Forgotten

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal

Chapter 40: Broken

She kept hearing voices right by her ear. She could hear them loud and clear. They were asking about her, whether she would wake up or not. She could hear everything, but she couldn't respond. It wasn't that she couldn't respond, it was that she didn't want to respond. She didn't want to wake up. Yuki wanted to sleep forever and forget about what had happened between her and Sai. She knew deep down he wasn't trustworthy, yet she was still as genuine as possible with him. She believed he wasn't a typical Root ANBU. She was wrong. She had never been more wrong about a person and she was the only reason for this misjudgment on her part. Now that she thought about it, he did nothing to lead her to believe that he was a friend. She kept hearing the tinging sound of the two metals hitting each other before he could gauge her eyes out in the background. She wanted it to stop. It was like a trigger to induce chills all along her spine.

"Please, make it stop." She murmured, clearly destabilized by the sound.

"She said something!" A low voice said. "Bee-sama, I think she said something. I couldn't quite catch it, but I definitely heard something."

She slowly opened her eyes. Her head was turned sideways, her back was facing the people who were talking. She could sense two distinct chakras. One of them reminded her of Naruto's, but it wasn't his. The other chakra owner wasn't special as per say. He was still a shinobi nonetheless. She could tell.

"She's alive, oh yeah! You shouldn't be surprised, Omoi! Killer Bee personally saved her, after all!"

"That did not rhyme, Bee-sama..." Replied the one named Omoi in a dull voice.

"I wasn't trying to make it rhyme, ya fool."

Yuki blinked a few times and sat up. She could sense Omoi moving back a little. He was definitely the careful type. He wasn't wrong to do so though. They didn't know whether she was a foe or a friend, after all. She turned around and looked at them. She tried to smile in order to demonstrate that she meant no harm. However, she barely managed to look kind. It was as if she forgot how to smile. It felt like she had lost someone again. It felt like how it was when the Third had just passed away. She felt lonely. Perhaps, it was because, even though she was away from the village, she felt like Sai would come visit from time to time, mission or not, just like a friend. That, now, was impossible. If he ever showed up again, it was to get rid of her, or her eyes to be more precise. She had lost a friend, in a sense. He wasn't dead. He just wasn't a friend any longer. She felt so empty at that thought. She tried to smile once again and said, in a small voice, barely audible:

"Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcomed. We just happened to have forgotten something in town and headed back. On our way, we saw that he was about to harm you. We weren't too sure whether to intervene or not, but we felt like we had to do something. It was nothing really. He didn't really fight back. He just left the moment we blocked him from striking. I've talked too much. I haven't even introduced myself. I'm Omoi, from Kumogakure."

"I'm Yuki."

"I'm Killer Bee. Here to make people listen to my rhapsody!"

"It's nice to meet you both." She said, still trying to smile in order to seem pleasant.

"Don't force yourself into smiling." Bee, then, said more seriously. "It just pains your heart more when trying. We saw you crying. We saw him hesitating."

"Was he?" Yuki asked, slightly surprised.

"You guys are like star-crossed lovers, right?" Omoi then asked.

"No."

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to... I mean... I shouldn't have assumed things. I just... I'm really sorry."

"Don't be." Yuki told Omoi who seemed to be very worried about the outcome of what he just said. "I suppose it could have been perceived that way from an outsider's point of view."

Things went silent. Omoi awkwardly tried to step away for a second before being pulled back by Killer Bee. Yuki grabbed the bowl of water they had left by her side while she was sleeping. She took a sip of it. She was trying to push down, by drinking, this knot that she had in her throat. Every time she felt by herself or wronged, that knot appeared, making it hard for her to speak or to emote.

"You are a shinobi, right?" Omoi then asked, trying to change subject.

Yuki wasn't too sure how to answer to that. If she told the truth, she was afraid that she would have to fight the both of them for trespassing into the Land of Lightning. If she didn't, she was afraid that the consequences, once they found out the truth, would be much graver than if she had told them right from the beginning. Besides, she knew, better than anyone, that lies were not a good foundation to trustworthiness.

"I am."

"Where's your headband?" He continued asking, now seemingly suspicious about her presence in the Land of Lightning.

"I don't have one. I was trained by my grandfather, then he passed away and so I started wandering the different lands, trying to find a home."

"You can't fool Killer Bee! You might be tiny, but I can sense that you are quite mighty!"

"My grandfather trained me well." Yuki replied. It wasn't an complete lie. Things did turn out that way in a sense. She couldn't return home to Konoha, she might as well try to find a new home in the meantime.

"Would it be too much to ask you to spar against me, right now?" Omoi then asked as he grabbed his sword. "Bee-sama always told me that you never really know someone until you fight them."

"Fist to fist clears out the mist." Bee said, confirming what Omoi had just said.

"It would be my honor." Yuki replied. "I always heard about the talent that resided in Kumogakure. I can't wait to see it myself."

Normally, Yuki would have been really excited to fight someone from whom she could learn a thing or two. However, those were only words that day. She felt nothing at the fact that she was about to be fighting someone from Kumogakure. Her mind was still empty and her heart was still aching. Yuki grabbed her katana and followed Omoi's lead out of the cave where they were staying. They walked a bit and arrived near a waterfall surrounded by a flat terrain on which they could easily have their fight. He pulled his sword out of its sheath and pointed it at Yuki. She didn't flinch. She simply looked at him, waiting for Bee's signal to start the fight. She was still unsure whether she should end the fight quickly or drag it out in order to be able to observe Omoi's moves. Bee raised his arm to announce the start of the fight. Omoi charged ahead, but remained fairly careful in his moves. They were offensive, but they allowed him to stay on the defensive at the same time. Yuki dodged his attacks without much difficulty. If she wasn't wrong, he was a Genin, a talented one, but still just a Genin. It would make sense with his age.

As he noticed that he was getting nowhere with his kenjutsu against Yuki, he decided to resort to some ninjutsu as well. He coated his sword with some lightning allowing for its reach to be extended to which, Yuki responded by pulling out her katana and finally started fighting back.

"You are quite good with a katana." Omoi praised her.

"Like I said, my grandfather trained me well."

"Your blade is dull, though." He said as he stroke her katana and broke it in half. As his sword continued in its pathway, it almost struck Yuki. However, she, instinctively, flashed herself away, appearing right behind Omoi, holding a kunai right by his neck.

Surprised, Omoi dropped his sword. He rose his arms up in the air to surrender. Bee looked astonished as well. Yuki's face was emotionless. As she held the kunai there, she looked down on the floor at her broken katana. That blade was never dull. She always took very good care of her weapons. They were always spotless. If they were stained with blood, she would wash them until they shone again. She usually never let anyone touch her weapons for that reason. The only one who did was Sai when he took her away from Sunagakure. He had planned it since then. At that thought, she put her kunai back into her bag, still looking down at the ground. She heard Omoi and Bee's voices again. They seemed so far away despite being right there. She grabbed the two pieces of her katana in her hand. She did not care that the blade was resting against her skin. She actually tightened her grip. She wanted to remember this pain. At least, it made her feel something. She turned towards the waterfall and threw her katana into the water. Her hand was dripping of blood. She sensed Omoi grabbing her hand and bandaging it, but it was already feeling numb. She let it be as she watched her broken blade slowly sink into the water, staining its surrounding in the red of her blood.

End of Chapter 40

Yay to new characters being introduced to the story!

Let me know how you feel so far about the story in the review!

xox

Krystal