THIS STORY HAS ALSO BEEN ULOADED IN WATTPAD ALONG WITH ROSES AND THUNDER. FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO FIND IT—YOU CAN FIND IT UNDER THE SAME PEN NAME AS THIS SITE.
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Episode 26- Pray on prey.
a/n: Excessive violence in this chapter. Read at your own caution.
There was a time when Neji used to wonder what war would be like. He had heard stories from his mother, father and even his uncle Hiashi. But he never imagined it to be something like this. The fear gripping his heart so tightly was not because of the battle in front of him. But it was more for the woman waiting beyond the long distance of the battlefield that worried him. The woman carrying his child and the possible heir to his clan. His heart contorted with a mix of longing and horrid images. What if she never made it to the hideout? What if she was alone running away from the enemy? What if..?
What if he died here and never saw his child's face?
As his hand collided with the man's stomach, Neji inhaled. He had to focus on the fights. Multiple opponents were approaching from around him. Yes. That's what it is. A fight. A tournament. To see which side would win. And the winner would get the world.
He counted till five before he spun on his heels while chanting his spell. "Heavenly stars of the ancient sky—blue vortex." All of his opponents were thrown back at once as they collided with his repelling sphere. He was about to charge ahead when an explosion behind him made his steps wobble.
"What?" He narrowed his eyes as the smoke cleared. "No!" His lips shouted out as in the middle of a massive crater lay bodies of his brethren. He gritted his teeth as near the crater stood a man grinning widely. He knew him. The papers were always filled with the names of the people died from the hands of him. Notorious for the explosions he would cause by his hands—Deidara of the Akatsuki.
"You did this," Neji states calmly, although inside he was anything but. The golden-haired enemy just grinned and flexed his neck, before pointing at him. "You have an interesting chakra. Similar to that girl Nagato is fighting."
Neji narrowed his eyes before raising his hands in front of him, ready to face his enemy.
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Her feet collided with another one of the wooden men as she cursed. This was becoming more and more tedious. These wooden men were like ants—if one was thrown back another one would take its place. Her sea-green eyes narrowed, reflecting the storm within her heart. Her platoon lay defeated several feet away from her, while she tried to fend the enemy off alone. She raised her arm and closed her eyes. In an instant, a giant fan appeared, casually balanced on her arm.
Opening her eyes almost in synchronization, Temari lifted the metallic fan over her head. Revealing one fold of the fan, in centre of which was a small purple circle drawn, her shout echoed around her almost as in command.
"Revelation one: howl of war!"
Swinging her one fold opened fan in front of her, several of her enemies were sent flying as miniature wind scythes were thrown from it. Temari's small smirk almost vanished when even before those men could hit the ground, more came.
"Ugh!"
Far behind the approaching wooden-men, she could see what kept sending them. A small boy almost her brother's age stood calmly moving only his fingers—surrounded by more of these wooden men.
Biting inside of her cheek, she sent another set of wind scythes before blocking a stray knife coming towards her by the great metal fan. She was about to launch herself on the relentless army when she felt someone land behind her. Lifting her head up, she almost missed her brother's sand bed zooming above.
Turning to look who had dropped behind her, she was almost thrown off balance.
"What?"
Shikamaru Nara stood as if this was his bedroom and he was simply looking at a messy chess-board—arms crossed over his chest casually, his legs apart and tapping on the floor. Behind him, an enlarged man—Chouji Akimichi—was pummeling some of the enemies to the ground.
"Looks like one heck of a mess. Hn?"
Temari smiled; of all the time and place she would've chosen for this reunion, this was surely her least favourite. But the sight still warmed her heart. Shikamaru returned her smile but almost immediately glared across her as the wooden men prepared to jump on Temari.
Temari, not losing any more time, raised her fan and opened one more of its fold—revealing another purple circle. Twirling on her spot, she let the fan swing in her hands while incanting clearly, "Revelation two: winds of storm!"
When she stopped, stumbling a little, she saw that around her almost a clear path had been mowed down as if by a tornado. Behind her, she heard Shikamaru's voice again. "Keep going. I'll control you from here! Chouji can watch my back."
She nodded as she felt something tug on her feet. Looking down she saw a thin thread of shadow latch onto her own and smirked, right before running forward.
The wooden puppets had again started accumulating in her path, but she did not worry about them anymore—knowing that her ex-boyfriend would take care of the enemies left out of her vision.
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He heard a sickening crack of something as his body fell inside the crater. Eyes watering in pain, Neji willed himself to look around him. Bodies over bodies were either piled or sprawled in a hapless manner around him and the stench of burnt flesh mingled with blood was making him nauseous. Closing his eyes and then forcing the tears away, he got up a little less gracefully than he would generally. Above him, just at the edge of the earthen wall, stood his opponent—grinning ear to ear. The manic gleam in his eyes was what made Neji move.
And he was right to; the earth exploded where he had been standing a second ago.
Looking above him, his eyes widened when he saw nothing but dirt and grass where Deidara was standing before. Narrowing his eyes, Neji balled his fists and mumbled fast, "Heavenly stars of the ancient sky, lend me your eternal power. Byakugan." A bright violet light appeared around him before disappearing and leaving the veins around his eyes greatly visible—just like his cousin Hinata.
Feeling around even in the nooks and crannies of the earth, he spotted a tiny pristinely white spider crawling right under the body next to him. Neji jumped away from the body and landed next to a small patch of grass. Focusing around once more, Neji slowly choked on the air around him. Everywhere, even in the smallest patch of grass, every few steps away from where ever he would land—he'd find spiders similar to that previous one.
Inhaling loudly and then landing next to a small rock, he saw one of the spiders nearest to him swell. Perhaps it was because of his magical eyes, or perhaps he knew what was coming, Neji started spinning on his heels while chanting, "Heavenly stars of the ancient sky—blue vortex."
He knew they'd all swell, he knew they'd all explode—those white spiders. They kept exploding one by one—and Neji kept spinning not once stopping to even check. But while spinning, as his tailbone gave him a shock of pain, Neji realized something. He thought of his unborn child and made up his mind.
In order to win, he'll have to dive in the heart of the disaster.
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"HAH!" Temari screamed as she swung her fan again. As if on cue, her body flew back as if pulled by some invisible string.
"Careful!" A deep voice echoed as she stumbled and then stilled. Her arms rose above her head and then swung her fan again, sending a series of small tornados. The wooden-men scattered, allowing her to move forward.
"Just a little more. A little more and I'll be on him." She growled and raised her fan again, as if swatting away a fly, she threw away another of those artificial men. Again, she was pulled back and dropped on the ground safely—no doubt by Shikamaru's shadow, just as her previous spot was stabbed with a spear. Her legs felt as if they were on fire, but she still kept moving forward.
A few more miles and she would do it. Could do it.
As if some higher power had heard her prayer, she saw the path clear again. This time directly to the puppeteer. She grinned and opened her fan to the third fold—another circle flashing dangerously.
"Your mine now! Revelation three: DEMONIC SPEAR THROUGH"
Far away Shikamaru could see the air in front of her ripple as if something was gliding along—clearing and howling its path. He grinned as the puppeteer was thrown back.
Temari's eyes widened as the puppeteer's limbs scattered around—as if his joints were merely joined by loose screws. "He was a puppet?"
She turned and her eyes widened, her voice had not taken this tone for a long time.
Shikamaru did not get why she was screaming, because around her the puppets had finally fallen—lifeless. Her eyes were wide with horror as if she had just seen something—
Shikamaru turned, his own eyes registering just a silent gleam of metal as pain erupted in his stomach.
"SHIKAMARU!"
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Neji coughed and stopped turning, the veins around his eyes contracting and expanding as if they were alive. The dust hadn't even cleared yet, but he was already seeing spiders skittering around him again. Smirking with something close to a reckless spirit of Naruto Uzumaki, Neji dived forward—through the spiders to a small pile of bodies. The thought of what he was about to do had come to him, but he pushed it away as he saw in his exaggerated vision a pulsing heart amongst many lifeless ones.
The first spider swelled as he reached the pile of bodies, but he was ready. Turning his already paining heel around; he shouted this time, "Heavenly stars of the ancient sky lend me your power one last time—blue vortex."
The vortex that surrounded him usually expanded through its rotation, catching the foot of one of the bodies, then the second and so on, till a screaming body of Deidara was sucked around the vortex. The spiders exploded. A still howling Deidara was left spinning through the vortex and the flames.
-x-
Shikamaru gritted as he felt a foot upon his stomach. He was mocking them, mocking him. That he couldn't do a thing. Pain erupted from his stab wound reaching around his body, crumpling it. He bent his head at an awkward angle and felt his eyes widen. Behind him, Chouji Akimichi's already lifeless body was staring into his eyes.
"No…" He regretted calling him here. He regretted asking for his help to save her. If he knew this was his end Shikamaru would've never asked Chouji to give away his life for him.
"N-No—AAGH!" Shikamaru bit the inside of his cheeks and soon a metallic liquid taste filled his mouth. But this pain was nothing compared to the one in his stomach. His stab wound was under the foot of his attacker—the real puppeteer.
"What is your name?" The boy bent down, staring at Shikamaru through dull brown eyes that appeared to be dead. Shikamaru growled and struggled, howling in pain as blood spattered from his stomach.
"My name is Sasori." The boy pressed his foot on Shikamaru's wound again and smiled slightly as Shikamaru grabbed the earth in pain.
"I—kn—know—aargh!" Shikamaru spat as the blood filled his mouth. He squirmed under the boy's foot—who was surprisingly strong considering his aesthetical age. Sasori's smile deepened at the struggle of the boy underneath him.
"Oh? You know my name? Am I that popular amongst your pathetic breed?" He twisted his heel and glanced up at the girl, who was staring at him in horror. He smiled again and as if challenging her, spoke again.
"What is your name? I prefer knowing my kill's name."
Temari's heart twisted in pain at the sight of him. The blood oozing from his stomach was not the only thing flowing out of its constraints. One of the slowest and most painful death—the stomach's acid must be eating him away from inside. The boy, Sasori looked up at her and smiled.
Her mouth released a gasp. It was as if he was challenging her.
"NO!" She screamed as he spoke again, "Your name, boy. I don't like waiting."
Temari flung the fan above her head and brought it down the ground, banging it through the earth. Cutting her finger on it, she splattered her blood over the pages of the metallic fan.
"Revelation four: Demon spirit, Kamatari!" Temari shouted, almost pleading to her magic to come to save the boy she loved.
Sasori looked at the girl and chuckled. "Oh… Almost forgot…"
Stepping over the boy's body, he raised his hands.
Temari's eyes narrowed as something appeared in front of her. She gasped as a giant, white-furred weasel with a dark green eye-patch covering his left eye came in view through the dust clouds. Carrying a large sickle that was almost as long as himself, he turned to peer at her.
"Am I supposed to stand here?" His voice was icy, chilling her bones in a reminder of the person who summoned him before her—her mother.
"Kamatari?"
"You called for me. Or was it just for fun." His gaze had turned back to the boy she had summoned him for.
"Hurry!" He shouted as Temari jumped, her eyes regaining the focus needed.
"Yes!" Temari inhaled and then exhaled, channelling both her anger and surprise through him.
"Revelation end: Kamatari, SLICE!" Her voice was loud and clear, it made her wonder whether her mother's strength was surging through her heart. She gasped as the great weasel glided ahead smoothly raising his sickle.
Meanwhile, Sasori narrowed his eyes. The girl was just standing still in shock after shouting at nothing, not even focused enough to move, let alone attack. He looked around himself, was it a sneak attack? His eyes landed on a stone on the ground just a few feet ahead of the girl. His eyes widened as he saw it jump to the side as if thrown away by someone's feet.
He smirked as he felt the need to smother the girl flow through his body. He should've gotten rid of her before the boy. He prepared to twitch his finger and gasped.
His fingers wouldn't move. Not even a millimetre.
He could feel something coming at him. And as he saw a little shift in the winds, he finally saw what was stopping his fingers from moving. It was a black shadow—a tendril wrapped around his fingers and hand. Searching back at the bleeding boy, he cursed. He should've killed him too when he had the chance to.
Instead he…
Temari did not stop to see the boy's dead eyes, instead, she ran over his sliced-in-two body and fell next to Shikamaru.
"Shikamaru?"
He smiled at her, eyes welling up. "Such a mess, huh?"
Temari smiled, spilling the tears from her eyes. Chuckling and whipping his eyes with her hand, she kissed his forehead. "So, troublesome!" She grinned.
Shikamaru grabbed her hand and grinned. "Yeah." He mumbled before his eyes clouded over with black spots.
"Shikamaru?" Temari asked as Shikamaru's grip tightened on her hand. She repeated his name again. And when his grip slackened over her hand, her mouth went dry.
"Shikamaru?" She cried.
"Shika-mar—maru!" She cried again.
"MEDIC!" She screamed as she felt his pulse reduce to an abnormally slow pace.
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A man stumbled in the crater and winced. The stench of burnt flesh was overflowing and mixed with blood and dust. But he had to see what had happened here. His eyes had seen a pulse of heart here. But how would he find who it was?
He looked around, taking in the sight of his many dead brethren. And then saw the enemy, gazing up at the sky—his blue eyes without any spark of life. His flesh was burnt in many places or in some peeled off—as if dragged by something.
The man made sure he was dead and then moved around.
That was when he spotted his unconscious form. He too was burnt on various parts but his heart was beating—although the beat appeared to be getting slower.
The man rushed forward and slipped next to him.
"Lord Neji! My Lord, wake up!" He shook the body of the Hyuuga clan's leader. He searched here and there to see if someone else was alive. When he found no one else, the man slowly got up and put his arms under Neji.
Lifting the young man with him, the man staggered out of the crater, panting and gasping for fresh air. An unrewarded feat, as in a war you do not find fresh air.
"MEDIC!" He screamed as a few people came running to him. But none of them were healers.
"MEDIC!" He screamed again, more urgently—because the young Hyuuga's heartbeat was getting slower and slower, in danger of diminishing.
11 till the last
R&R!