," she said as she tried to place some recovery pills into his mouth, "Dammit…what kind of spell was that? It was a miracle Gatsu wasn't hit by a killing spell…"
"Now what have we learnt about underestimating magic?" Takahashi cast Takeyari another look. Takeyari scowled, "Whatever! Now that they have backups, killing that Chuunin would be extremely difficult…" Takahashi didn't say anything, yet judging by the look of his expression he did seem to agree with his teammate as well.
"Oh look, somebody's coming…" informed Yuurei as she leaned forward a bit, so as get a good look at the two figures coming in through the opening. A second later she frowned, "Not much of a 'backup'…only two came…"
"Ha, idiots," Takeyari sneered, then his expression changed suddenly, as though something unpleasant had just hit him square in the face, "So…they only brought two to their aid. It's either their stupidity or they're underestimating us!"
Takahashi gave him a firm grip in the arm, "Hey! Drop this 'underestimating' issue already! You really think they brought only two with them because if this stupid reason?" he then added, "Calm down, we'll try and get all of them at the right moment."
When Takeyari intended to argue back, Yuurei hushed in alarm, "Quiet! Listen, they're talking again."
Takahashi peered through the branches and surveyed the scene from above; He could now see five people in sight, including their target they were assigned to kill. The new arrivals were a big man with a long overcoat and an eye patch attached to one of his eyes, and the other person a tall woman with pink, flamish hair. They were all talking, perhaps a discussion all held in whispers, so that however Takahashi had tried to crane his neck, he still couldn't hear what the wizards were talking about.
"Hey…Takahashi…!" Takeyari's voice sounded extremely cautious and, feeling something ominous approaching, Takahashi turned around and asked, "What?"
"I think one of them saw us," his companion replied with a look of uneasiness on his face. Takahashi frowned and shook his head, "Impossible, although I know that Chuunin girl and that sandy-haired man knew we are hiding among the trees, I doubt they knew our exact location. The trees are thick—"
"No, Takeyari's right. I saw the man with the eye patch looking straight at me just now," Yuurei cut him off sternly, "I don't know how he did it but I knew he saw me. I suggest we go down now and finish this as quickly as possible…something tells me that those two aren't easy to deal with." She nodded her head towards Tonks and MadEye Moody.
"Fine with me!" spat Takeyari as he prepared to move, "Failing to kill off that Chuunin girl pissed me off so much, it's all those damn wizard's fault!"
And before Takahashi could tell him not to take any unnecessary risks, the ANBU had already jumped down from the tree and landed heavily on the leaf-covered ground somewhere behind the party of wizards.
Everyone jerked their head around in alarm and Lupin gave a surprised yell, "It's one of them Sirius!" But Sirius had already sprung into action; by whipping out his wand, he immediately shot a hex and hit Takeyari firmly on the head. Yet he was just in time to see the ANBU exploding into smoke when several kunai were hurtled toward him from behind.
"What the hell?" Sirius jumped out of the way as the kunais soared passed him and stuck themselves firmly onto a tree.
"How did he do that? Why did he explode into smoke?" Tonks seemed quite stunned as well. "I think it's just a copy of him!" Remus shouted as he shielded his eyes from the smoke, "The real him is still somewhere around here!"
Takeyari laughed loudly as he remained in the air for a few seconds, glancing around at all of them. Then he spotted Tsunade in the middle, being as miserable as frightened as ever.
Takeyari smiled and dug out his kunai. "Goodbye little Chuunin girl," he whispered insanely and kicked the air hard, dropping down at top speed with his kunai aimed directly at his target, the grin never left his face.
When his kunai and Tsunade's head were within inches, when he thought in triumph that he had succeed in killing his assigned victim, something rather unpredictable happened: at the very last moment, MadEye turned so suddenly and pointed his wand straight at Takeyari, whose grin seemed to falter for moment as his eyes fell upon the ex-Auror.
A flash of bright green light, and the next moment nothing seemed to matter to Takeyari anymore, not even his mission to kill off Tsunade, because after that he was thrown backwards roughly onto the ground, lying still and, completely lifeless.
Tsunade slowly turned her head around to stare at the dead ANBU, while the other wizards, including the two ANBUs crouching on the trees, gaped soundlessly at the body.
Moody snorted and stored his wand back into his pocket, and grunted at the still speechless werewolf, "Now don't start telling me off what to do and what not to do, Remus. If it wasn't for my magical eye, that Ravenclaw girl would be dead by now."
Sirius gave out a soft whistle with his eyes still locked on the lifeless ANBU, "Yeah, definitely a nice one, Moody. Yet keep in mind that the Ministry's gonna hunt you down anytime now for using an Unforgivable."
"Humph, I'm not even finished killing them all yet," Moody glared up at the tree and yelled, "You two! Come down and quit hiding! Your friend's dead, surely you can see that?"
Tonks immediately threw him a warning look, yet Moody's facial expression didn't seem to care a bit.
Up in the tree, every particle in Takahashi's body inched with rage, "That bastard…he killed him…and he taunted…" Yuurei gripped his arm firmly, "Takahashi, please calm down…nothing would be done by cursing—"
"Then I'm going down to beat his crap out!" Takahashi barked and tried to struggle out of Yuurei's grip, yet the female ANBU wouldn't move a muscle. "Takahashi!" she snapped, and the young ANBU jerked his head around to face her, wide eyes still filled with fury.
"Takeyari's the one who didn't listen to orders, that's what he got—"
"It was YOU who suggested to go down and kill all of them!"
Yuurei closed her eyes for a second or two, and when she opened them again, they weren't that sharp and stern anymore.
"I'm…terribly sorry," she said, unable to look at Takahashi, "It's…my fault…but the truth won't change, Takahashi. We're out numbered right now, lets report back and bring reinforcements later, okay? Then we would be able to kill off all of them…"
Takahashi didn't speak for a long time, he mainly glared at a piece of fallen leaf in front of his foot. Then slowly, he nodded. Yuurei merely sighed in relief and the both of them disappeared from the trees and out of sight.
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"I'm really sorry…" Tsunade said, a few hours after the incident, "I should've protected Lupin sir instead of—"
"Don't talk such non-sense," Sirius waved an airy hand as he leaned comfortably against the sofa, "Why would Moony mind, right, Moony?" he nodded at the wolf sitting beside him. The wolf gave a firm bark.
Yet Tsunade still didn't seem to be comforted by Sirius's words. "No you're wrong," she sniffed, "Being a Shinobi and all, I'm supposed to protect someone, not letting someone to protect me…I'm…I'm just pathetic! I failed to move just because a few ANBUs popped up! I…I'm just—"
But she cut off by a pat on the head. She looked up, rather surprised. "Just don't worry about it, 'kay?" Sirius ruffled her hair, "Just don't worry about it."
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Yeah kind of different from the doujinshi page…sort of changed the plot at the very last moment…