"What am I getting wrong?" Aki took a sip of her cherry cola as she looked over her six sketches.
"Okay, wood not being bent; that's a top priority. Cloth wasn't good, that doesn't help. Wood was of poor choice; well then, what wood does work?!" She threw her papers down on the kitchen table as she took another sip.
Karma mewed as she leapt onto the table, purring as she rubbed her head into Aki's open hand.
Aki had to think, and for some strange reason, it led her back to her archery classes that she had taken for a brief moment in her lifetime. Wood. Bows bent so that the drawn arrow would get the kinetic energy it needed to fly and strike. Well, what wood was made for bows? Sure, oak had been a good choice, but the British longbow would need massive strength to bend for they could weight up to a 290-pound bow! No, it wasn't oak. What was it?! It was there, somewhere buried in the reference section of her mind. Chestnut; no. Ash; close, but no cigar. Oh, what the hell was it?! Wait, wait! It was on the tip of her tongue..! It was, it was..?!
YEW!
Yew was the best wood for bows! Aki grabbed some bills, and raced out of the door to the lumberyard for three long stilts of Yew. She came back an hour later, carrying the wood over her right shoulder with a smile of triumph on her smug face. She kicked open the gate, and blowing some wood chips aside, she laid the wood down. The good thing about Yew was that it you cut out a fresh slice from the heartwood out, it provided a bendable management that gave the firing arrow more deadly accuracy and strength, and not much force was needed to pull back the twine. But she wasn't making a bow.
She reverted back to her archery lectures, and at the time they bored her for she just wanted to shoot something stationary, preferably her worst school enemy, but a trainer's wheel would do. What was it? To bend a bow into it's shape…
"Eureka! That was it! To bend a bow into the shape you wanted, you had to boil the wood to soften it! But where am I going to find a boiler big enough to boil these babies." Already, the cogs in her mind were already in motion.
She came back half an hour later dragging two long iron animal feeders and six butane lighters that caterers used. She pushed and pulled the two feeders so that they were side by side, and using the Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu, she welded the two together, burning out the wall in the middle to create one REALLY long feeder. She poured in ten gallons of water, and placed one butane lighter evenly under the iron to boil the water. What a time consumer! She grew impatient as the water burbled, and using a weaker form of the Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu, she had it going in no time. She set her newly cut pieces in to soften up, and went to work making the boards that would hold the wood in place while it was drying. She hammered in nails where it would apply pressure to areas to bend the wood into her specific shape. She had changed her design completely, much closer to De Vinci's flying contraption that never would work; the wings were to be shaped like a bat's.
Leaving the wood to boil for the next two hours, she got up and left for her rock in the forest, the Story Rock, the children had dubbed it.
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Kakashi had his back to the opposite wall of Aki's apartment, watching her go off into the woods. As he saw her disappear, he snuck around the back, and hopped over the fence into an odd display. Steam was hissing from what looked to be one gigantic animal feeder while rice paper with strange designs were tacked to the fence walls.
"What the-?" It was too confusing to comprehend.
Suddenly, a Genjutsu image appeared out of nowhere.
"Trespasser." The kanji glowed bright red and in the next moment, Kakashi found himself dangling in the trees.
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"What story are you going to tell us today, Ryu?" Aki had accepted that name; she liked dragons, so what better name?
"Well, this story is of Tristan of Lyonnesse and the terrible dragon that had terrorized King Mark's land for seven long years."
"Excuse me? What's a "king"?"
"Oh, a king was someone who was in complete control over a town, city, even country!"
"Oh, so like, he was a Hokage or something?"
"Yes, actually, you could put it that way. But kinda like a…super Hokage."
"Wow…" breathed a few.
"And back then, in their world, ninjas were called knights, but they were a bit different in many ways that our ninjas are like. For example…" Aki gave her explanations, and then began her story.
She took it a step further; she now enveloped the entire scenery to match her description in Genjutsu to make them feel like they were really there. She didn't like slaying stories, but this one was an exception for some reason. She also kept it G- rated; she didn't go into a vivid description of exactly how the dragon was slayed in the book she had read it from for she didn't like it nor did she want to scare the kids. She showed the knight defend himself against the dragon's flame breath, then charged in with his sword. She created the squalls of anguished pain as she had imagined them. It apparently had an effect on the kids; they were holding on to each other, fearful at who would could out of the cave. They relaxed when they saw the knight come out, the dragon's tongue gripped in his hand. Then became outraged when he collapsed from exhaustion.
"Aw, c'mon!"
"He took on that mean dragon, and this is what he gets?!" Aki grinned, watching their reactions.
When she finished, the begged her for another, but she simply shook her head with a smile. The sun was already setting, but she promised them another story tomorrow. Boy, would she make an entrance!
Speaking of which, she had to get home to place the wood to bend. She collected her books, and ran for home, a smile glittering her face. A smile that was soon to shatter.
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Aki was hard at work; sweat lightly layered on her growing biceps as she rhythmically sanded the finished frame to Seal's "The Beginning". She hammered in the two thick leather harnesses that would support her hips and ankles to keep her straight during flight. She stood back, wiping the sweat off her upper lip as she looked at her finalized craft. She sowed the good thick cloth to the frame, adding double sets of cord to keep it firm. With a black paintbrush, she painted a Yin- Yang of two dragons; one gold, the other black. She nodded in confirmation; the glider was complete!
And Aki was going to test it herself.
"Time to go!" She lifted her glider onto her shoulder, and started the climbing to the Tester Cliff.
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This was it; no turning back now. Her CD player was hooked onto her belt, the volume turned all the way up. Adrenaline was already pumping through her system, thanks to the high she was getting off of Underworld's "Push Upstairs". Did she want to…no. No way she was turning 'round. The wind picked up, and Aki knew it was time to go. She took a deep breath to calm herself of fear, anticipation and excitement, and began her countdown as she got her running start.
Ten…nine…eight…seven…The wind was blowing faster, giving her a boost.
Six…five…four…three…Aki started to feel the ground leaving her feet.
Two…The cliff edge was at then tip of her toes.
One.She jumped off.
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"HOLY CRAP!!!!!" Kakashi was minding his own business, sitting on a roof (like you do) and in the corner of his eye, he saw a figure jump off a medium- sized cliff.
Using the roofs like stepping- stones, he sprinted in the figure's direction.
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Aki opened her eyes, the wind blowing through her ponytail. She looked down below to see green…wait a minute! HOLY SHIT; SHE WAS FLYING!! SHE DID IT!! She cried out in victory, but suddenly two realities struck her.
1. She didn't know how to steer the glider.
2. She had a fear of heights. A terrible fear of them.
Aki's eyeballs shot out of her head like Kenshin's.
"WAH!" She tried to look for a way out, but being up at two hundred feet, it hurts to fall.
(Okay, calm down. No use getting over this if you're panicking. Think analog stick for steering.)
She remembered how she had played so many hand- eye coordination games on her brother's PS2 when he wasn't awake. How to steer, right. Do NOT push down; that was the first thing. She would be flipping and somersaulting like there was no tomorrow where she would crash to an almost certain death. If you wanted to land, guess you have to circle your landing spot; that's how she got her kite down, so it could apply to this as well. Wanted to go left; push leftwards. Right, the same direction. Okay, Aki thought she could do this.
She pushed the bar slightly to the left. Gradually, she turned to the village, which looked more like a collector's edition on display from where she was in the air. She pushed down lightly, very lightly. She swooped down so fast she thought she was going to spiral to her death. Thankfully, the glider stayed up. She grinned ear to ear, her headphones throbbing to Underworld's "Two Months Off". She soared over the town, the midday sun casting a shadow of her glider wings over the town. People looked up, shocked at what they saw
"Now this is what I call a thrill!" She shouted over the wind to herself.
She soared back to land on the cliff. Nothing could have gone wrong in her mind. Everything went smooth.
That is, until a kunai sliced through the fabric.
"What the- -?!" It was too late.
Aki's glider wobbled, then started to make it's woeful descent to the swirling ground below.
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"Oh, God, NO!" Kakashi was running faster than he could have imagined, but in the end, he knew he was too late.
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The glider was unbroken; a stroke of luck on her part. But not for her. Blood was dripping down her forehead and out of the side of her unconscious mouth. A black cloaked figure loomed over her, a hand reaching for her.
"AKI!" Kakashi was running up the side off the hill, not in the least bit out of breath.
The black cloaked Anbu looked up at Kakashi.
"Aki! What happened?!" Kakashi was dragging the glider aside to pull Aki out of the wreckage.
"Forgive me! Please accept my deepest apologies!" The Anbu bowed on his knees in front of Kakashi.
"What happened!" Kakashi was in no mood for delays.
"Forgive me! I mistook her for an enemy!" Even though he was an Anbu, he sure was a weak- willed one.
"I shot the thing down with one of my kunai and after I saw the Hitai- Ate leaf headband from above, I tried my best to stop her fall, but all I could do was create a blanket of chakra to cushion her fall. She rolled with the, whatever that thing is, down the hillside and fell off a jump, crashing down even further. Oh, God, I'm so sorry!" He detangled Aki from the bar of the glider.
"What are you doing?" Kakashi was suspicious of this Anbu; he had never seen one cloaked in black nor state his name to a former higher Anbu.
"Well, I am a doctor. Oh dear God." His voice sounded grave, like he was announcing Aki's deathbed.
"What?!"
"Her stomach has been punctured. She must have rolled past those small stalagmites! If we don't get her to a hospital soon, her stomach acid will burn right through her skin!" He lifted Aki from the ground, her arms swaying limply.
"We must hurry!" Kakashi was mildly shocked at how fast this Anbu could leap with a person in his arms.
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A surgical light glared in her face. Just breathing knocked the wind out of her. Shadowed faces surrounded her vision, the gleam of surgical instruments catching her eye. She gasped, and wished to high heaven she hadn't. Not only did it cause her unimaginable pain; the surgeons sped up the sedation process. Haze fogged Aki's vision rather quickly, the bittersweet taste of anesthesia sunken in her mouth. Her world caved into darkness.
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Kakashi hung over his lap, running his fingers through his hair as he sat. What possessed her to do this?! Why hadn't he stopped her!? Well, he didn't know what her plan was until it was too late. He tried to get his mind off the subject, but even Come Come Paradise didn't appeal to him. He slipped the orange book back into his back pocket, and sighed deeply.
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The head surgeon was a master at technique. He skillfully sutured up the inner stomach wound, placed a non- disintegratable bandage on top of the stitch to keep the acid from burning the wire away, and stitched up the skin that covered her stomach flawlessly. His wide glasses reflected in the dimmed room's surgical light.
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It was nine hours before the cliched scene of the doctor coming out of the green double doors and shaking his bowed head to signal they've lost her happened.
"Is she..?" The head surgeon looked up.
It was the Anbu Kakashi had seen earlier, but now he had unmasked himself. Sorta. He still had all of his surgeon garb on, but Kakashi could see his black eyes behind the large round glasses.
"Oh, she's fine. She came through rather well. She'll be in Recovery for two weeks, at most. You can relax; she's going to be okay." Kakashi wanted to slump down in relief, but instead he nodded.
"Are visitors allowed?"
"Yeah, but I don't see that point. She won't recover from the anesthesia for another three hours, but you're welcome to wait in her room. Excuse me." The doctor walked off, his bushy ponytail of blond hair bouncing with every step.
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(God, am I dead? Just say the word, say I was a moron in doing something this stupid!)
{I'll say it for him if you want.}
(Shut it, Sikuliah. I'm not in the mood for your antics at the moment.)
{You never are.}
(Then maybe I'm dropping a hint, hmm?)
Light suddenly sliced through her eyelids, and she opened them a millimeter at a time to take in the white light. Okay, so she wasn't dead. She twitched her fingers, and felt an intruder in her wrist; a drip had been inserted into her arm, water probably. She glanced to her left to see that it was actually blood instead. What the hell happened?! Last thing she remembered was…her flying and..! Her glider! Where was it!? Had it been destroyed in the fall?! Oh, goddammit! Goddammit to hell!!
She moaned lightly, feeling the stitches on her abdomen. A blurred figure started to come into focus. Two, really. One with a silver blob while the other had blond bushy hair with short bangs. As her vision came into focus, so did her hearing. She heard the familiar voice of Kakashi, but the other…
The blonde's face came into focus, and the EKG that was monitoring her sped up. The glasses gave it all away.
"Kabu-!" She suddenly passed out.
The doctor had injected a tranquilizer into the maze of tubing that was connected to her. Little did she know that he had mixed it in with a forget- me- not drug. She would never remember what had happened within the minute of consciousness. If she had, she could have prevented so much from happening.
Even Hayate's inevitable death.