Previously on The Ninja Story...
Deidara: Tell me where the bomb is!
Arnold: This isn't good, we only have twenty-four hours!
Casana: Everyone I've told about the scroll is dead!
Helga: What do you mean cut the blue wire?! They're ALL blue wires!
Casana: In all my years of research, I've never seen a virus reproduce this quickly.
Deidara: They told me enough! They told me you killed him!
Kabuto: No Deidara, I AM your father!
Deidara: No...that's not true! That's impossible!
Helga: Face it, he's NEVER coming out of that coma!
Arnold: We have to find it now before it's too late!
...
Anyway...what REALLY happened...
Deidara: What's wrong? ...Wait, you feel it too, don't you?
Arnold: What?
Casana: ...We're being hunted.
And now, The Ninja Story Chapter 21...with 21% more Kabuto!
Oh yes, and SuprSingr, there's going to be a little something in here that you might recognize. ;)
--~~--
"Not just that, we're surrounded." Deidara frowned, slipping his right hand into one of his clay packs.
"Where's Helga? You two need to stay close to us." Casana looked around, eyes scanning the area intently.
"Right here!" Helga came running to them, the bags in each hand. "What's going on? Why's everyone freaking out?"
A suspicious frown crossed Casana's face then and she tensed, raising her hand slightly. Before she could do or say anything, that was when Arnold then stepped up, an accusing frown marring his features.
"Where's Helga?" He demanded to her.
"Huh?! What are you talking about...I'm Helga!" Helga defended. "You're acting crazy!"
"I don't know how you did it, but you can't fool me." Arnold said, narrowing his eyes. "Who are you, and what did you do with the real Helga?"
"Arnold you're being ridiculous! It's me!"
"Then where's the cut on your face? I also noticed that you have two eyebrows. Helga has a unibrow."
"Arnold Arnold my darling little love and future husband, you don't know what you're saying." Helga said, shaking her head.
But Arnold wasn't convinced. "See, that's something Helga would never do. She'd never act affectionate and loving to me in front of other people."
"Furthermore, Helga isn't a ninja, and I can sense that you're using a disguising jutsu." Casana interjected. "Now show yourself!"
"Fine, so you saw right through my disguise. I'm still going to take you down!" The fake Helga made a handseal and there was a puff of smoke, revealing to be a Sound ninja. "We all will!"
It was then that the other Sound ninja appeared out of their hiding places, making themselves known to them. They were all dressed similarly, each sporting the forehead protector of their village, while some were dressed like that of Orochimaru's followers.
"We've got orders to kill you both, especially the Kusabana, there's a 65 million Ryo bounty on her head!" Said the tallest Sound ninja, pointing toward them. "Master Kabuto also wants to harness your DNA, and those eyes...you're worth more than your weight in gold, that's pretty sweet, isn't it?"
Casana scoffed. "Get real. I've been attempted to be assassinated more times than I can count. As far as I'm concerned, if Kabuto wants us dead so much, he should be a man and come fight us ourselves."
"What did you do with Helga? You better not have hurt her!" Arnold demanded, his anger rising.
"Arnold, stay out of this." Deidara hissed, holding an arm out to block him. "You'll only get yourself hurt or killed."
"Your girlfriend's a little tied up, kid." Said the tall Sound ninja with a wide smirk. "She ain't important to us, but hey, waste not want not."
"You leave her alone. She has nothing to do with you." Casana snarled, shooting the Sound ninjas her most menacing glare.
"You're in no position to call the shots here." Said another Sound ninja as he stepped forward toward the brunette. "But if you cooperate, then maybe we'll let her live, if we're feelin' generous." He reached out to grab her.
Immediately, she grabbed his arm and effortlessly twisted it with a sickening crunch, making him howl in pain before she kicked him aside onto the ground.
"Whoa, shit!" Exclaimed one of the ninjas in surprise.
"You suckers are making a huge mistake." Deidara said, rolling his eyes and producing some clay, feeding it to his hand mouth. "She's not someone you want to mess with."
"We're getting nowhere with this, let's just get them!" Yelled the leader of the bunch.
The ninjas moved in toward them, weapons in hand and performing various hand seals as they readied their next jutsu. In a swift move to avoid the katana coming at him, Deidara smirked, grabbed Arnold and tossed his clay model onto the ground, which expanded into a large owl. He jumped onto it, and it rose into the air. It was mostly to get Arnold out of harm's way, but also, being a long-range specialist, was part of his plan.
"Get him, he's a long-range specialist!" The leader of them yelled.
"Don't think so. Instead I'll show you the true meaning of a beautiful artwork." The terrorist bomber smirked, and tossed down a few clay spiders.
Before the ninjas leaping up toward them had time to react, the spiders had landed on their faces, temporarily blinding them and sending them back down to the ground, squirming and trying to pray the explosive clay models off with no avail. Once a fair distance up from the ground, Deidara smirked widely and had them explode, promptly finishing them off.
Back down below, the ninjas moved in on Casana, who created a few hand seals and inhaled deeply before releasing a stream of fire from her mouth, scorching a few of the ninjas, while only singing the clothing of some others. One ninja snuck up on her from behind, swinging his katana in an attempt to cut off her head, but she ducked, only succeeding in slicing off some strands of her hair.
She went over to one of them on the ground, grabbing him by the front of his outfit and yanking him up to her level.
"Where's Helga?!" She demanded, her voice laced with pure venom.
He cowered under her menacing, animal-like glare and gulped. "I-I-I-I-I-I...."
"I said, where's Helga?!" Casana snarled.
"Right here, bitch!"
Whirling around, she saw one of the Sound ninja standing on the water, next to an enormous, overhanging tree where Helga was tied up to a branch, dangling over the water, with a scarf around her mouth, squirming as she tried to free herself with no avail.
"Helga! No!" Arnold cried from above. "What are you doing with her?!"
"Let's just say she'll be a little snack for our friend in the lake..." Said the Sound ninja.
"What do you mean?!" Casana demanded, running toward the water. "What man-eater could possibly be living in this lake?!"
One of the Sound ninja, seeing her distracted and seemingly off-guard, ran up toward her from behind, about to initiate a sneak attack. But the moment he came within inches of her, Casana growled and threw back her fist, connecting with his face. Momentarily stunned, he fell back to the ground.
"Just watch and see." The Sound ninja on the water smirked, and tossed a rock into the water toward where Helga was.
Moments later, a 25-foot crocodile shot out of the water, clamped the Sound ninja in its powerful jaws from below him, and went back below the surface, the water then turning red. Helga's eyes widened and she let out a muffled scream of terror.
"Holy shit...that wasn't supposed to happen! You stupid croc! Get the girl! Not us! You're supposed to listen to us!" Yelled the leader.
"HELGA!!!" Arnold yelled in terror, nearly about to jump down and save her himself, but Deidara grabbed him and held him back.
"I've got it covered, kid." He assured him.
Creating a clay fish, Deidara dropped it down into the crocodile's mouth just as it launched out of the water in an attempt to grab Helga. It fell into it's mouth, and promptly shut its jaws, going back down into the water. Moments later, it then exploded, spewing blood and guts all over the place, some of it hitting Helga.
"That's your biggest flaw in this." Casana stated the leader. "You used a wild crocodile. They're predators, not pets or summonings."
"You think you've won? Well not so fast, you think that's the only crocodile in the lake?"
Casana's eyes went wide in alarm. That was when a crocodile emerged from the lake, crawling onto the shore toward her. This one was a bit smaller, about 20 feet, with darker and more distinct scales than the first, it was of the saltwater breed. It went for her, snapping its jaws menacingly. Fear was overtaking her as she backed away, trying to think quick on her feet without much success. She then quickly leaped out of the way of its snapping jaws, landing behind it, but far enough to avoid its tail.
"Go! Right behind you!" The leader yelled to it.
Responding to his voice, the crocodile went for him then, causing the Sound ninja leader to back away in fear, tripping on a large rock. He fell to the ground, and before he could move away further, his legs were immediately caught in the crocodile's jaws.
"BOSS!" The other Sound ninja ran in to help him.
Seeing them distracted, Casana took out a kunai, scraped the blade across her palm, making a straight line cut. Blood poured out from the wound, she created a few handseals and slapped her hand against the ground, summoning symbol creating along the ground. There was a puff of smoke, which soon cleared to reveal the animal she'd summoned.
"Two can play at this game..." She said to herself.
To further add irony to the situation, she summoned one of her few animals, a crocodile. It was a male, about 30 feet long, dark green and black scales, wearing a blue vest and an Iwagakure forehead protector around his head. It resembled that of an Asian Pacific crocodile.
(Note: The Asian Pacific crocodile was the breed used in the movie Lake Placid)
"Kuraitoru, I need you to help me rescue our friend there." Casana said, indicating where the blonde girl was hanging. "And do you have any idea how Lake Mononoke suddenly became infested with crocodiles?"
The summoned crocodile, Kuraitoru, paused as he considered her question and shook his head. "I haven't been told of that. We usually shy away from here, even the wild ones rarely ever come by around here due to the climate in the area during the colder months." He glanced to where his brethren counterpart had pulled his latest victim into the water, shaking his head solemnly. "I suppose these Sound ninja had something to do with it."
"That's what I figured." Casana agreed, frowning a bit. "Anyway, I need you to rescue Helga over there. I'd do it myself, but trust me on this, I have a plan, and I'll need your help."
Kuraitoru nodded. "All right. Leave it to me."
He went into the water, not evoking much of a response from the other crocodile, who was swimming stealthily toward where Helga was hanging. Kuraitoru went quicker, but not enough to try to antagonize the other crocodile. He reached the spot and leaped quickly out of the water, cutting the rope with his jaws. Helga screamed and fell into the water, just as the other crocodile approached, its mouth wide open and ready to devour her.
But then Kuraitoru immediately grabbed her into his own jaws, gently but hard enough to get a good grip on her. With his chakra, he had retracted his teeth in order to make his jaws toothless and consisting of his gums so that he wouldn't hurt her. Helga was scared at first to be within a crocodile's jaws, but given that this one wasn't eating or hurting her, she soon relaxed. The summoned crocodile swam back toward shore, while the other simply sank under the water, doing who-knows-what, but apparently not chasing after him.
"Don't worry Helga, you're safe now." Kuraitoru told her, his voice slightly deterred. "I won't eat you."
"Mm?!!?" Helga uttered in confusion, surprised than this thing could talk. She'd seen Casana strangely summon it out of nowhere, and saw her talking to it, but had no idea it could talk back.
They reached shore and Kuraitoru gently released her onto the ground. Casana went over and cut the rest of the ropes with a kunai, and removed the scarf from around her mouth.
"Okay, okay, what the heck is going on here?! First a crocodile tries to eat me, then this one here apparently SAVES me and can TALK! And why the heck were those ninjas attacking us?!" Helga immediately demanded as she stood up, wiping her face of water and the rain still falling. "And how the heck can that thing fly?!"
"Calm down, Helga. It's okay, you're safe now." Casana coaxed. "I'll explain everything."
The clay owl landed on the ground near them, and Arnold ran to Helga, immensely relieved.
"Helga! Are you okay? What happened to you?"
"I'm FINE, football head! I was kidnapped, tied up, nearly got eaten, got saved by a TALKING crocodile, and apparently those big white birds can fly! I'm JUST peachy!" Helga snapped, crossing her arms.
Despite her snappy attitude, Arnold just smiled, relieved that the real Helga was back. "I know it was probably scary, but at least you're okay, right?"
Softening a bit, she shrugged. "I guess so." She looked back at the brunette. "So explain. What's going on?"
"I guess I'll start from the beginning. We were being hunted by Sound ninjas, apparently under the orders of..." Her voice trailed off. "Anyway, they're after us, especially me because there's a high price bounty on my head. Ninjas have been attempting to assassinate me for years because of it, especially rogues. But anyway, so they surrounded us, sent out one disguised as you to try to fool us and throw us off balance. Then this all happened, they somehow managed to bring in wild crocodiles into Lake Mononoke, which is weird considering it was never infested with creatures like that. So I called on my friend here to help."
"I don't believe we were introduced." Said Kuraitoru with a polite nod. "I'm Kuraitoru, a summoning crocodile. I have been serving Master Casana since she was but a young child." He had a cool, calm sophisticated voice and sounded very British, something like David Attenborough.
"He was my first summoning animal, I have quite a few but he was my first." Casana added, gently stroking the croc's head.
"Indeed. And with my chakra, I was able to retract my teeth into my gums so that I would be able to hold you in my mouth and transport you back to shore safely without hurting you." Kuraitoru explained. "Am I to guess that you two are not very familiar with summoning animals such as myself?"
Arnold shook his head. "No, we're not. Where we come from, animals don't normally talk."
"Ah." Kuraitoru nodded. "Well then I suppose you two are in for quite a treat."
"How do we know you're not gonna sneak up and eat us while we sleep or something?" Helga asked suspiciously. "You may be able to talk and are some kind of a pet, but you're still a predator."
The crocodile laughed. "I can see as to why you're suspicious of me about that. Yes, I am indeed a predator and could easily eat either one of you. At least not without some proper manoeuvres in order to eat you properly, since we prefer to eat in one bite. But I am also a summoning animal, and we are highly trained and skilled beings, professional code, you might say. I would of course never dare eat Master Casana or anyone simply because I was hungry. Not unless she ordered me to. Besides, we crocodiles do have a slow metabolism and-"
"Yeah, you can go for weeks without eating if you have a huge meal. On the other hand, you do still catch your prey and take them to your nesting place to save for later. And for example if your prey hide in a tree, you'll actually sit there and wait for weeks on end. You also watch and follow your prey to become familiar with their routine, and can swim underwater up to twenty miles an hour, you use your tail to propel out of the water to jump up a few feet, and you're both fast in water and on land. Your gender is decided upon temperature, and you apparently have homing senses. And you're an Asian Pacific crocodile." Helga interjected smartly.
Silence fell then, the only sounds heard were the rain falling upon the ground and the lake. Casana giggled, Arnold stared at Helga in bafflement, and Deidara smirked in amusement.
"Well, it seems you've done your homework." Kuraitoru remarked with as close to a caiman smile as any crocodile could get, amused.
"Well doi, I had to give a book report last week about crocs and gators." She looked up at the sky and wiped her face again. "Okay, it's starting to rain a little too hard for comfort right now, mind getting us to some shelter before we all catch pneumonia?"
All of a sudden, everyone fell silent and their eyes were wide, but not looking at her, looking past her.
"What?! What are you all looking at?!" Helga demanded, hands on her hips.
"Helga, don't move, don't run." Arnold said quietly. "The crocodile is right behind you."
She could hear the soft, purr-like growling of the crocodile behind her, confirming what he'd said. Tensing up, her breathing quickened and she felt more scared than she'd ever been in her life.
"Helga, it's okay...just stay right where you are..." Casana whispered. "Don't make ANY sudden movements...we'll take care of it, don't worry."
"No...no...no...." The blonde girl shook uncontrollably, practically feeling the crocodile's breath on her. She shut her eyes, shivering. "Please...no...no...."
"We won't let it get you. Calm down."
Slowly, as quietly as she could, Casana pulled her machete out from its sheathe on her back, her eyes trained on the crocodile, which was still situated behind Helga, approaching VERY slowly, just waiting to pounce. It was taking its time, obviously not starving, and toying with them.
"Helga....listen to me. I'm going to count to three, and when I do, go as fast as you can toward Arnold." Casana whispered. "Got it? Helga, look at me."
Helga shakily opened her eyes, looking up at her pleadingly with terror.
"You're going to be fine. Trust me." She paused then, looking at Arnold. "Arnold, you talk to her, try to calm her down. I think she'll respond better to you."
"Okay." Arnold whispered, turning to Helga, trying to keep his own fear under control. "Helga...you're going to be okay. You're going to make it out of this. And when you do...we'll go find shelter, we'll have marshmallows over a fire. We'll share stories...I'll sit with you and we'll have fun together. I care about you Helga, don't doubt it. You're going to get out of this. Do you trust me?" He held his hand out toward her.
Still shaking, Helga felt comforted and soothed by his words, his sweet voice. The very person who was her sunshine on a rainy day. In response, she held her hand out to him, despite that they were some feet apart.
"I....I trust you....Arnold...."
"Okay Helga, get ready... One." Casana said. "Two."
The crocodile inched a little closer.
"Three!"
Helga ran for Arnold, and the crocodile ran at her, its jaws wide and was an inch away from devouring her, its jaws grazing her leg. Casana hurriedly threw her machete at it, striking through its lower jaw, pinning it to the ground. It faltered, tried to free itself, but then fell limp as it died.
"Okay, we got him." Casana said, releasing the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
Kuraitoru crawled over to the crocodile, nudging it a couple of times with his snout. He nodded. "Yes, she's dead."
"Yeesh, she's huge." Deidara walked over to it, kicking it lightly in the side. Grimacing, he grabbed Casana's machete from its mouth and pulled it out. "She must've had a big meal recently, no wonder she didn't just eat Helga like that. There aren't anymore in there, right?"
"No. There are not, that was the last one." Kuraitoru shook his head. He paused then. "However... I am smelling eggs. It seems that this one just recently laid eggs not too far from here."
"So they had a nest set up too. How many?"
"Six."
Deidara nodded, and turned to Casana. "You keep an eye on these two, I'll be back."
"Where are you going?" Casana asked worriedly.
"The nest. There's eggs here, and if they hatch, the lake will be swarming with more of these guys. Wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"
Casana shook her head. "No. What will we do with them?"
"Perhaps I can help with that. I can bring them to my brethren, and we will look after them ourselves. Perhaps, even make them useful." Kuraitoru said.
"....Okay." Casana conceded. "But BE careful. Please."
"Relax, I'll be fine." Deidara assured her, and turned back to the summoning croc. "Take me to them, we'll get them out of here."
"Right," Kuraitoru nodded. "Follow me. We will not be long, Master Casana."
The two went off into the brush, leaving Casana with the kids. She watched them go, and then went back to tend to the others.
"You two okay?" She asked softly, kneeling down next to them.
"We're fine, Helga's just in shock, and her leg is bleeding." Arnold said, holding Helga close to him as she sobbed into his chest in pain and fright.
Casana nodded. "I'll tend to her immediately, you just keep her close." She reached into her pack and produced a cloth, some ointment and a roll of gauze.
Her leg had been cut badly by the crocodile's jaws, but it was nothing more than just a deep gash. If it had cut any closer, half of her leg would have been ripped off. She knelt down and wiped off the excess blood, using the healing chakra to help kill the pain and rid it of any infection. She added ointment, and then wrapped the gauze around the wound.
"Don't worry Helga, you're safe now, it's dead, it's gone. You're going to be fine." Arnold whispered to her, rubbing her back and stroking her hair in comfort.
Despite the trauma, fright, pain, and everything else involved, Helga felt comforted and warm in his embrace, and his sweet voice speaking those soothing words to her. She stopped sobbing, resorting to some little sniffles. She didn't even care that she was vulnerable and scared and crying right in front of them, much less other people. What had happened was beyond terrifying and traumatizing, she'd gone into shock because of it. Slowly she was recovering under his comfort, which helped. The pain in her leg faded away as she felt it being healed and tended to, which also helped along.
"You're going to be fine, Helga... I know you're in shock right now, but don't worry, we'll get to some shelter and you can rest, you'll be fine." Arnold whispered, hugging her tighter to him. He too, had been terrified for her, scared that she would be crocodile food and he would lose her.
No. He couldn't even think about it, not even when he had witnessed it seconds from happening. If she had died, he would never have been able to forgive himself. He wanted to uphold his promise to her until the end. And he would, he vowed to, especially now. If she were gone, it would no doubt feel as if a part of him would go with her.
Shaking his head to rid himself of such thoughts. Now was not the time. She was alive, she was safe. That was what mattered.
Taking a breath, he continued to hold her, and then, for a reason he didn't understand, yet felt so right, he raised her head ever so slightly and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. He felt Helga stiffen in surprise, but immediately relaxed in his embrace and snuggled into him appreciatively.
"Thanks....A-Arnold..." Helga uttered between soft trembles.
Arnold smiled and rubbed her back, his other hand gently stroking her hair again. "You're welcome, Helga. ...Hey listen, I'll sing to you a little, that's what my Grandma does to cheer me up."
She didn't respond, only closed her eyes in bliss and trying to ignore the pain, trauma and terror she still felt, still in shock about it, but made no protest or anything against him. Now was not the time. She wanted him, no, needed him now, and the last thing she wanted was to force him away.
He cleared his throat, and sang the same song he had once sang to the sick mule he had raced some time ago.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine... You make me happy when skies are gray... You'll never know dear, how much I love you... Please don't take my sunshine away..."
--~~--
"...You've brought the sample, I presume?" Spoke the darkly cloaked figure in the room.
"Yes, Master." Replied a Sound ninja. "I have acquired some strands of her hair, and blood."
"Bring them to me."
The Sound ninja placed the bagged items into the figure's hand. Inside the bag were strands of brown hair, and some drops of blood. The cloaked figure took the bag, walking over to a forensics scanner, where he placed the hair and drops of blood. Information appeared on a nearby computer, where he then walked to, typing in a few commands.
The figure lowered his hood, now revealing to be Kabuto. Along with Orochimaru's golden snake-like eyes and his facial markings. He'd been true about what he had said before, that Orochimaru lived within him now, and was continuing his handywork. As well as...a few other things.
He smiled devilishly as he read over the DNA code information, typing in a few commands, revealing some charts.
"Amazing..." Kabuto murmured. "We can now harness the true power of her genetic code."
"What will you do with it, Master Kabuto?"
"In time, you'll see." Kabuto responded calmly. "But know this, that with this power, I will..."
He turned to face the ninja, smiling sadistically, yet calmly.
"Bring forth what it truly should be meant for."
--
OH NO! D: What is Kabuto up to, and why does he need Casana's DNA? Will we ever find out? And when the hell is the plot going to move along?!
So why the use of the crocodiles? XD Well, that was actually because I've been a little influenced. Been watching Alligator, Lake Placid, Lake Placid 2, Rogue, Primeval. Killer crocodile movies (save for the first, that's an alligator) have brought out this idea to add a little tension and drama.
And to create Casana's first summoning animal. XD Yay!
So what will happen next? We'll see. :D
And oh, sorry for the fillers. I only do them to further strengthen the bond between the characters, since the romance and friendship and teamwork ARE the main sub-plot. Plus, my adventure and action skills suck, but I try. So please, please bear with me. :3 Thanks a lot.