Rikou hopped easily over the wall, landing in a crouch on the forest floor before dashing off. Scanning the ground, she finally found what she was looking for. A set of footprints, two people around her age. But as she moved forwards, following them, the number grew. A new set of footprints joined theirs, closely followed by another three people, making it a total of six people. There was a pawprint nearby as well.
"Six people and a dog...? The first two were Kankuro and Temari's, they must be carrying Gaara for some reason. The third is that boy who went after Gaara, Sasuke. The last three I'm not sure, probably Leaf gennin as well though."
"What about these?" asked Ken, pointing to the left as they stopped running.
"What?"
He pointed to the ground, where a set of tracks were barely visible. Nine other people chasing after the first seven.
"Great," said Kirema, sighing.
Rikou paused, making sure of what she was seeing, before heading out after them, jumping through the branches quickly. Ahead of them, she saw eight figures facing a single man, a boy, a Leaf gennin. She stopped along with the other two, watching from the trees as another shape suddenly fell from behind him.
The eight other ninja, Sound-nin, charged the new person, but a moment later, they all lay face-down in the dirt, all dead. She led the group forwards more, into sight as she watched the gennin speaking with the Leaf jounin who she recognized to be one of the sensei, Asuma.
"Excuse me, Asuma-san, which way did the Sand go?" said Kirema, coming up behind her. Kirema's voice was lower than the other two, it had already deepened, and he sounded the most adult, so the jounin didn't seem to notice he was only fourteen.
"Anbu?" said the jounin, raising an eyebrow. The gennin faced them as he pointed to his right slightly, behind him.
"There are three gennin already pursuing them Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura, team seven, along with a dog summon."
Rikou grit her teeth. "Only three gennin? Gaara will kill them without a thought," she hissed to Kirema.
"Is that all? Just the three gennin?" He asked.
The gennin nodded. "Sasuke went after Gaara and the other two went after him, but they're not there to fight, they're just stopping Sasuke from encountering the Sand-nin Gaara."
Rikou lowered her head in thought. "Let's hurry," she hissed to Kirema. He lowered his head to the two Leaf-nin.
"Thank you," said Kirema. Rikou moved back to the front as they dashed off again, leaving the two Leaf-nin behind as they dashed off after the Sand. Rikou sped through the trees, glancing to the sides and catching glimpses of the other two, almost melting into the background because of their cloaks.
There was a sudden explosion from up ahaead a few minutes later, and Rikou ended up stopping them again. Ken quickly jumped up one of the larger trees, scanning the horizon. Rikou caught her breath as she watched his head turn slowly from side to side. He suddenly gasped, almost losing his balance, but catching himself. He remained in the tree for a few more moments before jumping back down.
"I'm not sure what's going on... But there are two giant demons fighting eachother about two kilometers to the west, a giant frog or toad and some kind of... pale thing..."
"Thing? What's that supposed to mean?" hissed Kirema, glancing to the west and squinting, not seeing anything.
Rikou studied Ken's face, noticing how pallid it appeared to her, and knew immidiately what he had seen.
"This is bad, that was probably Gaara...Or the Shukaku at least," she said as another loud explosion shook the forest.
"What? I don't know what's going on, but shouldn't we help them fight?"
Rikou lowered her head, this time listening to instinct. "We should move forwards slightly, but keep our distance and not get involved. There are too many undecided factors. We don't know the condition of any of the people fighting, we don't know who's winning, we don't know the enemy's plans, we don't even know who's fighting Gaara... It could be another group, maybe even the Sound for all we know."
"But... Shikamaru said that Team seven was after the Sand. What if they're in trouble?"
Rikou bit her lip, glancing at Ken as he argued his point. "We'll be killed then."
"But... If they're in trouble, it's our job to help them whether or not our lives are in danger."
Rikou closed her eyes, crouching and thinking hard. She had been in this position before, except last time she had gotten her entire team, sensei included, brutally slaughtered. She had let them talk the fear out of her, let them repel her instinctal warning signs, and she herself had led them straight into the face of death, only narrowly escaping with her life.
"Rikou, we should hurry," said Kirema urgently. She sighed, fighting a mental war.
"...I don't think we should," she tried, keeping her head lowered. There was another loud rumble.
"Rikou! They'll be killed if we don't help now!"
"No! I said we should keep our distance!"
There was a stunned silence at her sudden outburst as she looked up. "Sorry... It's just... This is the exact same thing that got my last team killed..."
Ken seemed to relax a bit, sighing. "Oh... so I guess we should listen to you then."
Rikou glanced over to him, he almost always took her side. She smiled faintly, but it faded as another explosion shook her. She stood.
"We should head a little further on and find a good lookout," she said. The other two nodded and she dashed off again, heading about half a kilometer west until she found what she was looking for, a large, thick-branched tree that stood several feet above the other trees around it.
She jumped quickly up to the canopy, Ken and Kirema landing beside her as they watched the gruesome battle taking place before them. A giant orange toad was clashing at high speed with a full Shukaku demon, who Rikou knew to be Gaara in his transformed state.
"Geez, look at that," breathed Ken, gazing out at the demon battle.
"Look! There's a kid on top of the toad! It looks like one of the Leaf gennin!"
Rikou gazed out, squinting her eyes as Kirema pointed a nekote-armed finger towards the toad, and sure enough, she saw a small blonde head and an bright orange outfit.
"...Is that the Naruto kid? The fox kid?" asked Ken, reading Rikou's mind. She gazed out at the battle as the two demons met in mid air, falling back to the ground in silence. But not for long. The amoutn of time it took for the shockwave of sound to meet them wasn't long delayed, and when it came, it almost knocked them from their branch.
"Geez," muttered Ken, regaining his balance and glancing at the other two to make sure they were alright.
"That kid's pretty powerful, he must have summoned the toad. Look at how well he fights," said Kirema, watching closely.
"What!? What are they doing?"
Rikou narrowed her eys as the toad jumped back suddenly, facing the Shukaku and saying something to Naruto. It suddenly charged at the sand demon, holding out it's hands as it fell upon the demon.
A moment later, Rikou found herself watching the nine-tails demon fox, the Kyubi, slashing out with it's claws and biting with needle-sharp teeth dripping with saliva. She almost fell of the branch at the sight, her blood freezing as she looked upon the demon that had taken the lives of so many Leaf-nin twelve years ago, Yondaime, the Fourth, included on the long list.
"What!? Did... Did he summon the Kyubi!? Or did he turn into it!? Ugh..." Ken winced as the Kyubi locked it's jaws around the Shukaku's neck, grinding down as a peircing shriek reached their ears. Rikou released her grip on the branch, covering her ears and hunching over to try to block out the ear-splitting noise.
Ken turned towards her, his blue and white weasel mask glinting in the sun as he glanced at her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, just that noise," she said, taking her hands away from her ears and grabbing hold of the branch again, looking out at the battle. The Kyubi and the Shukaku met in midair, suddenly disappearing, replaced by two small shaped that collided before falling to the earth.
"They changed back...?"
Rikou waited for a moment, watching for any signs of battle, before raising herself from her crouch.
"Let's go," she said, taking off towards the leveled part of the forest and dashing along the tree branches. It only took them about fifteen minutes to reach the battle field, and when they did, the Sand gennin were alredy gone, as were the Leaf gennin.
Rikou dropped from the branch she was on, landing in the middle of the clearing and examining it. There was blood, sand and kunai everywhere, littering the ground like leaves. The Leaf-nin seemed to have carried one of their number back to Konoha already, as their footprints turned back eastward. Another set of footprints, two, were continuing west.
"Let's go," she said quietly.
"What about the other gennin? They're hurt," said Ken, looking towards the set of dragging footprints.
"Leave them, they'll be fine, we need to continue after the Sand."
She stood, making sure of the direction the footprints were taking.
"We should take these, it's getting late," said Ken, rummaging in his weapon's pouch and producing three pills, soldier pills. Rikou took one, swalloing it quickly.
"Umm... We should follow them for awhile until we are able to cut them off, but that must be before the border of the Wind Country. Remember, these uniforms also act as a bluff, they will force them to use their strongest attacks when they assume we are jounin or chuunin level Anbu.
"Ken, you trap them in genjutsu first before heading in alone and immobilizing them. If they become too much for you to handle, Kirema will step in, and if you can't handle them then I'll fight as well. As long as Gaara is either in bad condition or trapped in genjutsu, we should be fine. Try not to kill them, just capture them and bring them back to the Leaf, alright?"
The others nodded, standing as well as she turned west, jumping back into the trees and heading out after the three Sand gennin.
Kankuro... Why are you doing this to me? Rikou slammed a foot down into another moss-covered branch, launching herself back into the air. I thought you really loved me, but now... I just can't believe you would do this to me, to the Leaf...
Ahaead of them, she saw three shapes, identifying the three Sand gennin, Gaara slung over his brother's shoulder as they dodged at a laboured pace through the forest. They remained following them for awhile, stalking them in silence.
Rikou motioned for Ken and Kirema to move forwards and they split up, Ken to the left and Kirema to the right. Rikou remained directly behind the three Sand-nin as Ken made his move, halting them in their tracks as they gasped for breath.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Kankuro let Gaara slump to the ground as he and Temari moved in front of him.
"Leaf Anbu!?"
Ken threw off his grey cloak, drawing his katana and making a series of seals. Kankuro and Temari froze as the genjutsu swallowed them up, although Rikou could not see what they were seeing.
"Now!" shouted Ken, holding the last seal and keeping up the genjutsu. Kirema dropped from the trees to the right, cloak tied around his waist as he slashed out towards Kankuro first with his nekotes, slicing open his shoulder before spinning off towards Temari and grabbing her large fan away before restraining her arms, the genjutsu broken.
Ken ran towards Kankuro, one edge of his sword dripping with chakra as he clashed with him, almost cutting his hand clean off before spinning away. Rikou looked towards where Temari was struggling against Kirema, they were heading dangerously close to a cliff.
Rikou noticed how worn out the Sand gennin appeared, Kankuro was badly bruised, Gaara was unable to move, and Temari had blood leaking from the corner of her mouth. But we shouldn't underestimate them, that'll get us killed.
She turned back to where Kankuro and Ken were fighting, but Kankuro had stopped moving, his body crumbling away to reveal the Karasu. Damn, I should have seen that, she thought, biting her lip and skirting around to the other side of the clearing for a better look..
What!? A metal point erupted from the Karasu's hand, narrowly missing Ken's eye as he flipped back. She squinted at it. Poisoned!?
Glancing around, she began searching for the real Kankuro's position, but she didn't need to. He emerged from the bushes a few feet away, almost from under her, as he controlled the Karasu, biting his lip in concentration and twitching his fingers.
Shoot, thought Rikou, glancing to where Kirema and Temari were fighting. She had retrieved her fan, but at least Kirema had managed to rip apart the fabric part, cutting down on it's efficiency. But the closed fan still served as a formidable weapon, and Rikou silently watched as Kirema backflipped and spun wildly to avoid a back-breaking blow from the metal.
If things weren't bad enough, another shape fell from the trees to her left, landing between the two battles in a crouch. It was their sensei, the jounin of the Sand, Baki.
"What are you wasting your time here for!? I said to abort the mission, not play around with the Leaf's Anbu!"
Kankuro grunted as Ken charged him again, but the Karasu did something odd. It's head popped off from the main body, scratching Ken's left arm before implanting itself into the ground and spewing out a cloud of greenish smoke. Poison gas!?
Rikou began pannicking, this was getting out of hand. I guess... I guess I'll have to fight.
She heard voices whispering nearby and saw the Sand-nin, Baki carrying Gaara, preparing to run back into the forest. But she would not allow that. She dropped from the trees, blocking their path and drawing the katana from within her cloak.
She stopped them in their tracks, the katana held out to her side in her right hand and glaring at them through her racoon mask. As the smoke cleared, Ken and Kirema, holding the cloaks over their mouths, came up behind them, trapping them. Baki grinned and lowered Gaara to the forest floor.
"More Anbu scum? You two deal with them, I'll take the leader," said Baki, falling into a fighting stance. Rikou wasted no time attacking.
"Gesshoku no Mai!" She made a number of quick hand seals as she shouted out the name of the jutsu before any of the Sand-nin could attack. There was a large puff of smoke as fifty or so shadow clones appeared around the clearing, each with their own katana. But she was not done.
"Tsuki-kage no Mai!"
She charged forwards along with the fifty clones, melting into the shadows and swarming around Baki. But he was a jounin, and Rikou had underestimated him.
"Kaze no Yaiba!"
Rikou remained in the shadows as a chakra-filled whirlwind easily slashed her fifty clones to shreds, eliminating them completely. And what was worse, it had given the Sand an opening to attack their opponents again, Kankuro engaging Ken and Temari engaging Kirema.
"Shoot," she muttered, emerging from the shadows and hiding behind a tree, Baki looking around for her.
"I see you've mastered Konoha's dances, Leaf-nin, and you appear to be still young. Very talented. But you shall fall the same way as Mr. Examiner."
Rikou froze. Mr...Examiner...? Hayate? Her shock was short lived however as her tree was sliced apart, rended right from behind her and almost cutting her in half alond with it. He killed Hayate!?
Her shock soon turned to anger that boiled up inside of her. She gripped the sword, feeling chakra trying to burst free. I'll kill him.
"Seishuku no Mai!!"
Two other clones appeared beside her, each sprouting swords from every part of their body as she sent them towards the jounin, knocking him back as he blocked. But she had underestimated him again. His blade of wind exploded from him again, knocking her and her clones back. She stumbled back, regaining her balance a moment before she fell... and fell...
She reached out just in time to plunge her katana into the cliff face a few inches, hanging there helplessly and looking down at the ninety-foot drop that gaped below her, threatening to swallow her up completely. As she dangled there, wondering what to do, she noticed something.
The sun was setting, the shadows were growing. She grinned, jerking back her katana and dropping as she threw off her cloak and sheathed it, making a few seals.
"Kuchi-yose no Jutsu!"
Wiping a speckle of blood from her arm and wincing, she plunged her hand downwards into the void beneath her, chakra spinning out from under her.
She felt herself propelled back up by a thousand black wings as a flock of crows erupted around her, cawing loudly and lifting her back up onto the forest level where she faced Baki. She saw Ken and Kirema on the ground a few feet away, Kankuro and Temari panting and facing her along with their sensei. Kankuro immediatly noticed her scars and his face paled as the crows settled around her, landing on her shoulders, in the trees, on the ground.
"...Rikou!?"
She reached up and pulled away the mask, letting the string fall around her neck as she threw it behind her, letting it rest between her shoulders. She glared angrily back at him, her green orbs boring into his black ones as she raised her hand.
"...Kill the Jounin and stop the others."
The flock of crows simultaniously lifted off into the air, diving back down at the Sand as she dashed around the edge towards Ken and Kirema. She looked them over, making a few seals.
"Kage Bunshin."
Two clones appeared beside her, one lifting Kirema and the other turning towards Baki and the Sand gennin. Rikou slipped the unconcious Ken's arm around her shoulder, lifting him as she and her clone retreated.
Shoot, the sun's almost gone... and these two are badly injured... damnit... I alway screw things up.
She dashed as fast as she could through the trees as the sun completely disappeared, leaving her to navigate in the darkness. Every once and awhile she had to make a new shadow clone to carry Kirema, but she was running low on chakra.
She set Ken down, her clone doing the same to Kirema, as she checked over them, wincing when she saw Ken's arm where he had been scratched with the poisoned needle. She reached into Ken's weapon pouch and removed a kunai, pausing for a moment before cutting open the poisoned wound and bending forwards, placinh her lips on his skin and sucking out the poisoned blood. She spat it out and grabbed Kirema's cloak which was still around his waist, noticing a poisoned cut on him as well.
"Shit," she muttered seriously, looking over Ken and Kirema again. They had numerous infected cuts over their arms and necks. She tore the Anbu cloak into strips as she moved to each cut, sucking out the poison and wrapping it in the brown cloth.
She looked over her team mates, their pale faces unmoving and showing no expressions as she sighed, slumping down in exaughstion. They wouldn't be making it back tonight, maybe by tomorrow afternoon.
Carefully arranging two pillows and draping the remainder of the cloak over them, she sat up against a tree, preparing to keep watch all night. She rubbed her tatoo, or curse seal, absent-mindedly, her mind wandering to Kankuro and the war they were caught in. She looked up at the moon, thinking of her brother and how he must have died fighting Baki. Sighing, she dropped her head again, curling up tighter against the rough bark.
I hate my life.