Truth: She wanted to make him pay.
"This isn't working," Miyako exclaimed in frustration. She stopped running, the two eagles ferrying her teammates dropping on either side of her.
"We need to keep moving," Ayano urged.
"I know, but I can't keep this up on both of them," Miyako said, looking between her two friends in desperation. The problem was that they were both losing a lot of blood. Kiyomi was definitely in worse shape. Sayuri's bones had stopped Atumotu's blades from going deeper than her skin; it was the sheer number of cuts that was the problem. Kiyomi had been stabbed however, and there was internal damage to contend with.
"If you can bandage Sayuri's middle, I can focus more of my attention on Kiyomi, and Sayuri should be okay," Miyako said after a moment of thought.
"Okay," Ayano nodded, reaching into her pouch and drawing out a scroll. She quickly made a few hand signs and a thick roll of bandages appeared. It was easy to rip through the last bits of cloth holding Sayuri's shirt in place, leaving her in only her pants and the bindings over her chest. Ayano worked quickly and expertly as she wound bandages around Sayuri's stomach, where the worst of the damage was.
"I know healing jutsu," interjected the albino captive softly. "I could-"
"Shut up!" Miyako snapped. All shyness was gone in the stress of keeping her two teammates held together.
"Miyako, we've still got a way to- Argh!"
"Ayano!"
Ayano collapsed to the ground, an expertly-thrown rock landing beside her, the blood on her temple evidence of what took her out. She'd been too focused on her students to notice they were being followed.
With their master unconscious, Ayano's summons vanished, leaving their cargo to fall to the ground. Miyako whirled to them as Kiyomi moaned piteously but didn't wake and Sayuri flinched violently. Uta yipped and tried to keep herself from falling. Unari, still unconscious, hit the ground like a sack of flour.
"Isn't this just pathetic?"
Miyako whirled and her eyes narrowed at the boy in the straw hat. Blood poured down his front but his eyes were lit with a purely maniacal light. Madness was all that was driving him now.
"You," Uta whimpered, terror etching across her face as she looked at her crazed teammate. He pointed to her with a shaking, bloodied hand.
"I am going to kill you," he swore to her. "You traitor, I am going to kill you, and I am going to enjoy it!"
"Ayano!"
The shout attracted the attention of Gai's team, who had been passing back that way on their return from their own mission.
"That sounded like Miyako," Lee murmured worriedly, glancing in the direction of the shout. "What do you think has happened?"
Gai gave his traditional pose. "As shinobi in the springtime of our youth it is our duty to see to our comrades! Neji?"
"Byakugan!" the veins around Neji's eyes bulged and he turned in the direction of the shout. "It's Ayano's team alright," he reported with surprise. "But everyone except Miyako seems to be down! There are three unfamiliar people with them. Two are tied, and only one's conscious. The unbound one is the only one functional, although," he took in the flickering chakra source, "just barely."
Gai's eyes widened slightly. "Ayano is down?"
Neji nodded and the team all moved at once, taking off through the treetops in that direction. When they arrived, they found a very strange scene. Ayano on the ground, a rock beside her, her head bleeding. Two bound Kumo kunoichi were on the ground, and the conscious one wasn't struggling at all. On the contrary, she was looking at a man from the same village and shaking with fear. Miyako crouched between a bandaged Sayuri and a groaning Kiyomi, hands on their shoulders, glaring at the boy.
"Oooh!" the boy giggled. His eyes were mad, past the point of reason. He took a shaky step forwards. "More people… That means more blood!"
Quickly realizing who the enemy was here, Gai's team moved forwards.
And suddenly Miyako realized that it was so simple. This was what they did, both she and her father. This was their duty, to give their lives for the mission if necessary. He had died in service to the village, just as he would have wanted. But here and now she had people relying on her, her team, and back home, an entire clan. She could no longer be the weak one. She had to be strong. Here in front of her was the man that did this to her team, and she would be the one to make him pay for that. Truthfully she wanted to make him pay.
"Stay where you are!"
The voice contained such authority that they all turned back to see if it was really Miyako who had spoken. It was, and she was glaring at the boy with such hate it twisted her normally pretty features into a draconic snarl.
"He's mine," Miyako growled.
Neji, familiar with the basics of her kekkei genkai, knew better. He nodded to Sayuri and Kiyomi. "But if you stop touching them, they'll start bleeding."
Miyako whirled on the albino Kumo girl. "You know healing jutsu?" The girl nodded wordlessly, pink eyes bulging with fear and confusion. "If I release you, will you heal them?" Again she nodded wordlessly.
"I don't think that's a good-" Tenten began.
"When I want your opinion, Tenten, I'll ask," Miyako said coldly, and Tenten froze in place. Miyako turned back to the Kumo girl and removed her hand from Sayuri to grab the front of her furisode, yanking her forwards. "They die, you die," she threatened. "Start with Kiyomi." With a quick slash of a kunai she tore through the girl's bindings. Frantic with fear of both Atumotu and Miyako, Uta crawled forwards on her hands and knees, taking over for Miyako as she pushed herself to her feet.
Slowly, Miyako stepped forwards, and Gai's team moved back. They didn't know precisely what had happened, but clearly it was bad. Sayuri, Kiyomi, and Ayano were down, and Miyako was out for blood. It took something extreme to get Team 9 to this point.
"You like blood?" she asked the panting Atumotu softly as he staggered and was forced to lean against a tree to support himself. "It excites you?"
"More than anything," the boy said with a wide, rabid grin. "The taste of it, the smell of it, the feel of it between my fingers. It's the best thing in the world!"
"And I bet you think you know everything there is to know about it, don't you?"
"More than you," Atumotu snapped defensively as Miyako came closer. He wasn't in any shape to fight her, and he knew it, but he wasn't going to curl up and beg for his life like Uta obviously had. He threw his ex-teammate a hate-filled glance.
Miyako's lips quirked slightly. "Wrong answer," she said, and surged forwards. But instead of thrusting a kunai into his heart or leveling him with a punch or kick, she just softly stroked his cheek with the backs of her fingers. Atumotu blinked at her, startled by the sudden gentility. But then Miyako leapt back to get some distance and settled on her back foot, raising her hands above her as if she were about to conduct a symphony.
Atumotu's eyes widened as Miyako's fingers twitched. He clutched his chest and panted, trying to get enough air, but he couldn't, it felt like someone was crushing his chest, what was this…?
"A heart attack," Miyako said calmly. "It's the heart that pumps the blood, and just by controlling what amount of blood goes where I can trigger a minor cardiac episode. The Hasekura family prides themselves on their ability to prevent death, but we can also cause it in a variety of truly inventive ways through blood.
"It's fascinating, isn't it?" Miyako continued, her voice steadily becoming more and more dispassionate, as if she were giving a particularly dull lecture to an inattentive class. "Where blood goes in your body? For example…" The fingers of her right hand curled slightly and Atumotu gasped as his right leg suddenly filled with pins and needles, the circulation cut off. Miyako's fingers loosened. Sensation came back to his leg with a rush, his heart pounding. Atumotu had never been more afraid in his life. He now knew why Uta surrendered to this girl. He wanted to surrender to her, but he knew that she didn't want his surrender. She wanted his head.
"But the question remains," Miyako said softly. "How to kill you? Because I am going to kill you." A small smile crept across her face. "You know what? As my last bit of mercy to you, I'm going to give you a bloody death, the bloodiest I can manage. The average human male of your weight has about eight pints of blood. Do you know what happens if all that blood suddenly pushes out?"
"N-" Atumotu didn't even finish his protest before his body bulged oddly. It was only visible for a moment and then he exploded, bits of bone and organs flying in every direction as every bit of blood in his body suddenly ripped free and flew towards Miyako. It coalesced in a ball over her palm, a swirling orb of red that she manipulated with twitches of her fingers, regarding it curiously.
"Maybe a bit more than 8 pints," she said absently.
Gai's team was gaping as the mist of blood hung in the air. Miyako… sweet little Miyako… had just vaporized someone. No, it wasn't the sweet Miyako they knew in front of them. This was the head of the Hasekura clan, the angry head of the clan, and she was out for revenge.
Miyako was out for blood.
And now it seemed that she'd gotten it, and she wasn't quite sure what to do now. Her hand dropped, the blood slopping down into a puddle at her feet, some of it splashing up and staining her black pants.
"M… Mi… yako?"
"Ayano." Gai moved towards his fellow jonin and slowly helped her up. "Easy," he warned. "That was a pretty hard hit you took."
"The hell happened?" Ayano groaned, bringing a hand up to her temple and wincing as her fingers touched sticky blood. "I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and then my head hurt. There was some kid." She perked up and looked around frantically. "Where'd that little Kumo bastard go?" she demanded wrathfully.
"Heh, you let a genin sneak up on you?" Gai asked with a weak chuckle, trying to distract the jonin from the shell-shocked shape Miyako was in. "Maybe it's time for you to consider retire-"
"My age has nothing to do with it," she snapped. Gai winced slightly.
"Ayano, they'll be fine," he assured her, and with a glance at the two genin girls he knew he was right. That Kumo girl, no matter what village she came from, was a good medic, and she had indeed made some significant progress on their wounds, though a layer of sweat had broken out across her skin and she was shaking. "This isn't like the last-"
"Don't you dare bring them into this, Gai, or I swear, I will kick you so hard you won't wake up for a week," Ayano snarled and tugged herself away from him, pushing herself to her feet. She glanced to the side and her eyes widened as she saw Uta bent over her students, hands glowing with green healing chakra. "The hell?"
"She said she knew healing jutsu, so Miyako let her loose to deal with Sayuri and Kiyomi while she handled that boy," Tenten said hastily.
"Miyako took him out?" Ayano repeated slightly incredulously. "Where is he?"
Gai wordlessly pointed at the puddle of blood by Miyako's feet and the bits of gore flecking her. Ayano's eyes widened and she paled. "Holy hell."
Lee and Tenten were wary of approaching Miyako as she stared straight ahead, dead-eyed. It was Neji who had the courage to step towards her. She didn't react to his approach, didn't even twitch.
"Miyako?" he called warily.
As if hearing her name had flipped some kind of off switch, Miyako's knees suddenly gave out. Instinct made Neji dart forwards and catch her before she hit the ground, but then he found himself with an arm full of distraught teenage girl. He looked at Lee and Tenten helplessly.
"I'm not losing anyone else," she murmured into his chest as he supported her shaking frame. She was shockingly thin, waiflike. "Not them, not now, not ever. I'm through being the one always in the back. I will fight with them and I will not let them get hurt like this again," she swore more to herself than to him. Neji glanced down at her, as if expecting her to launch back into that coldly vengeful state and come at him this time.
"I… believe you," he said, hoping a confirmation of her pledge to herself would be what she needed to pull herself together.
"Thank you… for having faith in me," she murmured, eyelids drooping. "I'm so… tired."
Neji was forced to haul her into his arms bridal style as she passed out, overuse of chakra having finally gotten to her. There was no telling how long she'd been trying to keep her friend's from bleeding out, and that on top of a fight and running had left her running on empty.
"We still need to get them back to Konoha," Ayano muttered. "And I'm running low." She toed Unari's unconscious form with a bit more force than intended. "She took more out of me than I thought she would."
"No, don't-" Uta exclaimed suddenly.
"Summoning Jutsu."
Uta was dithering over Sayuri, who had rolled onto her stomach and was panting through gritted teeth against the pain as she slapped a hand against the ground. There was a burst of smoke and a huge komodo dragon appeared. It grinned.
"Hey babe, how's it- what happened?" the reptile demanded, going from crude to concerned in the blink of an eye. He lowered his head and his tongue flicked out against Sayuri's cheek. "Hey kid, you okay?"
"Just need… to get back to Konoha," she grunted, reaching for his neck.
"You're too weak for a Summons-" Ayano said sharply.
"No I'm not," Sayuri grunted as she hauled herself onto Dokumo's back, gritting her teeth against the pain. "That sadist caught me pretty early on and pinned me with his swords." She wordlessly held up her hands and Ayano paled as she saw the holes punched clear through her palms. Lee winced sharply.
Sayuri cried out as Dokumo vanished from under her. She hit the ground on her side and snarled in pain, slamming her palm down in fury and cursing. "I should be able to hold it! I'm not in that bad of shape!"
"For dealing with Atumotu, you're really not," Uta murmured softly. "He usually likes to go deeper with his cuts."
Ayano looked at the girl askance. "And how would you know that?"
Uta lowered her head shyly and then began lifting her sleeve, revealing long, thin cuts down her arms. "Atumotu is violent when he's angry," she murmured. Ayano's face softened slightly, but she still retied Uta's wrists.
"Let's just get home," she said, shaking her head wearily. She bent down and picked up Sayuri in her arms, who protested vehemently.
"I'm fine!"
"You're not!" Ayano snapped. "Now quit wiggling or I'll drop you again. Gai, can you get that?" She nodded at Unari. Gai swept the unconscious woman up and tossed her over his shoulder with ease, at which Ayano rolled her eyes.
"Tenten, think you can carry Kiyomi?" Ayano asked.
"I'm pretty sure," Tenten nodded, hefting up the girl.
"Right," Ayano mused. "Lee, carry the albino so she doesn't slow us down." Lee picked up a flushing and squirming Uta in his arms and Ayano glanced at Neji. "You okay over there Hyuuga?" He nodded. "Then let's move."
"Looks like we've switched places," Sayuri mused. This time she was the one lying in a hospital bed, and Kimimaro was sitting on the edge, holding her hand tightly.
"Indeed it does," Kimimaro nodded. He stared at Kiyomi, who was in the bed next to Sayuri's, back to them, seemingly asleep. "When will you be allowed out?"
"Theoretically in three days."
"You intend to leave tomorrow."
Sayuri smiled slightly. "You know me so well."
Kimimaro's hand trailed absently along her forearm, wrist, and fingers. "And how long will Kiyomi be here?"
"For at least another three days," Sayuri recalled. "Really three days, in her case. She was worse off than I was, the kunai hit a major organ. Without that Kumo girl, she might have died. I'll have to thank her," Sayuri mused absently, raising a hand to rub her stomach. It had been quickly healed by the med-nin, but she wasn't supposed to be up and moving yet.
"What happened?"
"Miyako caught her opponent, I got pinned by mine… From what I heard, I'm assuming Kiyomi's got the drop on her."
In her bed, eyes glaring hatefully at the wall, Kiyomi had to restrain a snarl as she listened to the Kaguya talk freely.
At least another three days…
Sayuri was so confident that she could walk out of here early, but no, she had no faith that Kiyomi herself could do the same. Did Sayuri think she was stronger? That she could take the pain better? Kiyomi could get out of here whenever she wanted, she could deal with the pain, but no, Sayuri thought she was bed-ridden from a single stab wound. She wasn't that weak!
I'm assuming Kiyomi's got the drop on her.
Yes, because people routinely got the drop on Kiyomi. It was the first time anything like this had ever happened, and she was bound and determined that it would be the last! No one was ever going to stab her again, and if they did, she wouldn't go down. She'd stay firm and fight it out, unlike Sayuri, who got pinned to the ground and carved into like a turkey.
Of course Sayuri didn't mean any of these things in a negative way. She said three days even though the doctor had said five, because she knew about Kiyomi's determination to prove to her father that she was a good kunoichi. She assumed Kiyomi was surprised because she didn't think there was any other way she would have been taken down so easily, by a single kunai. She had great respect for Kiyomi. She was, after all, the only one who killed their original opponent.
But hatred was a poison and it had long festered in Kiyomi's heart. First came her parents preference of Aika, but back then she hadn't cared, because Aika was so devoted to her. Then she began to drift away, and suddenly she was just gone, abandoning her adoring little sister. Then was the pressure from her father, and added to that, Sayuri's seeming perfection in the eyes of everyone she spoke to and how try as she might Kiyomi could never seem to please anyone as easily and effortlessly as Sayuri could.
Jealousy had been a dominant feeling in her for so many years that it was an acknowledged part of her. If resentment was like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die, then Kiyomi had swallowed dose after dose. Resentment of her sister's artistic talent, her father's attempts to control her, her mother's silence, Miyako's preference for Sayuri over her, Ayano's affection towards Sayuri, and a dozen other people who had offended her in small ways over the years, poison building and building until there in that hospital bed it came to a head and Kiyomi made her decision.
She rolled over on her sheets with a small moan, still feigning sleep. For a moment, Sayuri and Kimimaro stopped speaking, presumably glancing her way. Kiyomi kept her breathing regular and her eyelids only lightly shut. Their soft voices started up again and Kiyomi slit her eyes to look at Sayuri.
She lounged in her hospital bed in such a way that she managed to make a hospital robe look elegant, all refined features and glittering eyes. Kimimaro, the one who was a stoic statue to everyone else, was looking at her adoringly, fingers trailing over her skin as if he couldn't resist touching her.
Kiyomi's eyes sharpened and, peace made with her decision, she swore a vow to herself and to Sayuri.
One day… Maybe not next week, maybe not next month, maybe not soon… But one day, I will be strong, and when that day comes, when I'm finally ready… I'm going to make you pay for all of those snide comments you've made disguised as advice, for all the times your eyes skated over me in favor of someone else even though you can't really see a person to begin with, for all the times someone admired you over me.
One day, Sayuri Kaguya… I'm going to kill you.
Kiyomi smiled into her pillow, strangely content with the idea of ending the life of the girl in the hospital bed across from her. She even knew how to do it.
Ayano was surprised to hear the knock on her door three days later. Sayuri had been out against medical advisement for two days already but Kiyomi was still there. She was just thinking of paying the girl a visit when the knock came, and when she opened the door, who should she find but the very girl she'd wanted to see?
"Kiyomi?"
The girl's face was blotched as if from crying and she was shaking and trembling like a leaf in a windstorm. Clearly, something was very wrong.
"Has something happened?" she demanded. "Are you okay? Is Sayuri okay?"
The mention of the other girl only fueled Kiyomi's determination and she used that energy, channeling it into her deception as she flung herself at Ayano's feet with a low, heart-rending moan.
"Please Ayano-sensei, teach me your lightning technique!" Kiyomi begged, kneeling in front of her teacher.
Ayano's eyes widened. Kiyomi had never expressed an interest before, and now here she was, kneeling on her front stoop and wounding her not-inconsiderable pride by begging on her hands and knees.
"Wha-?"
"I want to be able to defend my team!" Kiyomi blurted, as if she were ashamed by the very fact she had to admit to that. "I want to be able to defend them against anything, but I can't! Sayuri has her Shikotsumyaku, and Miyako has her Saiketsu, but I have nothing! They are miles above me and I cannot help them! I don't want to drag them down and force them to protect me. Please Ayano-sensei, please!" she wailed frantically.
Ayano's mouth hardened. She'd known the recent mission had set Kiyomi on edge - it had set her, a seasoned veteran, on edge, what with Sayuri and Kiyomi being injured and Miyako being the only one left standing in the end - but she hadn't realized how badly. She'd always sworn she'd never teach anyone her technique, but this was her team, one of her girls. If she couldn't trust them, who could she trust?
"Okay," Ayano said softly, nodding her head. "Okay, I'll teach you."
Kiyomi bowed her head in feigned relief and obeisance, hair falling over her face and hiding her smirk.
My teacher, the idol of kunoichis everywhere… is an idiot.
"Thank you, Ayano-sensei," she said breathlessly, hardly able to believe her triumph. Because bone could not defeat lightning…