A/N: GODDAMN FREAKIN' FOREST OF DEATH! X.X
er... i mean, hullo all! been awhile! :D
okay, honestly, this is 'half' of a chapter i've been working on this whole while i've not been here, and ignoring RL shenanigans, even PLANNING the effects of last chap has had some interesting results... i wanted to put this one and the next as one chap just to move things along faster... but its not having that, so with this one being ~12k already and the next part i already have written over 8k and still not nearly done, i decided to just admit defeat and split it at the nice little junction i've got here and continue working on the next bit as is...
lots of set up, reactions, and probably not the 'best' but hey! its better then nothing right! :D
(that was terrible and i apologize -.-)
ENJOY!
Mitarashi Anko was many things; a sadist, a snake charmer, a sexy-sexy super-awesome-amazing special jounin, an elegant lady-master of the art of Tea Ceremonies, to name a few. What she was not, was easily surprised.
So it was saying something when she was watching the hidden cameras throughout the forest only to cue to several and they began cutting off in quick succession. A purple brow rose, assuming the kids were getting riled up or those damn oversized crickets thought the electronics were nommy again. –Really need to clean those things out…- clicking through the selection of cameras again she noticed a significant amount of them were out on the north side by the river… in what she quickly estimated to be at least a square kilometer if not more.
Dark purple brow rose higher.
"Well, fuck it, this isn't telling me anything…" she stood up, tossed the remote amongst the TV sets and put down her popcorn, heading for the closest window and planning to get an aerial view from the top of the tower to see what was going on.
When she finally got to the top of the tower, scowered the forest line until it suddenly 'dipped' with a huge swath of missing/bulldozed trees and a sea of sand taking its place she couldn't help but let her 'surprise' get the better of her, "WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?!"
In about ten minutes she was standing on what remained of the trees in the area and just looked down into a patch of sand, cut in half by the river and stretching further into the woods, denoting more damage there. Her head could only tilt. –Was this one of the sand teams?- it made sense at least one of them would use techniques involving sand, Ibiki's report mentioned something about it, but to this extent? –What the hell?-
Jumping further into the forest to investigate she found further traces of combat. Unusual scorching, cuts with no apparent weapons, a massive hole with remnants of wire left behind and residue from a large explosion… and of course, sand everywhere. –Someone was fighting the sand…- in one clearing in particular there were three large blood stains, indicating the remains of at least one team… but these guys obviously weren't the ones that had done the rest of the fighting with the sand squad. Judging by the fact there was less sand here and the age of the bloodstains she figured these guys must have been killed before the big fight. –After seeing that, someone still had the balls to fight the guy?- she knew she had her crazy moments but she doubted she'd purposely go after a guy who could crush people with sand into pulp without a good damn reason, going for a scroll in a test like this sure as hell wasn't enough.
Curiosity got the better of her and she followed the trail the challengers came from. The kids were good, didn't leave much behind but she was an expert tracker and they obviously weren't expecting someone like her to follow where they came from. She came across a few unusual sights, an area covered with random senbon, kunai and dead bats, more of those unusual burns and a circle in the ground that almost made her think of a Hyuuga using their 'ultimate defense'… following the path further she found another downed tree, claw marks everywhere from what she recognized to be an Inuzuka attack and several dead beetles that looked like the Aburame's kikaichu. Checking the area she found a spot where it looked like a deep pressure body print, from the height she'd guess it was the Aburame kid. Not far off was more scouring from the Inuzuka's claw attacks along with more residue from explosions. In one of the branches she found a strange cylinder casing and a lot of dead or unconscious bugs nearby, she didn't feel like checking the bugs but picked the thing up to look it over. It was pretty nondescript, about hand sized with the remains of a red pull at the end. She sniffed it and recognized it as some kind of anesthetic. –Who the hell uses this as a weapon? Some kind of medic-nin?- she didn't know there were medic-nin out here, they usually weren't trained until chuunin at least, the kids in the academy only got first aid far as she knew.
Twirling the canister in her hand she sat on one of the boughs and started to think, putting the pieces together of which team this must have been. –They attacked a Konoha team then attacked a Suna team, chances are they aren't one of them…- she looked at the canister again, it was a strange thing, not a tool she recognized and stood out as not being from around here. Out of curiosity she tapped the thing along the side of the tree she was sitting on, surprised when it started spraying out more of the gas and on reflex she covered her mouth… only to be further confused when she realized a dose like this would never affect a human much. –But something the size of a bug?- she glanced around, remembering all the bugs. –Whoever used this knew how to defend against an Aburame…- chocolate eyes glanced down the swath of explosive burns on a line of trees accompanied by claw marks. –And another who knew how to lead an Inuzuka…- then she remembered the strange burns and dead bats. –And someone that knows well how to fight hordes with a lot of chakra…- then there was the sand fight and everything she'd seen there. –And the lot of them weren't afraid of a bloody death and challenged probably the strongest guy here and got away…- she hadn't found a body, not that she really expected too, nor more blood stains, leading her to believe they'd gotten away.
All the evidence pointed to a well-trained, cocky as fuck bunch of little bastards that didn't know when to quit. –I'd bet anything it was the Kumo kids…- the idea brought a smirk to her face, knowing they got beat at least once, but intrigued how they beat one of their better genin teams, rookies sure, but the three boys under Kurenai weren't something to snort at. Her friend wasted no time making sure they were ready for this thing. –And of all the rookies they should be the best equipped for this survival portion at least…-
Twirling the canister again she couldn't help but have another, wary thought. –Why were they attacking the sand squad?- they'd seen another team get literally crushed, there's no way they were ballsy enough to think they could win against that, and again such a risk wasn't worth the scroll for this test. She tossed the canister, letting it spin for a second before catching it firmly. –It makes me wonder more if Ibiki was right, are they plants planning something or are they just too cocky for their own good?-
Her musings were interrupted as a feeling came over her shoulders she hadn't felt in years… twelve years to be exact.
Clinching her teeth hard she stored the canister in her pouch, reaching her hand up as the damn mark on her neck started to burn. –Fuck him… what now?- quickly getting her bearings she felt out the direction he was. It may have been over a decade but she'd never forget the feel of that bastard's vile chakra, even at this distance…
Once she had her lock she took off, intent to finish their 'relationship' once and for all…
Yorihi ignored the twitch at the edge of her senses, something moving fast but stealthy through the woods, in a direction she would have sworn Orochimaru had left them. She had no idea who'd be foolhardy enough to challenge the bastard, excluding herself of course, and while a part of her wanted to spy on such a confrontation, to gather as much information as possible about the potential enemy, she kept herself rooted to the ground where she sat.
Arms and legs crossed as in front of her was a konoichi on the edge of death…
Most of her didn't know why she came over without a word after Xiao pried her out of the tree. Part of her didn't know why she sat down without a word, head tilted in her direction as Xiao rolled her on her side, keeping the wound up, exposed to the air without putting her on her face to suffocate in the dirt. She didn't move as Xiao went to go add an extra bit of her own flare of bedside manner to the Uchiha who quickly passed out after being treated and left Naruto worried for his teammate. The boy never looked over here and part of her was grateful, not wanting to have to try and restrain another demon today, she'd tried it once already and failed spectacularly.
The girl in front of her winced in her lucid state and Yorihi could feel fractures slip in the bones of her spine. There were cracks all over her skeletal structure, she obviously hadn't built up her muscles enough to withstand such forces or used enough chakra to dampen the hit. Nothing was broken, so far, but that could easily shift if she moved too hard one way before the fractures fully closed. It was likely her ribs would be the first to break, and that just from moving her.
Something about the pink haired girl irritated Yorihi to no end. She was weak, underdeveloped for their line of work, even compared to the other Rookies from this damn village. She should have just stayed unconscious, known such an action would be deadly to someone as frail as her. It made her want to growl, tightening her crossed arms and sending her hands into fists but managed to keep the frustration off her face.
It wasn't right to be so hateful to someone that didn't care for personal safety or the afterward just to defend a comrade. Kumo didn't exactly extol a 'save everyone' philosophy since it was generally accepted whatever mission you went on could be your last, they were realists in that sense. So when someone was saved, was brought home, bleeding and broken but otherwise alive and could fight for another day… well, that was a win in their book after all. It was rare and unexpected so it was worthy of praise.
It must have irritated her because that kind of thinking, that everyone should be saved, was what Konoha was known for… and they'd slipped into that fantasy, but the only one that went all the way was the girl in front of her. She didn't know if she wanted her to die or not.
Xiao finally trudged back over, the older girl practically falling to the ground in a seat as obviously all the adrenaline from the fights earlier was wearing off. She pulled a small scroll from her pouch, opened it up to the side featuring a sign, cut her thumb and spread blood all over it, resulting in a poof! And a set of surgical tools to appear. With a tired voice the older konoichi told her, "Hold her up…"
Raising a tattooed brow Yorihi wasn't sure what she was supposed to do.
With her cut thumb Xiao ran it across her opposite palm, going through another series of seals, "Pick her up under her arms, facing you, I need to have better access to the wound on her shoulder, just hold her sitting up," she explained without even looking at her, finishing her seals, taking a deep breath and releasing it in a sigh before slamming her bloodied hand on the ground, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" in a cloud of smoke a tiny Minazuki appeared, a kind of light teal greenish on top with a cyan bottom. It looked up at its summoner, with its bulbous black eyes and Xiao looked down on it with one of the most resigned looks on her face Yorihi had ever seen, "Hey there little guy." It chirped at her, wiggling its little skate body as she picked it up and rested her forehead on its top, causing its eyes to close, "I'm sorry little guy…" it hummed and seemed to understand as its mistress put it back down.
Just as Yorihi was picking up the Konoha konoichi as requested, leaning Sakura almost on one shoulder and trying to not further aggravate any of the stress fractures, she saw Xiao pull out a kunai and stab the little Minazuki in the head. Yorihi was shocked, "Xiao-chan!?"
The dusky-pinkette didn't move from her task. For some reason the Minazuki's body didn't disappear when struck, as far as Yorihi could tell the thing was legitimately dead. This was further confirmed when Xiao went about cutting off the top layer of its light teal-greenish skin, setting the strip with her tools on the other scroll and then removing something near the back of the thing connected to the stinger and taking that as well. With clinical ease Xiao turned towards Yorihi and her patient, her red eyes dull and her body seeming to work automatically as she raised the stinger in one hand, brought it to the Konoha konoichi's neck and jabbed her. At Yorihi's quirked tattooed brows she decided to elaborate, "It's an anesthetic, it'll keep her unconscious and still for a while, its most potent from the stinger so that gives us the most time, but I'll later grind it up along with the poison sac to create a powder that can be converted into a gas or solution…" she turned around just as mechanically, wiping her hands on the bottom of her frock not caring before pulling out another small scroll and sealing the remains of her dead summon.
As much as she wanted to, Yorihi didn't question. Just continued her duty of holding the now immobile girl.
Xiao turned back to them, sitting more comfortably as she pulled out a scalpel and cut along the back seam of the girl's dress, "She'll need another pair of clothes," she said nonchalantly as she literally cut the top half of the dress off with precision ease. Yorihi didn't question, just removed the pieces that fell around the girl. It was funny when Xiao gave an indignant snort and cut the girl's bra right off, "Seriously, why the hell would a konoichi need this kind of thing? It's a waste of money and so confining…"
Yorihi couldn't help but snort, remembering her cousin Mei, "You may not need them," a light teasing smirk may or may not have come to the younger girl's face, "But some of us do," sure she didn't have the same 'useless and for show' version this girl did, hers were more practical and meant for minimal motion and extra support, "Plus they're not a bad place to hide a knife…"
There was a snicker in the back of the older girl's throat as she moved to grab a strong smelling solution and began spreading it around the girl's back, more than just around the snake bite, "I'll stick to my bindings…" Yorihi assumed she was cleaning the area with the strong smelling solution, it made her snort more than once. "It's iodine, used to clean, sorry it smells," Xiao clarified, even if her only response was another snort. A smirk rose on the dark skinned girl's face as she returned back to the previous topic, finishing up her cleaning, "Besides, do you honestly think a girl like this needs something like that? Over padding and not a single place to hide a weapon," an indecent snicker as she moved to rub the scalpel in her hand on the fleshy side of the Minazuki strip she'd removed.
There was a slight frown on the pale girl's face as she watched her friend make the first cut, thoughts on what she'd said, "Does seem like its more for looks then function," Xiao moved her scalpel expertly in long lines, cutting around the chunk removed from Orochimaru but not going as deep initially. Yorihi could tell, from her look on the wound earlier, the bastard had taken out a good chunk of muscle, that could be difficult for the girl to heal back and even then it'd be harder to retrain.
Xiao seemed focused on her task now, removing what she'd cut, leaving a small pile of flesh next to her as she went about her work. When she started removing torn bits of a darker flesh tone Yorihi couldn't help but speak up, "Will she be able to recover?"
Still working primarily on her task Xiao answered in a somewhat textbook fashion, "It depends how well it heals. That bastard took a good chunk out of her trapezius, the muscle responsible for supporting the weight of the arm and moving the scapula, while its recovering she won't be able to lift her arm or move it much…" she reached in and pulled out some more muscle, putting the scalpel in her mouth as she moved a bloody hand to her pouch. With expert ease she withdrew and held out a cylinder to Yorihi, "Put one of these in her mouth and get her to swallow, she's bleeding more then she should…"
Without question Yorihi moved to hold the girl with one hand and put the cylinder to her mouth with the other, popping the top and forcing in a blood pill, then rubbing her neck to force it down.
Meanwhile Xiao swapped out her tools and grabbed the rectangle bit of flesh from the Minazuki she'd killed, "Normally it'd be difficult to regrow muscle let alone a wound like this, but the Minazuki's flesh acts as a bridge for healing as well as a cover, a second set of skin," she put the rectangle of greenish flesh in the hole she'd cut out easily, "It should act as a graph and the enzymes in their skin make healing quicken and hopefully without scar tissue, otherwise she'll have a chance to rip the muscle later if pushed too far…"
Yorihi leaned over with a raised cyan tattooed brow, "You're sure?"
Xiao just shrugged, as she pulled out a needle and started suturing the wound, "This is the first time I've preformed this so we'll see, chances are she may lose some feeling as I don't think the nerves that were ripped out will regrow as well, and there was more blood then I figured, but this is honestly the best I can do right now…" there was a tight furrow in the girl's brow as her eyes focused on her task, "None of my healing Minazuki are big enough or old enough to swallow people yet, and I just had to sacrifice the smallest one for this graph, it's a stopgap measure for now until we can get out of this damn forest and someone else can handle it…" there was a deep, frustrated growl from the girl, still continuing her task but it was obvious to Yorihi she was angry at herself for her limitations, "That fucking bastard ripped and pulled a lot of muscles with his bite, not to mention some of the edges showed signs of this black necrosis looking thing, I had to cut deeper and around, causing more damage just to get rid of it and even then some may have gotten into her bloodstream, which would be terrible right now as a number of her bones are cracked and likely leaking erythroblasts and other proto-cells which if attach to the wrong cells would be further disastrous and-"
"XIAO!" Yorihi couldn't help but yell, not knowing half the things she was talking about but understanding part of her friend's mind was panicking.
It stopped her long enough for the red eyed girl to look up at her friend over her patient's shoulder. Now the worry was obvious in the older girl's eyes, she was their medic, she didn't like seeing anything die, and it was obvious her mind was well trained to see potential complications and future problems…
But right now she needed to focus on her task at hand, she was the only one that could do it and was doing a damn fine job with what she had, "Finish up, we'll worry about any complications later, and when we're out of here one of their medics can look her over, you're doing fine…" Yorihi reassured her.
Xiao took a deep breath, closed her eyes and let it out. When those red eyes reopened they were firm, set to their task and she went right back, "Right, Princess…" the rest of the procedure ended in relative silence without any further complication. Once the Minazuki skin was graphed and sutured in place she pulled out healing wards and put those on, then wrapping over the girl's shoulder and chest to keep the wound clean for now.
Yorihi reached behind her, pulling out a canteen and handing it to Xiao, the older girl giving her a look before accepting the gesture. She pulled out some pad from within her kit, dabbed it with the water and put on a spot of iodine, it was a quick way to clean her hands even if it smelled. Once done she took a sip of the canteen and returned it to the blind girl, breathing out deeply and looking at her patient who was topless and leaning on her friend.
An unwitting smirk picked at the edge of Xiao's lips at the sight, "You and naked women Princess, I may have to start worrying…"
Those cyan tattooed brows lowered sharply, unamused, "See if she's got a scroll or something with spare clothes, I'd like to not have her leaning on me more than necessary…" ending with a perturbed snort.
Red eyes rolled as she rifled through the Konoha girl's pack, it had some medical supplies, canteen and a few kunai, not much and sure as hell not nearly enough to be mission ready. She made a noise of disapproval.
"I take it from the grunt of disapproval that'd be a 'no' on her having a spare clothes scroll?" Yorihi spoke flatly, irritated for obvious reasons.
"How could you tell?" Xiao had a pensive frown on her face, if she'd known the girl was so ill-prepared she may have taken the extra second to remove the dress properly, but seeing as that wasn't the case she looked down at what they had to work with. She'd cut along the back seam and along the shoulders so the thing was still in one piece just effectively useless as a cover right now, it could be fixed but someone would have to sew it. She glanced over at the boys on the girl's team, she knew the Uchiha only had his shirt as she'd tugged it down earlier to clean his wound, and she'd prefer he'd have the extra covering for his own wound so that left… "Hey Na-chan, give me your coat…"
"Eh?" the blonde boy perked his head up, still not turning around.
Tattooed brows quirked across from her, "Xiao-chan?"
The older girl just smirked, noticing the odd look on her friend's face but keeping her eyes on the younger boy, "I need your jacket, so hand it over…"
There was the sound of a zipper being undone and the boy fidgeting, "Uh-is it really necessary?"
At the sight of her younger comrade turning a bit pink, Xiao couldn't help but quirk a dusky-pink brow, "Yea, Na-chan, I had to cut this girl's dress off to work on her wound, she needs something to wear as a cover till one of you boys fixes her dress!"
If Yorihi hadn't been holding Sakura she may have shot forward and choked on her own saliva. –What the hell Xiao?!- her face must have said it all as the older girl just gave her a quirked brow when she turned.
"What's up with you Princess?" red eyes stared at her warily, "It's not like I'm gonna do it, and I doubt you would either," a dark hand pointed at the top naked girl still leaning on her comrade in the bandages, "She's their teammate, they should handle it…"
Suddenly there was a shuffle next to the two Kumo girls and when Xiao looked over she was honestly quite surprised by what she saw, "Well hello there…"
Naruto had walked up to the girl's with his orange jacket in one hand and the other covering his eyes. It was nice to think he cared for his teammate's modesty but that meant he had no idea about the looks he was getting from Xiao and it was taking Yorihi everything in her willpower to not react… or linger too long, "What? What's wrong Xi-nee-chan?" he didn't seem to understand that only having a fishnet undershirt was likely to have an effect on those around him.
Red and hidden white eyes blinked as the two konoichi considered how to respond…
-I don't get it! I saw him yesterday without his jacket on! Why does he looked so ripped right now?!- indeed, it seemed in the past twenty four hours Naruto had either suddenly gained more muscle definition or lost a significant amount of fat as she did not remember that six pack being there! –It must have been the Kyuubi's chakra burning his metabolism faster… yes, that must be it…- try as she might the focus of her permanently active Byakuugan kept straying to those newly formed muscles…
Xiao, having nothing to hide and no thoughts of shame, raised a brow, reaching up to take the boy's offered jacket, "Well, call me impress Na-chan," a shameless grin spread on her face as she turned to put the jacket on her patient, but not without continuing her comment, "Have to say I've not seen a boy that developed since that one time back at the Academy and Oku lost-"
"I don't think that story is appropriate for little kids, Xiao-chan," a slightly deeper voice cut in as Oku made his random appearance as usual, though Lior was noticeably missing.
A wider smirk spread on the medic-wannabe's face as she finished up slipping the orange jacket around the injured girl and set her down on her side so as to no longer be leaning on her friend, "Shut up, Oku~" her voice was teasing as she sat back up, missing the disgruntled look on her friend's face and looked at her partner over her shoulder, obviously relieved he was back and fine.
Yorihi wrenched her focus from the confused looking blonde boy in the fishnet shirt to the one wearing the plated hat, "I take it you found somewhere we can hide for the night?"
Oku had his arms crossed and that somewhat serious look on his face, even if it looked like his eyes were closed, "Yup, found a good defensible position, Lior's setting up traps as we speak," he glanced at the two that were down and the one covering his eyes, "Are we seriously taking them with us?"
Yorihi stood up with a serious look on her face, "Yes, for now at least," she faced the dirty blonde boy, her plate covered eyes level with his own seemingly-closed ones, "Two of them are unconscious and injured, and it wouldn't do well to leave Naruto-kun on his own…"
The bright blonde boy had a smile on his face after that, "Really?! You guys are awe-"
"I think we should leave them," Oku's flat voice spoke out, interrupting the bright boy's joviality.
"Oku!" red eyes turned to her partner, she wasn't exactly surprised he'd said it, just hoped he wouldn't have…
He faced his partner with a slight frown, "Xiao-chan I know how you feel, but it'd be better for us to just leave these two," several brows rose at the word but he kept going, "We don't know what could happen thanks to that snake guy's attack, she's already got a foot in the grave," he nodded to the girl in Naruto's jacket, "And he's the one the guy wanted to begin with," with a tight frown he turned to Sasuke who while unconscious was still groaning on the forest floor.
"Why you-!" Naruto looked like he was close to charging at the older boy, even Xiao stood and was staring at her partner conflicted.
Yorihi quickly stepped in, holding both hands out to prevent either from interfere, "That's enough, let him speak!"
Naruto finally lowered his hand, glaring at the guy he thought was cool before turning to the girl that was standing between him and punching the guy in the face, "But Yorihi, he just-!"
"I said that's enough," her voice was low and held strict command, "Be silent for a moment and let him finish Naruto-kun, remember we're not like you…"
Oku nodded, keeping his arms crossed and facing them both more so then his partner, "You know it as well as I do Yorihi-hime that this is no longer a 'game' situation," his voice lowered and his face gained a seriousness the blind girl had never seen in him before, "That guy was leagues above us, you yourself called him one of the Legendary Sannin from this village, that means this is a serious threat," his eyes opened slightly, glaring at his friend while ignoring the boy behind her, "Whatever he hoped to achieved deals with the Uchiha, so we should kill him right now to stop it from happening…"
"YOU BASTARD! HOW CAN I HAVE EVER THOU-!" Naruto's shouting was suddenly halted as the girl in front of him whipped around, put her hand on his mouth and pushed him to the ground. The boy was stunned, firstly that she did that, secondly that she could do that and amazed by how strong she was…thirdly he couldn't understand why her face was still that same placid look as she half stood over him, holding his mouth and facing him, his angry eyes reflected in her hitae-ate.
"I told you to be quiet," she applied more pressure when he made to squirm, "Listen to me Naruto, Listen!" she held his head looking at her when he tried to look away, ignored as he brought his hands up to push her arm off, crouched down and setting her leg across his to prevent him from kicking her. He wanted to fight, every instinct in him said to do so and she could see it in his angry eyes but he wasn't doing as much as he could have. Her voice lowered as she leaned into him and he seemed to stiffen, "Oku has his points but right now I don't intend to kill anyone I don't have to, understand?"
Those bright blue eyes looked at her skeptically and for a moment he forgot she was blind.
"I said do you understand? Nod yes or no," those tattooed brows lowered making her look a little angry.
He pouted under her hand and just to be a little snot licked her palm thinking that'd be enough to get her off. The Kumo konoichi didn't move but the frown on her face increased. Rolling his eyes he finally nodded, though he wasn't sure if he should trust her now. –I got to do what I can to keep Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan safe…-
As soon as he nodded Yorihi let go and stood up, not bothering to help him up.
"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Yorihi-hime," Oku's voice was flat as he watched the entire display. His friend was babying this boy when she should just knock him out and be done with the other two, "Who knows what that snake did to the Uchiha, not to mention he wants him…"
"He wants his eyes," Yorihi responded dryly, turning towards her comrade, "He doesn't give a damn about the Uchiha, just so long as he can get the Sharingan from him…"
That caused Oku to frown and contemplate their options for a moment, "Then why don't we just cut them out, he can survive then, just blind?"
"That won't be enough," Finally Xiao spoke up, walking towards the two with her arms crossed, sending Naruto a sympathetic look as he sat behind Yorihi in an angry pout, obviously trying his best not to get involved with their conversation. Her red eyes turned to her partner to answer him, "If this guy wants the Sharingan, his bloodline eyes, then all he'd have to do is breed him to get another pair, meaning he'd likely return to kidnap him if nothing else…"
"So again," the dirty blonde nodded, turning back to their 'leader', "Why don't we just kill him and save us all the trouble?" his brows were furrowed, and his stance was stern. He legitimately meant what he said.
Naruto had to bite his lip hard enough to cause blood and hold his hands on his knees in front of him just to prevent himself from jumping up and shouting at the damn bastard.
Yorihi could feel how tense he was, all his rage, enough of her sympathized with the blonde jinchuuriki wanting to protect his teammates but Oku had a valid point. It'd be easier on everyone to just eliminate the Uchiha now and dispose of the body in such a way no one would ever be able to get anything from it. –It'd stop Orochimaru, for now, from getting whatever he wanted with the Sharingan…- suddenly the image of Reki's red and black eyes flashed in her head. –No… I can't do that… not now, if that sonvabitch was ballsy enough to come here for the 'LAST' Uchiha that Konoha wanted to keep so desperately, there's nothing to prevent him from finding out about Reki-baba and her kids… any one of them could be a target next…- the focus of her circular vision landed on the Uchiha and with a little push she saw past his shirt and bandages, taking in the mark that had formed from the snake's poison. She didn't know what the two Tomoe mark meant, if it was a sign of his eyes and meant to gain a third when his Sharingan fully formed, but there was something eerily familiar about the feel of it. For now, that wasn't the issue. –I'd gladly hand that bastard over this worthless trash if it protected Reki-baba and her kids…- the Sharingan wasn't something to mess with, but so long as Kumo had its own, and they were safe, she didn't rightly care about the rest…
-I'll have to figure out a way to send Reki-baba a coded message to be on the lookout for any of Orochimaru's affiliates snooping around, likely in R&D if they could get in…- That would have to wait until after they got out of this test since Bachiko's range wasn't far enough to send a message. Then there was the priority of someone convincing Konoha to keep the Uchiha under lock and key. –If he goes nuts or Orochimaru can get him that'll be bad, but if he's in a situation where the snake sannin is 'stuck' from getting him that could buy us some time while his focus is drawn here…- while she was thinking her arms crossed and her hand rose to hold her chin, the other two Kumo-nin knowing this meant she was giving this deep consideration, though what they thought she was thinking about was nowhere near the level of planning she was doing.
Naruto, being worried by the silence and how eerie it was that the usually brash girl from Kumo was so quiet and still, stood up, looking her over and trying to avoid the looks the other two were giving him. He was mad at them for their suggestion but Yorihi had told him she wouldn't let anything happen to them for now, or at least she wouldn't kill anyone unnecessarily. It was that last word that had him worried, "Yorihi?"
Her head seemed to jolt up at the sound of her name, bringing her out of her planning. She turned her head slightly towards Naruto to acknowledge she heard him, but when she spoke her focus was on her teammates, "Do either of you know how much of a political mess this would cause if we just arbitrarily killed the Last loyal Uchiha in Konoha and burned his body with no justification?" her hands lowered to her hips, brows furrowing as she seemed to chidingly 'glare' at her two teammates, both who looked rather confused. She scoffed, "You may not have been trained to consider the ramifications of our actions on a political scale but Kemui-sama's been nailing that into my head since I was three!"
Xiao seemed to wince while Ok continued with his stern glance.
Seeing as the badger tamer would be the harder one to convince, Yorihi faced the boy in the silly plated hat, "Ever since we got here I've been trying to keep us from riling up too much trouble, because it's not just this stupid test we're doing, we're also representing Kumo here, a village that hasn't been here in over a decade and there's enough bad-blood between us we cannot afford any reason for the whole damn village to come down on us!" aggressively she pointed behind her at the downed Uchiha, "Like it or not these people value clan names, the Uchiha being one of the most prominent, and with him being the last in this village they'd skin us if he died at our hands," there was an extra growl in her voice, hoping she could get Oku to understand why they couldn't just kill him, as much as even she wanted to, "It doesn't matter that it's during a test where anything goes or that he signed that waiver, they'd blame us and start a war…" with a deep sigh she moved her hand from pointing to rubbing her forehead, "The only thing we can do right now is make sure he gets to the right authorities and we tell them what happened, Naruto can help corroborate our story, and hopefully they will deal with this as it should be," putting her hands down, resting them on her swords firmly she faced Oku directly, one Kumo shinobi to another, "If they fail to lock him up and Orochimaru gets him or attempts to get him he's fair game, I'll not have whatever his plans are somehow endanger Kumo, you have my word on that."
The dirty blonde boy seemed to think on her words for a bit, then firmly nodded, "I'll hold you to that Yorihi-hime," he crossed his arms when she gave him a small smile, "Though I still think we should just kill him and burn the body, would be a lot safer."
There was a groan to his left as Xiao walked up to him and knocked her knuckles on his head, "Shut up, Oku…"
There was a growl from Naruto and he stopped when Yorihi's arm rose and held him put, "Oi, teme! How can you just say that about someone you tried to protect!" he trusted Yorihi knew what she was doing, hoped she was just saying that about killing Sasuke to keep her teammate at bay, and he agreed to the whole telling the authorities thing, but…
Oku just turned to the other blonde with that seemingly oblivious look, "Hm? Easy, then was spur of the moment, we were retreating, I was trying to prevent our enemy from following, you guys just happened to be there as well. Now…" he nodded towards the downed Uchiha, "we know he's the one that guy was after, he was dangerous, a sannin according to Yorihi-hime, and I trust her, but the simplest course of action to prevent any further mess would be to just eliminate the man's target to prevent whatever his plans may be…"
The blonde jinchuuriki's jaw just dropped, "H-how can you-that's!? ARUGH!" Naruto just pulled at his hair, he couldn't understand the logic. –But maybe its cause it's not someone from his village?- narrow blue eyes looked at the boy, pout obvious on his face, "So what if it was Yorihi here, huh? What if he was after her?"
He didn't know it but the question caused the blind girl to roll her hidden white eyes.
Oku just looked at his comrade, tilted his head for a second then shrugged, "I'd hate it, but if it was her I'd kill her myself and she'd probably let me, understanding it was to protect Kumo?"
Yorihi gave a snort but nodded, "So long as you made sure there was nothing left for him to take back and experiment on…" –If it were to protect Kumo I'd gladly do it…-
"I promise I would," the dirty blonde badger tamer gave a firm nod, meaning it with all the respect he had.
The short exchange had Naruto's mouth widening even more. He didn't get it, he really didn't. His eyes lingered on the two Kumo-nin, facing each other with a solemn approval before his eyes drifted to Xiao, standing further by herself, arms crossed and lost in her own thoughts. The words were out before Naruto even realized it, "What if it was Xi-nee-chan?"
All three perked at the new suggestion, even Xiao who blinked surprised red eyes before facing her comrades. Oku seemed to look at her, the two sharing a conversation without words before the dusky-pinkette nodded and he did as well, turning back to the other blonde, "I'd kill her with my own hands, set a trap to destroy our bodies upon death, then commit seppuku right there…"
Yorihi, with her face down sincerely, gripped her top left sword, crossing her arms as if to draw the blade, "I'd help you if I were there…"
The older blonde smiled, grateful for his friend's sincerity, "I know you would, Yorihi-hime."
Naruto's shoulders deflated, realizing his entire argument was futile against them. –They really do think differently, huh?- he'd heard of self-sacrifice, but usually it was in the context of giving a last glorious stand to let your teammates get away. These guys… they were willing to give their lives at any moment, peace or war, if it meant to keep their home safe, even doing it themselves if they had to. –He wasn't hating on Sasuke when he suggested killing him cause that snake guy wanted him…- crystal clear blue eyes looked up into the stern face of the boy he realized he still respected. –To him, that was just how things are, that was the logical choice…- there was no malice or hatred in the Kumo-nin in front of him. They may have been annoyed, agitated and rough, but they did their duty. Xiao treated both Sakura and Sasuke without question, Oku found them a place to hide out, Yorihi kept a level head in mission mode and considered everything they didn't. There was no hate or malice in them, not once towards them though he knew plenty of Konoha shinobi that would glare at the Kumo genin just for the insignia they wore. To the Kumo genin, it was a non-issue, they had work to do so that circumvented everything else.
He had no right to get angry when they spoke their mind, suggesting what, to them, sounded normal…
A hand suddenly came down on his shoulder and he startled to realize he'd gotten lost in his thoughts, glancing up to find the plate of Kumo covering the girl's eyes, "We're leaving…"
Naruto glanced around, Oku had Sasuke over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and Xiao was carrying Sakura across her shoulders with a grimace on her face. His eyes came back to Yorihi who was facing him intently and nodded.
"Good," she turned, nudging her chin ahead, "You stick by Oku, make sure nothing gets in the way while he leads us back to the hideout," her face turned back to him and lowered her brows seriously, "Make sure you do exactly as he says, Lior-kun's already setting traps, we don't want any to go off, understand?'
The blonde gave a tight nod, "What about you?"
There was a smirk before she drew her rods from her back pouch, "I'll be in the back covering anything that might follow us…" she walked away, signaling to her team, "Alright, let's go!"
The trip was short and thankfully uneventful, meaning no one got accidently blown up and no other teams or animals attacked them. It was dark by the time they got to the 'defensible spot' Oku had picked, a large tree, even by the Konohan trees' standards, with upturned roots that formed a natural hollow. Oku set the Uchiha down in the hollow before turning around and disappearing, to finish up the traps, while Xiao entered next setting down Sakura much gentler. The inside of the hollow was nearly pitch black apart from the entrance where moon and star light peaked through so she held out her hand, creating a small orb of lightning then releasing it, holding it aloft by the whim of her chakra. She could work well enough in the dark if necessary but at the moment she had two willing guards outside and other then that entrance the hollow didn't seem to have any other natural holes for the light to give them away.
She checked the two Konoha genin over. The pink haired girl was still unconscious in her teammate's jacket and those bike shorts of hers, at least two of her ribs broke from the transport but nothing else it seemed. She tossed another blood pill into the girl's mouth, checked her bandages and made sure the healing seals were in place. –They should help with the ribs as well…- the red eyed medic made sure the girl was comfortable enough, on one side of the hollow and out of reach of the Uchiha incase his flailing broke something else. Once satisfied there was nothing left to be done with the girl other than to let her rest and sleep off the drugs she moved on to her other patient.
Even unconscious the Uchiha was flailing about, gritting his teeth and groaning, likely from the pain from the wound on his shoulder. Xiao swapped the bandages, cutting off his shirt feeling like it was 'in the way', and examined the wound again. –Its hot…- he was burning up, she expected as much, she wouldn't be surprised if they all developed a fever since this was a strange place if not a stressful situation, it would make sense for it to screw with their immune system and they'd get some kind of immune response. But this was different. Pulling out the same scroll she had her surgical tools in she opened it to another seal, running blood across it and summoning. What emerged looked like a leather bit, which she quickly shoved into the Uchiha's mouth and tied behind his head, turning him over to get a better look at this new mark that had formed. –That should keep him from biting his tongue… and lowering the noise…- the mark was hot, an angry red, and she could feel a strange buildup of dense malevolent chakra. Not only that the holes the snake's fang had bit were sealed, leaving only a small divot impression and two black tomoe marks as a sign there was anything there. –What the hell is this thing doing?- she didn't like it, if this thing was a seal that screwed with his chakra or added foreign chakra it could be really bad, not to mention likely fatal.
Reaching into her pack she pulled out a needled and injected the Uchiha with what was inside. Instantly his body tensed, gave a jerk, then completely relaxed. There was a strange shift in the feel of the mark but she couldn't quite describe it, flipping him over on his back and making sure he could still breathe but kept the bit in 'just in case'. –That should keep him out as long as the girl, hopefully allowing him to whether whatever that seal's doing…-
Having nothing left to do, now all she could do was wait and hoped they healed properly.
Outside Naruto was pacing.
He'd set up two clones to block the 'door' to the hollow, making sure as much as possible no light got out, Yorihi commenting how he should make sure of that since she couldn't tell and others might cue off the foreign light as something to check out or attack. His clones were already bored but every time either slacked off he just gave them a look and they went back to being their psudo-human wall stiff as boards.
He didn't want to go in… but he did… but he knew he shouldn't… but he wanted to make sure they were okay and… -ugh! This is driving me nuts!- screwing up his hair and biting his tongue to not make any noise the boy just returned to pacing, all this restless energy he had pent up from the fight, and talk, and everyone getting injured and him being alone with the Kumo-nin and-
"Naruto-kun…" a low calm voice called him from above the hollow, the previous silence making it sound loud, almost like the girl was yelling at him.
Which is probably why Naruto jumped, spinning around and looking ashamed up into the bough of the tree where Yorihi sat. The blind girl was up a good twenty feet at least, lounging with her hands behind her head on one of the boughs of the windy tree, it was one of the lowest branches but still pretty high up. –She looks so calm up there…- part of him wondered why the first thing the girl did was jump up into the tree and practically laid down.
There was a long drawn out sigh from the girl, "Your pacing isn't helping…"
An annoyed foxish face was her response, "That's all you got to say?!" it took a lot of effort on Naruto's part to not yell out right at the girl.
There was a motion like she shrugged, "Is there anything else to say?"
Frustrated the blonde boy clinched his teeth and hands near his head, trying not to scream and trying not to rip out his hair, "How can you be so calm?!" his voice was surprisingly low despite his temperament at the moment, knowing she'd hear him despite the distance.
For the longest time she was calm, laid back almost like she was watching the stars from her high perch. Then she gave a deep sigh, shifting to sit up with one leg crossed, the other hanging down and her arms folded under her developing chest, "I know you don't have the kind of experience we do, so I'm trying to be as polite about this as I can be…" there was a deep frown on her face, whether he could see it or not didn't really matter to her as she tried not to give the impression she was angry and glaring at him, which she completely was but that wasn't the point, "When something like this happens you need to stop and think, sit back, hide, and plan… we've done this as much as we can, your agitated pacing isn't helping the situation and the motion is likely to draw unwanted attention." There may or may not have been a snort as she grumbled more to herself, "Not to mention its preventing me from getting any rest…"
Deciding to be bratty Naruto put his hands on his hips and wiggled around altering his voice to mock hers, "And by the way, I can't get my beauty sleep because your sexiness is keeping me up-Ah!" By the end of his mockery a kunai went flying past his cheek, barely nicking it but he got the point, "Er…" sort of.
A cyan tattooed brow twitched as Yorihi yanked back on the wire to retrieve the kunai, "Firstly, I can't see so whatever sexiness you claim to have doesn't affect me…" for some reason she could have sworn she heard a snort reminiscent of Bachiko's when he knew she was lying, "Secondly we all need rest, beauty or otherwise, not that I need or care about such a thing…" again, that snorting, in fact it almost sounded like a snicker at this point. The 'blind' girl glanced to the side, sensing her finicky feline companion even if he wasn't corporeal and strangely the sound stopped. With a huff of her own she turned back to the pouting blonde, "And Thirdly…" there was a great sigh as she rubbed the space between her eyebrows, "Get up here and get some rest…"
Naruto still had a bit of wry frown, hands on his hips and looked to be about to argue for the sake of arguing. Then he growled to himself, running a hand through his bright blonde hair and climbed up to join her. He stuck to about three feet away from her on the same branch, sitting with both legs and arms cross and being as pouty as ever.
Yorihi would never admit, not even to herself, that something about the way he looked was utterly adorable.
Instead she laid back down in her previous position and tried to meditate, feigning sleep and ordering her body to rest despite her own restlessness in such a dangerous and foreign place.
"Hey, Yorihi…" an oddly quiet voice called from down the bough.
Grunting with a slight frown she responded, "What, Naruto-kun?"
His knee was twitching and it was obvious he was trying to not fidget too much, "How come-I mean, why do you-uh," nervously he scratched the back of his head, not sure how to say his question. So he decided to go with something a bit less personal, "How come you're sleeping up here?"
A snort from the girl, "You think being on the ground is safer?" at his surprised look she elaborated, "Look, Naruto-kun, you have to stop thinking I'm like you, I've spent the last six months doing B and A ranked missions solo, you learn a few things doing such," she wished she couldn't see his face, he looked both angry and surprised. For a second she bit her lower lip and faced away from him, playing off like she was just trying to find a more comfortable spot, "Sleeping on the ground is just an easy way to get killed, if you're on a mission always sleep up high or underground, people tend to not look up or down when searching, even jounin level shinobi."
His blue eyes blinked momentarily, surprised but nodded accepting her words like they were the truth. After a minute of silence there was a slight smirk that picked up on his lips as he continued to look at the clearing below them, "Is that the only reason?"
Yorihi refused to acknowledge the heat the crept up on her cheeks, knowing he couldn't see it in the darkness, "I'm from Kumo, I prefer to be in high places, the ground is too… still, safe…" she shifted roughly not finding anything about this bough nearly as comfortable as it was a few minutes ago, "… its distracting."
The bough was silent again for a long time, which did nothing to lessen the tension between the two. Naruto was too focused on his own thoughts, leg twitching, and Yorihi was too focused on him. Neither were getting anywhere though the dark haired girl seemed to be the only one that noticed.
With a growl she turned on her side, facing away from the boy, "Go to sleep."
"Can't," he was scratching his blonde head with one hand and looking rather apologetic, "Sorry, I just got too much energy after that fight…"
Yorihi bit her lower lip, only this time it was to try and stop herself from growling, what came out of her mouth was due in part to exhaustion and frustration at how this whole day had gone, "Just because you have the Kyuubi's chakra keeping you energetic doesn't mean you don't need rest, now go to sleep!"
Suddenly there was a new kind of tension and after a second Yorihi noticed it, raising a tattooed brow.
Naruto was stunned, mouth dropping open and slowly, very slowly he turned to face the blind girl, "Y-you-H-how? What?!"
That tattooed brow rose higher as Yorihi just rolled enough to face the boy, so he could 'see' her questioning gesture.
That didn't stop his flabbergasted stare at her, "You know?!" cerulean eyes blinked when all she did was tilt her head, seemingly not understanding, "Y-you know about t-the K-Kyuubi?!" his eyes could only blink again when all she continued to do was stare, "How? When? Why?"
When the girl finally responded it was just a snort as she seemed to try getting comfortable again, "It's not that big a deal, I've known since the first time we met. I grew up with Kumo's jinchuuriki as my close family, I know the feel of demonic chakra, it's very distinct, even suppressed and unfamiliar to you as yours is, I could still sense it. Then it was only a matter of knowing what demon your village has, therefore easy to figure out you're the container of the Kyuubi." It wasn't a lie, mostly, she could feel the demon at the edges of his chakra when she first saw him in Wave and Bachiko merely confirmed it as well as her Teacher.
"B-but-but-" his voice staggered as he turned towards her, a kind of fear and desperation in his eyes she couldn't recognize, "You-you knew all this time? And-and didn't…" suddenly he bit his lip, looking down and gripping one hand into a fist, "Aren't you afraid?" came out in a small, fragile voice.
This time Yorihi did sit up, her tattooed brows furrowed in a look that seemed almost confused as she faced him directly, "Why would I be?" at his continued shell-shocked look she just tilted her head, "I just said I grew up with our Jinchuuriki as my family, why would I be afraid of anyone else like them?"
"F-family?" the blonde's wide blue eyes blinked slowly and stared at her with that same desperation.
Her tattooed brow rose higher, "Naruto-kun, I don't know how exactly you're treated here or why," –indirectly and I can fill in the rest- her mind added, giving her a slight pout, "But in Kumo, our Jinchuuriki, our demon containers, they're my family, my Uncle and Aunt," a smirk pulled at her lips when she almost said 'Big Sister' remembering how she used to think of Yugito when she was younger, "In fact you've met one of them…"
At that the boy looked surprised, "I-I have?"
There was something of a disbelieving smirk on the Kumo konoichi's face, "Nii Yugito, she's the container of the Nibi no Nekomata," at the continued shell shocked look on the boy's face she let out a slight laugh, sitting up straight as now she felt it was pointless to 'try' and feign sleep, "Heh, suppose since you passed the first test I can tell you about Gaara as well, he's the container of the Ichibi no Shukaku."
At the continued blank, wide eyed and slack jawed look on the boy's face she was surprised he hadn't fallen and hit his head yet.
It made her laugh, she didn't want to but she did.
Naruto managed to shake his head, his head finally catching up to some of the things she was telling him, "Wait, why are you telling me this?" at her quirked tattooed brow he continued, scratching the back of his head confused, "When I found out I was told it was a village secret, that no one else my age knew and anyone older wasn't allowed to talk about it," momentarily his eyes darted to her, skittish and maybe with a bit of an embarrassed blush, "S-so how come you're so… easy goin' about this?"
That cyan tattooed brow remained up, "Flippant?" a small smirk picked at her lips when he gave her a funny look, it had sounded like he wanted to use that word just didn't remember it, "Well, to be honest, we never had it as a secret," she pulled her knees up and rested her head on them, wrapping around her arms still feeling the tug of exhaustion, "Everyone in our village knows who our jinchuuriki are and don't really care. My Uncle and Aunt have gone through intensive training to control their demons so they're in full control," her head tilted towards the enraptured boy, "If you wanted, you could come to Kumo and I'm sure my Uncle would be more than willing to teach you…" she doubted he'd take the bait so easily, so far he seemed fairly loyal to those around him despite their treatment of him. –But if the option is there… if it's in the back of his mind… maybe not now but maybe someday- there were a few converts she'd managed to bring to Kumo just by the mere suggestion their life could be a tiny bit better, she doubted it'd work with Naruto but it was a start.
"Hmm…" Naruto gained that fox-face of his, squinting ahead at nothing with his eyes closed and lips pursed in a sort of pout. It was obvious he was thinking about her words though she had no idea how to interpret what might be going through his head.
With a shrug Yorihi faced forward, crossing her arms and legs and seeming to think herself, "Anyway, its not like I or my teammates are going to say anything to anyone else your age as they don't seem to know," a snort, "Plus we were rather aggressively informed it's the law here or something," a more disgruntled snort touched on by a frown, "So it's not something to really think about…" at the boy's continued silent 'thinking' Yorihi was getting nervous and fidgety. She did not shrug again because she was uncomfortable or something, "Anyway, get some sleep, demon energy or not your body needs rest after-"
"I don't think Kakashi-sensei or the old man would really like me goin' to a place like Kumo even if it was to learn how to control this thing…" seemingly oblivious to the words the girl next to him had previously said, Naruto just started thinking out loud.
Yorihi blinked, she legitimately blinked as she slowly turned to stare at the boy from behind her headband. There may or may not have been a twitch from one of her tattooed eyebrows. –After all the angst he pulled for me so much as mentioning it he doesn't even notice when I'm trying to be sincere about his feelings!- In the back of her mind a certain cat was snickering at her rather bristled internal monologue.
Seemingly completely oblivious to the 'blind girl' staring at him, Naruto continued thinking outloud, "Though it'd proly be good, I don't even know how or what I did against that snake freak but it burned a lot," Rubbing his chin the blonde boy tilted his head, "Maybe someone else I could talk to about this? Don't think anyone here would wanna…" slowly, oh so slowly, his foxish face turned towards the girl staring at him with the plate of her homeland. After a minute of just looking at one another a brilliant idea seemed to pop into the blonde's head, accented by him dropping one fist into his open hand and scooting next to the girl quick as a flash, "Ne, ne! Yorihi! You said that blonde lady teacher with you was one too right?!" when he only got a dumb nod from the girl a cheeky grin spread across his whiskered face, "Ne, think she can give me some tips while she's here?!" suddenly he slapped his hands together in a prayer like symbol, "I promise, real hard, to not bug her as much as I can and bring lots of shrimp!"
Again with that blinking and staring thing, if Yorihi didn't know any better she totally didn't have spherical 360 degree x-ray vision and hadn't been trained her whole life to act blind and totally didn't have her headband covering her eyes. –This boy is insane…- that seemed to be the only thought that popped into her head before a hissing laugh made itself known and something about shrimp was flying through her head. Without thinking a disgusted look came over the lower half of her face and she stuck out her tongue, "Please go with tuna instead…" it was a wondering thought, she hadn't really meant to say it out loud…
"Yes, yes, of course, of course," but the fox boy was just nodding his head up and down eagerly, hand still in that prayer position and his face back to its very foxish quality.
"Ugh," rubbing her head the blind girl just turned to the side, laying back down and praying for sleep, "Just go to sleep…"
"Right!" in the next instance he was flopped over on the other side of the bough and if she didn't know any better he was trying, rather enthusiastically to 'power sleep', if that were such a thing.
Rolling her brows she practically begged herself to sleep, it had been a ridiculously long day with a lot happening in the last few short hours, her body and mind needed the rest and time to process everything. She trusted her finicky feline to stand guard, not that she didn't trust Oku's traps it just never hurt to have an extra pair of demonic senses scanning the vicinity. As if summoned by the random thought, just as she was reaching for the edges of unconsciousness, she caught sight of the badger tamer come up to the hollow in the tree, stop momentarily likely to smirk at the two Narutos down below before tapping them both and walking right in.
There was a strangled noise from the blonde boy but when she glanced over she noticed he was knocked out cold. Whatever Oku had done to his clones was enough of a feedback to knock the boy right out.
Yorihi was almost tempted to go down there and thank the older funny hat wearing boy herself, but decided sleep was more important.
At the distinct sound of poof!s behind her Xiao glanced behind her towards the entrance, only to feel a warm body slid up on her opposite side. Without prompt or warning a small smile spread on her features and without even looking at the boy to confirm who he was she simply leaned against him, closing her eyes, "Was wondering where you were…"
She could feel in the way he breathed and the slight hum in his chest as he smiled, crossing his arms stoutly, "Get some rest Xiao-chan," he turned his head to the floating little ball of lightning, blowing at it as one would blow out a candle, it flickered and cracked a second before snuffing out entirely.
Xiao gave a small chuckle in her throat, "What about you?" her voice lowered to a whisper.
He wiggled a moment, trying to shuffle himself in a comfortable spot, more for her to lean on than anything else, "Just rest, I'll watch them for now…"
A red eye cracked open momentarily, glancing up at his stern pale features in the darkness of the hollow. She could still hear her two patients breathing, could sense Yorihi and Naruto up in the boughs above them on the tree, even feel that light shimmer of dark chakra that was the shade of her friend's cat likely watching them and somewhere in the distance she knew Lior was patrolling the edge of their 'territory' for tonight. She gave her partner a look with that one eye, serious for a moment as she knew what was likely going through his head, "You're not going to do anything to my patients are you?"
There was a slight movement, just the smallest of his lip tilting up, "Come on Xiao-chan, I'd never go back on my word, especially to Yorihi-hime like that!" his voice was low with that jovial tone he used to say everything was alright.
But she knew him, she knew him better than anyone else alive. Behind that innocent smile and oblivious nature was a kind of monster that could easily make others run and hide in fear, it was no wonder he was kin to badgers after all, the little things had such a temper to them that when push came to shove they could be far more deadly than creatures five times their natural size. But more than anything she knew badgers protected their own, they may tolerate others for a while but their territorial nature would always rear its ugly head and their tunnels and dens could easily become a bloodbath where 'intruders' were involved. Xiao knew she never had anything to fear from the boy, but she also had the sense to fear for others when he was around, if they did something out of line or against his perceived territory, well nothing good would come of it.
Yorihi was one of the few 'outsiders' he let into his little territorial bubble, it was one of the reasons she found herself initially curious about the girl and perhaps slightly jealous. But Oku had acted the same around Uenkai, after his initial male-territory-threatening-thing the teal haired boy probably been the closest her partner had had to a male friend, which was why she knew Yorihi hadn't been the only one affected by the younger girl's loss.
They'd been through a lot, Xiao and her funny partner Oku, it was why she knew his little moods so well. Just leaning on him she could tell some part of him was still wrinkled about the whole 'kill them' thing, seeing her two patients as a threat to his territory. It was a simple logic but she also knew he was right, he'd never go back on something agreed upon so sincerely, especially to someone he included in that little 'territory' he had. Yorihi was their friend, he'd lost one, nearly lost her a few times, he wasn't going to jeopardize anything now.
Despite all her thinking, Xiao's sole red eye had only looked at the boy for a few seconds. Then she sighed, closing her eye and nuzzling further into his side, she was exhausted from all the 'surprises' of the day and having to do surgery. He was right, she needed rest.
Not that she wasn't going to let him off without her signature line, "Shut up, Oku…"
Through his chest she could feel him chuckle and likely smile that idiot smile of his before drifting off feeling secure in their little hollow.
Oyasuminasai – good night
A/N: so that's the end of the first day of the exams... its funny but while writing this i realized Kishimoto has no sense of time... the first test was set for 4pm, had to have ended around 5pm and the second test didn't start for another hour so at 6pm... yet A LOT of shenanigans happens between then and them finally going to sleep... sorta... so its my assumption that this Chuunin exams must be taking place at the end of summer as this is one LONG day, since it doesn't start to get dark until they're after fighting Orochimaru and he's fiddling with them for awhile... so according to my 'watch' these past few chaps in the forest is in a time frame about about 2hrs... that's a fairly busy 2hrs... -.- just saying~
also despite re-reading/re-watching the chap/episode from the manga/anime, i can't tell if there's a full day between Sakura putting the guys up in the tree and setting traps or if the sound attack immediately, for the sake of my sanity (and the fact the sound trio 'say' they're attacking at the crack of dawn and Team Gai says they 'spent a day gathering provisions') i'm going to assume there was a full day between Oro-kun crashing the party and the sound kids actually attacking, giving Sakura time to set up those cheesy traps...
not that that has any REAL bearing on this story, just figured i'd stat that as its part of what's been driving me nuts (also a reason for why Lee doesn't come charging in to 'rescue' anyone -.-)
i'm more then half-way through the next bit, its all just awkward set up! freakin' forest of death and all the drama happening here! rawr! but 'hopefully' -knocks on wood- that'll be the last chap in the forest! and be out soon-ish... schools kinda screwing with my motivation so that's a thing -sighs-
please merciful gods of writing, lemme get this done! also, SCREW YOU GODS OF PLOT! DX
-cough- tea? (review)
Till next -salute-waves- Sayounara, Mina!
-Ikasury
