The Pulse Of A Dragon – Chapter 2
It wasn't until she was six years old that Yasu saw sunlight for the first time, or even knew that sunlight existed. It reminded her of the lamp by her bed, only a million billion times bigger.
Holding the hand of a figure she has long since forgotten, Yasu timidly stepped out from the secluded cave with her free arm shielding her eyes from the blinding sensation. The rays felt amazing against her skin as if caressing her, even if it took a while for her eyes to get used to them. Once they did, her eyes widened in disbelief.
Colors she had never seen before, objects of all shapes and sizes that she could have hardly imagined on her own. It was everything her father had told her it would be and more, everything she could have ever wanted. Beauty beyond the belief of this young girl who knew nothing of the world within her.
"What do you think?" The looming figure that Yasu clung to asked innocently.
"It's everything I've ever dreamed about!" Yasu finally had the strength to let her hand fall free of the other's grip. Running forward, she felt the grass beneath her toes for the first time, tickling her skin and crinkling under her weight as she ran.
"I'm happy you say that darling," The figure stood at peace, simply enjoying the image of Yasu frolicking and enjoying the scenery. The landscape of a world that, as far as he was concerned, belonged entirely to her. It was enough to bring him to tears. The image was enough to distract him from the pain he felt in the hand that had moments before been holding hers.
"Papa, look! A snail! It looks just like the one you showed me in my book!" Yasu was practically screeching with excitement, pointing eagerly at the mollusk below her. The man wasn't sure where the snail was going or how long it had been on its journey, but he was glad that it decided to come here on this day.
"That's wonderful, Yasu." Another smile.
Yasu squatted down and gave the creature an affirmative petting, silently making a wish for its safety. It had been trekking forward, centimeter by centimeter, for the past week. Almost three miles of progress! Barely anything in the eyes of a human, but to a snail, this was nearly a lifetime's worth of adventure! As things were winding down, the snail was growing tired. The snail felt old.
Underneath Yasu's fingers, the snail turned from a brightly colored blue to a muted brown in seconds; lifeless. Looked like the snail finally reached its destination.
Yasu could only turn her head inquisitively, "are snails supposed to do that?"
"Sure they are," The man lied, "We just haven't gotten to that part in the book yet."
There wasn't a single part of him that wanted to tell Yasu the truth, tell her that she had killed the snail with little more than a pat on the back. If he could have his way, she would never know how much pain the snail must have felt before dying in mere seconds. It was just a snail. A white lie never hurt anybody. Yasu's smile in response only reinforced that belief.
There was shaking in the trees, a rustling in the bushes that surrounded the two adventurous cave dwellers as the young girl frolicked and the man watched proudly. Having gone unnoticed, whatever had caused the quake risked another step forward. Unnoticed. Another step. Unnoticed. Another step. Unnoticed. Another step. By the time the man noticed anything, it was too late.
The coyote was starved, bones visible through the thin layer of skin and matted fur that had gone without sustenance for days. But today was a lucky day for this coyote. Its first meal in days, a hunk of meat that would easily fill his stomach.
"A puppy!"
"Yasu!"
The coyote pounced, and before Yasu could react there was a set of fangs buried inside her stomach. It hurt. It hurt more than when she had fallen and hit her head on the dining table, hurt more than when she scraped her knees while playing hopscotch with papa. No, this hurt more than anything she'd experienced before in her short life.
Before Yasu herself could scream out in terror, the coyote beat her to the punch. The animal yelped louder than it had ever howled before, fighting to remove its teeth from this girl as quickly as it possibly could.
The inside of its mouth was on fire, burning from the inside out and tearing through the flesh of his jaw and tongue. A concoction of crimson red leaked from the side of his mouth, a mixture of the girl's blood and his own. The animal spat and barked, using the last of its energy in vain as his vision became blurred. It escaped, running in the same direction that he had come from, back through the shaking of trees and rustling of bushes.
The man had finally reached Yasu and grabbed hold of her arm. He pulled on the limb as hard as he possibly could and brought the small girl close to his bosom, covering her entire form with his own as a makeshift shield. When the adrenaline had worn off and he felt they were a safe distance away from the retreating coyote, he finally let Yasu fall to the ground, albeit roughly.
Yasu hadn't cried, hadn't shed a single tear. She was in pain, more pain than she had ever been in her entire life, but it wasn't as if she knew any better. This was a new feeling for her, one that followed her first introduction into the outside world. The good came with the bad, and the bad became good.
The man on the other hand had no trouble shedding multiple tears. The pain inside his chest was unbearable, and he eventually crumpled to the floor in agony. Every inch of skin that Yasu had touched was burning a white-hot crimson.
Yasu couldn't force herself to sit up, it hurt her tummy too much. She looked over at the man and motioned to her chest, to the area where she was still bleeding through her shirt. "Am I supposed to do that?"
"Sure… you are." The man lied between painful intakes of breath, "We just… haven't gotten to that part… of the book yet."
Hinata's Byakugan showed a massive chakra barrier surrounding the entire camp, reaching towards the sky higher than the tallest tree and showing not a single opening. They had been planning their attack since the sun first went down but hadn't had any luck yet. These guys were professional, unsurprising since they were protecting products worth hundreds of millions of Ryo. This wasn't the time to be admiring their adeptness, though.
In stark contrast to the credit Shikamaru was giving them for the seamless chakra barrier, the only thing they could hear coming from within the camp were a series of whoops and hollers. They must have been having some kind of party or ritual or something.
"Glad that those guys are having a good time, at least." Kiba fell back into the tree behind him, sliding down to a crouch.
"You can say that again." Shikamaru followed suit, sitting from where he stood with a dull thud. He gazed up at the stars, imagining how nice it would have been to be lying in his bed right about now.
Hinata was left as the only one still trying to crack this place's code, but even she could only last so long. Forehead covered in sweat and a sharp fatigue setting in, she finally deactivated her Byakugan. She must have had her Byakugan activated for at least an hour at this point.
"Don't deplete your chakra and wear yourself out before we even get in there, Hinata," Shikamaru warned, half because he cared for the wellbeing of his teammate and half because he didn't want to be the one that would have to carry her back to Konoha. They were quickly running out of ideas.
After a moment, "Why don't we just go in there guns blazing and beat the crap out of them! The Gentle Fist can easily break through that barrier, and those guys looked like wimps! All they've got are slingshots and loincloths."
"Calm down, Kiba. We can figure something out. No need to put ourselves and the girl we are trying to save in danger by acting without thinking." Shikamaru put on a patient front, but the truth was that he was just a few minutes away from saying screw it and doing exactly what Kiba was suggesting. "Any ideas, Hinata?"
Hinata did not move, resolute in the glare that she sent towards the camp and its people. She seemed to be the most bothered by this situation, the one that wanted to save 'God' the most. If she couldn't come up with an idea, they were screwed.
A few moments passed in silence. The party must have been dying down, as the whooping and hollering ceased a few minutes ago. They all wracked their brains, but no ideas were coming together. Shikamaru was close to calling the rescue mission a failure. Not that he could complain, they had finished what the original mission intended when they left with a sack full of weird herbs.
A sack full of…
"Shikamaru, hand me your bag." The two of them thinking almost the same thing simultaneously, Hinata was the first to speak up and reach expectantly towards Shikamaru. Without even a word of question, Shikamaru handed over his ninja bag.
Hinata reached inside and pulled out everything that they had purchased earlier in the day before laying them down on the dirt and inspecting them carefully. Hinata took hold of two inconspicuous-looking plants and rubbed them together between her fingers, leaving them covered in a bright green powder.
"This is it!"
"What is it?"
"A chakra suppressant." Hinata licked her finger lightly and immediately recoiled, "It's sour so be careful. You don't need a lot."
"This powder is a chakra suppressant?" Kiba held onto Hinata's wrist, interested in further explanation before deciding to ingest some random plant excrement.
"These two plants create natural anesthesia when rubbed together. It works by limiting the chakra flow to certain areas of the human body, and your chakra network adjusts in turn by sending excess chakra to other chakra points." Hinata gave a thorough explanation before dumbing it down for Kiba, "Your chakra network won't look human since your chakra isn't being sent to your entire body. We can go through without triggering the barrier."
"And it works by just licking this stuff?"
"It does."
"Good enough for me."
Before a word of protest could be said, Kiba put Hinata's pointer finger in his mouth like an animal and sucked on the powder. Hinata blushed in discomfort but otherwise kept her composure. Shikamaru wiped the powder from Hinata's thumb onto his pointer finger before ingesting it. "I have a bit more class than dog-man over there."
Hinata smiled before giving one last warning, "We can get in this way, but we don't have enough of the herb to get out. We'll have to set off the barrier to escape."
"Better than setting off the barrier to get in." Shikamaru stood, "How do you know how this stuff works anyway?"
Hinata blushed harder than before, "I-I used to m-make ointment for N-Naruto. I l-learned about herbs t-then."
Shikamaru smiled innocently, clearly picking up on Hinata's struggling speech whenever she talked about the number-one-hyperactive-ninja. Naruto may have been dense, but Shikamaru sure wasn't. But now wasn't the time to reminisce about schoolyard crushes.
"Follow me, alright? Stay close."
Kiba and Hinata followed Shikamaru's lead, surging chakra to their feet and bounding over the walls of the camp in a single leap. There was an air of anticipation as they passed through the barrier, everyone hoping that Hinata's plan had worked. As they thought, nobody had come to meet them when they landed on the other side of the wall. It had worked beautifully.
"So how are we gonna find this chick?"
"Byakugan!"
"Oh yea, right."
The woman from before was no longer sitting atop the throne, though they probably could have guessed that even without the Byakugan telling them this was the case. She was instead lying near the back of the camp, buried under covers but breathing patterns showing that she certainly wasn't asleep.
The other curious thing Hinata noticed was that every single villager save for the woman from before was gathered on the western corner of the camp, surrounding a huge bonfire that she was sure she could smell from a hundred miles away. What was with these guys and bonfires, anyway? Regardless, the only takeaway that truly mattered though was the knowledge that they didn't need to be stealthy while the whole camp was occupied elsewhere.
The woman's tent was secluded in the corner of the camp farthest from the bonfire, a convenience that the three ninjas thanked. There was nothing noticeably peculiar about the arranged living space. It seemed deceitful to label something a 'God' and give it no special treatment, but that speculation served no purpose at the moment. A brief mental note would suffice. It took them only a few moments to reach their destination.
"After you, Shikamaru."
He nodded towards Kiba, entering the flap of the tent with a quiet step. The woman lay only a few steps in front of him, now sleeping soundly with a steady breath. Shikamaru took another step forward, allowing his comrades to enter behind him. They crept up slowly, not wanting to disturb the sleeping woman's comfortable rest until they were within earshot.
Shikamaru paused for a moment above the woman's sleeping form, unsure of what to call her. God? A weird girl that hurts to touch? His teammates behind him were urging him forward.
"Pulse of a Dragon?" Shikamaru whispered. Before he could unconsciously shake her awake, he reminded himself that he probably shouldn't touch her.
"Who the hell are you guys supposed to be?"
Things had escalated quickly from that point. The sleeping figure in front of them vanished in a puff of white smoke. A shadow clone. Before anyone could react, the 'Pulse of a Dragon' had appeared behind them, leaping quickly towards Hinata before any of them could blink and creating a vice grip inches away from gripping Hinata's throat.
"I swear, one wrong move and she won't breathe." It wasn't a bluff, they all knew that. Hinata's wide eyes looked to Shikamaru for comfort, to which he could only respond with a nod of reassurance. The Pulse of a Dragon was impatient, "WELL?!"
Shikamaru showed his empty palms before speaking, hoping that it was enough to show that he wasn't a threat. Slowly, methodically, and hopefully without notice, Shikamaru entered the same stance as the Pulse of a Dragon.
"We were here earlier, not sure if you remember us." Shikamaru looked deep into the woman's eyes. She didn't react. "Anyhow, we were under the impression that you might have been here against your will."
"Ha!" A mocking fake laugh. Hinata flinched. Kiba growled. "What do you guys think you could possibly do about me being stuck in this shit-hole?"
"We can take you back to Konoha, help you get home. We won't sell you, firstly, and we sure as hell won't have any use for you as a god."
"And why should I believe you?"
"At this point, you don't have much of a choice."
"Huh?"
She felt her muscles run stiff. She grunted with the effort she put into trying to close her grip around Hinata's neck, nothing. She no longer had control over her own body. Picking up on the hint that her attacker had been caught in a Shadow Possession jutsu, Hinata scurried to safety behind her two teammates.
"That's my jutsu if you're wondering. You can't move until I release you, which won't be for a while unless you calm down." Shikamaru illustrated his point by relaxing his body, the Pulse of a Dragon's arms falling to her side just the same as his. She scowled, spitting defiantly onto the ground in front of Shikamaru's feet.
"So you're just the same as them, forcing me to go wherever the hell you want. You should have just said so if you wanted to shoplift me for no reason."
Shikamaru exasperatedly rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming in. The woman followed suit, unconsciously. What a drag. "At this point, I don't even want to bring you back to Konoha. Just tell me now if you want to escape or not. I don't feel like wasting any more of my time, and we're leaving one way or the other. With or without you. Honestly, it would be easier if we just left you here."
There was a long silence as Shikamaru felt himself being inspected under the woman's intense glare. She eventually relented with a sigh.
"Fine. I'm Yasu. I'd appreciate it if you could get me out of here"
"They must be having some kind of celebration now that they're back out in the open. Careful not to breathe in too much smoke, I think they're burning some kind of hallucinogen."
"A what?"
Yasu shook her head at Kiba's question, deciding that now probably wasn't the best time to get into a chemistry lesson with her new 'saviors'.
The three ninjas didn't seem harmful when she first looked at them, but it wasn't as if she had the privilege of handing her trust out to everyone who asked for it. That was how she wound up in this mess in the first place. If anything, the three ninjas looked much too young and naïve to be pulling an escape stunt like this. They must not have known what they were getting themselves into, especially now that they were involving her.
"Then they probably aren't checking the chakra barrier," Shikamaru noted optimistically, "We can probably just hop over the fence without getting noticed."
"I can't leave yet. I need to go over there."
"Why?"
Yasu frowned. She barely knew these people, and now she was having to explain herself to them. The longer this game of escape continued, the less faith she had in actually being able to leave. But if these ninjas were offering a place to escape to, this was probably going to be her best bet. She didn't trust them fully, but Shikamaru was right in saying that she didn't have much of a choice. It was now or never.
"They have something of mine." That was the only explanation she gave. Her vagueness brought a scowl to Kiba's face. "You don't have to wait on me!"
Yasu snapped, aggression evident in her tone. She calmed herself, "Just wait here until I get back."
"I'll go with you."
It was the surprisingly timid voice of Hinata that had spoken up, which Shikamaru didn't have a problem with. She was undeniably the most adept in the group when it came to sneaking around. She was the one that got them through the Chakra barrier, after all. Shikamaru nodded in approval.
"That's fine. Kiba and I will wait here unless things get out of hand. We aren't the best at not bringing attention to ourselves." Kiba grabbed Shikamaru's arm aggressively.
"Are we sure we want to leave this chick alone with Hinata?" Kiba questioned, "she's a bit off her rocker if you ask me."
"I won't do anything, I swear," Yasu responded to the accusation, steeling herself to hide the offense she took at essentially being called crazy. She was being entirely honest but wasn't sure how to convince them of that.
"Pinky promise?"
"Touch me with your pinky, it's coming off."
"Good enough for me." With that, Shikamaru sat on the ground with a poof. "Give us a signal if things get too crazy."
That was all it took to gain his trust? Either Shikamaru was the most innocent person she had ever met, or he was asking for a death wish. But even if she didn't entirely agree with his open attitude, she could only nod in thanks to things working out in her favor.
"Ready, Hinata?"
"Ready."
In the same way a soldier would respond to their captain, Hinata fell in tow behind Yasu and allowed her to take the lead. What was with these Konoha ninjas? Did they have no attachment to their own lives? Yasu hissed in brief disappointment.
"What are you trying to grab?" Hinata asked innocently, no signs of an ulterior motive in how she spoke. Yasu was inclined to answer the question if only to give Hinata the same benefit of the doubt that she was being given. She may have also been a bit guilty about threatening her life earlier, but it wasn't as if she would say that out loud any time soon.
"It's my father's amulet." She finally relented in a hushed whisper, "It's supposed to be good luck. It hasn't worked out so far, but I'd feel terrible leaving it behind."
"Where's your dad now?" Hinata asked another question equally as innocent as the first. Yasu didn't answer. Not for any irritated reason this time around, just displeasure in the topic. Hinata picked up on the hint surprisingly quickly, not bothered by the silence that followed.
"They're selling it as wall art decoration, so it should still be out by the market…" Yasu continued, slowing in her travel. Hinata followed suit, adopting a comfortable jog as they continued towards the booths and, in turn, closer to the bonfire. "I don't think they'll notice us."
As if in response to Yasu's declaration, she was immediately proven wrong.
"Dragon!"
From a fair distance away, a squeamishly pale and underweight villager pointed to the two ninjas. Yasu cursed under her breath. Hinata reacted almost instantaneously by breaking out into a full sprint, unbelievably fast with the assistance of her chakra. She ran along the tables, grabbing various herbs and products as she went. Was she robbing them at a time like this?
"Hinata!"
An invisible blur of movement shifted onto its sturdy feet and came to a stop inches behind Hinata. It grabbed a tight hold of Hinata's jacket hood, pulling violently and causing Hinata to yelp in surprise. It spoke something incomprehensible to her in a language Yasu hardly understood.
"Get off her!" Yasu leaped forward, the bottom of her decorative shoes making a strong impact against the villager's face. It was their turn to yelp, recoiling in pain as a trail of blood exited a now broken nose. There was a rustling in the distance, the other villagers having heard their companion's distress.
Without thinking, Yasu grabbed hold of Hinata's arm and pulled her a safe distance away. As Yasu ran towards where Kiba and Shikamaru were waiting, her grip tightened unconsciously. She didn't want to leave her father's heirloom, but the hoard of hallucinating attackers left little choice.
The adrenaline pumping through Yasu's veins left her deaf to the uncomfortable yaps that came from Hinata behind her. It wasn't that she hadn't believed Shikamaru's recollection of the burning sensation Yasu created with her touch, but she hadn't imagined it to be this bad. It was as though her entire forearm was being cooked from the inside out. It was all Hinata could do to grab Yasu's attention.
"Yasu, please! You're killing me!" A final desperate shriek as Hinata pulled away, finally freeing herself from Yasu's grip. Yasu instantly realized what she had done, regret quickly overtaking her. Even with her arm now free, it didn't look as though the pain was subsiding. Hinata was frozen in place, close to buckling under her weight as she caressed her burning skin. Yasu didn't know how to help Hinata, didn't know if she was capable of running to abandon her.
Just as Yasu had turned around, keen on continuing her escape, a furry figure entered her line of sight. Instant relief as Yasu passed the baton of Hinata's safety, which Kiba wordlessly accepted.
"Hinata, what's the matter—" before Kiba had the chance to finish his question and before Hinata had the chance to answer, he was cut off by the strong impact of Shikamaru pushing them forward.
"We don't have time for this, we have to get over the fence now!" Shikamaru refocused his comrade, though Hinata still seemed to be only halfway coherent. Kiba nodded. "Kiba, take Hinata! I'll go with Yasu, meet up at our original resting spot as soon as we lose them!"
A wordless agreement all around as Kiba wrapped his arms around Hinata's torso and disappeared in a flash, most likely having used the help of his chakra to break through the barrier. Shikamaru motioned for Yasu to follow before doing the same. Ignorantly putting all of her faith in Shikamaru's escape plan, it was Yasu's turn to become too innocent and naïve.
The crazed screeching fading into the background, there didn't seem to be any intention of them following. After only a few moments they had all realized that whatever had been chasing them was not going to leave the boundaries of the camp they had escaped. Shikamaru imagined a dramatic chase as the two duos of ninja made their escape. Seemed as though things would be much simpler than that.
"Is that… it?" Kiba mused, removing his grip from the still hurting yet slowly improving Hinata. "No epic chase sequence?"
"Doesn't look like it." Shikamaru inferred with much less disappointment. This whole mission was already more than he had agreed to, and he would gladly accept any respite. Almost forgetting about the new guest, Shikamaru turned to where Yasu stood beside him. "We can camp tonight; our stuff is close by."
Yasu's usual defiant nature took a backseat to the fatigue that had been building all night. The other ninja must have realized, deciding themselves not to comment on the sharp change in character. Hinata, for the first time since Yasu had grabbed hold of her, released her grip on the burning arm and reached into the pocket of her jacket.
"I-is this what you were l-looking for?"
Almost a dreamcatcher, in the shape of cloth curtains, a single bead of jewel hanging by a tightly wound rope. Brightened by the shine of the moon and serving almost as a light, Yasu smiled warmly. She was relieved.
"Yea, that's the one." She took the object from Hinata's outstretched hand. Hinata waved off Kiba's assistance with a pleasant nod, confident in getting herself to their camp for the night. Kiba and Hinata traveled a few yards ahead of the other two, leaving room for a private conversation.
"Now would be the perfect time to grill you about what exactly is up with you," Shikamaru shut his eyes tightly for a moment, "but I honestly don't care one way or the other. You've already rubbed me the wrong way, but other than that snarky attitude you seem just like anybody else."
Just like anybody else, what a pleasant thought. Yasu was proud of herself, being able to display herself in such a way. It was the farthest thing from the truth.
The rest of the walk was silent, each ninja (and Yasu) taking their time to recount the day's events now that things had finally started to quiet down. It had been a strange one, to say the least. The three Konoha ninja hardly expected to bring home a new companion, and Yasu similarly hardly expected to be escorted by three ninjas she barely knew. She wasn't complaining.