Disclaimer: 'I do not own Naruto'
A/N: Sigh…ah, for those who read…you knew this was coming…I'm such a sadist…
Warning: a few, slight graphic/gore scenes...mumbles they're not horribly disgusting,.., if squeamish people want a warning you'll see '!' before those that are detailed.
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Little Imp
Part III: Pair of Abysses
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"This one."
Beside him, the four hooded figures nodded, identities equally hidden under smooth, hard masks covering their entire faces. No decorations, but a plain white with their eyeholes filmed over with a dark veil, concealing their eyes as well.
"This is an insignificant, frail establishment holding no value or worth. We must inquire to the reason of our summoning."
"Two nins of Konoha dwell here.Those two are your main targets. The rest can be swiftly dealt with by the standard recruits." He gestured to the unruly camp in the cave below them.
"You are correct, this is a diminutive, common village. However, it possesses what I have been seeking for a long while."
"…This valuable you speak of…"
"It is of no worth to you." He quickly cut the figure off. "But, you have my consent, until I send the signal, to feed." The figures quivered hungrily and rustled.
"That is, of course, after you have disposed of them."
"We shall wait then…until nightfall."
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"Kakashi-san, Amaya-san!" The young man burst through the door, panting heavily, lines of strain marring his forehead. "The sentry spotted a large crowd of bandits! And there's a strange 4-man group with them! Cloaked and fully masked!"
'—ANBU?' His face immediately became stern and alert, and turned to meet Amaya's equally wary expression, similar thoughts crossing her mind.
Amaya began to stand, "I'll get Hanako to look after—"
"—No." Kakashi cut her off firmly, then quietly added, "Stay here. It'll just be a short while." She instantly objected, "This is no time to act like a knight in shining armor, they sound like high-level shinobi!" He appeared in front of her, his head bending down slightly to touch her brow with his. He murmured softly, "Please. …Its likely they're after us. Stay here."
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"What is your band's purpose here?" He menaced with calm deadliness while gripping the knife gravely against the front of the trembling victim's neck, a thin dribble of blood trickled down from the pressure. The lethal interrogator stood in shadows behind the cowering target whose fallen allies lied on the ground, efficiently and quickly dispatched to where their expressions still carried the wild, perverse and gleeful thrill from prospects of ravaging the village below.
"…D..d..d…don't k..k..kill me…I..I….don't know…n..nothin'." The lanky man whimpered, his bug eyed look pronounced in his state of terror. The blade pressed closer.
"Don't lie."
"…H..how can you tell? I'm t..tellin' th..the truth." He licked his cracked lips nervously.
The knife slowly slid across his throat then paused in a scorning manner, drawing a heavier flow of blood. The shinobi spoke darkly into the man's grimy ear, containing no hints of any joking tone.
"Your nose grows longer every time you lie."
>>
It had been immediately obvious that the fool was nothing more then a pawn. Out of sheer panic, the man ultimately committed suicide when suddenly jerking uncontrollably out of his captor's grasp, slicing his own neck in the process. Choking and sputtering blood while clutching the gash, he was unmindful of the surroundings and tumbled off the cliff's edge.
"…Damn it…" The unmistakable, distant thump concluded the man's fate. He had not gotten much helpful information. His last words as he staggered off the cliff had troubled Kakashi as he raised his guard higher.
"…You're…and..the chick…not dead yet?" The entire set up was strange. The group of attackers found was quite small and consisted of ordinary criminals and felons: a slight difficulty for the villagers alone, but could easily be eliminated by a single, average shinobi. But most importantly of all, there were no masked figures among the group and the smell of smoke hung heavy in the air. He looked down on the small town below, bright fires accentuated by the night, leaping up and cascading across the woodlands. His dread and unease deepened when a burning sensation bloomed in the middle of his left palm. He took off his glove. Scorch marks. Steam still faintly rose from the kanji mark.
Open.
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The last object was tied in place across her forehead. Her Konoha hitae-ate completed the ninja assemble. The clothing, a bit musty from having been stored away over the years, brought back reminiscent memories. Securing all the weapons in place and tying back her hair into a ponytail, Amaya quietly opened the door. Sora, clad in her nighttime yukata robe, stood on the tips of her toes, and peered through the edge of the window at the distant flames, clashing with the night sky. She dropped to her feet and turned, confused.
"…Okaa-chan?" She asked childlike in a timid manner, her thumb sucking habit appearing as when she became overly nervous. Sora didn't fully recognize the opposing, capable figure. Long, dark purple hakama like pants, but without the stiffness and instead, clinging and melting with her legs and movements in a silky, flowing fashion; sleeveless, black kimono wrap top, but tying off to display the belly button, cloth straps hanging down her right side.
And especially the various weapons, pouches, and scrolls held all around on her dark, leather belt, a katana hung on her left waist. More armaments could be guessed to hide in the slim pockets on the sturdy, black arm braces covering most of her upper and fore arms with retreating holes at the joints to allow the elbows to bend freely. Either way, the woman was a stranger.
"Yes, Sora, its okaa-chan, don't be afraid, it's all right." The woman reassured in a soothing voice, stepping closer and opening her arms welcomingly. The child hesitantly walked forward then rushed into her arms, burying herself in the familiar scent among the stale scents of the odd clothes.
"Okaa-chan, what's happening?" The small girl asked, still enveloped in her mother's protective arms.
"Let's go see." The woman hugged her child closer while raising her lightly steaming, right palm into view.
Open.
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Whoever breached the primary barrier was powerful enough to do so. Securing her daughter on her back tighter, Amaya peered out the window and looked down. Four tall figures stood cloaked and hooded; with plain masks covering their faces, cloaks and gloves covered any skin. They glided effortlessly across the broken barrier and started on the secondary barrier hugging the house. One of the figures paused and stared upwards, black abysses fixated too precisely on her position. Amaya immediately shut her eyes and turned away, shuddering.
'…Those four…aren't ANBU…'
"Okaa-chan? What's wrong?" The girl piggybacked on her mother popped her head up from the blanket that created a hood for her head.
"Don't look, its nothing dear, we're going to the village now, hold on tight."
>>
Fire. Endless infernos blazing viciously, whipping across and leaving stinging burns. The girl burrowed her body deeper into the furoshiki, retreating her head in further and holding tighter to her mother's back.
"…Where's otou-chan?"
"He's helping the villagers and driving out the bad guys." Despite the burning heat and buildings, she maintained a soft, comforting voice. Inside, Amaya noticed the unusual name change, the child truly was frightened at the foreign concept of destruction and violence. The woman tormented herself in causing this sudden exposure, but leaving her child alone to hide in false safety was unwise. It was better to keep her close and protected.
"Bad guys? Will otou-chan be okay? " Sora asked upsettingly.
"Don't worry about otou-chan, he'll be okay." She turned her head to face the girl on her back, smiling reassuringly. Sora calmed down slightly and gave back a weak but honest smile.
"Do you remember the water jutsu I taught you?" The girl nodded in answer. "Okay, okaa-chan needs your help in putting this fire out, don't be scared, I'm right here, just follow me." Amaya still spoke in a calm voice and the girl gulped and nodded once more, rising to look over her mother's shoulder.
She concentrated then tried several times before getting a small trickle of water coming forth her fingers. The air was too excessively dry and thick with smoke to gather any moisture. Sora watched inspiringly for a moment at her mother's powerful jets of water attacking the livid flames before trying again with a fierce determination. Her hands pressed together in a diamond shaped cave, the opening facing outwards, as a decent water jet streamed from the middle of the opening.
The villagers were thankful for the needed help and continued their line system of water filled buckets from nearby streams and ponds. Burning debris flew in the air as if the village was trapped in the center of a rampant cyclone of flames. An ablaze wood board tore through the madness and rushed too quickly towards the child.
Sora reflexively braced for the scorching impact then opened her eyes after feeling no painful collision. Instead, a glowing light surrounded her body like a protective outer shell. Sensing the defense coat Amaya had placed around her child activate, she doubled the strength of the shield. A scream cut the air.
"Help! My baby! Let me go, let me go!" The woman shrieked hysterics, clawing at the villagers desperately trying to hold her back from the fiery ruins of the building.
"Sora, hold tight." The girl firmly nodded once in response. Amaya bolted through the crumbling doorway and sprinted towards the faint cry of the trapped newborn at a lightening speed in which Sora shut her eyes and ducked to avoid flying splinters and fragments. She felt the usual tingling sensation, as if her skin was humming, when larger fragments of wreckage repelled off of her.
The brightness of the fires pained the girl's eyes against the darkness of the night, she worried for her unprotected mother, felt like a useless burden taking up precious energy, drained, sleep deprived, where, why, everything on fire, too much screaming, ears hurt, twinkling stars no more-somewhere behind the murkiness, told not to look, looked, eerie people outside house, not eyes, holes, two empty black holes…
…otou-chan…where are you?…
…scared…so scared…
…home, want home…
…scared…so scared…
…nothing…but bad dream…
………..scared……so scared……
Even with the shield in place, the close range of the flames was overwhelming. The girl could feel the blazes licking across her face. She felt the tears welling. Felt the heat cause them to dry and evaporate before they dropped. In a cynical manner, the fire kept reaching out and brushing away the tears.
She couldn't cry.
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"You have proved to be quite exasperating, Kimura-san. Repositioning yourself periodically." The even voice spoke precisely. The other figure sat calmly in the shadows drinking from her mug, light from the far-off fires flickering over her hands once in a while.
"So…I thought you usually come in pairs." Her voice was equally even with a cold edge.
"That is inconsequential. Let us omit the superfluous. "
"How about we omit the fancy words and you leave with all of your limbs intact." She still spoke smoothly and swirled her cup around.
"Kimura-san, I will acknowledge your strength, nonetheless, it is injudicious to imagine you have enough aptitude to take my life. Now, your answer."
She continued swirling the mug and slammed it upside down on the table. Carefully, the woman lifted and righted the cup, placing it aside.
"Hmm…" She clicked her tongue. "…what a pity…" She slowly waved her hand over the area, the bits of leaves shriveled and dried. She turned her attention back to the looming figure, entwining her fingers in front of her darkened face. "…Do you truly believe you are able to intrude and immediately demand information from me?"
"This is unnecessary. Your answer please, Kimura-san."
"Get out."
"…You are able comprehend that this community is under assault on your sole account. Minimal cooperation is simply required to keep this shoddy settlement in existence."
"What makes you think I care for the village below?" She questioned stonily.
"…Please Kimura-san, I said to omit the needless. Do not attempt to conceal your unmistakable affection for the village below and those of previous. I am acquainted with you too distinctly. Your inherent care for others is your disgraceful downfall." The composed voice was spiked with slight disgust.
The sitting figure slumped a bit and bent her head down. "How wretched, prepared to die rather then place your village, as this and others, in danger. Even when no one knows of your presence, and those who do are no more then foolish children who think of you as a make-believe witch from bed time tales."
"………—"
"—Close your mouth. Before you make a pitiful statement of sacrifices, I will inform you that we would eventually discover the location with or without your assistance. Tell me, it is somewhere in the southern edges of the Land of Rice Fields correct?" Unlike a question, the query was stated with firm confidence. The woman drooped down more in defeat.
"…It is sealed anyway. The location is useless now."
"Kimura-san, truly you must know the gateway has unsealed two years ago. I am becoming impatient, this conversation is pointless and long drawn out. Now, the location. Do not attempt to give any falsities, others will pay dearly."
"You don't need me then, just leave…" Her voice was weary and straining.
"True, but this way is greatly swifter and uncomplicated. A minuscule mountain village can be scarcely called trouble: more of a nuisance. Though I admit it was surprising to discover two esteemed ex-shinobi of Konoha present, however that minor difficulty has been solved. Pitieous…their young one will be left an orphan, ah are you familiar with them, of course, luck may be with the child and allow it to die with them."
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A slash mark. He cursed and ran furiously. Two barriers had already been broken that quickly. Kakashi and Amaya had not skimped out on putting forth the most powerful seals and barriers of protection on the house. He had a strong guess to who the intruders were. Knowing that hotheaded woman, he knew she likely took Sora with her and went to the village.
He hoped this was true, although, feeling the heat of outlying flames, this hope did not provide relief. He figured the small group of bandits on the cliffs was a decoy, expendable sacrifices to allow the rest and more formidable to pass. His left palm throbbed once more and a second, diagonal slash mark appeared through the kanji.
They were inside.
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Relief would have been an understatement to the mother's joy in holding her infant. Her gratitude would have been one as well. All who were able-bodied remained to extinguish the fires, the last of the rest were evacuated to the rivers. But the flames only seemed to oddly grow in size. Answer. A shop was finally doused before an immense, undulating mass of inferno shot down upon it, resembling a falling meteor, alighting the building once more.
'—Ninja!' The alert woman held her child tighter and bounded into the woods. Sora needed no words of caution to stay motionless and silent. The reek of smoke still clogged the child's nose as she inwardly cursed at her inability to catch the scent of the enemy her mother was tracking. Another mass of flames shot out from the dimness of the tree branches.
Amaya instantly leaped off the ground, collecting particles in her right hand, a swelling orb of water amassed then was hurled down, meeting the flame ball head on. The two surged together in an eruption of sweltering steam, creating a thick, moist smog spreading throughout the area; without the reassuring brace of her mother's back, Sora couldn't have known her mother was even there in the dense mist. It was actually more soothing to the pair's dried out sight.
Detected movement.
"Eyes." Their established code for that night. The girl immediately snapped her eyes shut and clapped her hands tightly to her ears. She could only imagine who's muted metal clink it was that time.
'…Is this what it means…to hold the title…shinobi?…'
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They had been a decoy. And this group was taken aback as well, those who were quick enough to react. Kakashi had easily disposed that unit; each weapon hitting a vital organ. As expected, the masked group was not present. On a side note, he noticed the fires seeming to gradually tone down. The doubtless handiwork of her's truly. Another pulsating throb brought his attention back to his left palm.
Three slash marks. The first floor was penetrated.
Perhaps he would have better luck extracting information from this captive.
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"Amaya, don't worry, this isn't the first time robbers and such have tried to take advantage of our small village. We may be small, but we're tough to push over."
The young woman's comforting russet eyes smiled, earning a hesitant nod from the other.
"…I know Hanako, but I'm afraid it's more then the everyday robbers…and that it may be our fault it is so…" The woman sagged under an invisible weight, her strain emphasized by her charred clothes and burn marks. Sora mistook this for weariness from carrying her too long; she started to squirm in the taut blanket.
"Okaa-chan, it's okay, you don't have to carry me. You'll fight better without me as a burden." The last part was said knowingly in a dejected manner.
Amaya untied the cloth encircling her back and let down her child, bending down and embracing Sora tightly. "You're never a burden, remember that. You're strong and courageous. I'm proud of you. Otou-chan's proud of you." She stroked the child's silver locks then placed a loving kiss on her forehead. "I love you…my sweet, sweet child."
The other evacuated children, too young to help, sat on the other side of the wide river, reminded of their homesickness and longing for their family and started to whimper and cry for their kin. The girl buried herself in her mother's scent and warmth, she always smelled of morning dew, her throat welled painfully. She felt wet tears splatter on the top of her head as a smooth chain brushed her neck. Sora looked down.
It still held her mother's warmth. Okaa-chan's cherished silver locket, she rarely took it off. The locket hung awkwardly large on her tiny neck frame, pressed tightly between the two like a trapped teardrop.
"Be safe." She murmured.
"You too, okaa-chan." She mumbled back.
She didn't like how her mother only hugged tighter in response.
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"I can guarantee the community's safety, for you are familiar with my methods as well as my honor."
"People will suffer no matter my choice. And I, will fight you to the death."
"An absolute waste. Have you not been listening you pathetic fool? …Of course, I should expect this. Incidentally, the Ninzok summonings should have eradicated their objectives by now. …Kuku...does the title strike fear deep into your…soul? ……And did I mention my instructions to them after the accomplishment of their mission, Kimura-san…?"
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"They are not present."
"In case they are concealed, obliterate the dwelling."
"I sense two unknown essences."
"The closest one first."
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… "It was a hired job."
…… "By a nutcase. Never showed himself."
……… "Only the village guards, easy stuff, not any of you people."
………… "……Those guys…give me the creeps…screws with your head…"
…………… "Heh, the rest don't know but I do, I'm gonna die either way, and so are you, and that wench."
………………"……Wait, I take it ba———…………".
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The holes. Some don't bother with masks. Others cover them entirely. But most adorn the traditional white mask. With two eyeholes in the normal positions.
Four.
Shi.
Death.
They are not the ANBU. They are the originals.
The traditional four-man group.
We, are barely, an imitation.
A cheap imitation.
They are truly tools: emotionless, merciless, calculating, efficient, swift, and silent.
Our primeval ancestors established the term 'ninja' from them.
We ninja, strive to stand equally with them.
I should feel honored to even witness my people's assumed ideal.
We have strived for eons.
In those eons, the way of the ninja is a shifting concept to those who rebel.
Compassion, is alien to them. None attempt to befriend and explain such notions to them. How does one describe a rainbow when they've never heard of colors?
Yet, we, are not an imitation. We are of a separate race, where inferiority is overcome in our state of humanity. What little we have left at any rate.
…But, I wonder if we truly win with our humanity, our ability to perceive such philosophy of benevolence, is it our weakness… or confusingly both…
Regardless, they do have one weakness.
And I made a deal with them.
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She was always rash. Rash and hot headed.
He didn't need to know that the kanji along with its four slashes disappeared. He already saw; the house was flattened completely, straight into the ground creating a large, deep crater. But the hole was too precise and neat; the flattening was bizarrely accurate. As if a giant had carefully taken his hand and crushed the house into the ground.
From an aerial point of view, the top of the house would look the same. Their scent lingered waveringly in the surrounding air and started towards the village then stopped: the smoke blocked out the rest of their scent trail. But the scent of the perpetrators was entirely absent.
"Pakkun."
"I can't get a strong hold of their scent, too much smoke, neither can the rest."
"Then, we'll have to search manually. Everyone go in one direction."
The dogs barked in accord and separated off to the outer mountains. Kakashi took off the protector and placed it in his pocket while slipping his right glove off as well. He paused for just a moment, in quiet contemplation, and then continued decidedly. He drew a blade and carefully cut by feeling, a kanji mark on the middle of his forehead. He then stood and swiftly cut one kanji seal on the top pads of each finger and allowed the blood from each to trickle down to meet in his palms. A long chain of hand seals was immediately performed afterwards.
'Body Particle Division '
As his hands firmly pressed together the marks glowed and liquefied off his fingers, swirling together in union with the opposite finger mark pressed to it. The kanji on his head radiated likewise as tendrils from it grew out and consumed the man's body. There was a slight vacuum noise, as a compact, glowing sphere with two overlapping rings of encircling and moving kanji hummed quietly in the air, looking much like a planet. And like one, it drew in tightly and held that state for a few seconds before silently exploding into a miniature supernova.
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"Sora-chan, what's going on?" The tot whimpered.
"…I don't know." She whispered uncertainly.
The child huddled deeper into fetal position, rocking back and forth. Her auburn curls were disheveled and quivering as she submerged her head deeper behind her drawn up knees.
"…I'm so scared Sora-chan…" Cried the girl, muffled by her state. Sora shifted closer to her trembling school friend and took her hand.
"…Me too. But our okaa-chans and otou-chans are out there fighting, and we have to be strong for them." She stated this part louder and inspiringly so the other children heard, most of who stopped sniffling, uncertainly but readily placing on determined faces. Another listener stood in the distance, smiling secretly to herself. That kid was known to display character beyond her age, quite a quirky one.
"Would ya look at that? A set of chords on that preschooler." The woman's smile dropped as she froze at the ridiculing voice bursting with scorn. Sora became abruptly became aware of six presences and stood, drawing a kunai. '…This river...blocked out their scents…'
"Heh, what's the matter blondie?" A second voice cut through as the group stepped into view. The woman took a firm, defensive position in front of the children, whose bravery evaporated just as quickly as it had surfaced.
Only one of the band seemed to frown, clicking her teeth in disapproval, a tall skeleton resembling woman, arms gruesomely scarred and pockmarked from wrist up. Eyes seeming to have no pupils in the blackness, hair violently knotted and foul, nails lengthy and sharp like claws: she looked like a ghastly oni only from nightmares. "Shut it, the village is our goal." The majority looked disappointed, while a few glared in contempt.
"Who died and made you boss?" A man growled in rebellion, a couple others angrily nodding in agreement, and started to march up to the woman.
! start
He halted midway, suffocating on a long knife piercing his throat, the other end jutting out on the other side of his neck with waterfalls of blood gushing out from the wound and his mouth, that was gaping widely like a flopping fish in need of water. The satanic being reappeared in a horrifying shock behind the man, an inhuman grin flaunting her full ogre set of crooked, discolored teeth.
She slowly twisted the knife, creating a larger hole while grazing his head back with the other hand, driving a thumbnail point into his eye, leisurely twisting it as well. His mouth just continued to gape silently. Too damaged to scream. The only sounds were gurgling blood, the smooth sighs of the river, and the squelch of mutilated flesh. The bitter tang of blood on rusted metal now stunk in the air.
! end
"You did." Was the guttural rasp. Kicked from behind, the river's currents quickly swallowed his body, scarlet tainted water spewed onto those nearby. In an atrocious steady deliberation, the killer turned, the same wraithlike grin stretched across with blood smeared and dripping down her hands and front. Without seeming to move, the demonic visage appeared centimeters from the one who dared to stand.
Snarling in the back of her throat, her nose dipped and touched the Sora's.
"Do you find yourself brave?"
Like all the other children, she stood paralyzed, tremors violently wracking her frame. Eyes wide, forgetting how to blink, but fixed on this monstrous being, who did not hesitate to torture another. This being, who enjoyed slowly wringing life out of others. And she thoughtfully reflected in the midst of her terror. '…She…probably isn't…the worst…'
Tears streamed down in a constant flow. She was numbly aware of the being's hot, putrid breath and the brackish taste of tears running on her quivering lips.
"Where are your brave words now?"
Her hands were trembling and losing their grip on the kunai, point down, in front of her as it gradually started to slip down.
…"You are brave and courageous."…
… "Do you find yourself brave?"…
… "I'm proud of you."…
… "Where are your brave words now?"…
"Did someone cut your tongue out before I got a chance to?"
……………………… "…we…have to be strong…for them…"………………………
"The village can wait, I'm in a mood right now." A murderous glint appeared in her eyes as the rest of the crew began to smirk in approval of her change in decision. Still trembling, the child looked down, bangs shadowing her eyes.
"Won't look me in the eye eh? You won't have to…" She stepped back and raised the same long weapon in a striking position to hack the child, droplets of blood sprayed from the sudden movement and splattered on the girl's hair and face, trickling down on contact. The kunai in her hands continued to slip down bit by bit.
"This village, does not specialize in the martial arts for nothing." The woman's hand came from behind, smoldering with anger while clenching the other's arm back in a fierce grip, stopping the knife from swinging. The other merely smirked amusingly.
"Get rid of the brats, but leave that one to me." With her free hand, she pointed at the standing child. Without warning, she jerked her captive arm's elbow back. Hanako neatly ducked while still maintaining her grip.
'..Amaya, arigato.' ((thank you)) With the other hand, she pulled out a paper seal, and remembering the instructions, flung the slip of paper towards the children. The slip stopped in the air above and seemed to stick onto the top of an invisible dome.
"Magic tricks aren't gonna save you twerps." The voice belonged to a large man who had made the previous blonde comment; he rushed forwards, the group of children was in varying states. Some had long fainted from the trauma; those who hadn't were in shock and denial or quaking in sheer fright. Only one stood in the front, head bowed, no longer trembling.
The man's smirk gave way to a yelp of alarm as his great axe crashed down on the barrier, creating jolts of burning energy to leap out from the struck area. He droppedthe weaponand gawped shockingly at the now visible dome surrounding the children. The other two looked surprised as well and backed away farther. The last of the group frowned scathingly at the axe wielder while leaning against his rapier.
"You blockheaded oaf, its not a magic trick, it's a barrier seal. Attacks are useless. Don't try digging either." He added when seeing the pondering look upon the man's face. "By looks of that paper seal, it's an entire sphere, not a dome." He stood and gripped his sword. "But there should be one weak point, when hit, the whole barrier breaks." At this, the others smirked and one stated understandingly.
"So we just keep hitting this thing, until we hit the spot."
Energy jolts crackled everywhere from the heavy blows, sparks showering their vicious faces.
'…They don't need to find a weak spot…
..without the hand seals at the beginning…
…this barrier will break…
…from all the strikes…'
The knife finally slipped down, past her right hand, and started sliding through her bottom left. The last of her tears dropped onto her hands.
The locket shined up at her.
…"You are brave and courageous."…
The barrier glow weakened and diminished.
… "…I'm so scared Sora-chan…"…
Louder cries and pleas for their parents could be heard.
…"He's helping the villagers and driving out the bad guys."…
The kunai slipped down, her hands still in the shape of clenching one.
>>>>>>>>>
… "…Ecchi-chan, what does a ninja actually do?"…
… "…Hmm, they're supposed to protect their country."…
… "How?"…
… "………"…
… "I said, how?"…
… "…By making sacrifices…" …
… "…Huh?"…
… "Hahaha, don't worry about those kind of things."…
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A pinky extended forth and caught the kunai by its finger hole.
And flicked it up, it twirling in the air.
Catching it securely with the other hand.
In ready stance.
'…Now…I understand…'
The barrier collapsed, bright electrical energy fizzing out in one last burst. Her free hand clenched the locket tightly.
It was the axe to drop first. She didn't need to imagine whose metal clink it was that time. The cringing child looked up to amazingly see Sora-chan, standing in front while keeping the axe in place with only her small knife. The man looked equally surprised as well.
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… "Hahahaha, don't tell me you can't even defeat your own otou-chan in a simple arm wrestle match."…
… "…uuumph..eergh…it isn't fair! You're bigger and stronger then me! Humph, ecchi-chan." …
… "Its all about manipulation of balance imp. Anyways, I'm getting kind of hungry…"…
… "…Ow!…One more round!"…
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With the other hand she made a quick hand seal. 'Haze Trance Illusion' In the back, the children started to nod off and rub their eyes, their eyes became clouded and unfocused.
She then shifted the pressured weight.
'…Left sole to right side, 35.7 power forwards lean, 50.2 degree turn to right, strike.'
His eyes bulged out; the little brat was actually overpowering him! With a quick burst of power, Sora levered her kunai, heaving the axe down and to the side. Panting lightly, Sora took up ready stance again, kunai up, body crouched in. The man staggered back in bewilderment; just who was this kid? The others stopped and regarded her with suspicion as well. A look of recognition flickered across one of the men's eyes.
"…You…silver hair…you're that Copy-nin's kid." It was the same one who had given knowledge on the barrier. At last, the axe wielder seemed to slowly digest the information but he soon scoffed in disdain.
"So this is his brat?" He turned his attention to the crouching girl, sneering. "Still nothing but a scrawny brat." He grasped the axe and prepared to swing. "You and every brat here will die just like that sorry bastard and whore."
...Rage. Icy, seething fury clawing upwards, roaring for release. Chilling anger outstripping all sensations, but rage.
! start
The axe dropped and heavily gashed the bloody ground. On either side were the two halves of his head, still connected to his body, rather like a split pea. Bloody pieces of his brain sloshed out as harshly drawn in breaths could still be heard. It was guaranteed his slow death would end in pure agony.
! end
A small figure in the air above then landed atop the axe, her kunai held out in front of her dark face. Her bangs lightly fluttered from a night breeze.
"…She is his brat." The remaining three took more serious postures. Her being flickered out of sight.
"Where'd she go!" To answer, she reappeared a ways in front of the man and charged onwards. A bit of his previous arrogance had seemed to emerge once more, as the telltale sneer came forth, considering how little damage a tiny toddler could cause. He confidently unsheathed a dagger, crouched and waited.
She leaped, seeming intent on striking his upper body, as he stood up higher to meet her head on. The confidence vanished when the girl suddenly dropped in an instant, sliding through the man's legs instead. With a kunai in each hand, she sunk them deeply in the insides of his ankles. His bended state to see where the girl went to toppled him over with the added speed, force, and excruciating pains of the slashes.
He began flipping over onto his back, his head lightly beginning to brush the ground when he saw the child turn and caught a glimpse of her chilling, deadly gaze as well as the two bulleting missiles.
First the back of his head. Then the rest of the body thudded on the ground. One knife embedded in each lung. His labored breathing, through the spurting blood, could be heard as well. There was no pausing.
Shurikens immediately flew and cut precisely; the audible rip of muscles could be heard, each severed a key tendon for movement. With the man's face stunned in perpetual shock and horror, he limply swayed and dropped to the ground like a dull rag doll sloppily thrown away in boredom. A rag doll that would gradually die from loss of blood, unable to budge.
It was almost dead silence. The sole man hadn't realized he only remained standing until he heard the thud beside him. Only three sets of rough, irregular breathing, indicating their tortured, living state, sounded in the dark night, along with the constant, gentle whispering of the river. And his quickening heartbeat.
Thu-Thum.
The children were still sitting on the other side of the river, simply staring, in his paranoid mind, at him. In the darkness, their faces were too dark to distinguish the blank expression but their eyes seemed to glow eerily, forever keeping that unnatural cloudiness in their eyes.
Thu-thum. Thu-thum.
He licked his lips and swallowed. Frantically looking about, he backed away while holding the katana out in front, hot beads of sweat rolling down his face. "…What are you?…" he whispered in fearful awe, half to himself and to the hidden being. A bead rolled onto his lips. Bitter copper.
Thu-thu-thu-thu—
What he thought was sweat was instead a thicker, stickier substance. The sword fell with a ringing clang as his shaking hands reached up to the top of his head; a knife was impaled through, blood trickling down from the point of entrance. The brain node centralizing the nervous system had been pierced in a peculiar way, rendering him temporarily numb.
! start
Wide eyed, the numbness canceled out in a rapid surge of awareness and excruciating pain, he stiffened and slowly fell forward, revealing a small figure standing directly behind him, her back to his, nearly touching a moment before. Facedown, his back was uncovered to have been trimly dissected, the whiteness of the vertebrae glistening with fresh, dripping blood, the visible heart and lungs still erratically pumping in and out, slightly shriveling inwards at the exposure to foreign microbes, completely defenseless.
! end
For a silent while, the figure stood there motionless. She didn't notice the wisps of sparkles traveling in the air, softly tugging at her hair.
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Barely a chip of a fingernail was needed to block a vein. Particularly a crucial brain vein.
Kakashi used the dogs as points on a compass to guide his direction. Thus far, all sensed intruders were quickly dispatched. He had no time to pause and wonder in humor their expressions when some of them simply dropped dead, bleeding from the ears, or seeing hands and legs materialize from thin air and sometimes bursting from within their bodies, floating on their own. It was common for them to believe it was grisly spirits and ghosts come to wreak vengeance for imposing. He used this to his advantage, making their ends all the quicker was of utmost importance.
It was taxing; but he still couldn't sense them or the unusual group. The dread kept washing over him in crushing waves.
His thoughts then cut off abruptly.
Kuro, Southwest
Genki, East
Main river-large group-village children.
Forest clearing-five essences
Three unknown adult essences-dead-lone child
Four…essences…not human?…-lone woman
-Sora
-Amaya
The ecstatic joy and relief dissipated soon enough. Immediately afterwards, it felt as if invisible claws were raking through each particle of him. Forcibly, he felt the particles of his scattered self whirling away uncontrollably, dispersing out farther. Data of sensed substances overlapped each other and chaotically rocketed nonstop into his mentality. An image then fixed itself in the center of the pandemonium. Endless holes, staring out. It spoke, to his mind, the voice reverberating inside.
"Foolish human, do not interfere in our matters."
The villagers marveled at the unexplained but beautiful, ethereal sight of the luminous burst of wisps and swirling showers of light sparkles as if the constellations and stars of the cosmos had leapt up together in a grand finale.
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She didn't know what had happened. The fight had seemed nearly hopeless. That other woman…just had an overwhelming, ferocious desire and thirst for blood, unmistakable from her crazed eyes. It was true that everyone in the village had at least some training in taijutsu for attacks by those wanting to take advantage of their small numbers. She wished she hadn't skipped so many of those lessons in boredom as a child.
Hanako had desperately not wanted to stray from the children any further, and had struggled to retreat back to them numerous times. But the other kept launching attacks in a continuous round with mad glee, leading her further away. Slashed all over, bleeding profusely, she had looked up to see that the mad woman had raised that long knife again; and then, she just stopped.
Her face had screwed in pain and while clutching her head…she just dropped, eyes rolled up to display the whites. Unable to believe the sight, Hanako had sat in shock and then took in the wisps of sparkles in the air, floating along, and after a while, bursting in a windless cyclone of starry glitters.
Later, she once again collapsed in shock. The barrier around the children, who were bizarrely sleeping, had seemed to have stayed up by good fortune, but was strangely blazing with a daunting fortitude that had not been present before. Such details were hardly noticed in face of the four corpses, brutally shredded down to the bare thread of the living, left to slip into death. A rumpled head of silver was disturbingly not among the slumbering toddlers.
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…"You're my absolute faaavorite!"…
She had followed the direction she had seen her mother take, her scent unusually absent in the air.
… "Hehehe, ready to sneak up on otou-chan?"…
"…Okaa-chan…" The child's voice was uncommonly hollow with a tiredness attached to it as a person when awoken late in the night, not fully aware. Her speech was slurred with an abnormal, childish blubber to it.
… "…And so the princess and prince lived happily ever after."…
"…Okaa-chan…" The word was drawn out a little more, oddly echoing throughout the still air, soon fading back into the silent void.
… "Now, now, you have to eat your vegetables."…
Scent. Morning dew. It is her.
Morning dew…and…and…
… "Oh no! The tickle monster is coming!"…
"…Okaa-chan…neh…" She shook the shoulder. "…wake up…" She stood behind. Behind her mother. Who had simply chosen to lie down and sleep in the forest. The girl's eyes matched the atmosphere, simple emptiness: the inner churnings of hopefulness and pleading was drowned in a dull, glazed over look.
… "And one teaspoon of sugar. Very good!"…
"…Okaa-chan…" A little louder, more drawn out. The shaken shoulder refused to move. Her fingers started to withdraw, then her hands slipped down from the shoulder and limply swung down to her sides and hung still. The dull eyes roiled with emotion moving behind the glassiness. She whispered quietly in a conscious voice, almost to herself.
… "Ssssh…its okay, okaa-chan is here. Don't cry."…
"…Okaa-chan…" Then again, louder, choked in a swelling throat. "..Okaa-chan.." A teardrop dropped stained the dirt, then faded, replaced by more.
… "Of course, I love you with all my heart."…
Her eyelids grew heavy with the wet eyelashes, vision misty with cloudy globs. She felt the tears' road of travel, hotness sliding down slowly and losing heat to hang off her chin then splash down. She couldn't breathe well through her clogged nose. The child stood there lifeless and silent.
With sluggishness, she moved as if in a haze and went to her mother's front, collapsing on her knees. She crawled over like a whimpering infant and snuggled herself into the inert arms, scrunching into a ball. She nestled her nose closer and tried to grasp the departing scent of morning dew and ignore the creeping smell of the deceased.
>>
She tried once more, in a last glimmer of hope, as if to banish the nightmare that was utterly untrue. But her mother's eyes remained closed, never opening from her eternal sleep. The girl gently pried her mother's eyelids up. As the other times, her mother's twin eyes to hers would sparkle with mirth and she would pull her into a bear hug and tickle her breathless.
Staring back. Was instead, two infinite chasms that seemed to even suck the darkness of the night into them. She gaped in terror and immediately drew back, screeching in fright at the bats rapidly flying out of them towards her. Shaking, she tried to shield her eyes against the sudden brightness. The brightness of roaring flames surrounding, trapping her.
Her throat immediately caught, the smoke smothering. Everything seemed to disappear, nothing but vast, boundless flames stretching for miles. Even the nearby mountains were looming towers of mammoth combustion. In the panic, she wondered if she had died and went to the fiery caverns of hell. To confirm this, sinister shadows took form; demonic forms of horns, bulking figures, tails hissing as snakes.
She didn't remember running, but became obscurely aware of her moving feet while desperately clutching her ears, blindly running anywhere. She couldn't count how many times she collided with an object in her frantic path. Pain was nonexistent, every time she jumped up and ran on as before. Something carved hard into the side of her leg, causing her to tumble forwards. The solid ground slipped out from under, and for a moment, she released her hands and opened her eyes in shock.
Demons. Appalling demons writhing on the flaming ground, two holes for eyes, inky blackness leaking from them as their mouths stretched horridly to the ground, an unearthly choir of bone crunching shrieks reeking out. One of them came forward, yelling hoarsely in the forked tongue of the damned, shrieking the same skin-ripping shriek.
The world seemed to slowly elevate as she sunk. She could feel her throat and insides burn with a compulsory gulp of the blazing lava. Her last sights were that of the screaming demon running towards as currents of the fiery canal flooded over her, drowning out the shrieking.
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Notes: --Furoshiki – square piece of wrapping cloth traditionally used to carry things.
--In Japan, things involving '4' are usually regarded as bad luck since the word for '4' is pronounced the same as 'death'. In some hotels and hospitals, they even skip over numbering the fourth room.
(A/N): Hmm…do I see a connection to the Fourth Hokage…? .
--Oni are like demons in Japan. Contrarily, some oni are depicted as good, to ward off evil.
--If you didn't get it, Kumo and Genki are just names I gave to two of the ninken ((ninja dogs)).
Any questions/corrections/etc are appreciated. :-)
