I got distracted multiple times while writing this, so sorry if it's not all that great. D":
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! MASASHI KISHIMOTO DOES! I also do not own any of the OCs introduced within this fan fiction, except the following:
Tsukuyomi Clan
Nero
Ikiteiru Kage
Mushishokan Gatsuki
Uzumaki Kaede
A/N: Ruriko's POV again. o3o
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Don't, Can't, Won't Cry! A Wasted Effort!
We were still trudging through the snow as the blizzard picked up. It was slowing us down, I knew angrily. I gritted my teeth as I gripped Roku's hand tightly, pulling him along with me. He had to walk now, stumbling behind me and hopping in my footprints.
I was almost losing sight of Sasuke beside me and it pissed me off. He was moving faster than the rest of us. I could only make out his Sharingan in the darkness of the blizzard.
"Sasuke, this blizzard is way too bad! We have to stop!" I heard Karin yell over the roaring… Roaring. Something was wrong with that. Blizzard's roared, but not like that.
"GET DOWN!" I screamed over the noise. Right away, we all hit the snow, causing it to burst into the air as a cloud of white. I whipped around, looking up as I saw three dark figures burst through the wall of snow.
"Ready or not! Here we come, Kyaaa!" Kaede laughed. I winced and whipped back around, grabbing Roku up under my arm.
"Roku, I'm gonna put you somewhere and you have to hide, got it?" I demanded. Roku whined a little, but nodded. I set him down behind some jagged rocks before turning around. I could barely see through the snow, but I heard Sasuke's chidori screeched and a loud explosion following. Snow went up again. Kaede burst through the wall at me, giggling as she flung a kunai at me.
I went to dodge it, but it bounced right off my arm, making me blink in confusion. She laughed out loud as I scooped the kunai up and squeezed it, making it squeak. What the hell…?
I looked up as she flung another kunai at me. I didn't dodge it this time, thinking it was fake, but a real kunai slammed right into my weak shoulder, making me bark out in pain. I gripped the handle and tore it out, flinging back at her. Kaede jumped up and caught it in her mouth before doing a little flip, giggling as she took the kunai from her mouth.
"Call me Kitsune, kya! Cuz I'm the last person you're ever gonna see!" She taunted, then made hand signs faster than I could keep up. I managed to send spider webs of electricity shooting at her, but she laughed and jumped high into the air, knocking up snow as she finished her hand signs. That's when I noticed that the wind was picking up faster and faster. I jerked my head up to see Kaede laughing.
"Don't you see it yet? I'm the one causing this blizzard, dummy! Kotaro-sama ordered me to slow you down, kya! Looks like someone's hiding those files!" She sang, wagging a finger at me. I gasped as the wind tore me up off my feet. I winced and made some more hand signs, grabbing onto Kaede's leg. Kaede stopped laughing to yelp and try and kick me off. I held onto her ankle, finishing the hand sign.
I sent wave after wave of electricity up her leg, making her scream. Her body convulsed and I let go, cursing under my breath as she vanished in a cloud of smoke to reveal a dummy that fell through the air. I slammed into the snow, rolling a little as I went to get to my feet, but Kaede swooped by me, grabbing me by my shoulder and making me yell in pain. She swung me around and threw me across the snowy field, where I slammed into the rocks that were hiding Roku, who cried out in surprise.
"Na, Ruriko!" He cried and started to move, but I glared at him.
"Don't you move one inch, Roku. You stay right there. I've got this. Just watch me." I seethed, then flung myself to my feet. Kaede, who had been laughing over me, yelped as I swung my foot up into her jaw, knocking her into the air. Positive that this was the real Kaede, I pushed off the ground and swung my foot up into her jaw again, sending her higher.
This time she laughed. I winced, realizing why. Her hand was in a hand sign and she brought her head back down to face me and opened her mouth. I moved fast, her mouth already gathering up chakra.
I managed to block her fire jutsu with my own. She swung her foot around and kicked me in the side of the head, knocking me flying to the left. I managed to catch myself on an icy peak before whipping around and kicking Kaede in the face. She fell down into the snow, me landing across from her. Her wind jutsu was slowly deteriorating, I noticed. I could see Sasuke dealing with Gatsuki himself.
I grimaced and leapt back as Kaede came back for more. She was flinging one kunai after another, slashing at me with a few. Some were fake, squeakers and the others were very real. Either way, I was dodging them quickly before I swung my fist forward into her gut, knocking her skidding back. I gritted my teeth, shaking out my hand. That's when I heard a weird sound from behind me.
I spun around to see someone in a dark cloak dash in, catching Roku up. My eyes widened and I ran right at him. It was Kage. He glanced up at me, then whipped his hand out.
"Shadow Style! Dark Prison!" He hissed, making an unknown hand sign. I yelped, jumping back as shadows jerked from Kage's feet, trying to grab my ankles. I jerked my head up as Kage whipped around and shot off.
"ROKU!" I pushed off the ground and shot after as fast as I could. I made hand signs quickly, biting into my lip as I flung my hand forward. Jagged bolts of lightening exploded from the tips of my fingers, scorching them in the process as they burst forward. Kage glanced over his shoulder, eyes narrowed for a split second before he whipped around, jumping as he fell backwards with Roku squirming under his arm. He made a hand sign with his free hand.
"Shadows Style! Whiplash!" I yelped as Kage held his palm at me, fingers curled. A huge black mass shot out and slammed right into me, knocking me flying backwards and slamming right into Sasuke, who was already stumbling a little. We shot through the snow and slammed together into a mass of rocks, causing the mountain we were on to tremble.
"Shit," Sasuke groaned behind me, his arm hooked around my neck from our tumble, "I can't see…"
"What'd you mean?" I managed, struggling to move. My whole body was aching and I felt like everything inside me was broken or about to burst. Sasuke was blindly moving through the snow, holding the side of his head, trying to stand.
"I can't see a thing…"
"Open your eyes." I moaned, rolling over onto my stomach. Sasuke collapsed to his hands and knees beside me, grabbing the front of my winter cloak.
"They are open!" He protested and looked right at me. I winced, meeting his eyes, which were indeed wide open. I managed to sit up, pushing Sasuke on his side, then his back.
"Let me see, quit fussing… Did you see where Suigetsu, Karin, and Juugo went?" I asked as I checked his eyes. They stared straight ahead.
"Sasuke, I don't know what happened… What's the last thing you remember?" I demanded. Sasuke glared at me, even though he couldn't see.
"That stupid… Guy. Gatsuki or whatever his name was… He did something… A jutsu. I don't know what he called it." He seethed past clenched teeth. I frowned.
"It's probably a type of Genjutsu… I can try and release it, but from the looks if it, it might be stronger than I thought." I murmured, then made a few hands signs, then a final.
"Release."
"Shit, it's not working." Sasuke's voice as rising. Out of hysteria or rage, it didn't matter because Sasuke gave me a little push as he sat up, his blank eyes darting around angrily.
"Fuck! Fuck, why did that fucking happen? Ugh, things are just getting worse and worse and it's your fault!" He yelled, grabbing my throat. I winced, glaring at him and grabbing his wrist tightly, jerking his hand away from me, although, his nails raked through my skin, leaving red marks.
"Shut up, you spoiled brat! It's not my fucking fault! You jerk," I swung my fist and hit him in the head, but he managed to put his hand up to block me, but I kept hitting at him, "Asshole! Dickhead! Roku's gone, you fucking jerk! That asshole took him! He took Roku and now he's going to kill him just like that boy at the inn! He's going to die! He's only five-years-old and that sick bastard is going to kill him and all you can think about is blaming me for your problems! I HATE YOU!" I know I was babbling, but I couldn't help it.
My heart was pounding and my eyes were stinging with tears. I let them fall since Sasuke couldn't see me anyway. I tried not to choke on my tears, rubbing my eyes. I couldn't speak now, just in case Sasuke could tell I was crying. I just breathed hard, trying to cover it up.
"Stop crying," Sasuke said suddenly, making me jerk my head up to see that he was looking right at me, "Look up. Don't be so pathetic. If you sit here crying, you're not doing anything to help the kid." I blinked, then quickly wiped my tears, glaring at him.
"I thought you were blind."
"I was until you released it, but I faked it to see if you'd do anything… I'm done. Get up, we're going after the kid."
"But… I thought you hated Roku."
"I don't. I have nothing against him. You, I do… But not him. Kotaro's not going to kill him. We need to find the others and head back down into town. Show me this inn that you were talking about."
"Uh, ah, right. Got it." I answered and got to my feet, ignoring the numbing pain as we shot off down the mountain. We shot down the mountain, moving fast as we pushed off the ground.
"Sasuke," I muttered, making him glance at me, "I'm sorry. Don't tell anyone about that."
"I won't. I have no reason to."
"I thought you said you hated me."
"I do."
"… I hate you too." I replied with a smile. Sasuke rolled his eyes, but I could see a very, very faint smile on his face. We continued down the side of the mountain, eventually running into the others. The morons had fallen half way down the mountain… Juugo had to catch them.
Sasuke let me lead the way to the inn through the woods. We didn't pass through the town because when we saw the gates, guards were standing in front of them, wearing the same odd symbol that the ones from before had. We weaved through the trees, splitting off into pairs, save for Karin, who hung back since she was pretty much a healer in a sense.
"What if the place is trapped?" I asked as we approached the large stone inn, which was guarded by groups of Kotaro's army. I frowned. Sasuke scanned the building, his Sharingan glowing.
"Even so, we have to get inside… From what you told me, this guy won't have any qualms about killing children. We need to get in and out fast…"
"I have an idea… Which one of us runs faster?" I asked. Sasuke glared.
"That just depends on what you mean by that."
"Asshead. I meant that one of us can hold Kotaro and the three stooges off while the other takes off with Roku."
"Watch your mouth. And fine. I'll hold off Kotaro-"
"Hold on a second! Who died and made you king?"
"Me!"
"Oh shut it! Look. I'll go in there and tell Roku to go with you. He'll listen to me. You can be waiting for him out here. Protect him the best you can before taking off. I'll meet you at the place we stopped at this morning, then we'll take off again. This time, we have to move west, as fast as we can. There should be a port off the coast a few miles from here. We'll take a boat across the sea and land on the peninsula that sticks out over the sound. Deal?"
"… Fine. But if you get killed, I'm dropping the kid off in the first village I see." Sasuke stated. I smiled.
"Good… Because you'd make a terrible father." I replied, then leapt over the bush that was hiding us. Sasuke had frowned at me for that, like he was gonna smack me, but I was already gone, racing across the blanket of snow on the ground. Immediately, four guards were alerted and went to attack me. I swung my foot around and kicked one in the jaw, pushing off his face to elbow his comrade in the nose, knocking them both back.
I whipped around, kicking up snow into one of their faces before I grabbed the back of their head, slamming their face down on my knee. I swung my elbow back into a woman's face, knocking her clean off her feet and slamming into the ground. I hurried to the cellar, easily getting inside, only to be met with five more guards. I winced.
I made hand signs quickly after slamming my foot into one of their faces. I thrust my hands out, electricity sparking out and crashing into three of the guards' faces and knocking them off their feet. I slammed my fist into one of their faces before biting into the throat of the other. I really wasn't aiming for that much blood, but it was kind of fun kicking some ass right now.
I bolted up the stairs, throwing the door open. I heard a loud crash and a thud. I stepped out and closed the door to see that I had knocked out some guard's teeth. I smirked, then whipped around and ran down the hallway, listening carefully for any sounds of distress.
I had to keep focused. I raced down the hallway, easily electrocuting several guards in the face before hopping over their bodies, stomping on their faces in the process, before continuing on as fast as I could. I ducked some kunai and shuriken that went flying at me.
This was going to be harder than I thought. Maybe I should have dragged Sasuke in here with me. I frowned, then yelped when I heard a loud squeak and something hit my back. I whipped around to glare at Kaede, who was standing at the end of the hall, a cocky smirk on her face.
"Time to end your little rescue mission here, kya! Your kid's as good as dead with Kotaro-sama." She giggled, flipping out a kunai. I glared at her.
"Tell me where Roku is and I promise not to eat you, little by little." I threatened. Kaede laughed out loud.
"Kya! Good luck with that! I won't even let you get near me, kya!"
"We'll see about that." I muttered and whipped out a few hand signs, sending a huge bolt of lightening at her. Kaede flipped, using her chakra to stick to the ceiling by her feet.
"Hehe. Nice try, but I know your jutsu all too well… In fact, try hitting me again, kya!" She called. I glared at her and tried again, this time hitting her, but nothing happened. Kaede giggled and flipped back down into a crouch on the floor.
"I'm wearing rubber boots and rubber doesn't conduct electricity, so you're screwed, little girl! Kya!" She shrieked with joy and flung her kunai at me. I dodged to the side and ran at her. Fine. If that won't work, I'll just have to use close combat. I tried kicking and hitting her, but she kept back flipping out of the way before stopping and flipping the other way, kicking me in the face and knocking me skidding across the floor.
I winced, falling on my back before sitting up. Kaede smirked at me, folding her arms over her chest and cocking her head.
"Hmph. You really nothing of a challenge, kyaa. Even your uncle put up more of a fight." She stated. I blinked.
"My uncle…? You mean Daiki? How the hell do you know Daiki?" I demanded angrily. Kaede laughed musically, thrusting her hand up in her face, flexing her fingers.
"Easy, kya! Daiki put up a fight against Kotaro-sama… Of course, Kotaro-sama was only intrigued by his jutsu. Your uncle's just another pawn that Kotaro-sama has. Same with that girl he traveled with, Miyuki. The pretty one, kya. Of course, that one guy, the one with the weird laugh, just ran off, abandoning them. Smart move for a coward, kyaaa." She giggled. I flinched.
"He's not my uncle then," I snapped, "Anyone who joins Kotaro's worthless army is no family of mine nor are they sane."
"Does that go for Hioshi too, kya?" Kaede mused. I blinked, grimacing.
Hioshi. I looked up to him a lot as a Genin. To be just like Hioshi. Smart, smooth, careful, calculating… And then I find out he's joined forces with some sick twisted psycho like Kotaro? I gritted my teeth, clenching my fists.
"Hioshi… Isn't my brother…" I managed. Kaede smiled slowly, cruelly.
"Aw… If Hioshi heard that, he'd be so sad, kya. He looked pretty worried about you being in gone. In fact, I think he was getting ready to leave and go find you when we met up with him a couple days ago, kya." She cooed. I jerked my head up and glared at her.
"Stop saying his name, damn it! I don't care what you say! Now shut the fuck up!" I slammed my foot into the floor, hard. Kaede blinked and looked down as a crack slit across the floor, ripping the carpet apart. Kaede yelped and leapt away. I rose to my feet before bolting forward, hopping over the trench in the floor.
She jerked her head up in time for me to kick her twice in the face, doing a flip and grabbing the bandages around her waist and jerking. I tore them off with a snap, throwing them down the crack in the floor before grabbing a hold of Kaede's arm, tearing her forward. She howled, losing her footing and tumbling toward the crack.
"YOU BITCH!" She screamed, but her voice faded as she landed in the basement far below. I took my chance and made a few good hand signs, my feet sticking to the ceiling. I released the most powerful fire jutsu I had, causing it to explode downwards.
I leapt off the ceiling and bolted down the hallway toward a certain room. That's where I heard it. I heard Roku wailing at the tops of his lungs and I immediately ran down the hallway.
My foot catching on a wire. I gasped and fell on my stomach. I whipped around in time to see a bunch of kunai come shooting down at me from the ceiling. I rolled as fast as I could out of the way, scrambling back to my feet and running for the room again.
I completely ignored the fact that I just tripped another booby trap, which caused senbon to shoot from the bottoms of the wall at my feet. I jumped up, catching a lantern and swinging off it, rolling across the floor and onto my feet just inches from the door.
I peeked into the room and my eyes widened. Roku's arms were tied in a painful position behind his back, connected to something that was tied around his neck as well, making him gasp on his wails of pain. He had a line of senbon stuck into his arms, his little cloak gone to reveal bruises and cuts all over him. I gritted my teeth and barreled right in there without another thought. As soon as I did, the door behind me slammed shut and I whipped around.
"Shit." I cursed. Kotaro stood behind the door, his hand still on it after slamming it shut, the other one on his hip.
"That was much too easy… I figured you'd entertain me a little." He mused. I spat at him.
"You heartless bastard! Why would you ever hurt him like that? He did nothing to you! You could have went after me!" I yelled. Kotaro smirked, but it was faint.
"If I had done that, you'd have fought back and eventually run away like you did before when I attacked you. As tough as you act now, I can tell you're terrified of me and what I can do." He explained calmly. I glared at him.
"I'll put up with you for the rest of my life if it meant protecting Roku." I snapped.
"Let's see you stick by that." Kotaro stated, then made quick hand signs. He slammed his palm down and lightening exploded from his palm, then shot towards me in the shape of an arrow, torching everything in its path. I winced and shot up at the tall ceiling, grabbing a hold of the chandelier that hung overhead before pushing myself up to give myself more air time.
I made a few hand signs and cast a hot blast of flames downwards, but Kotaro swung his fist up, his other hand in a hand sign, causing a wall of rock to shoot up and block the attack. I landed on my feet, beside Roku. I quickly leaned down and bit down on the rope that tied his hands, as well as his head back. I tore it off, making Roku gasp a little and whimper. I tore out the senbon, glaring at him.
"Roku. That's the bad guy. RUN. Run and find Sasuke. He promised to help you." I said firmly. Roku nodded a little, then yelped when the rock wall that Kotaro put up exploded. I grabbed Roku in my arms, protecting him from the flying rubble before I shoved him.
"Go, Roku! And be careful!" I barked. He nodded and darted off to the sides of the room. I whipped around in time for Kotaro's fist to hit my cheek. Pain exploded into my head like fireworks, knocking me skidding across the floor and into a wall. I gasped, holding my cheek and looking at Kotaro, who frowned at me.
"I'm surprised your head didn't pop off," Kotaro mused, "That's interesting… Get up. I'm going to have fun with this."
"Shut up," I muttered, but forced myself to stand up, "You're going to regret ever meeting me." I whipped around and made hand signs as fast as I could.
"Fire Style! Running Fire!" Jets of fire hurdled toward Kotaro, who disappeared in a flash, making my eyes flicker. Where did he go? I yelped when I felt a breeze at my left, so I swung around to kick, but I ended up kicking nothing. I winced, then felt something slam into my ribs, causing me to fly through the air and slam into the wall behind the bed. Thank gods I landed on the bed. I sat up, holding my ribcage as I saw Kotaro standing across the room.
"Too slow." He stated. I gritted my teeth and went to move, but he was already making hand signs, hardly giving me a chance to do anything. I gasped as I felt something under the bed. Just in front of me, a stalagmite shot from the floor. I immediately lunged forward, just barely escaping another one that shot up behind me.
I pushed up off the bed and shot through the silky red canopy, landing on one of the tall bedposts, breathing hard. Kotaro's eyes followed me easily, narrowing slightly. He did that thing were he seemed to vanish in a blink. I flinched and pushed off the bedpost, shooting up at the ceiling. I concentrated all my chakra into my fist before bringing it forward and slamming it into the ceiling, shaking the building. I shot out the hole in the roof, doing a flip and landing there.
As soon as I landed on the snowy room, however, I was kicked in the gut, causing me to fly back, hitting the ground and rolling backwards for a second before the ground left my feet.
I gasped and caught the ledge, wincing. I jerked myself up, crawling a little. Kotaro studied me from his spot by the hole in the roof.
"I'd figured you'd want to leave quickly… Do me a favor and hand over that information you stole. I might be merciless." He held out his hand. I glared at him, gathering up all the blood in my mouth and spitting it at him.
"Screw you… Always saying might. It's not reassuring at all… Get outta my face, asshole…" I managed, struggling to stand up, only to fall back to my knees. I could feel my ribs poking around inside me as well as some throbbing pain in my skull. I wanted to just sleep for hours on end. I could already see my vision getting a little fuzzy on the sides.
"Looks to me like you'll die anyway… Just as well." Kotaro shrugged and walked up to me, kicking me onto my back. He frowned.
"Before you go, give me the files." He stated. I smirked faintly.
"Hell no. And you're not getting them yourself." I replied cockily. Kotaro's eyes flickered lightly. He didn't seem to get it until I swung my foot up into his gut, making him flinch faintly. I gritted my teeth.
I am never, ever making any more deals. After that deal with Sasuke, my life seemed to be crashing down on top of my head heavily. If it wasn't for all this mess, I could be in Konohagakure, enjoying the company of my friends.
I swung my foot up again, harder this time, knocking Kotaro into the air and back. I flipped into a standing position, ignoring how the sight in my right eye was a bit faded as I made quick hand signs, flinging my hands forward, breathing hard. I gathered chakra in my hands as crackling electricity. Kotaro had touched the ground now and forcing himself to get up.
I slammed my hands down into the roof of the inn, yelling in pain as my weak shoulder dislocated in the process. The entire roof exploded. I could feel it falling away from my feet, something snagging on my pant leg and tearing me downwards. I gasped and swung up to grab something, anything, but my nails just raked on rubble as everything caved inwards.
I was jerked down further and further, little bits of rocks cutting my skin and leaving marks behind as they tumbled around me.
Shitshitshit! I scrambled, jerking at whatever was hooked to me, finally tearing it as well as the entire left leg of my pants. I kicked off whatever it was and shot out of the mass. Next thing I knew, I was engulfed in a white flurry of snow, breathing hard. My entire right arm was numb. I couldn't move it at all. My body was sore, but I felt the adrenaline still rushing, so I scrambled to my feet.
However, as soon as I did, a hand grabbed my limp right arm, jerking hard. I yelped as I was whipped around to face Kotaro, a blood cut racing along his left cheek and through his lip. He glared at me and I felt like I was frozen now, the adrenaline being sucked right out of me by his eyes.
"Game over." He stated and swung his hand back, smacking me hard across the face and knocking me back in the snow. I gasped for air, pain exploding in my head. I felt blood forming in my mouth again and I couldn't move now. Kotaro took a step toward me to attack, but something knocked up the snow between us, making my eyes widen in shock.
"What the…? Sasuke?" I cried. Sasuke stood between Kotaro and I, his sword unsheathed and thrust out, his Sharingan narrowed.
"Back off." He ordered. Kotaro smirked lightly.
"Uchiha Sasuke. I was wondering when you'd come to save your little bitch… But now's not the best time to step in."
"I don't care," Sasuke snapped, "I said back off." He glanced at me over his shoulder, eyes glowing murderously before he looked back at Kotaro, who hadn't moved a bit. Sasuke stepped away hesitantly before bending down.
"What the hell are you doing?" I managed to demand angrily.
"Saving your worthless carcass." Sasuke snapped at me, then heaved me right over his shoulder, making me yelp a little, but my body still wouldn't move, so I couldn't thrash or wiggle away. Kotaro frowned, his expression becoming slightly annoyed. He went to make a move, but Sasuke swung his sword out at him.
"I'll gladly cut your down." Sasuke warned.
"I'm sure you'd try.""And succeed." Sasuke hissed, then whipped around and shot off, but not before something fell out of my shirt.
The folded up file with Akatsuki's information on it.
I gasped, watching as Kotaro seemed to be chuckling to himself, walking over and scooping up the folded up paper. I grimaced, digging my nails into the back of Sasuke's shirt as he shot through the trees.
Ughh! All that work…!
Damn it, Sasuke!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A/N: o3o; So, yea. Sasuke did a kinda good thing, but at the same time, not. xD I'll work on the next chapter as soon as possible. C: Hopefully the next one will be better and not to mention, have some updates on our rescue mission squad thing who I still don't have a spiffy name for… Any ideas? :D Anyway, thanks so much for reading, hope the OCs are in character, and your reviews are loved very much!
