I still wake up, I still see her ghost, but Lord, I still don't know what I stand for. What do I stand for? What do I stand for? Most nights, I don't know anymore. ~Fun. (Some Nights)
"Now?! Oh man, th-theres no pressure. Heh, heh, no pressure at all..." I said nervously.
'We have a chance to leave, but it would hurt my team. And Naruto and Sasuke would get mad at me.
'Oh no...'
'Kakashi-sensei would get mad at me...'
'Oh man... I don't know...'
"Commoner, don't even think about it," Ryota said irritably.
I sighed and did my best at calming myself down.
"Well...I'm outta here," Kabuto said.
I whipped my head around to look at the guy.
"Um...aren't you Kabuto of Konoha? Okay. You can go. Uhhh... In case I forgot to mention it, from here on in, you fight as individuals, not as members of teams. So you can make the decision that's right for you without worrying about anyone else. So...anyone else want out? Show of hands?" the proctor said.
I was about to raise my hand, which shook, but Ryota bit my ear, causing me to put both of my hands on my ear.
"Ow, Ryota! Stop it please!" I seemed to miss the conversation that Naruto was having with , Sasuke seemed to be in extreme pain.
"Sasuke, are you okay?!" I exclaimed trying to look at the Curse Mark, Ryota let go and I put my hand on his mark.
"Wh-what are you doing, Akiko?!" he said with his teeth clenched.
"I'm going to freeze the skin and the mark to make the throbbing cease. And it's possible that it freezes the chakra it puts inside you too," I said putting a layer of ice over his mark.
"Sasuke, maybe you should-"
"Don't even say it, Akiko! This pain is my burden, and mine alone. So stop worrying about me," he said.
I tried to suppress the tears, I was so scared for him.
"Y-You guys are like family! I-I couldn't protect you guys once. I just want to no, have to try this way..." I began to raise my hand when Sasuke grabbed my wrist.
"Stop worrying about me. I won't turn away from my vengeance for your sake." He said with a harsh glare.
"Hey, teme! Why the heck are you trying to act so cool?! Can't you see how worried Aki-kun is?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Naruto...you're one of the ones I want to fight..." Sasuke said.
Ryota cuddled my cheek.
"Ryota..."
"Don't say a word, Commoner. It makes people stop doing that ugly crying thing," he said.
I gave a small smile and patted his head.
"Ah...well then...we'll now begin the preliminaries, which will consist of individual combat matches, as though this were part of a tournament. As there are a total of 20 combatants remaining we will hold a total of 10 bouts. Ummm... And the victors of those bouts will advance to the third exam. This is no-holds-barred combat. Each pair of combatants will fight until one of them is dead or unconscious or admits defeat. As soon as you sense that your opponent is overpowering you, immediately concede your loss...if you value your life. Uh...since we don't want a total bloodbath on our hands, there may be cases where we ascertain that there is an undisputed winner and step in to end the don't count on that. From here on out, the key to your fate is held in this electronic score board. At the start of every round, we will display names of the two combatants competing in that match. So, um... Not to hurry you all to the slaughter, but let's begin. We'll now announce the first two names," Hayate said.
"Oi, Commoner, if you get that Gaara kid, withdraw right away. That guy is not right," Ryota muttered.
"Okay, I will, Ryota." I all waited for a moment for the we saw it was Sasuke Uchiha and Yoroi Akado.
"Sasuke..." I whispered.
He turned and looked at me.
"Good luck, and fight hard!" I said with a thumbs up and a fake smile.
"Hn," he said as he went to meet his opponent.
"Yoroi Akado, Sasuke Uchiha, you two have been selected to compete in the first bout. Any objections?"
"None..."
"Not at all."
'Sasuke, do well...' I thought.
"Uhhhh... It's time for the first round to commence. Everyone other than the two combatants should move to the upper gallery now."
We all went upstairs.
"Ryota, I'm a little scared for Sasuke..." I said to the rabbit.
"Maa, the bird haired ass will be fine. Plus Scarecrow bastard will stop him if it gets too bad," he said.
Yoroi did a handsign.
"I can't watch!" I exclaimed covering my eyes.
I heard a thud.
"Ryota, what happened!?" I exclaimed.
"You'll have to look yourself," Ryota grumbled.
I opened my eyes to see Sasuke have a hold on Yoroi's hand down in an arm breaking chokehold it seemed like.
'Sasuke!' I thought.
Yoroi grabbed his shirt and something was happening.
Sasuke seemed to be losing strength. Yoroi punched Sasuke with his hand making him fall. He was twitching on the ground, as Sasuke was getting up, Yoroi came rushing towards him.
"Sasuke!" I almost yelled.
The guy got a hold of his face and put him on the about Yoroi's fighting was strange. He didn't seem to be trying to attack really, it seemed he was more interested in getting his hands on Sasuke.
"He must be absorbing Sasuke's chakra!" I exclaimed.
'He's putting his hands on Sasuke, and Sasuke is losing strength. It has to be!'
Sasuke kicked Yoroi off of him.
'I'm sure if Yoroi touches him again, he may be drained and unconscious, or worse, he may use the mark and my ice probably wouldn't last two minutes if that happened.'
"HOW CAN YOU STILL CALL YOURSELF SASUKE UCHIHA?! YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO YOURSELF! AREN'T YOU EMBARRASSED TO HAVE EVERYONE SEE YOU AS A BIG LOSER!" Naruto yelled.
Yoroi was running at Sasuke; he went down and kicked Yoroi's chin from the ground, which made Yoroi fly.
It was Lee's move.
Sasuke jumped up and was behind Yoroi and he did a handsign, and I thought it was over for Yoroi.
Then, Sasuke coughed up blood. The curse mark had to be growing.
"SASUKE!" I yelled as I fought the urge to help my teammate.
Just as I was about to jump in, the curse mark began to recede .
He ended up kicking Yoroi who hit him back. As they got closer to the ground, Sasuke kicked him harshly down into the concrete ground.
Sasuke fell on the ground also, but he didn't leave cracks like Yoroi did.
I could tell that Sasuke had won.
"I'm halting this match before it goes any further. In other words... Sasuke Uchiha is the champion of the first battle and advances past the preliminaries to the next level," the proctor said.
"TEME DID IT!" Naruto yelled.
I decided to add my own, softer yell, "Well done, Sasuke!"
"Hey, Sasuke! You won in such an uncool way! And you came out looking like you're the one who got beaten up!" Naruto yelled.
"Shut up, loser," Sasuke said, but he sounded amused.
"I told you he'd be fine. You shouldn't doubt the great Kami-sama, Ryota!" Ryota said.
I smiled at him. Then, I saw Sakura with the Medical Corps that were on the lower level.
"HEY, SAKURA-CHAN!" I did my best at yelling and waving. She gave me a smile and waved.
"Sakura-chan is so pretty..." Naruto said with an odd look on his red face.
"Okay, Naruto..." I said as I patted his all looked up at the next fighters.
'Please don't be me.'
'If it is, please don't make them scary!'
The board said:
Akiko Yuki VS Natsumi Kira.
A tall, muscular girl jumped down with light brown hair and red brown eyes.
I calmly jumped down.
She looked at least a foot taller than me, though I was about 5'0 exactly, so...
She looked down and me and smirked.
I saw that she was from Kumo, and mostly lightening release users came from there. It was gonna be a long battle...and not easy for me...
Okay, reasons for an OC opponent. I didn't want to put her up against Ino, their friends I feel like it wouldn't be interesting without a rivalry. And I wanted someone that would be tougher for Akiko to beat. Yeah, she's been losing battles lately but I feel like this next one will be a nice struggle fight. I'll do my best!
Anime Song of the Day... I don't know... U Can Do It! It's one of the Naruto Shippuden endings that I am so freaking obsessed with! OMG, I love it so much!
Hey! Hey! Hey! I think you can do it!
Okay, anyways, don't be ghost readers! I'm hoping to get to 80 reviews, please!Luvz and Hugz to All, and to All a Good Day! ^^