The seductive Kunoichi Fuuka is back from the dead! She wants to take revenge on the blond-haired brat who dared to expose her best-kept secret and defeat her in battle years ago. Much has happened since then but the story of the attractive woman, whose beguiling charm had brought many strong opponents to their knees, also continues...
Fuuka's Last Kiss
Chapter XV - The Waterfall Village - Part IV
"A woman's hair is her life!" - Fuuka
„Wind-Style: Scattering Flower Dance!"
The air began to circulate around Fuuka. Her long hair, as well as the hair of her companions, felt the wind emitted by her technique, causing them to vibrate. Suddenly, two large gusts of wind shot in opposite directions - and toward the unseen attackers. The Ninja weapons flying toward them were thrown from their trajectory and crashed into the cave wall. Fuuka's Jutsu successfully repelled the attack, but then silence. The group looked around. The attackers did not show themselves. The pink-colored petals of her Jutsu – still in the air - laid on the ground, one after another.
"Is everyone okay?"
Sai's question was met with silence, which he took as a 'yes'. Perhaps their adversaries were weighing their further course of action after taking note of there powerful Jutsu of the Kunoichi, who was able to deflect their surprise attack made from the shadows with ease. In any case, they did not let themselves be seen.
"Maybe they fled," Sumire remarked. They could tell from her voice that she didn't really believe her own statement either.
Her doubts were confirmed; right after that, a masked Shinobi jumped towards them. His coming was announced only by a few loud boot steps - too short a time span for the youngest and most inexperienced fighter of the group to anticipate the attack, but she was just able to fend it off with a Kunai. However, another Ninja emerged, but before he could take advantage of the fact that Sumire was too preoccupied with his comrade to see him coming, Sai threw himself in between and blocked the next attack on Sumire with his sword.
Fuuka only gave the enemy's clash with her comrades a fleeting glance; she was primarily focused on herself. Her dark blue eyes roamed the darkness. She narrowed her eyes. It was only thanks to the candlelight that she was able to make out the reflected warm light on her attacker's weapon in a fraction of a moment before it could slice her throat. Fuuka was still able to throw herself backwards in time. The masked Taki Ninja she could now see stopped in front of her in an attack stance. She dropped her gaze to her hair. It seemed that she wanted to make sure that her hair didn't get hit; after all, even a single strand of hair cut off could have caused her body to crumble into dust. But she was lucky; her hair remained unharmed.
"How dare you!?"
The woman glared at her opponent, visibly upset.
„Earth-Style: Mud Silhouette!"
Out of nowhere, it seemed as if the damp cave wall suddenly oozed mud. The mud took the form of a brown wave that threatened to overwhelm the Taki Ninja. His dodging options were also limited due to the relative narrowness of the passageway, so he had no choice but to dodge her Jutsu into the air. The Shinobi leapt into the air with several Shuriken already flashing between his fingers. The throwing stars might have hit Fuuka if he had the opportunity to throw them; but that was not the case. Fuuka pointed her hand in the direction of the Ninja, and another jet of mud sprang from the rock, but this time it came from the ceiling rather than the side walls. The mud ate into the man's back and he came flying toward her.
„Earth-Style: Stone Column Spears!"
Several earth spikes sprang from the stone and pierced the Ninja's body from all sides. His lifeless, bloodied body remained motionless near the cave ceiling while his blood dripped onto the floor. Fuuka grinned, but she didn't have time to savor her triumph for long. Suddenly she felt something on her foot. She looked down in surprise and saw a hand grasping her ankle.
"You rotten..."
The earth around her foot had cracked open, but before the, seemingly hidden underground, attacker could threaten her, Fuuka raised her arm.
„Lightning-Style: Electric Needle Spark!"
She concentrated electrical energy over her head, sending lightning bolts from her hand through her body, until she lowered them through her feet onto her opponent, much like a lightning rod. Although the earth muffled his agonizing scream, it could still be heard before he finally fell silent. Sumire and Sai seemed to have finished off their adversaries as well.
"Watch out!" shouted Sai with a startled expression.
Suddenly, she felt a force pulling on her arm. Unable to counter it, Fuuka was slammed against the wall - it was Kakashi. She tried to push him away with her still free hand, but she could not. Her body froze as his red eye stared at her. She felt like he could see her naked - could see through her shell into her innermost self. But Fuuka's deceptive facade was her strength, which is why she felt exposed by the white-haired Jonin from Konoha. Fear spread through her. Kakashi seemed to be searching for something specific, but his intrusion into her mind didn't last long; suddenly a whip of water wrapped around his torso.
"I shall be your opponent, not her!"
Hisame pulled the Shinobi to her, but Kakashi resisted. He tried to free himself from her wrap.
"It's no use. You may be the legendary Kakashi of Konoha, but I am Hisame of the Hidden Rain. Do not underestimate me!"
She pulled harder on her whip, and Kakashi's trapped arms pressed even harder against his body. Then a crackle, and lightning bolts channeled from her hands through the strand toward Kakashi, who cried out as they reached him. His legs weakened and he fell to his knees. Hisame ran towards him. Arriving in front of him, she pressed her foot against his chest, causing him to hit the ground with his back. She knelt down, grabbed Kakashi by the collar and smiled.
"You're good, but I'm better."
Fuuka looked at Hisame in surprise. In a way, she saw herself in her, even if she would never admit that.
"We need to keep moving. I'm sure reinforcements are already on their way here," noted Sai.
Hisame looked at Sai questioningly.
"What about him?"
Sai looked thoughtful for a brief moment.
"Throw him into the cell."
Fuuka folded her arms in front of her and gave Sai a skeptical look.
"Shouldn't we question him?"
"We don't have time for that anymore. If we don't want to spend the rest of our lives down here in captivity, we need to leave the village as soon as we can."
"What about Shibuki?"
"He was only a secondary target in the first place. Our primary task was to take care of Hisame."
Sumire nodded.
By killing me, you meant.
Hisame straightened up and dragged Kakashi into the cell. His pants took on a new brownish color from the puddles of mud left over from Fuuka's Jutsu, soaking into his lower body. Hisame closed the grate and Sumire locked the castle, forcing Kakashi to hold out and wait for help for now, so as not to cause them any trouble in their escape. Hisame grinned; she apparently really liked the sight of seeing Kakashi behind bars.
"It's funny, don't you think?"
"What do you mean?"
Kakashi's exhausted voice was quiet, but the acoustics of the place ensured that everyone could hear it.
"The fact that you got me in and out of there then, and I got you in there now."
"Oh yes, that. Very funny, indeed."
Hisame left it at that, turning to follow the others who had already started moving. Fuuka gave the prisoner another fleeting glance before rejoining her group to find a way out of here.
"Wait."
Fuuka stopped. She turned her head slowly to Kakashi and looked at him with a neutral, almost bored expression.
"We've met before."
"Huh?"
"It was a while ago, but I remember you. You were the one woman who had served the feudal lord, all those years ago - until you betrayed him, of course."
Fuuka's face darkened as Kakashi's words revived her memories. She didn't like to think back to that day when she took her first real devistating defeat before her encounter with Naruto.
"And you must have been one of those cheeky little brats who belonged to the 'Yellow Flash', right?"
Kakashi nodded, unfazed by her gloating choice of words.
"I hadn't quite realized 'why' at the time, but I understand now."
Fuuka looked at him questioningly.
"Why Obito was so lost in thought after the mission - which didn't fit into his behaviour at all."
Fuuka crossed her arms and looked at him, increasingly annoyed.
"What are you even talking about?"
Kakashi drew his eyebrows together.
"How is it that you've mastered a technique of the Uchiha clan? How is it that you look the same as you did back then, even though thirty years have passed since then?"
Fuuka answered his curiosity with silence at first. But then a smile enveloped her red lips. She ran her hand through her hair, letting her front long strand dangle in front of her chest.
"All women have their secrets."
"How did you know him?"
"Who?"
"My father."
"Hmph. Unlike you, your father knew how to treat women. He treated me with the respect I deserved. I liked him a lot."
"That doesn't answer my question."
Fuuka turned away from Kakashi and was about to leave. The rest of the group had already moved a good distance away from her and she could no longer see them, but their footsteps could still be heard in the nearly empty hallways.
"We had something going."
"WHAT!?"
Fuuka left Kakashi alone in his bewilderment and rejoined her Root comrades. It had been far easier to get into that shimmering greenish cave than to get out again. If Hisame hadn't been able to remember the way when they had been brought here, they probably would have had far more difficulty finding their way out. Hisame carefully opened the floor hatch and peeked outside. After checking the perimeter and not spotting any enemies, she slid the hatch open so that her head was now completely sticking out of the ground.
"All clear."
She climbed out, the rest followed. It was still the middle of the night. Hisame grabbed her upper arm and pressed it against her body. Despite the warm climate in Takigakure, she couldn't help shivering - in comparison, it was much cooler at night in the village than in the sweltering cave where she had been held captive for days. Sumire placed her hand on her forearm.
"Are you okay?"
Hisame nodded and smiled kindly.
"Yes."
Fuuka, meanwhile, looked to Sai and ran a finger over her characteristic birthmark on her face.
Why did he spare his life?
The wind once again set the group's hair vibrating, though again Fuuka's nighttime chestnut-brown hair was the most noticeable of all, but this time it was not her wind hiding that was the cause. Fuuka noticed that Sai's muscles were tense. He seemed restless. She walked up to him.
"What's wrong?"
"It's quiet. Too quiet."
His hand moved slowly to the dark grip of his weapon on his back, while his even darker eyes narrowed. Only the wind could be heard, as well as the rattling of blades of grass on the ground. Fuuka's hair was nearly cut by a Kunai that came flying at her with such speed and precision that she almost certainly would have taken great damage had Sai's blade not been on hand. She saw her eyes widen on the metal before Sai lowered it again, clearing her view of the person who had nearly permanently damaged the vessel of her soul. Fuuka looked in surprise at Sai, who may have saved her life - or at least one of her bodies - with his quick reaction. If the damage to her hair was going to be too much, her 'demon transfer' wouldn't do her any good either.
"Shibuki.", Hisame remarked quietly.
Hisame knew exactly who the young man with the long black hair was, the one who had defeated her with a single strike back then, and who now stood on the roof of his own mansion - around him at least a dozen of his strongest Shinobi fighters looking down with him at the intruders. Behind the group of Taki-Nin, the moon shone in all its size and splendor - it was a full moon.
I know. This should've been the finale but I didn't want to rush things. Next one will be the finale - promised.