Author's Notes: Ah, reviews, how nice, it gives me something to say in these little segments. I'll address the questions here, but first, the next chapter. This chapter gets back to Yi again, and we've finally made it to the desert.
Now thanks to those reviewers, and here's some responses:
Meggido: About the mantis shrimp bit. Yes, Saki was in storm chains, but she's not the only important from that story, Akai was also in it, and I had plans for a Mizuho wielding kunoichi as well, so I've kept almost all the elements I liked most of that story for this one. Regardless, yes, I do like the mantis shrimp bit, frankly I think they're some of the world's coolest animals, and I try to put arthropods into fiction, because they are underrepresented there. Saki's role in this is small, but I hope it's enjoyable.
EvilP: Hmm…I suppose Yi's development is a bit weak at this point, but in my defense, she's only been in the viewpoint for three chapters. She has more coming, though I would not that Yi hasn't really had a chance to deal with her issues yet, she's still learning about them and watching her life unravel. Don't worry though; she will have to face things eventually. As for the use of jutsus, well, I've tried to put in some physical combat (Ise has killed most of his enemies by, well, stabbing them) and use the jutsus in at least a creative way. Most of the 'trickery' comes form others facing abilities, either Mizuho or Ise's phenomenal sensory capabilities, that they aren't prepared for. They'll be more chance for a complex plan when it's my characters actually on the offensive. I'm afraid original series cast appearances will be minimal, Shino's already appeared once, and I promise he'll be back, and of course Kisame has a part to play in this, but beyond that I don't expect anyone else to so up. This is partly because I don't want to kill any of the actual cast, and that has a good chance of happening depending on the type of encounter.
Chapter 12 – Fire Without Water(the next day)
Winter was not long away from the land in these latter days of the fall, and the winds from the north brought naught but cold air southward, bearing the promise of snows to come. Yet all that meant nothing here, in the heat of the day, as the sun beat mercilessly down through clear skies where Yi crossed the very edge of the scrubland.
Her walk was slow and measured; conserving strength, as she knew would be necessary for the trek south. Her clothes were torn and damaged, but they remained serviceable, and though slashes and marks covered her body, she was for the present without damaging wounds. Her weapons were fastened securely to her improvised belt, and she carried a great deal of water along with food and money in her pack. I am ready now, Yi told herself as she crested the hill to see nothing but the seemingly endless expanse of barren dunes beyond. I can cross the desert. I can, because I must.
There was no other choice now, at the edge of the desert. The border could be crossed, or Yi was lost, captive of the grass ninja who followed her even now. It had come to the decision, made weeks ago, to leave them behind.
In truth, Yi had meant to leave grass country some time ago, but ninja had pursued her, circled her, and blocked her escape. They had come close to cornering her several times, harrowing passages that blurred in Yi's memory, until she could not truly recall the events of the past days, lost in a whirlwind of fighting, fleeing, and burning retaliation. Somehow, I made it to the border. Yi was very thankful to be alive here, and provisioned for the crossing. I have been very lucky. She could think of no other explanation for her all but miraculous evasion of her would-be captors.
Luck or not, Yi knew that whatever had carried her this far had run out. She had fought and struggled, and learned much of fighting as a ninja, but she was outnumbered at least eight to one by those who followed her. My powers are formidable, Yi knew, but they have their own skills, and some are ANBU. It had taken some time, but the Grass had finally sent a team of the elite operatives to support the other assembled ninja and samurai tracking Yi. By only the barest of margins had she escaped them, and now only one path remained, the barren desert. They have herded me here. It was blatantly obvious. They think I can't cross the desert. Yi shook her head. "I will cross the desert." She mustered her resolve. "Once I cross it, they can't follow me anymore." Such was the thread holding her efforts together.
So Yi checked her equipment one final time, and then stepped forward into the land most unwelcome to a Mizain, the barren and waterless desert of the Country of Wind.
Two days into the desert, through brutal heat and cold, across an all but trackless wasteland barren before the eye. It tired Yi just to look out into that empty brown land after a while. She was following one of the old dune roads, having recognized early that crossing the open desert would mean death. It was a brutal place; the sun beat down all day long, baking the land with hot and angry winds, only adding to the torment. At night the sun was gone, but this was no help, for the temperature plunged and Yi was left shivering in the hateful cold, trying to keep warm in the all but worthless tattered peasant's clothing she wore.
There was nothing for Yi to do but struggle on, there was no way back, and she could only proceed forward, hoping she would soon find a settlement in this barren desert. "There should be a town soon, or something, this road cannot run forever," Yi whispered the words out loud for focus, speaking through parched lips she opened only the barest of margins, not wanting to lose additional water. Every step forward brought out a steady drumbeat of anger and frustration with the desert, making her madder and madder, a steady, slow rhythm to punctuate Yi's thoughts and provide her something to think about in this empty, eye-blurring realm. "Soon, I will find respite," Yi told herself those words constantly. "Soon…have they given up yet?"
That question would dictate Yi's existence here in the desert, for she must reach a town, or some other settlement to be sure the Grass ninja had gone. A settlement will have sand ninja, and the grass ninja cannot go against them. Yi reminded herself of her father's teachings. It is forbidden to trespass. But why have they come so far? Where are the sand ninja? Yi could not know that the ninja of sand, weakened in their attack on the leaf during the summer, could not patrol the full borders of their realm, so the grass ninja could chase her far beyond the border.
"I just have to keep going," Yi told herself for perhaps the hundredth time that day. She looked out ahead from the top of a dune, staring as far as she could across the heat-blurred landscape. "Perhaps to those mountains in the distance, or are they hills?" Yi couldn't decide. The landscape here was unfamiliar. "Whatever they are, the road goes that way." She continued south.
The day wore on, a fading fall day under the heat of the desert sun, blurring the hours together. Yi stopped at the best intervals she could judge, holding to long training in estimated time, carefully eating bits of food and water, just enough to keep her strength steady. At one such stop she looked south again, trying to glimpse the hills at the edge of her vision, to judge progress.
"What…" Yi saw something strange, and squinted against the setting sun in her path, looking at those distant hills again. "It seems as it they have come closer," Yi muttered, and now she was confused. "Could I have made a mistake?" She wondered aloud. "I guess I'll have to get a better look." She continued on her road.
Any trained desert dweller would not have done as Yi did, would have seen that specter on the horizon and felt the sharp twinges of wind gusting in the air, and would have known to turn aside, or to seek shelter. The thing the jungle-raised Mizain girl was steadily approaching was not something a ninja could challenge, but a greater danger of the desert than mere heat and lack of water.
Yi did not notice until the wind grew greatly in strength, whipping her long red-blue hair out behind her and picking up the sand from the dunes, stirring it about in gusts of wind. She looked to the southwest now and the sun had fallen below what she had mistakenly deemed to be hills. "Oh gods…" Yi gasped. It was a thing she had heard of only in stories, a moving wall of wind and dust and sand blasting across the landscape with massive force. She had thought it a series of hills for far too long, and now stood squarely in the path of the most destructive of desert phenomena.
Sandstorm.
"What do I do now?" Yi asked with resignation. She had no idea what to do to avoid a sandstorm, or endure its passage. It was obvious even to one with no desert knowledge that she could not just stand there, but she knew nothing beyond that.
However, Yi found herself provided with an answer.
"You can come with us quietly," a solid voice spoke from behind her.
Yi whipped around instantly, her mind racing as she saw eight forms in green and brown standing ready there. Grass ninja, they stood out in their plains uniforms against the desert, but they had still snuck up on her, and four of those grass ninja wore the ceramic face masks of the ANBU, hiding their appearance behind the rendition of an animal's gaze.
One of the ANBU stood in front, a sword strapped to his back, and wearing combat armor in spite of the incredible heat it must absorb in the desert. He was obviously very strong and skilled from the way he stood absolutely motionless with the wind and sand pulling at him. He spoke with a simple but strong voice, a veteran's voice. "I repeat. You can come with us without a struggle. The chase is over girl, and you can't escape now."
"Why should I come with you?" Yi shot back, her retort was weak and hasty, but her words were sharp. Yet, it was hardly a ninja's remark.
"Do not ask foolish question-" the ANBU began.
"Foolish?" Yi cut him off in anger. "You're on foreign ground, I'm not your servant, and I don't see any reason why I should come with you at all. Maybe you can offer one?" Though her sarcasm was strong, it failed to find any bite against the stoic ANBU.
"A reason?" he did not move as he spoke. "You are responsible for the deaths of over twenty samurai and seven ninja from grass country, and many more wounded. Beside you are…"
"I didn't kill that many people!" Yi shouted suddenly. "You're lying!" She could recall those she had seen Mizuho consume, there had been many samurai, yes, but she had only seen two ninja burn, not seven.
"I am not lying," the ANBU replied, still deadpan. "Perhaps more died of wounds than you believe, or perhaps your control of your powers in not so skilled as you suppose." His steady voice was beginning to wear at Yi's already ragged emotions, and she was losing her focus, unsure of what to do now. "Regardless, you are a rogue ninja, and we are going to bring you back to grass country, where we shall examine your powers and determine your punishment."
"I'm not an animal to be experimented on!" Yi shouted.
"You are a rogue ninja, lower than an animal," the ANBU snarled. "We could kill you now and be in full accord with the law."
"Kill me now eh?" Yi's anger boiled over, and she lost control finally, the desert had rubbed her raw, and so she could not hold back her endless frustration, the frustration, anger, and dissatisfaction that had been gnawing away at her since the moment her father banished her. "Try it!" She screamed.
As Yi screamed she rolled forward through the sand, pulling a canteen from her belt. A quick turn of the wrist splashed the cap open, and she swung her right hand wide, releasing a stream of water into the air. Grabbing it with her left hand Yi channeled chakra, and the stream of water condensed into itself, pulling into a long, fluid stream. "Water Whip no jutsu!" Yi lashed the weapon forward.
"Scatter!" the ANBU called.
The other grass ninja, not caught unawares, scattered and pulled their own weapons, prepared to fight.
"Mizuho!" Yi cried, and whirled the whip about. Fire streaked down that whip of water like a living thing, snaking over it until all was burning. Water flew out from the whip's edges as it did so, sending drops of flaming liquid all about Yi.
The grass ninja could evade the whip easily enough, but that wild and unpredictable stream of droplets was very dangerous. Had this been their first encounter the grass ninja might have been caught and burned, but they knew something of Mizuho now.
"Bramble wall no jutsu!" one of the ANBU called out the words, and a wall of brambles sprang up in front of the grass ninja. Droplets of water impacted on those woody vines and thorns, but the ninja behind them were unharmed.
A pair of kunai flew in at Yi from the left, and though she twisted and flicked her burning whip around to knock them aside, she knew they had been nothing more than a distraction, and her situation was dire. Anger fled from her then, as the impulse the ANBU had kindled was not sustained, the desert had given her anger, but it had robbed her of sustenance and strength, and her emotions drained away quickly. I can't win this… Yi realized that truth immediately. The ANBU had dodged her attack, and she was surrounded. I have to get free!
It was not a plan, only an impulse, but Yi hurled her whip at one side of the wall, letting the burning water break it apart before her as she charged in behind it, flying through flames of Mizuho that would not harm her. Kunai flashed behind her, but the grass ninja had not expected the move.
The bramble wall had formed a circled blocking both groups of ninja from each other, but now the circle was broken, and four of the grass ninja stood facing Yi.
Knowing the odds were bad the Mizain girl wanted only to run, to run as she had before, never mind that it proved these grass ninja right, she could not fight so many. Yi broke the circle, planning to run as far as she could, but she found her path was blocked.
It was not the grass ninja that blocked her away. It was the sandstorm. That wall of wind and sand stood only yards away now; there was nowhere to run where it would not slam into her. Yi could see that the grass ninja could shelter behind their plant jutsus, surviving the storm in relative safety, but no such techniques were available to her.
Yi hesitated for but a moment.
"Roots of the Earth no Jutsu!" The sand all about Yi sprang up, forming into roots as wide as a strong man's leg, wrapping about her legs and arms, holding her fast. She felt her muscles clench gasp beneath the phenomenal strength of that technique, and knew it could hold a ninja far stronger than she.
"Now we have you," the ANBU leader said from behind Yi, for she still faced the sandstorm. "It would have been better if you had come quietly. I'm afraid now you will have to answer for fighting us as well. Your water powers are cunning, but of little use in the desert."
"Will you kill me?" Yi hissed, struggling against her bonds, searching for a way to free herself.
"Were it my choice I would," the ANBU answered. "But I am commanded to take you alive. Still, one of the ninja you killed was my brother. I swear you'll wish you were dead by the time you reach Grass village."
Yi struggled, but found herself held fast as the ANBU approached.
In the shadows from behind the crest of the next dune, a cold hand grasped a sword.
"No," Yi muttered, and again. "No…I won't be captured." Deep inside she refused it, her freedom was all she had now, and these ninja had come to take it from her. I can't be captured! I must get free! Yet the bonds of sand held her fast. If only I had water, I could burn them off. She stretched and struggled but could not reach her canteens. Yi struggled so hard her lips pulled back as she strained and her tongue was exposed to the dry desert air. With a sudden sense of coolness she realized that there was water in her grasp.
The ANBU was approaching closely, mindful of possible tricks, when Yi spat out on the sand covering her left hand. Held together by nothing but bonds of chakra, it fell away from the flame like naught but dust when Yi compelled it to flare high with Mizuho.
"What!" the ANBU jumped back in astonishment. "Impossible!" He said, for Yi's hands had been bound, she could not have formed the seals for any techniques.
Her hand suddenly free Yi grabbed at another canteen, spilling the water all down her body, letting it ignite as she did so. As her waist and right leg soaked for a moment, and with whirling sand flying around her, a flare of burning power blasted the sand free. Yi turned to face the eight ninja with flames flaring about her from the water soaking her legs, forms a red haze before her face. As the wind picked up her flaming hair and the last of the light flashed through the sandstorm to catch the blue highlights, she took on the terrifying countenance of a demon.
It bought her a moment.
In that moment the grass ninja realized it was still eight on one and they had barely begun to fight, while Yi recognized that she could still not win. She had only one choice, and seeing them grab their weapons or begin hand seals, she made it.
Yi's hands flashed through seals, and her right arm came forward, palm extended. "Crashing Spray no Jutsu!"
The blast of water came from nowhere but the sand about Yi's feet, surging forward from nothing across desert sand who had not felt liquid's touch in months. Reflexively, it was not just water, but flame, splashing and surging about to streak over the ground.
It was an unexpected technique, but the grass ninja were not fools, they dodged wide and far, and kept running and leaping as the surge continued, avoiding the blast unhurt, even though it took them some distance from Yi.
The chakra ripped out from Yi's body like a knife to fuel that surge, and the moment the water came free of her hand her body was wracked with a spasm and she pitched forward in the dirt. "The pain…" she gasped through clenched teeth as her chakra was used up to fuel such a powerful water technique in this waterless realm. She clenched her teeth hard enough to bring back focus, knowing she had bought only a moment's respite. "I must…flee!"
Yi stood, turned, and threw herself in the only direction that promised even the faint possibility of escape.
She ran into the swirling blast of the sandstorm.
In the shadows, a hand released a blade.
The grass ninja were back to the site in moments.
"She went into the sandstorm," one confirmed for the ANBU leader. "Do we pursue?"
"No," The leader answered. "She can't survive that, and even if she somehow does, she used up two canteens in the fight, we'll find her exhausted body tomorrow, if she's still alive. Now, make a circle of brambles to ward off the sand."
The howling of the wind rose over everything as those words were spoken.