Chapter 12 "Seduction? Nah..."

This time my dream wasn't a memory or anything. Just...images from my prospective that I didn't remember. Like early, blurry memories that I couldn't possibly have had. I saw a car inches from my face behind a window stained in blood. The same car was aligned next to my window the driver was different...no he was gone when the blood hit the window. Next I saw a woman on the ground in a pool of blood and it seemed like I was laying on my stomach. The man hovered over the woman and pulled out something...his body hid it. I think I recognize the woman I feel...sad...why?

My eyes opened and I immediately noticed how dry my throat was, it felt liked small pockets in my throat were covered with dirt. I coughed hard and moved towards the nearest restroom.. When I entered I turned the handle and cold water spew from the nozzle. I stuck my head under the sink and tossed my mask off and on to the counter before I drank a lot of water before dunking my forehead under the stream as well, trying to alleviate some of the heat built up within. Lifting my head I cleared my throat and felt better but then I noticed my nose was running quite heavily and my eyelids were reddened. It seems that I had been crying in my sleep. I felt tension in my neck bones so I turned my head as far as it could go until it popped and stood up straighter to pop my back. Sharing a bed was getting kinda weird even in a one meant for two people, it'd be best if we all got in together and made sure everyone was comfortable instead of taking up a lot of room and falling asleep before I get there.

"Selfish little idiots..." I muttered out loud only to be startled by Pip entering in the bath room to get ready for work as well, I swiped my mask from the table and put it on while flaring my chakra momentarily, activating the seals carved into the plastic. He was rocking a white tank top and pink boxers. "Who are you talking about?" He said as he walked up to the wide mirror with some floss, cleaning his teeth. "Nobody. Don't say anything, my ass is on the line if you do." I replied. Making sure my mask had activated clearly, all the scars, paleness and muscle tone were gone. A skinny, black haired and eyed boy was all that looked back at me, the perfect appearance to blend in to a crowd and not be remembered. I messed with my hair and disapproved of the way the hair on my left side were bent at right angles so I looked at Pip saying, "Be right back grabbing some stuff to take a shower." He looked at me puzzled but aren't you going soon? I squinted my eyes confused and he looked just as surprised at my reaction. "Integra was talking about getting you to train the men to fight better in close quarters combat with and without a gun. Oh and Seras to have better control of her vampire strength. Though I don't see why she could take me down by flicking me like a fly." He explained. I was just confused at he choice and nodded in response. I jogged to my room and grabbed some underwear and a towel before returning towards the bathroom, nearly knocking over Seras in the process. My eyes widened and I pointed at her immediately, "You! We need to talk but in a bit, I got to get dressed first. Wait for me in the dining room." I said just as she opened her mouth to speak causing her to mutter "yes" before walking in that direction, snickering at Pip's choice of underwear as she walked past him.

I was lucky in that nobody was in the bathroom when I entered to shower, the first thing I did was turn the knob to the side that had a red bar over it so the water would get hotter quicker. The walls were as white as the rest of the bathroom except man-sized holes, or cubicles if you may, were cut out in the walls and contained a shower nozzle and drain along with a curtain. So at least I had some privacy. Between each hole the wall also had two little cubicles in it so the occupants items could be stored. I made sure on one was in the room before removing my underwear and my mask before placing them in the cubby taking care to hide the mask from view by covering it with my towel. I got in the shower and immediately yelped and pressed flat against the wall. I adjusted the knob and waited a couple of seconds before testing out the temperature with my hand and was satisfied. I got under the stream and let the water flow down my head on to my shoulders with joy before being paranoid once more and spreading the curtain as far and even as possible. I really didn't want anyone to see me in the nude I guess.

I washed my body and hair quickly but I didn't get out, instead I sat down and closed my eyes. I felt uneasy since I woke up and not just about my dream, I just felt a sense of...foreboding, that something had is going to happen later. To help appease my thoughts I tried to consciously make my mind reach out past my own body and thought of the room around me, corridors, the people just before I entered Sage Mode. Suddenly I could feel where everything was, the people in the hallway, Katsuye sleeping in my bed, the ants marching between the walls. But even then, I couldn't see anything that could have cause this sinking pit in my stomach. My worry soothed but not completely gone, I hurriedly left the shower and dried off my hair and face before plopping my mask back on. I dried the rest of my body before putting on a pair of dark blue jeans and a dark grey V-neck T-shirt since it was one of my two days off apparently. A foreign concept to a shinobi, even if you retire you can still be called to serve at any time, you never just stop being a ninja but I digress.

I made my way to Integra's office and was an hour to walk in before I remembered who I was dealing with. I knocked on the door lightly with a small chuckle at the idea of me being courteous. "Who is it?" Was the only response I needed before entering, I'm not that polite after all. "Me. I heard from Pip you wish for me to train his men and Seras, is this correct?" I asked causing the woman to sigh at my behavior. "You are not that well-trained matters wise are you, Uzumaki?" She asked. I nodded to the negative. "Mom taught me well I just don't think they're necessary." She just accepted it and continued. "Yes, I was going to ask you tomorrow morning since you are off for two days but I guess you wish to discuss this now?" She explained before popping her knuckles. I nodded once more. "I do. I could train the men in the morning and Seras from the afternoon onwards. She will need more attention because her body isn't human and she will need to have superb control of her body so she won't accidentally hurt someone, herself included." She smiled. "Excellent, write up an official schedule and you can get started the day after tomorrow." Integra stated before looking back down at her computer. "Um..." I stated causing her to look up at me once more. "...is it ok if I start with Seras today? I need to see what she can do now to try to think of how to improve her and see how she would prefer to fight as well." I continued, doing my best to recall how my mom and the ANBU trained me. I recalled a couple of older taijutsu drills for unarmed and kunai, which I could substitute with any old knife, based combat. Along with some improvisation survival techniques mom showed us, I guess they could use some of those too. She nodded as I made my way to the exit, remembering something when I was already outside so I opened the door and peeked my head in. "Oh and I can't write in English...haha. So uh...I'll tell you about my routine later? 'Kay!" I added just before I used a shunshin to appear in front or Seras' door with a snicker erupting from my mouth.

"Bleh…what should I do today? I'm off and I have nothing to do…I guess I could play some Monopo-" I thought to myself only to be thrown off my train of thought by a series of knocks on my door. I looked down to ensure I was dressed, I was in a dark grey T-shirt, a white windbreaker and some dark brown capris. So I took a few quick steps and answered the door and saw it was Kirisuto waiting in the doorway. "Hi." I said before stepping aside and letting him in, he promptly sat on the floor and motioned for me to sit on my bed, so I complied and waited for him to say what was on his mind. "Integra wants me to train the Wild Geese to learn how to fight better up close without a firearm nor blade. I also...am going to train you. I am the only one besides Alucard that can safely train you while letting you use all your power." He said causing me to just look at him kinda blankly. "What would you show me?" I asked while scratched the back of my neck. "We will have a little duel to see how you fight and I can determine what styles and weapons would match you physical and mental characteristics. We will then expand on those. I call also help you develop your powers and...I might, if it's possible, be able to show you a jutsu or two." He explained causing me to grin. "I'll do my best. When do we start?" I asked more energetic than earlier. He sighed before trying to think of a good place to train while I sat back and thought of all the grappling maneuvers I learned from my instructors on the force.

"We could go further in the woods and find a clearing to train in, we could get some cushioned mats to prevent any damage from hard falls as well." He suggested after a short pause. I looked satisfied before gaining a disapproving expression. "I'm fine with it but if we walked in the forest with workout clothes and mats Pip and his cronies are going to say some shit." I said with a deadpanned expression causing Kirisuto to just shrug. "People will talk shit about you your entire life. Your body, beliefs, what you've done, what you won't do, what they think you do, what you should do and some will even hate when they haven't even met you. I don't give a shit what they say, everyone is talked about. Except me, I hate everyone so I don't give two shits about anyone and wouldn't waste time talking about them." He exclaimed harshly causing me to cringe somewhat, not just from the words themselves but the emotions behind them. Not anger or hate or spite just sadness. "What happened to you?" I asked with venom in my voice. He just shrugged. "When he sees what you can do after the training he will be afraid to talk shit, everyone will." he stated before walking out of the room claiming he was going to look for someone to get him the necessary equipment for the spar. I just sat down on the bed for a second and had a mental conversation with myself. "What…was that? He was completely fine one second and the next…he snapped at me…no he snapped at humans as a whole again. I doubt he's hurt me but he really needs to get that sorted out. He's going to lose it one day if he keeps this up." I muttered out loud as I slipped on my shoes to pursue the crazed teen. "I doubt he will be able to help much though, to fight I mean. I'm a vampire now, he can't compare unless he goes all demon on me." I exclaimed.

A Little Over an Hour Later

I was led by Kirisuto to the forest where he claimed to have set up the mats before hand. after a five-minute walk through the gnarled trees of the forest gave way to open area where it seemed a few bushes used to occupy since parts of the dark brown mud was filled with holes. I was going to take a step on the mat but Kirisuto stopped me with a raised hand. I looked and saw he took off his sneakers and walked onto the mat barefooted, which I copied immediately. He motioned me forward and said to get ready. I entered a basic stance I learned from movies. Two fists raised, one slight further from my body then the other, crouched over and one foot forward. I let out a soft growl which gained in loudness as my eyes turned dark red. He however did the opposite, he closed his eyes and began to slow his breathing and remained motionless. After a few seconds dark green markings surrounded his eyes and extended in a bold line past he cheekbones and continued down his neck. The craziest change though was that two dark black, curved horns grew from his head, in the middle of his hair and in line with his ears. He then opened his eyes revealing olive-green eyes complete with slitted irises. "Sennin Modo." He exclaimed, slightly startling me. "The hell, dude? Those Iscariot guys would hate this! You even got horns now!" I exclaimed. He just chuckled as if I was a child that just overreacted to an everyday occurrence. "It's fine. All I did was take some energy from nature and harnessed it in the form of a snake." He explained through a cheeky grin with half-lidded eyes. "Uh...but why do you have horns? Snakes don't have horns...?" I asked. Suddenly his face dropped and he remained silent. He then fell to his knees staring at the floor. "Shit...I never thought of that...is it because they evolved from lizards? What the fuck?...Why do I look like this?" He muttered silently as if in a team huddle before a football game with himself causing me to face palm. "YOU ACT ALL COOL BUT DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY YOU GOT HORNS YOU IDIOT! ALSO WHY ARE YOU ON THE GROUND" I yelled causing him to panic. "You heard me!?" He asked dumbfounded causing me to scream with frustration. "YOU'RE MY TEACHER!?"

A Few Minutes Later

I had simmered down and Kirisuto was recomposed and stood still, no stance or hands raised at all, just staring at me. "You ready?" He asked and my blood started to pump a bit faster. "Yeah." I replied, trying to hide my excitement. He nodded and said, "first we work on your offensive techniques, try to make me unable to move for three seconds, the way you do so is unimportant. You may use only your clothing, hands and feet as weapons." I looked at him confused when he mentioned clothing but I took that as the go ahead to start nonetheless. I waited a couple of seconds to see if he was going to make the first move but remained motionless. I charged forward with a hushed growl and went for a regular punch to the face, which he deflected with one hand by pushing the side of my fist and causing me to lose my balance and trip forward. I pushed off the mat with my hand and rolled to get away from him, so he couldn't counterattack me on the ground. He remained still though and just bore into me with a emotionless face. I took a deep breath and decided to aim for his chest this time, as I got within a meter of him I threw two punches with both hands, which he swatted away once more but this time I was prepared. I put one foot forward to stabilize myself and went for a back hand to the ribs. He smiled and caught it causing a loud smack to occur, it sounded like a slap to the face but several decibels louder. I was shocked, I could tell from sound alone his arm should have broke, he was just human but to be fair he wasn't an ordinary human at all. I let out a small yell and kicked him in the shin causing him to hiss before grabbing me by the collar and lifting me up in the air with a louder growl than I could muster so far. It sounded threatening when I growled but he sounded straight up feral.

"Awful! don't try to think of how to hit me. Just think of where you wish to strike and your instinct will follow through." He instructed as he put me on my feet gingerly. "And the was a good punch and kick. You chose a good spot to hit to cause me to release you. Try to go for the lower sides of the abdomen, neck, shin, face or back of the knee. Aim for places necessary to stand, use the five senses or to breathe properly. A trained opponent with protect their face and torso but you can still get at their limbs." I was surprised at the amount of knowledge he held on the topic an nodded. This time I took two big steps forward and did a side kick to the abdomen, he barely managed to catch it as it met his flesh lessening the damage but delivering some nonetheless. I grinned and mentally congratulated myself, "I was right. He subconsciously prepared to protect his limbs rather than his center of mass since he just told me most trained enemies would protect their center instead. He confused himself without realizing, his desire to win caused him to contradict the information he just taught me. Typical male behavior." I followed up the attack with a push from both hands to the higher chest causing him to let me go and stumble. I pressed the attack trying to hit anything, he blocked most hits and caused me to get angry. I unintentionally gathered more energy and did a jab with a straight hand to his chest, his heart. I realized what I'd done after I threw the jab and began to panic, "He can't deflect this. Shit!" I struggled to throw the jab off-center but failed he had less than a couple of seconds to react and I was sure he'd be impaled. But he didn't. He threw his left hand up and let it get run though by mine before grabbing mine and forcing it to stop. I freaked the fuck out, he let me stab his hand and still had the control and tact that he forced it to close around my hand. He grit his teeth and cursed loudly. Before ripping his hand away leaving strands of tendons and blood on my deceptively petite hand.

"Blood..." I muttered no longer focused on the wound as I just stared at my hand. He brought me our of my daze by uttering my name, "Seras!" I looked up at him and was amazed to see the sinews dangling from the wound start to retract and combine, his hand was rebuilding itself instantaneously, once the muscles were reformed and bone reassembled, raw pink flesh started to form before hardening to a scab. Though it seems that wasn't what he wanted me to focus on. "You must decide something, I'm not saying right now but at some point, whether to give in to your thirst or not. It is my understanding that you become stronger from doing so and will die of starvation eventually if you don't. No one alive can make your choice but you. I think that if you live your life freaking out every time someone is hurt then you are weaker than a human. You will hesitate, the thirst will bring you out of the moment and disaster will occur." He exclaimed causing me to become infuriated. "As if it's unstable easy! I was born a human and can't just decide to become a monster on the spot! Just because I'm a little thirsty! My humanity isn't that insignificant that I can decide what to do in five minutes. I may have been to afraid to die but I refuse to become some freak. " I yelled back causing him to cringe before frowning and clenching a fist.

"A very smart man with a curse much worse than you once said something and while I don't remember it exactly I can paraphrase it. 'Our bodies, our faces, don't make us a monster, our actions do.' He knew more pain than either of us, regardless of your past I doubt you faced what he did and he became the most influential person that my continent had seen in hundreds of years. I don't see you as a monster and even if I did, you will never be a monster until you believe you are!" He said honestly in a voice full of honesty. "Where would I get this blood if I wanted some? I drink from packs and barely survive. No one would trust me enough to not bite them if they offered it. No one can help me and I am done here." I said with a defiant tone, I didn't care what this fucking idiot rambled on about. I...am too scared, I can't control it, if someone offered the blood I'd lose it. He grabbed my arm as I turned to walk away and I grew angrier. "You fucking..." I started before I smelled a metallic aroma. I turned to him and saw he had ripped the scab off his palm and held the hand in front of me. My throat dried instantly. "I...give you permission to drink my blood. No biting but I'd guess you'd already know that." He said as he offered the arm with a emotionless face, I felt my eyes start to burn. "W-why?" I said trying to hide my wavering voice. "I know...how it feels to be...it doesn't matter. Drink." He ordered. "NO! I can't stop myself. I will bite, you'll die and it'll be my fault. Everyone dies because of me. It's always my fault. I shouldn't be here, I must be punished because I chose to live like this...just fuck off..." I said as I fell to my knees and began to sob.

He knelt down beside me and sat down. "Know how that feels too. Very one looks at you thinking how lucky that person is to be the one that made it, thinking we have some new understanding of life and how precious it is. In just see how futile it is, one day you're important and a couple of weeks later your old news. But you are alive and I'm guessing you want to be since you're here. I'm not saying to forgive yourself, I don't know what happened but don't die like a rabid animal." He explained in his ever-present passive-aggressive tone, I could tell he didn't mean to sound angry though. I think that's just his neutral state now, I can't imagine him happy in the least. I wiped my eyes and turned away from him. "I look like a big bitch right now huh? Crying like a Mary Sue that can't do anything..." I muttered causing him to scoff. "My entire life I've been around bitches, sluts, pricks, poonhounds, racists, bigots and boring ass fucks. You're just a slighty disturbed hot girl. Not that bad. You could be a disfigured, suicidal, sociopathic, castrated boy who was sexually abused and tortured." He said causing me to kinda shit my pants. "Are you..?" I started before he cut me off. "No I am only like 2/3rds that. Now get the fuck up and fight." He yelled. I just frowned, trying to not crack a smile and got up. "Shut up! I don't have time to hear you complain you emo shit and I will decide when I will drink. Now come on and heck out my defenses!" I replied bringing my fists up once more.

"MWUHAHAHA! Foolish girl, this is all according to plan. Now I just have to say something to weaken her focus and resolve before I show her how much stronger than her I really am." I thought to myself as I stared at the blond in front of me. Hm...what to say...aha. "Good that you're all better I mean you got a nice face, big tits, an ass and a somewhat passable personality. You'll do fine because that's all a woman needs to succeed!" I said with a snicker. I didn't really believe such remedial things, after all I really think people invent barriers between genders to an extent, we are the exact same species except for some genitalia and yet people act like one's a cat and the other is a fucking velociraptor...but Seras doesn't know that. "You little..." Seras started as she took a step before stopping, remembering the objective. I grinned in satisfaction before hopping against a nearby tree and climbing up the trunk like a gecko into the brush, obscured for view.

"What. The. Hell. DID YOU JUST SPIDER-MAN UP THAT TREE!?" I yelled at the sight of a horned, sexist, emo bastard crawling up a tree that had to be two stories tall in seconds. "Kukukukuku...good to see you are up on your comic knowledge another rare trait for the female species..." Kirisuto continued from hiding. "Dude you keep referring to girls in such a foreign tone...are trying to come out of the closet mid-battle, Whiskers?" I asked trying to pull the wool over his eyes and succeeded. "No! I don't- I mean I never- I mean some guys are cu- and girls are-...SHADDAP I'M NOT WHISKERS! I like me and that's it!" He shrieked as his voice cracked. I chuckled. "You seem to really got your orientation on lockdown there pal. Can you redecorate my room later? I bet you'd be better at it than me, Whiskers. " I muttered with a chuckle trying to peer in all the nearby trees and find the scaly boy. He just yelled, "I'll do it with my shit!" In response. Comeback of the year material but nonetheless he remained silent for a few minute, no matter what I said. "Where did that little shit go?" I whispered while squinting staring at a particularly roomy looking tree in front of me. "Boo" was all I heard before I felt excruciating pain in my...butt and collapsed.

I looked behind me from the ground through tear-clouded eyes and saw Kirisuto standing triumphant. "Hidden Jutsu: A. Thousand. Years. Of. Death. You did well, Seras but I suggest you listen to me if you don't want this to happen again." He said before smiling causing me to be confused. He didn't grin like an ass or smirk he was genuinely satisfied with something. "Is he...proud of me? Nah...he likes he got to fondly me probably." I thought before standing with a grunt and accepting the mat he gave me to carry as we made our way back. I rubbed a buttock gingerly as we walked. "Ms. Victoria, I believe you are trying to seduce me." He said with a giggle. "Just your delusional mind at work, Kiri." I responded as we finally approached a breach in the tree line to see the sun light illuminating the mansion brightly. I looked at his silhouette formed by the distinct difference in the light and darkness. "Yeah...I think you got it backwards...Whiskers." I muttered with a smile.

Chapter End