Out of the Ashes
Chapter 21
Lightning Strikes
"Hime, you need to chill."
I glared at Kinoe from my hospital bed. See, as soon as I woke up after he knocked me out I made it my mission to make his morning hell. I proceeded to yell until Kinoe came in, horrified because he thought I was being kidnapped again, then I threw a book I found in the drawer next to my bed at him. Kinoe merely caught it and that led to him telling me to chill.
"You fucking knocked me out after I was attacked with a knockout tag, and then tell me to chill when I wake up screaming?" I demanded. How rude of him to think I wouldn't be mentally scarred.
Kinoe rolled his eyes, "You know very well I was the one who knocked you out with medical chakra. You went out calling me an asshole."
"That was out loud? Nice. Regardless, what the fuck was all that?! An ANBU?" I huffed, "What the fuck did an ANBU want with me?"
"I mean, it wasn't just you..." Kinoe lied, eyes shifting away from me. When he looked back and I was giving him a very unimpressed look he threw his hands up.
"Alright, it was you. You were the target." Kinoe groaned when I clearly wanted more of an explanation. Kinoe bent out of his chair and slapped his palm on the floor. His chakra crawled around the room with seals running up the walls. They flashed once and then Kinoe started talking.
"Don't freak out but the ANBU that had been sent after you was likely one of Danzo's Root operatives." Kinoe informed me gravely. I choked on air for a few seconds.
"Don't freak out? Danzo's been meddling since the massacre! Now he actually wants to kidnap me?" I cried.
Kinoe shushed me, "Don't tell anyone you know this. The cover everyone is being told is it was an outside party's attempt to kidnap the Uchiha-hime for her Uchiha blood."
I huffed and crossed my arms. Kinoe made sure I was calm before he lifted his seals. I wasn't allowed to leave the hospital yet because they wanted to keep a close eye on me and Sasu. Of course, it was really just them making sure there would be no further attempts on us and the hospital seemed like the best place to keep us. After all, Kinoe had fully healed me.
Later in the morning Bu and Kyuketsu visited. Bu handed me a basket that I started investigating immediately while Kyuketsu made a disappointed noise.
"Would have been much quieter if they actually took you." Kyuketsu, in his dry sense of humor, remarked. Bu gaped at him and I just shrugged while pulling my scarf out of the basket and making a face at it.
Kyuketsu hummed, "Well, next time someone tries to kidnap you kill them so there's an interesting story to hear when we're stuck visiting."
"How about I kill them and not end up in the hospital?" I suggested as I found not just my attempt at knitting a scarf but also neatly written instructions on how to sew a pillow with the appropriate materials inside the basket.
I looked at Bu and advised him, "Next time food would be a better get well gift."
"That was all my mom. Don't blame me." Bu huffed. He and Kyuketsu pulled the visitors chairs up to my bed and I put the basket on the side table for now. I wasn't good enough to be able to multitask while knitting yet. Bu and Kyuketsu made some small talk before getting down to the knitty gritty. First Bu complained about all the food he had been forced to eat for the past week and how finally it was over and he didn't have to force immense amounts of food down his throat. Then he complained about Shouta, his mom's boyfriend. Kyuketsu remarked Shouta seemed like a very well rounded individual and Bu told him to shove it.
Finally though Kyuketsu was the one who asked, "So what happened yesterday?"
"Sasu and I got attacked on our way through the district. Guy was insanely fast and he knocked Sasu out of the fight immediately. I dodged him and tried to kawarimi with Sasu but that made Sasu worse and I was pretty dizzy. The guy came after us again and tried to knock me out by slamming my head into a wall. Kinoe-sensei and others scared him off and then sensei knocked me out." I informed them easily.
Kyuketsu nodded, "We should train ourselves to be able to kawarimi with others. It's a useful skill."
Bu groaned, "Is training all you think about?"
Kyuketsu thought about it for a moment, "I enjoy synthesizing poisons as well."
"What do you like to do that isn't... deadly?" Bu questioned harshly after a few seconds of trying to find a way to word it. I leaned in as well, quite curious what his hobbies were.
"I enjoy reading. Particularly books on health and the human body." Kyuketsu informed us rather nonchalantly.
Bu fell forwards dramatically and placed his head on my bed, "Oh the horror. The boy doesn't know how to have fun!"
"Go teach him then." I suggested.
Bu snapped his fingers and rocketed upwards, "That's it! The festival is coming up!"
I blinked, "Do you mean the week long festival for the Chunin Exam finals?"
Bu nodded vigorously, "Think about it! We can play games and eat food and they might have fireworks! I hope they have fireworks."
"Joy. Explosions that don't smell bad." Kyuketsu droned. He looked rather unexcited considering we were discussing a festival. I thought this particular festival was actually really great. For exam contestants the finals usually meant training so they couldn't really enjoy the festivities if they weren't confident. However I had gone to this festival twice in my life as the exams bounced around and the exams had been here once when Momma was alive and took Sasu and I and another time when it was just Sasu and I.
Generally each night had something different. The main night was the one before the finals and that was when the village half transformed into a giant carnival. It was pretty great if I do say so myself. All it was missing was fairground rides. I would kill someone for a Ferris wheel, zipper or scrambler. Anything in that area really. I loved rides.
"But think of the romance possibilities!" Bu gasped suddenly. Kyuketsu and I shared looks this time. I was game for anything but that.
"What romance possibilities? You and your hand?" Kyuketsu asked. I snorted and grabbed my pillow to muffle my screaming laughter.
Noooooo. Pinch me. Kyuketsu did not just say that.
I wasn't sure if the context of that joke was what I thought it was but honestly, Kyuketsu would totally make that joke. And I'm pretty sure these guys were old enough to understand. I momentarily did math and almost choked when I realized they were older than me and they were actually turning fourteen soon. Well Bu was. Kyuketsu still had some time to go. Konoha had a generally warm climate with the coldest time being dead winter: late December and the entirety of January. Summer was unbearably hot as I've complained before. The Wave Mission was probably supposed to have taken place in spring yet we had gotten it towards the end of winter. Bu had an early birthday in May, followed by Kyuketsu in June and myself in July. Right now it was mid-ish late-ish February. So it was getting warmer but temperature would stay mild until Kyuketsu's birthday.
Back to reality.
"Uncalled for!" Bu yelped, "Seriously!"
I was in context! My life is complete. Honestly, I could have died again right then and there and not cared a single bit. I looked over the pillow at Bu's face, which happened to be red, and I had to bite the pillow. Kyuketsu even looked incredibly pleased with himself.
"Well what about you guys?" Bu sputtered, looking very disgruntled.
"Negative." Kyuketsu drawled. I didn't trust myself to speak so I just nodded with Kyuketsu.
Bu leaned back in his chair, "You guys are so boring."
"And you're easy." I told him. Bu looked scandalized I could possibly imply he was easy.
"I don't think you understand what that means, Fu." Bu whispered, looking absolutely mortified.
I grinned, "Oh I absolutely do."
Kyuketsu spoke up, probably just to pull one over on both Bu and I, "She's implying you would engage in intimate relations with-"
The door swung open and Kinoe, who had been leaning on the door listening in, fell in. He just stayed there on the floor for a few seconds while Kyuketsu finished what he was saying, "-anyone."
"Hime, you're so crude for a little girl who hasn't had her first-" and Kinoe only got so far before I threw the sharp tools inside the goodie basket of knitting and sewing He caught them as he stood up and he returned them to the basket.
"I can't believe you three. Aren't you young for this topic?" Kinoe complained before adding a pout, "I don't want three hormonal teenagers to deal with. Go back to being cute."
"Well, biologically speaking-" Kyuketsu didn't get any further because I threw my pillow at him while Bu cried, "Shut up!"
Kinoe just laughed, "I forgot you like reading medical texts. I mean, I guess physically you guys are mostly all ready for teenager things. Cute little Fu-chan is a bit behind though. Poor her. Actually, that's probably a good thing considering the female system."
I glared at him, "Can you not?" The room felt a bit colder and Bu scooted a bit away from me.
"Hey," Kinoe raised his hands up passively, "I just walked into this conversation. And put that killing intent away you little shit."
Someone cleared their throat in the doorway and Kinoe froze. He had this kind of 'Oh shit!' expression on his face and we all snickered as his misfortune. The Hokage himself, in all his glory, was watching us with hardly concealed amusement. The three elders behind him looked far less amused.
"That little shit is the heiress to the Uchiha clan, Kinoe-kun. Best watch your language." the Hokage chuckled. Danzo grumbled something to which the other two elders nodded in agreement.
"Hiruzen, surely you did not entrust the Uchiha heiress to Uzumaki-kun?" the female elder, Koharu I think her name is, demurred.
The Hokage hummed, "Is that an issue, Koharu?" Ha I was right!
The third elder, Homura, pushed up his glasses in annoyance, "He has never had a genin team before and has hardly left the village. He is not fit to be a sensei, especially considering his attitude!"
Kinoe looked wounded but he concealed it behind a shinobi poker face. I felt back but didn't say anything and clearly my teammates felt the same way. None of us wanted the attention drawn to us.
"I believe Kinoe-kun is the best fit for their sensei." the Hokage replied, a hardness in his voice that was just asking for trouble if anyone dared question his authority, "Fushicho-chan, Obu-kun and Kyuketsu-kun have grown admirably under his guidance."
Bu elbowed me and hissed, "Say something!"
"What do you want me to say?!" I retorted back lowly.
Bu shrugged, "Well they came to visit you, didn't they? Ask them what they want!"
Our little conversation must have been noticed by the Hokage because he asked me, "Is something the matter, Fushicho-chan?"
I froze, "Uh, no. I was just wondering why you were all here..."
He chuckled, "I came to personally assure you there will be no more attempts on you or your brother. Your attacker is gone." I assumed gone meant dead. From the looks on everyone elses faces, they also assumed that.
"Thank you, sir." I nodded my head to him, "How is my brother?"
"Healthy and safe. You two will be released tonight after being kept for observation." The hokage informed us cheerfully. I looked at Kinoe with narrowed eyes.
Kinoe rubbed the back of his head and tried to sound intellectual, "Concussions can cause lingering damage even with the most skilled healer's touch. To be sure nothing escaped our notice you should be observed for the next twenty-four hours after treatment."
The elders all excused themselves and after the door was shut and we sat in silence for a few minutes, Kinoe dropped onto my bed in relief. He used my shin as a pillow, although that probably wasn't very comfortable, and he looked up at the ceiling like it was going to fall down on us.
"I thought they were going to kill me with those glares." he whined after making sure the ceiling wasn't going to fall for a minute.
Bu pat his hair, "It's okay sensei, we'll protect you."
Kinoe snorted, "Good luck with that, Pinky."
.
I spent the rest of my day in the hospital working with the knitting on my scarf. Considering the fact no one visited me after my team I had plenty of time to make sure the scarf was long enough to be a scarf. In fact, it was a pretty good looking scarf if you ignored the crappy beginning. It was a nice shade of red and I fit it around my neck to make sure it was a good length before I finished it off. I wouldn't wear it often though because it was the same shade of red as my bandana and the scarf won over the bandana. Besides, the scarf would probably fall apart if I used it too much.
I was freed that night along with my brother. We walked through the village with ease until we reached the Uchiha district. As we walked along the walls I commented, "We should really do something about the district being so empty."
And it was true. Not only was there a lot of potential houses and shops collecting dust, but we were wide open to attack there. If we were both jonin then it wouldn't be a problem since we could handle ourselves against most opponents. However as two genin most kidnappers or assassins would be much stronger than us. It was just a terrible idea for us to live here. Of course the entire district has sentimental value and it would be awkward to see non-Uchiha living in it. The Uchiha fans that decorated the place would be taken down and things would change.
"What can we do? It belongs to our family." Sasu demurred.
I shrugged, "We can sell the houses."
"No." Sasu said firmly, "The district belongs to the Uchiha clan." Sasu was apparently far more sentimental than I was. Or perhaps he was just a true Uchiha. Either way, I wasn't going to argue too much. Of course I would argue for our safety and because I'm a stubborn asshole but really, I wasn't too set on a particular action.
I sighed, "We're the only Uchiha left. If we keep ourselves open like this then we might not wake up in the hospital next time."
"If there's a next time then we'll be prepared. Every day we get stronger and stronger." Sasu told me, very sure of himself.
"Alright, next time you can fight the masked guy and get your head cracked on a wall." I informed him dryly.
"Fine then, you'll feel your insides scramble when someone drags you through a horrible kaminari." Sasu retorted. That was a pretty good retort so I didn't give him another smartass response. When we reached the gate to the district Kyuketsu and Bu were leaning there. Bu was talking to Kyuketsu, quietly for once, and Kyuketsu looked like he was actually looking.
Who am I kidding? Kyuketsu was probably zoning out and thinking about his next method to cure my nightmares. Honestly, that kid.
"Oi, what are you guys lingering suspiciously for?" I called, throwing my voice.
As I hoped, Bu jumped into the air and immediately tried to explain how he was not lingering suspiciously and was just waiting for a friend. Then when he saw I was me he sighed in relief before yelling that I was so mean for doing that to him. Kyuketsu just snickered as Bu's misfortune.
Sasu groaned, "I just got rid of Naruto and now I have to listen to Bu?"
"Yep. Deal with it. I do." I laughed evilly. Bu and Kyuketsu fell in step beside Sasu and I. As we walked through the district Bu shivered. He looked at a few of the houses where screens were removed since they had been bloodstained. I recalled Bu walking me to the academy after the massacre and he witnessed some of the blood splatters that ANBU hadn't gotten rid of yet. To be honest, ANBU were shit cleaners and a lot of bloodstains were there for like a year or three before Sasu or I had the courage to venture into some of the buildings. The ANBU just made sure the blocks that led to our house were spotless from the outside so that we wouldn't be scarred for life walking through there.
Too late for that, by the way.
When we reached our house I invited Kyuketsu and Bu inside for tea while Sasu went to wash up and sleep. He didn't want anything to eat or drink because his stomach was still kind of iffy from my horrible last minute attempt at getting us the hell out of that fight. We sat down at the low table and sipped at fresh tea that I brewed with shitty tea bags.
"My mom would skin you if you served her this." Bu pointed out, not in a complaining way though.
I nodded, "Definitely."
"Bag tea is convenient. I would not ask for more." Kyuketsu added. I nodded in agreement. Surprisingly, Kyuketsu wasn't much of a tea person. He liked bag tea because it wasn't offensive when he chugged it to finish it faster. Bu took the longest to drink tea because his mother beat her ideas on manners into him. I kind of just drank it. I didn't sip on it or chug it. We were an even three it seemed.
"Ne, Fu. How do you two do it?" Bu questioned suddenly, looking into his tea like it would tell him the answer.
I was confused, "Do what?"
"Walk through here every day like it's nothing. It's just so lonely." Bu explained. I looked out the window.
"Yeah. It's pretty lonely. Sometimes I look out the window and expect to see something I remember from my childhood. Sometimes I think, was that just Tanaka who makes those yummy cookie things? Then I start to remember the smell and the taste, but then I remember that everyone is dead." I admitted, "I don't usually expect to remember anyone since it feels like they've been gone forever. But once in awhile I just remember."
"Ghosts, perhaps?" Kyuketsu pointed out, "Visages of their life repeating over and over again."
Bu looked offended and mortified, "Don't say shit like that to Fu! That's her clan you're talking about!"
"She doesn't care." Kyuketsu dismissed easily, gesturing to me. I just blinked and shrugged.
"Like I said. A long time." I demurred, "But thanks for trying to help, Bu."
Bu nodded and looked down into his tea. He took a long slow sip. When we all finished our tea I led them to the door and thanked them again for walking Sasu and I home. Kyuketsu started to leave without Bu and Bu looked kind of alarmed.
"What," I teased, "Scared of the ghost town?"
"No!" Bu insisted, "But... are you really okay living here?"
I shrugged, "I suggested to Sasu we sell some of the houses so that we aren't the only ones in the entire district but he doesn't agree. I don't really care about the ghost town part, per se. What's more concerning is if someone else tries to whisk us away backup isn't exactly next door. If I hadn't flared my chakra and bought us time then things would have gone a lot worse."
Bu looked down at his feet, "Kyuketsu and I wouldn't like that."
"I really wouldn't either." I demurred sarcastically.
He snorted, "I assumed."
Bu turned around and started down the steps but he paused again. He looked around the street and as if being summoned, one of the cats that Sasu made a bad habit of feeding shot across the road. Bu screamed and jumped in the air before putting a hand to his heart. He looked wildly at me.
"It was a cat, Bu."
"I know that! But whose cat?"
I snickered, "A wild cat, Bu. Sasu feeds them. They all probably live in one of the buildings that are missing screens."
Bu took a deep breath to calm himself, "That really scared me. Stupid Kyuketsu and his ghost idea."
I looked up and down the street, "I mean, if I have nightmares tonight you can blame him tomorrow."
"The nightmare part sucks but the blaming Kyuketsu art sounds great."
"Right?"
.
The next day went as expected. Bu antagonized Kyuketsu on causing my nightmares with his idea about ghosts haunting where I live. Kyuketsu didn't really care although he did give me some little bags of herbal teas he made himself that he swore would help knock me out peacefully. I wasn't sure I wanted to try them but figured it couldn't hurt. Also that morning was rather cold so I was able to wear my scarf. It got warmer as the day went on but I was definitely glad that I could wear my scarf for the morning at least.
Bu complimented it and Kyuketsu told me I would keep improving as I worked. When Kinoe showed up, rather normally for once, he asked me what I was wearing. That hit me right in the heart because I thought my scarf looked great but after Bu explained I learned how to knit when we were ignoring him for a week, Kinoe suddenly thought the scarf was the best thing ever. I have a feeling he was trying to flatter me for some reason.
Kinoe sat us all down and we got a very, very long lecture on the Chunin Exams. I honestly zoned out for awhile and got the abridged version from Kyuketsu later, since Kyuketsu always paid full attention. The basic gist of what Kinoe said was that we had to work together at all times. He also said that running was alright if the situation was dire but Bu scoffed at that and said, "If you have enough explosives then no situation can go wrong!"
That sounds like faulty logic to me.
Regardless, Kinoe also decided we could fit in one more C rank to practice for the Chunin Exams. Bu, Kyuketsu and I just kind of looked at each other like, "Are you serious? The exams are like a month away." and if we got a mission like the Wave one then we would be gone for at least two weeks. Kinoe didn't care about our protests so the next day we were all packed for a mission that involved guarding a traveling merchant. We just had to bring him to a village by the border.
Sounds simple, right?
"Uchiha Fushicho?" the merchants son, a boy our age-ish, said in a dreamy way that set off alarms in my mind, "As in the Uchiha-hime?"
Bu snickered and I aggressively elbowed him in the kidney. He made a noise similar to a dying cat and he moved to the other side of Kyuketsu to get away from me.
The son, a very bland looking boy with the equally bland name of Hiro, stuck to my side during that mission. While his father, a rather friendly man by the name of Jirou, chattered very happily to Kinoe all hours of the day, Hiro glued himself to me. I caught Kyuketsu laughing at me several times and Bu gave up trying to help me after the third day of traveling. By the end of the fourth day I was ready to kill the kid myself.
Kinoe was teaching us some helpful things on the mission. One of the things he taught us was how to sleep in trees. So now for the entire mission we were only allowed to sleep in trees and if we fell out he was not healing our bruises. Of course Kinoe got a kick out of watching us from his comfortable bedroll outside the clients tent. The father and son duo were rather well off and traveled with not only their cart with two horses, but also a very nice tent that I was debating trading my quiet for.
"I can't stand him." I hissed to Bu. Tonight we found a tree that had an oddly low dip in it that the three of us could huddle in. To Kinoe we probably looked like we were cuddling but really this was the most comfortable way to handle the situation. Normally you tied yourself to a branch to sleep but we were able to squeeze ourselves together to sleep in the dip. Really it fit two of us and that was fine when our watches started but Kinoe took first watch so we all had to force ourselves into this dip.
Bu's breath was hot on my face as he chuckled, "You looked like you were going to kill him when he felt your hair."
"I should have and called it muscle memory." I demurred.
"You would still be punished severely." Kyuketsu, on the other side of Bu, muttered.
"I think murder warrants severe punishment, yes." I agreed. Bu smothered his laughter but both Kyuketsu and I could feel him quivering. Sleeping next to someone was honestly a pain. Bu managed to control his laughter after about thirty seconds.
"At least we'll be there tomorrow night. Then we just have to make sure they're good for two days and we can book it back in time for some training!" Bu pumped his fists into the air.
"Good. Then we get beds. I'm tired of sleeping with you two."
Kyuketsu quipped, "That sounds dirty."
"I'll dirty your goddamn face." I retorted immediately. A rather weak comeback but still effective.
Bu snickered, "That sounds dirty too."
"How severe a punishment is murder?"
I was fucking serious too. Someone was dying and whether it was one of my teammates or Hiro was still up in the air.
.
The day we reached the town was the best day of that week. Honestly my team and I sprinted into the town and Hiro followed us, albeit much slower. Like so much slower he was pretty much a turtle.
"Civilization at last!" cried Bu.
I turned to Kinoe, "Sensei, I want my own bed!"
Kyuketsu agreed, "Bu is a cuddler and Fushicho and I are in agreement that we would like to not sleep near him again."
Kinoe looked at Jirou, rather embaressed we were acting this way, but Jirou just laughed. He looked over us fondly before nodding his head and pulling out a coin pouch. he tossed it to his son and winked, "Kids will be kids. Hi-kun, why don't you show your friends around the town? Maybe buy some lunch at that place you like here."
"Thank you father!" Hiro cried, hugging his father around the waist before excitedly wanting us to follow him.
The differences between a shinobi and a civilian was incredible. Hiro was thirteen like Bu and Kyuketsu, as I found out during his nonstop rambles. But civilian children acted like I expected a child to act. He had his moments where he had preteen grumpiness but overall was fun and energetic. Meanwhile, Kyuketsu, Bu and I were mature. We were quiet and calculating. While this kid still had a few years left to grow up, we had already learned how to begin being an adult. After all, we were technically counted as adults because of our hitai-ate. Not to say we could do things like buy alcohol or go into the porno section of the bookstore, but there was such a distinct difference between our thirteen and Hiro's thirteen.
Hiro ended up dragging us to a sweets store that we had very mixed feelings on. I thought they had excellent dango while Bu and Kyuketsu inhaled red bean mochi. Kyuketsu moved on to the green tea mochi while Bu stopped to have some tea. None of us were sweet addicts like I knew Ita had been, but we all could eat sweets. If you want the candy version of Naruto, just look at Kinoe. Honestly it's scary how much Kinoe is like Naruto.
Speaking of that, I wonder if Naruto tracked down Kinoe again? I hadn't heard anything from Sasu, Naruto himself or Kinoe, so I actually had no idea. I assumed after pushing them in motion Naruto wouldn't let him go. But I really had no way of keeping track of that without being obvious about it. No way did I want anyone to know I actually cared.
When we finished with the sweets we headed to the market where Hiro led us through like he knew the place like the back of his hand. He explained they often came to this town since it was basically on the border so they could sell things at a high price. I thought that made some sense so I accepted it. Kyuketsu had some questions about commercial benefits so as they started talking I observed a few stalls that sold some weird shit.
I was examining what looked like a stand that sold fake witch stuff like bats wings and magic charms and skulls when an older man called to me.
"Excuse me, miss. Could you help me?" the old man requested, wheezing a bit, "I see you have one of those ninja headbands. My back isn't what it used to be and I need help carrying a crate of things I would like to sell. I just can't lift the darn thing anymore."
"Sure." I agreed. I'm not a terrible person. I'm not Obito, who would go out of his way to help everyone in need. But I wasn't the kind of person who would leave a poor old man who needed help carrying something when I had nothing else to do. As I started to follow him Kyuketsu fell in step beside me.
"Bu is looking at fabric. His haggling ability is surprisingly astute." Kyuketsu informed me rather gleefully.
I blinked, "Why are you so happy?"
He held up a basket and when I looked inside I found, surprise, herbs. There were also a few assorted mushrooms which was pretty fascinating. I hadn't seem him play with those yet although I knew Bu used a few in some of his odor concoctions.
"Is this your friend, missy?" the old man asked conversationally as we trotted around to another busy street with residences on it. We walked up to one of the nicer homes and the old man showed us a box of what looked like antiques sitting on his porch.
The old man sighed, "The nice young man next door was helping me earlier but he had work. Thank you for helping me."
"It's no problem." I told him. I lifted the box and we started to walk back towards the square. Kyuketsu detoured into an alley and the old man and I followed. I was kind of concerned that Kyuketsu would get us horribly lost but it wasn't like we couldn't walk to the top of the buildings and find the giant outdoor market.
I started to chuckle and Kyuketsu and the old man looked at me oddly, "Sorry. I just thought that the market is so big and Bu, that's our friend sir, is probably running around looking for us."
"He'll live." was Kyuketsu's response.
The old man laughed, "He's probably distracted by a vendor. So many lovely things are for sale today."
Kyuketsu and I both agreed. The flare of chakra I felt above us came too quickly and too powerfully. I felt like my nerves were fried as the chakra used a shunshin to appear beside Kyuketsu. I turned and watched a dark skinned man slam the end of a kunai down into Kyuketsu's neck. Kyuketsu fell forwards and was completely unconscious. The old man was knocked out more carefully and the attacker caught him and laid him against the wall gently.
"Son of a-" I swore, reaching for my tanto but the man put a finger to his lips, "Shh, little Uchiha-hime. If you cooperate the old man and your friend here can live."
I appraised the man before me. He looked familiar but was wearing civilian clothing and had long white hair pulled into a ponytail. I pieced together who he was when I tasted his chakra and almost keeled over. His chakra felt like pure electricity and even just tasting it shook my system. If he touched me it would probably not feel very nice.
"You. You're the guy from that border post." I said slowly.
His golden eyes lit up, "You remember little ol'me? How sweet. Now, are you coming peacefully or am I killing the old man and your friend?"
I looked at Kyuketsu and found myself raising my hands. There was no way I could take the chance of him killing an innocent old man. But more importantly there was no way I could take the chance on losing one of my teammates.
"Excellent choice, Hime." the gold eyed man praised me. He lifted Kyuketsu over his shoulder and he led me carefully through the alleys until we were back by the old mans house. Apparently the nice young man the old man had been talking about was this guy. Well, or his other neighbor. But considering the coincidence I think not. It also explains why he was so gentle when knocking the old guy out.
The man closed the windows and tossed Kyuketsu onto the couch. First he tied up Kyuketsu and then he stepped forward towards me. As he got closer his chakra's pure intensity was too much and I started to step back. This continued until my back was against a wall. I needed the wall to hold me up when he was within touching distance. He stopped there and just leered at me.
"Such pretty eyes, little Hime. You haven't grown into them yet though." the man leaned forward, "Someone really wants you alive you know. A bounty is out on your head. Uchiha Fushicho, alive. But they didn't specify if they wanted your eyes. Perhaps I should take those for myself?"
"Maybe I should claim your bounty." I scoffed under my breath before I could stop myself. I was considerably nervous because there was a bounty for me, and not my eyes.
The gold eyed man stepped back and laughed, "Good response. I take it you've seen my godly presence in a bingo book?"
"I don't remember much." I admitted, "Your name was something like, Kaito or Maito."
"Raito, good guesses though." Raito nodded with a vaguely impressed look on his face. Then fun time was over because he held up a rope and bound my arms and feet in several places.
"I wouldn't try burning these off either, Hime. They have metal inside so that will hurt you more than it would help you." Raito informed me as he tightened the double knot around my wrists. I rolled my eyes at him. How dare he remember that I tried to roast his arm off!
Raito shoved us into a bedroom where he closed the curtains and told me he'd give us a good jolt if either of us tried to move the curtain. Considering how unconscious Kyuketsu was I doubted he'd be up anytime soon so he wouldn't be causing trouble for awhile. Raito left after locking the window by busting its lock and then he locked the bedroom door.
I spent awhile trying to get the little file pick out of my shoe but I was tied so tightly in so many places I couldn't do anything to reach it. I struggled for awhile trying that and then I started trying to pick apart the rope I could reach. There was in fact metal wire in the rope so I had no hope of tearing that apart. I cater-pillared over to Kyuketsu and tried to wake him up but he had a very impressive bump on the back of his head that suggested even if he did get up he would probably have a concussion.
"This sucks." I groaned. I spent some more time trying to balance so I could stand up and bounce around the room. It took awhile before I did manage to get up and then I hopped around checking the walls, doors and windows. There wasn't anything useful though. The house was in good shape so I couldn't just bust us out either.
I sat down on the bed and strained my chakra to its limit to search for Kinoe and Bu. I found Bu's chakra first and he was just inside my furthest limit. His chakra was frantic and buzzing. He had probably been searching for us for awhile. I wanted to get his attention with a chakra flare but Bu wasn't that good of a sensor yet. Only Kinoe would be able to feel it and he wasn't within my range. Also, Raito would definitely feel my chakra flare and come in to fuck us up.
I heard a groan come from Kyuketsu and I waited until he pushed himself up while swearing about his head, "What happened?"
"Kidnapped." I said for explanation. Kyuketsu groaned again, either at that answer or his head. Perhaps even both.
Kyuketsu sat up into a sitting position and he leaned back against the wall, "Any ideas on how to get out?"
"Nothing. I'm seriously tied up so I can't break the window. Guys probably a high ranking jonin if I had to put a rank to him. There's no bad walls or cracks I could take advantage of. Door is locked. Window is busted." as I spoke I could see Kyuketsu observing the room while taking note of what I was saying. When I finished he observed the room a bit more before closing his eyes.
"We're fucked, in other words."
I shook my head, "I wouldn't say that."
"We're super fucked, then." Kyuketsu amended, "We're so fucked, Bu is fucked."
"Bu probably is fucked without us." I agreed. After all, he wasn't going to find much better friends than us.
"I guess that means we should get out of here. Come see if you can untie me and I'll summon an arachnid." Kyuketsu ordered. I muttered under my breath but hopped over to Kyuketsu and put my back to his. I fiddled with his ropes and dug through them. I was digging through them so casually that it took me a few minutes to realize that Kyuketsu's rope, while very thick and burly, didn't have metal wire wrapped into it.
I grinned, "I can totally get you out."
"Then do so." Kyuketsu huffed, "We don't have all day."
I reached for the natural chakra, very gently might I add because I only needed a little spark as compared to an actual flame, and focused on guiding it to spark against the rope. It took a few tries where Kyuketsu hissed from sparks hitting his wrist but otherwise the rope came off without much trouble.
"There's a tool in my shoe if you want to use it to cut the rest of your rope." I informed him, holding up my leg so that he could reach into my shoe and feel around for the tool. When he found it he started cutting off the ropes around his joints. As I watched him cut I was kind of mad I didn't have more tricks up my sleeve. Maybe if I had worn the nice clothes Onna had gotten me I would have been able to conceal more weapons and tools. It was something to consider for the future as my usual shorts and Uchiha shirt wasn't cutting it.
When he was free Kyuketsu tried to stand up but he wobbled for a second before leaning against the wall.
"That's not a good sign." he admitted to me, "Potential brain damage, likely a concussion but possibly worse."
"You're brain damaged enough as it is. Hurry up and summon your spider." I retorted. Kyuketsu rolled his eyes at me and bit his thumb. I blinked in confusion that I could see his mouth. Where was his bandana? He usually wore it around the lower half of his face.
Kyuketsu slammed it on the floor and fell to his knees as he hissed. His eyes rolled back into his head and he blacked out for a moment. He pushed himself up after hitting the ground though, apparently not fully unconscious.
"That's... not going to work." he admitted. I swore in response. Kyuketsu resigned himself to sitting against the wall and trying to break my bindings. As he worked I followed the sparking chakra around my range. He probably had a greater range than me as I knew he was keeping within sensing distance so that if we did escape he could catch us. But he occasionally left my range. A few times I felt Bu enter my range again and once I felt Kinoe, but otherwise no one was nearby.
"This sucks." I complained as Kyuketsu freed my hands and arms fully, "I can't even sense Bu or sensei most of the time."
Kyuketsu hummed, "Logically, you should escape when I'm done and come back after retrieving sensei and Bu."
I shook my head, "This guy is likely able to sense us since he left us alone."
Kyuketsu swore under his breath. I wasn't going to leave Kyuketsu to Raito but I couldn't just let us sit here either.
"How much do you weigh?" I demanded suddenly.
Kyuketsu looked away, "Why?"
"I'm going to carry you." I answered, "If I sense sensei we can make a run for him and he'll protect us."
"We'll never outrun our captor." Kyuketsu denied.
"Well, we're going to try. On my back, Kyu-Kyu."
He swore but complied. As I adjusted to his surprisingly heavy weight he muttered into my ear to never call him Kyu-Kyu again.
"No promises, Kyu-Kyu."
I'm surprised he didn't hit me. I made my move not when I felt Kinoe, but when I felt that Raito was on the opposite side of my range than Bu was. I assumed, if Bu was there maybe sensei was around? Regardless, I broke down the door with a good strong kick and started to book it through the house after detouring to find the weapons Raito confiscated from us. I was hardly outside the house when I felt Raito's chakra surge very angrily. Guess he noticed pretty quickly.
"Hold on, I'm going to roof hop!" I informed Kyuketsu rather abruptly as I realized Raito was a lot faster than I expected. It took effort to get me and Kyuketsu on a roof and as I started running and jumping across roofs I could feel Raito halving the distance between us. I didn't give up and I poured more and more chakra into my legs. I started causing damage to the roofs from the amount of chakra I was using to push off for a faster jump. Kyuketsu muttered something about how this wouldn't be good for our mission rank considering I was raining shingles down from roofs.
I stumbled when I was about half way to Bu. At that point I still wasn't able to feel Kinoe in Bu's vicinity and I had a heart stopping moment where I thought, what if Kinoe had searched the other side of the town for us? What if he was with the client and didn't even know we had been gone for a few hours? What if Bu was going to be our only hope?
A warped voice in my head cooed, "Your speed isn't so abysmal." It sounded like Fushicho but her tone was strange.
I replied in my head, "Do something! Help!"
"Can't. I'm too busy fighting something else. What the fuck is in your head, you psychopath?" Fushicho snarled and the connection died.
Very concerned now because Fushicho had never sounded so strained before, I poured enough chakra into my legs where I felt burning. Kyuketsu muttered something about how my body temperature was really heating up and he was starting to sweat, but I ignored him. He also said something about how I was leaving burns on the roofs where my feet hit and my sandals didn't look like they were in good shape. I ignored him again.
Raito was in yelling distance when we almost were to Bu.
"Give up, Hime! Your sensei isn't here to save you!"
Normally I would have replied to him with a good ol' fuck you, but I was far too concerned with the fact I was moving fast enough where I was probably not going to stick the landing. In fact, we hadn't gone over how to land from high speed or really bad falls yet. I wouldn't die if I slammed myself into a crater because chakra protection, but god damn was this going to hurt.
The last roof that was hiding Bu from me, I screamed out his name, "Bu you fucking idiot, catch!"
Bu, who had been asking a group of civilians something with a red bandana in hand, looked up and his eyes widened as I dropped Kyuketsu in his general direction. Kyuketsu cursed at me and Bu shot up to catch him. As I lost all Kyuketsu's weight I fell forwards and rolled, throwing roof shingles everywhere, along the top of the next roof. I bounced off the gutter at the end of that one and caught myself on the next roof. Raito barreled into me in the next second.
"Son of a-" I cried but Raito's hands wrapped around my throat and I was cut off with a choke.
"You just had to make this difficult, didn't you?" he hissed. His eyes were narrowed into slits and his chakra was visibly burning me away. A few sparks shot off his hair every so often and I struggled about to try and get his hands to go away. I tried to collapse his elbow since I wasn't as small a child as I was the last time I fought him. Raito didn't care and forcefully kneed into my chest.
I coughed and my head rocketed up. Raito slammed my head back down onto the roof and I felt it reverberate. Was the roof going to collapse with us on top of it? That would either be a good opportunity or a death sentence.
I heard Bu land on the roof to come to my rescue.
"Hey!" Bu yelled, "Fight me, bitch!"
Very disoriented, I wondered who taught this child these words. I vaguely knew I was to blame for my entire team's foul mouths, and if my brother ever cursed, he was also probably influenced by me. It was kind of nice being as disoriented as I was because my biggest concern was why this poor thirteen year old had as bad a mouth as me.
I was brought back to reality because Bu had tossed a stink bomb before alerting Raito to his presence. Raito was evidently so focused on throttling me he didn't notice Bu's bomb until it was too late.
"What is that smell?" Raito gagged, bringing his hands up to his nose and mouth in an attempt to save himself. Spoiler: you can't save yourself from Bu's stink bombs. It's literally impossible.
I bucked and wrapped my left arm and leg around his right leg. I pushed us to the side and managed the best reversal I had ever done in my life. Raito wasn't on my level though, he was way beyond it. So he pretty much chucked me off him like I weighed nothing. I stumbled off my feet and backwards off the roof when I tried to stick my landing. I hit the ground and decided that would be a very nice place for me to stay. Bu could handle it.
Bu in fact could handle it. Well, it was more like Raito couldn't handle the smell and Bu knew his stink radius. So Bu skirted along the outside of the radius while constantly dropping stink bombs to keep Raito occupied. It wasn't really a fight. It was more a very intelligent way of playing keep away and biding time. Eventually though Bu ran out of time to bide because Raito got really pissed off. So he exploded with electricity.
Bu kind of lit up for a moment, froze as if he were a sim who got electrocuted, then he fell over. He plopped off the roof and Raito hopped down next to me. I pushed myself up and growled at him, "Fuck you."
Raito laughed, but not in a funny way, more in a desperate murderous way. By the way, it's probably obvious but as soon as the fighting started in this area civilians ran away screaming for their lives. So there weren't any civilians in the way of any potential giant jutsu that one of us could pull off.
I wondered, what would win? My natural fire, or his lightning chakra? Either way, we both seemed to grab at our respective element at the same time. I felt the smoke gather in my nostrils and the flames tickle my throat. Fire was something strange. It was warm but it burned. I hated fire. Yet fire was what kept me alive in this world. Raito lifted his hand and pointed it towards me with a sick grin on his face. We both sparked and fire hit lightning.
Honestly, there was an explosion. Really the explosion wasn't from lightning hitting fire. No, the explosion was from both elements hitting the chemicals in the air from whatever Bu had been throwing around. Both of us got rocketed backwards and I had my fall broken by arms covered by a labcoat. I leaned back into the familiar feeling of cherry medicine chakra and Kinoe's chakra chains glowed around us.
"I don't like it when people pick on my cute little genin, Sparky." Kinoe, rather airly, remarked.
Raito growled, "Bring it on."
The fight was rather one sided as Raito had not only gone full speed across the entire town, but he had also gotten hit by several of Bu's concoctions and a chemical explosion. Kinoe didn't even need his arms for fighting because he had several chains available. So Kinoe just held me tightly and made sure to not let go. Raito was a fighter but he was also a survivor. He had fled once before from Kakashi and he did so again from Kinoe. One moment he was there and the next I could feel his chakra already several blocks away and moving further by the second.
Kinoe's chains melted away and I felt Kinoe's chakra wash through my body. My mind was cleared up as he most likely fixed my head and he hopped over to where Bu was alive but looking rather on the fried side. Bu's damage was mostly him being a bit twitchy after Kinoe was only able to heal the important parts because he still had to see Kyuketsu. Bu and I were left sitting against a building as Kinoe retrieved Kyuketsu, who was unconscious on a crate that Bu left him on, and healed his head to the best of his ability.
"You kids are trouble magnets." Kinoe complained as he leaned against the wall, "I'm a chakra monster and that took up almost three fourths of my charka."
"You still have more?" Bu cried a full second after Kinoe finished, "Heal me!"
"Suffer. You'll be sure to dodge a lightning attack next time, that's for sure." Kinoe retorted rather cruely. Bu whined for a moment and I sat up slowly.
"You're had a knack for head injuries lately. You should probably watch out for your head more." Kinoe warned me, then he turned to a waking Kyuketsu, "And you!... I don't actually know what to tell you."
Kyuketsu just made a shut up motion as he held his head and muttered under his breath. Kinoe managed to get all three of us irritated and injured preteens to the inn we were staying at. We were mostly all fine the following day although Kinoe had to heal my burned feet and buy me new shoes. He also kept an eye out in case Raito tried to make an attempt again. We didn't see hide nor hair of him though and the mission eventually wrapped up nicely. Hiro gave me a rather tearful goodbye, to which I awkwardly pat his head while he hugged me, and then we were off.
We returned to the village and training for the Chunin Exams began. Before we knew it, the exams would be here.
AN:
This was mostly a filler chapter. I've been having very bad health related anxiety recently so I did a lot of writing for this chapter to keep my mind off things. Honestly, this could be TMI but I thought it was rather funny, I've been feeling very achy as if I were on my period and we were going over STDs in health class, and afterwards my anxious and traumatized self uttered the words, to my friends, "What if I'm the virgin Mary of STDs?" and that was probably the funniest thing I've ever said in my life. I should have Fushicho say that, that'd be pretty great. I am probably perfectly fine, if you're concerned. I'm just a very nervous and anxious person over health because of a family death that left me kind of traumatized. Okay. Very traumatized.
Anyway, onwards!
Fun Fact- If I made Fushicho as a sim in Sims 3 (All expansions), her five adult traits would be: Brooding, Grumpy, Good Sense of Humor, Loner and Unlucky. Brooding and Grumpy are kind of similar so if you want another trait that could replace one of those, I would possibly add Snob or more preferred, Hot-Headed. I forgot about her horrible temper when I originally typed this. As for Hidden Traits, she would have the firefighter baby traits of Immune to Fire and Pyromaniac.
And thanks for so many reviews! I loved reading all of them. I've been trying to do PM replies but I usually only reply to like, two. I'm sorry ;-;
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