Future Plans
Chapter 29: Stigma Sigma
XXX
Surprisingly, the first one to speak, after many failed attempts, was Hinata. She was trembling, lifting her hand like she was in a classroom. "A… Anko-san… your eyes… What is that…?"
"Like I said, it's initiation." The other contact was subtly pulled out as well and there seemed to be some freedom found because Anko sighed, her shoulders rising and lowering. "Muuuuch better, I can't tell you how annoying it is to wear those things for extended periods. Itches like wildfire."
"Man, my head is so full of fuck right now I can't even," Kiba muttered, hopelessly confused, squinting one eye as he tried to process just what he was seeing past the pain of his neck.
Something tingled in Naruto's eye and he subconsciously rubbed at it with the back of his hand. When it ceased to stop bothering him, he tapped Neji on the shoulder. "Eh, Neji? Real quick, can you look at my eye? It's…."
The rest of Naruto's request died away into nothing when the Hyuuga turned and their gazes met.
"Neji, there's… there's something—ya got a little… in your eye."
"As do you, Uzumaki. That same mark as Mitarashi-san…"
Naruto was by the riverside so quick he nearly flung himself over the edge in his haste to catch a glimpse at his reflection. What he saw staring back at him was also what Shikamaru bore witness to as the Chunin had pulled a thin mirror from one of his vest pockets.
"I think I may need to find a new word because I gotta say, troublesome just doesn't seem to be cutting it anymore." He pulled one eyelid, then the other. "You called this initiation, but this is something el—"
"What in the hell did you do to me?" Kiba's piercing voice easily overtook Shikamaru's, and his face easily overtook Shikamaru's portion of the mirror when he budged his way into view, those feral eyes alit with sudden anxiety. "I—what is this? What's in my eyes? Am I… am I gonna die?"
There was a mass movement from those not-bitten, a hasty march over the sodden leaves and brittle twigs as everyone went to someone else, all of them trying to get a good look at what had been passed on from mentor to pupil.
"Are you going to die?" It was a question that needed no consideration yet Anko put a hand to her chin. As she glanced from one fretting member of the SRT to the next, her expression slid from calculating to downright humorously sinister. "Honestly, my most hopeful prediction concerning who will survive this ordeal would lie with the Nara. And that's simply because he strikes me as the type to know his way around an escape route."
Several pairs of eyes fell upon the Jonin. Only the wildlife stirred in that moment, only the chittering birds and the scurrying raccoons, only the whispering trees and shuddering bushes.
"If I weren't capable of slitting the throat of every single one of you with a twitch of my wrist, I might actually be somewhat stunned by the ferocious looks you're giving me," she commented with a giggle. "If you display some of that attitude right there during the next few days we might actually get somewhere."
Still none replied.
"Now, to the ones who were given my gift, you need to go home. Go home, take a shower, try not to die. You know, the standard routine of a shinobi."
Standing, Naruto found his voice, but it wasn't one of fear. He spoke like he was struggling not to curse her. "That's it? You're just gonna bite us and then bam, nothing? Just go home?"
"Unacceptable," Neji said. "You owe us an explanation."
She snorted, amused. "In actuality, my little Hyuuga, I don't owe you shit. I didn't force this on you—quite the opposite really—and as such, what I chose to tell you I will do so on my time, not yours. Got me?"
It took a few seconds of back-and-forth staring, but eventually Neji conceded with the smallest nod ever in human history.
"Good boy. Now then, the lot of you are about thirty minutes from passing out, whether you feel it or not. Trust me, I've been down this road, it's going to happen, and when it does, it'd behoove you to be near a bed. A lot of things have just been set into motion and it would take longer than the night allows for me to explain." Anko jerked her head toward what they perceived to be the way back to the forest entrance. "You've got twenty-nine minutes now so I say again, go home. Or don't. The forest can be become your end just as easily as Orochimaru can give it to you. Ta-ta!"
She was gone. For good, they hoped, until Hinata jumped with a high-pitched squeak as Anko reappeared between her and Naruto like a great division.
The solitary finger she put just under his chin guided his head up and back with very little effort.
And that was how she stole a kiss.
A kiss that Naruto would have enjoyed if not for the painful prick he felt when she bit down on his lower lip, hard enough to draw blood. Pain and pleasure mixed together into an ultimately unsavory experience for the inexperienced blonde, but Anko seemed to enjoy his anguished twitch.
"Ninja become adults when they reach the rank of Chunin. If you live that long, you might call that something to consider, my blonde little snack."
This time, when a gust of leaves kicked up with her disappearance, her presence vanished as well.
Naruto's tongue unconsciously sought the throbbing wound on his lip and he fixed Hinata with a quizzical stare, not seeing her in the slightest. "Crazy snake bitch…."
Sasuke snorted. "You say that like it wasn't already known."
Naruto opened his mouth yet what preceded him was a roar that sounded eons old and dredged up from tombs yet seen by man. Just the timber of it shook the forest floor and caused a shower of loose tree leaves to rain down from above.
"Okay… what in the fuck was THAT?" Kiba yelled over Akamaru's burst of whimpers.
Ino was turning in all directions, the subject of stigmas completely blown from her mind. "Sounded like a dragon!"
There was nothing Shino could do but nod. "In this tomb lost in time, I would not doubt it. We should go. Now." That was his only warning before he started to run. Very fast.
Naruto quickly fell in step behind Chouji, all of them taking to the trees like primates, leaping and swinging from branch to branch as they tried to put some distance between themselves and whatever monstrosity had made that otherworldly noise.
"Gotta find a better word," Shikamaru repeated breathlessly, unable to believe his luck. "Really gotta find a better word…."
