And here we are with yet another chapter! 8D Enjoy! n.n
The trio passed the rest of the evening with small talk. Shikami had suggested trying to get a bit of sleep so they wouldn't run the risk of being that much more tired during the night, but he himself was wound up too tightly to even consider sleeping and Rue and Ethan had shot down the idea as well.
So after they finished eating, they simply chatted about random things under the sun, taking turns to gather more fuel for their fire when they ran low.
Then Shikami turned the topic towards the night ahead of them. "Our only objective is to get my mom out, not to see how many bad guy heads we can bust," he began.
"Even though that'd be loads of fun," Ethan interjected.
Rue grinned but kept silent.
"The 'divide and conquer' thing we used back in Konoha to find Shin won't work here," Shikami continued. "For one thing, we don't know the enemy's home anywhere near as well as Konoha, and we have no maps to help us with that or anything. For another, there is strength in numbers. If we seperated and they discovered us, they could pick us off one at a time and the others wouldn't even know it."
"How will we find your mom?" Rue asked.
"If this place really houses an entire clan, and it's not part of another town, I'm willing to bet it probably works similar to a town within itself," Shikami said, thinking. "Meaning, they'd have prison cells, too. If we find those, chances are my mom will be kept there."
Ethan raised his hand like he was in school. Shikami let a small grin break through at the motion, saying, "Yes, Ethan?"
Ethan grinned as he pulled his hand back down. "Doubtful you'll agree, but once we break your mom free, can we bust evil ninja heads with her then? We'll have a jonin on our side!"
"One that has probably been underfed and unable to train for months," Shikami finished, rolling his eyes. He didn't doubt that his mom was a terrific ninja, but there was little chance the enemy had given her silk sheets and feasts (at least, not drugged). Besides what good were a ninja-in-training, two genin, and a jonin (even at her best) against an entire clan?
"So we get in, grab your mom, and get out, without getting seen," Rue summed up.
Shikami felt a sudden shiver running along his spine at how close that sounded to how Kyra had described her plan back when his mom had first gone MIA.
"What if this clan doesn't cooperate?" Rue asked. "Is there a Plan B?"
Plan B... Shikami thought for a moment, then said, "If we're seen, there are two Plan B's. One is I put whoever sees us under a genjutsu, keeping them from chasing us or signaling others. The other is Ethan buries them like he did me and we gag them so they can't call out or anything."
"I like Plan B part two," Ethan grinned, flashing his chipped tooth.
During their conversation, the sky had grown darker. The sun set, darkness fell, and eventually their brightest light was from their fire, which also eventually burned out after they'd let a silence fall. They had only the moon and stars to shed light now, and they were partially blocked by tree branches.
Shikami stood. "Let's go," he said, dropping his voice low. Rue and Ethan stood as well, but in the dark, Shikami couldn't see their expressions very well.
Shikami set off in the direction of the Ikari place, treading as lightly as he could without any exaggerated sneakiness. Soon he stopped, causing Ethan and Rue behind him to stop as well. They had arrived. A sign several feet in front of the house probably read 'Ikari clan', or something to that effect, but with the light the way it was, Shikami couldn't tell for sure.
Many of the lights were on in windows, but partway around, they found a section that was dark. Shikami hoped it wasn't a bedroom, especially a bedroom with someone sleeping at that time.
The window was locked, but using his earth jutsu, Ethan went underground, slipped into the room, and unlocked it for Rue and Shikami from the inside. They climbed in and headed out stealthily in single file: Shikami, Ethan, then Rue.
Once, they nearly ran directly into someone, perhaps a patrolling guard. They quickly ducked into a room (which was luckily dark and hopefully empty) and let him pass, then came out again and continued.
Prisons, prisons, prisons... Shikami wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for to find the prison area. A suspicious dead end, a scary staircase, an obvious sign - all of those would be helpful. But those were only in stories. How could he expect to—
"PRISON CELLS – NEXT FLOOR DOWN"
What a convenient, obvious sign, pointing to a scary staircase.
Shikami followed the signs instructions, stepping down the narrow, winding staircase. He stopped suddenly and felt Ethan crash into him. Someone was coming up the stairs.
There wasn't enough time to signal Rue to begin backing up quickly and silently, and definitely not enough time to follow her just as quickly and silently. He leaped up as high as he could and grabbed onto the wall with his chakra, tugging at Ethan's shirt to follow. He prayed Ethan would remember Rue couldn't climb walls.
He did. Ethan appeared beside him high on the wall moments later, with Rue piggyback riding on him.
The person passed them by and Shikami silently sighed in relief. The three slowly planted their feet on the ground again and continued their downward journey.
At the first exit from the staircase, Shikami took it and found himself staring down a long, wide hallway with bars on both sides closing off more rooms. A few scattered electric lights cast a dim and eerie glow on the place.
If anyone else had been in the hall, he would have seen three small, suspicious figures stepping from the stairway. However, it was empty as far as Shikami could tell. He walked down the hall, glancing in each cell on both sides. He didn't look behind him, though he knew Ethan and Rue were following him still.
Empty. Empty. Rats, but otherwise empty. Empty. Skeletons, but nothing living. Empty again. More skeletons. Gross, a corpse a lot fresher. Shikami held his breath and moved on.
Empty. Empty. Skeletons. Empty. Rats. Shikami stopped dead in his tracks at the last cell.
It wasn't his mom, but it was human, and living. Her form looked familiar, even in the dim light. But it couldn't be...
Shikami looked behind him at Ethan and Rue – no, just Ethan. His eyes widened in shock and confusion.
Ethan spied the girl in the cell moments after Shikami, and looked at his friend in confusion. Shikami watched as Ethan also glanced behind him, and when Ethan looked back at Shikami, not seeing Rue anywhere, his expression mirrored Shikami's.
The girl lying down, chained to the back wall of the cell... was Rue.
Mwahahaha, cursed or not, my cliffhangers shall survive, Tay! xD
Anyways, now I hafta come up with a reason she's there... xD; *starts typing, having a general idea* x3
Leave a review on your way out, pretty please with sugar on top! ;D