Rikou had lost count of days, of nights. She hung from the same stone wall, the water below her dark red, her skin pale, her breathing shallow and strained. Several needles remained embedded in her body, arms, legs, stomach, chest, neck... Her head throbbed with every heartbeat, causing her vision to blurr and her head to spin. Her throat was dry, voice almost completely gone, and she hadn't eaten since capture.
Kagi stood a few feet off, eyeing her almost symathetically. He held on to the same burning blade, which he tossed up and down, catching it and throwing it.
"I really don't know what I'm going to do with you, Rikou-chan," he said in his falsely sweet voice. The sound drilled into her head painfully and she closed her eyes to try to shut it ou.
"If you don't start talking soon, it'll just get worse."
Tatsu appeared behind him suddenly, causing him to jump. 'Geez, watch it!"
"Shut up, Kagi. There are four full Anbu squads combing the forests for this kid, " he whispered. Rikou heard. "We should stop for a while and lay low until they leave."
"Oh... But what if they come here? Then they can simply take her away again."
"Then we should stay in this place... It'll only be for a few hours."
"Hours!?"
"Shh!" hissed Tatsu, slapping him.
"I can't sit around doing nothing for that long! This place is boring unless I'm playing with the brat here."
"Shut up!" he hissed again. Rikou heard voices from far off. They were speaking in hushed tones, calling out louder every once and awhile. She opened an eye warily, looking into the darkness.
"Shit..."
"We should go back towards the entrance and seal it," said Kagi casually. Tatsu looked as if he was having a mental breakdown.
"If they find her now, they'll have even more information," he rasped.
"Relax, dragon boy. Let's go seal it. There are many other ways to escape from," said Kagi. He replaced the knife in his trenchcoat. They suddenly vanished, leaving Rikou alone again. This was the fifth time the Anbu had come near here, but never this close.
She coughed a few times, her body shaking violently and re-opening the wounds in her hands and wrists painfully, causing the steady drip of blood to resume it's annoying rhythm.
Drip, drip, drip, crack.
She opened her other eye and looked around. There were sounds of yelling from near the entrance of the well, sounds of battle. Have they come to get me this time...?
Drip, drip, crack, srip, crack. Splash.
A large stone fell a few feet in front of her and she moved her eyes to look that way slowly. More stones fell from the ceiling, splashing as they created an island of rubble in the middle of the chamber. Suddenly, a ray of sunlight broke into the shadows, shattering the endless dark. Rikou closed her eyes to shield against the sudden change in lighting.
When she opened them a moment later, the hole had grown larger, but the light was blocked by shadows, two shadows. One dropped to the ground in front of her, landing in the water, and the other landed on the island of rubble. It took a moment for their faces to register in her mind.
"Rikou! Shit..." Kankuro moved over to her, splashing through the water as he looked her over. She squinted at him in the light, coughing once before letting her head drop again.
I thought the Sand betrayed Konoha... I never thought I'd be glad to see Kankuro again...
Kankuro stepped forwards, touching her hands gently as he grit his teeth angrily.
"I'm gonna kill them..."
"Hurry up, Kankuro!" Called Temari as she guarded the entrance.
"Yeah, yeah... Okay... Rikou, this is gonna hurt, but only for a second, alright?"
Rikou didn't have enough energy left to do anything. Just get me out of this place, she thought.
Kankuro reched up and began pulling out the wires, sliding them back out og her hands and wrists and letting the blood drip into the water below. She moaned quietly at the new pain, the raw flesh on her arms screaming at her. Kankuro threw away the bloody wires and began trying to pull out the metal spikes that were now the only things holding her up.
"They've beaten the clones, Kankuro! Hurry up!" Temari opened her fan, blocking the entrance as Tatsu's voice reached her ears, cursing as footsteps splashed closer. Temari swung her fan, creating a whirlwind and sending it towards the two Akatsuki, blowing them back momentarily.
Kankuro finally got a good hold on both of the spikes and pulled hard, pulling them from the stone and catching Rikou before she hit the ground. He twitched his fingers and the Karasu fell from the hole in the ceiling, hovering inches from him as he gave Rikou to it, sending it back up.
Rikou blinked as the full sunlight reached her eyes and the Karasu gently placed her on the forest floor. It suddenly turned it's head and fell back into the hole as the sounds of battle rose up from it. She heard Kankuro yell something, and a moment later, Temari was beside her, lifting her from the ground and taking off towards Konoha at a breakneck speed.
But Kankuro... He's still... Rikou turned her head, looking behind her as she saw Kankuro jump from the hole and push a large boulder over it before taking off after them, the Karasu draped across his back as he rejoined him. Before Rikou closed her eyes again, she noticed his shoulder was ripped open, the cuts running in the shape of claw-marks. Did Tatsu...?
Her eyes closed, shielding against the sun and the pain. Her mind was swimming with confusion and pain, but she tried her best to block it out as Temari rushed back to the village. She opened her eyes just as they burst through the hospital doors, a moment later, Rikou finding herself on a stretcher being carried into another room.
She squeezed her eyes shut tightly as many medical-nin began yelling at eachother, barking orders back and forth over her body as she was lifted onto a table. She felt a needle enter her body again, but instead of sending waves of pain washing over her, it completely numbed her skin. They began removing the wires and needles from her thin, emaciated body, placing each on a metal dish to the side.
When they finished removing everything, they moved to her hands and wrists, which had been momentarily bandaged. They began unbandaging them delicately, rikou gasping in pain as the anesthetics began to wear off. Tears leaked down her cheeks as they began operating, popping the crushed bones back into place or peicing together the shattered ones. She got another dose of anesthetic as a pair of tewwzers and a scalpel got to work on her left hand, the doctors quickly fixing it before the medical-nins stepped in to finish up.
Rikou jerked her hand back as they began working on it, pain flashing through her mind. She coughed a few times as the medical-nin gently pulled her hands back.
"Please, we need to finish up... just a few more minutes," said one, his voice echoing through her mind. She relaxed her muscles, her nerves feeling raw and overworked as they finished sealing and bandaging her arms. Some of the medical-nin began to dissapate as one of the doctors lifted her gently from the table, into a sitting position. She removed her bloodied tanktop, bandaging her stomcah, shoulders and chest before slipping a black hospital shirt over her thin frame.
After putting on a pair of clean white pants, the doctor lay her back on the table, calling over another and lifting her back onto the stretcher. But as they lifted her off the table, something inside of her jolted and she fell into a coughing fit. They placed her back on the table gently as she suddenly sat up, grbbing her stomach and coughing harder and harder until blood found it's way into her mouth.
"Shit," snapped the doctor, grabbing her shoulders and easing her back onto the table.
"She's a Gekkou, right?" asked the other one, leaning over her. The doctor holding her down indicated something behind her, and the man dashed over, wheeling a machine up beside the table. A moment later, Rikou found a breathing mask fastened over her mouth as she struggled for air, her airways seeming to close up.
This is... an attack? It's... It's really bad this time...
The doors to the hospital room burst open as Ken and Kirema almost fell onto the floor with a medical-nin clinging to them.
"I told you to keep out! She's in no condition to do anything at the-"
The medical-nin trying to restrain the other two chuunin suddenly noticed Rikou struggling on the table with the doctor holding her down.
"What's going on!? I thought she was going to be fine! This is..."
Rikou coughed again, blood spattering the inside of the mask as she tried to squeeze air into her lungs. The doctor hovering over her swore loudly, holding her down and rolling up her sleeve. The seal on her shoulder was burning green, the same shade as her eyes.
"Oh no- Someone find Doctor Terasu! Now!"
"Umm... Terasu's not here right now, she's on a house call in another village..."
The doctor over her growled, releasing her and spinning around to face the medical-nin. "Well, go find her!"
"She's on an important-"
"If we don't get her in here now, this kid's not gonna last ten minutes!"
"Ten minutes! But she's over an five hours away!"
"Just go!"
"Y-Yessir!"
A new team of medical-nin burst into the room as the first one left, and they began to rush Ken and Kirema out of the room. The doctor turned back to Rikou, pulling her t-shirt back off and leaving her in just her bandages. Rikou coughed again, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt the black markings burn across her skin again.
"Wait!"
The medical-nin trying to get Ken back out suddenly stopped. "I know how to deal with it! Just let me in!"
"You? You're just a kid. It took Terasu a lifetime to master her technique. She's the only one who can deal with Gekkou's."
"Ugh... Just let me in! I was on her team, I know how to stop it."
Rikou began shaking violently, breaking out coughing again, blood spattering the inside of the mask before running back into her mouth and clogging her airways. The doctor holding her down pulled off the breathing mask and grabbed a cloth, wiping up the blood and throwing it away.
"Damnit... Just let the kid in, if we don't do something, she's gonna go unconcious soon!"
Ken struggled against the medical-nin and they suddenly gave out, letting him fly towards the table where he pushed the other doctor away.
"Get over here, Kirema!"
Kirema pushed past another ninja and came up beside Ken. He reached forwards, grabbing Rikou's shoulders and holding her still as Ken fell into a wide stance, holding a seal and closing his eyes in concentration.
When he opened his eyes, his hands were glowing green. Rikou's eyes darted towards him warily as she struggled for breath. He made another series of seals, closing his eyes in deep concentration. Kirema lifted her into a sitting position as he opened his eyes, placing one hand on her back and one on her shoulder, over the seal. But something went wrong.
Rikou screamed as a pain she had never felt before ripped through every fibre in her body, burning her as it washed over her. Ken pulled back suddenly, taking a step back as he watched in horror. The black marking that stretched over her body suddenly began glowing green, the same as her seal, and she hunched forwards in pain.
"Shit... This is bad... She's never had an attack like this- What!? The seal is breaking!?"
Ken's face darkened as he thought harder. Rikou stopped yelling, her voice breaking off as she flopped back onto the table, brathing heavily and trying to cope with the pain. Ken sighed in frustration.
"...I'll have to seal it..."
"What? She taught you how to seal it?" Kirema had released his grasp on Rikou, she had gone very still as the green markings remained scattered across her body.
"Only patially... I can't let go once I seal it, so I'll have to hold it with my own chakra until Doctor Terasu arrives. Move..."
Kirema and the medical-nin moved aside as he stepped forwards, drawing a kunai and raising it. Without hesitation, he drew the knife across the palm of his right hand before replacing it in his weapon's pouch. Rikou was perfectly still, her eyes wide and staring up at the white ceiling as her chest rose and fell shallowly. Ken held his hand up, letting the blood drip off of his two extended fingers, his middle and pointer.
Starting from her shoulder, he bagan writing out the seal with his own blood, the writing moving off the table and onto the floor, even up part of the wall. It took him five minutes to finish it, and when he did, he jumped up onto the table, hunched over Rikou. He made a series of complicated seals, his forehead beaded with sweat, before pausing and lifting his bloodied hand.
"Menuri no Antan-kakki Kaihou no Jutsu!"
He placed his bloody palm over the green seal, the dark red writing flowing towards the seal as Ken grunted in pain, concentrating hard. The writing fully disappeared into the seal, but Ken kept his hand placed over it, green chakra visible on his palm, his eyes narrowed in pain.
"...Ken..." Rikou coughed once, looking into his strained face as he struggled to hold the seal. Her vision suddenly spun and she closed her eyes, falling into darkness and pain again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Think about it, girl. Nine of the strongest shinobi known to this world, each an S-ranked missing-nin, each with some kind of bloodline or special ability... If we wanted to, we could kill anyone. Some of out members are at the Kage level, some could easily conquer a small village on their own.
"For them to be called together for one purpose... They could easily overpower a village, possibly even one as large as Konoha. But, we are not yet together... we haven't been together for many years, ever since Orochimaru left the organization. We've been sent out in pairs to find sources of power to make Him stronger, to make the Akatsuki stronger. There are five sources we have found so far.
"The first is Uzumaki Naruto, from here in Konoha. We want him for the Kyubi's chakra. The second is you, Rikou. We want you for the Dark Chakra of the crow that Kagi cursed you with... But he can't remember exactly what he did, so we have no way to get it from you unless we torture it out. The third is Tenshi and Gyou, the twins from the hidden Cloud with the demon wolf brothers, Oniba and Dokuga sealed within them."
"Maybe we shouldn't be telling her this..."
"Doesn't matter, we're close to finding it, then we'll kill her after... Anyways, then theres that Kijo kid from the Hidden Stone with his powerful bloodline and Kamikaze from the Hidden Grass with the four-headed dragon demon, Shiryuu, sealed inside of her. So you see, there are many different power sources for us to choose from. But you... you are the most important piece... the one that we absolutely must aquire.
"Out of all of these people, you have the most power, believe it or not. If you ever find out how to release the Dark Chakra at will and control it, you would be one of the most powerful known shinobi on this planet. On top of that, although the actual demon isn't sealed in you, you have Shikon, the crow demon's spirit within you. Once we find out how to manipulate that, we'll have no use for you..."
Rikou began to remember the words she had heard from the four Akatsuki in the darkness a year ago, right before she had been rescued by the Sand. For some reason, parts of her memory had always been missing, leaving gaps full of darkness and pain.
"...Yeah, I know... the poor kid, the doctors said she has only five years left... no one should have to go through that much suffering. She'll have to live her life in fear, watching her back. They don't know for sure, but they think she has two years before she had to be kept in the hospital permanently. The special jounin in charge of interrogations are saying that no amount of therapy can ease her pain now," the voice of a woman reached Rikou's ears as footsteps pounded through her head.
"How much longer will she be unconcious for?"
"Well, it was predicted she would be awake by last friday, but more damage was done to her body then first thought.... She should be up soon though. But if she's up, she's in no condition to be walking around yet."
"Hmm... Well, when she's awake, I need to speak to her... There are many people who need information from her right now."
The door to the room opened and Rikou squeezed her eyes shut tighter, trying to block out the noise. I don't want to wake up yet... I'm so tired... I can't even get back to sleep...
"Ah.. She's still asleep," came a familiar voice, echoing through her mind.
She opened an eye warily to see a jounin vest retreating from the room. "...K-Kanzu?"
"Hn? Oh, you're awake!" Her sensei stepped back into the room, whispering something to the nurse as the door closed behind him. He pulled up a chair and sat down beside her bed.
"How are you feeling?"
Rikou opened her other eye and looked at him clearly. "My arms are..."
She held them up shakily, trying to move her hands. They were heavily bandaged and she couldn't feel her hands, let alone her fingers. 'What happened...?"
"The Sand brought you back. Poor Ken, he was asleep for a week after holding that seal... He held it for five hours."
"The Sand?"
"It's a complicated story... But basically, the Kazekage was tricked into betraying Konoha. They've signed another peace treaty with us though."
"Complicated story...? ... Who is Orochimaru" she asked absent-mindedly, remembering the words of the akatsuki. "Ever since Orochimaru left the organization... That's what they told me before."
"What!? You know about Orochimaru!?"
Rikou flinched at his volume level, closing her eyes. "Not so loud..."
"Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Can you close the curtains... It's too bright," she whispered, pushing herself up into a sitting position on her pillows. Kazu stood and pulled the curtains shut before flopping back into his chair.
"What do you know about Orochimaru?" Rikou turned her head slightly, looking directly at Kanzu as he examined her.
"...He was a member of the Akatsuki, but not the leader or the most powerful... I remembered something."
Kanzu raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"
"When I was asleep... I remembered something about what they said last time... Their plans... What they are planning... What they want me and Naruto for... They're looking for new sources for power."
Kanzu was sitting forwards, looking at her intently as she spoke. "Rikou... You will need to report everything to me now. But first, I need to ask you about a book that Kirema and Ken mentioned to me. We need this book, Rikou."
"...Book? Right... I remember. It's in my closet. On the floor."
"Alright... Now please tell me everything you remember right away before you forget."
Rikou sighed, closing her eyes warily before making a unproffessional report. It took about half an hour of explaining, and another twenty minutes of questioning, which tired her out completely. When she finished answering the last question, there was a long silence.
Rikou's head was throbbing painfully again as she examined her body, moving her legs and feet and sighing.
"I feel like I'm lost, Kanzu... It's like there's no where left to go. Like things just keep repeating themselves..."
Kanzu looked at her sadly, not knowing what to say. Rikou turned her head towards him again, her mind working hard again.
"Wait... If the Anbu were active because of Orochimaru... And the Akatsuki want to get back at him... But Orochimaru needs something from Konoha, then he'll be staying near the village. If the Akatsuki attack, then it will most likely be in Konoha, right?"
"... Your probably right."
She dropped her head back to the bed, staring down at the white sheets. "Kanzu-sensei... What did the doctors say about my condition?"
"Umm... I don't think I'm the one to tell you that... At least not yet."
Rikou narrowed her eyes slightly. "It's something bad, isn't it? Please tell me. I want to know, it's my life."
Kanzu sighed, burying his face in his hands. "Fine... Doctor Terasu estimated that you still have two years until you'll have to be kept here, but she said... She said that that attack took a year off of you life."
"So now I only have four years left? That's not so bad... It means I can get out of this world faster."
"Your so pessimistic, Rikou. Lighten up. The predictions are just predictions, estimations... They're usually wrong... Anyways, you should get some sleep."
Rikou sighed, laying back down on the fluffy pillows and staring up at the ceiling as Kanzu stood and left the room in silence. Rikou's head slowly stopped throbbing as she slipped away again, back to the memories.