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Chapter 49 - Tales of Umaru: Part 3 - The Final Night

Night was falling fast as Amaya raced toward Sakura. The Genin had found a scrap of Naruto's shirt in the forest just outside of Umaru. Hours of fruitless searching led them to desperation, hence expanding their search into the woods. Hamura had tried to insist she was going with them, but at the loss of nearly an hour, Amaya managed to convince the bull-headed old woman to stay behind.

"There you are, Sensei," the young girl breathed, relief flooding her dark thoughts. "I thought you'd never get here."

"Sorry, a stubborn old woman cornered me and I had to talk my way out." The Jonin paused. "Gods, I sound like Kakashi." She shook away the slightly disturbing thought and examined the scrap of orange cloth caught on a bush; blood soaked one corner. "This was planted here. See how it's impaled on the branch? That's purposeful. Which means…." Scanning further into the forest, the auburn-haired nin caught sight of another scrap of orange.

"Someone is leading us," Sakura said, finishing her teacher's sentence.

The pair followed the trail for what felt like hours, their minds racing with what-ifs. Amaya clenched her fists. Whoever took Naruto wouldn't live long enough to regret it. If Kakashi were here, she knew he'd feel the same. Though, he would have found Naruto long before now. The Jonin stretched her senses for the hundredth time that day, feeling for the young blond's chakra. But, as before, nothing pinged back.

The deeper they traveled, the more the pair felt as if they were being watched. An Iwa nin stepped out from behind a tree and reached for the auburn-haired shinobi. She grit her teeth and continued running, ignoring what she knew was an illusion. Beside her, Sakura had her fists clenched; she was obviously seeing things of her own, probably Sasuke. The kunoichi never stopped, though. Naruto was in danger. He needed their help.

Finally, the dense forest opened into a moon-washed clearing. After the deep dark of the trees, the light was almost too much. Amaya squinted against the sudden glare of moonlight off metal. In the center of the clearing stood a shrine of stone. Long forgotten, the shrine was covered in ivy, weeds grew through cracks, and stone crumbled in places. The nin could see Naruto laying unmoving just under the small building's roof, half in light, half in shadow.

"You saw through my illusions. What a pity. I wanted more time to search this boy's mind, find out why he wasn't affected," Yuna said from her position in front of the unconscious shinobi. She turned, long black hair and white nightgown fluttering in a breeze that didn't exist.

"Give him back," Amaya commanded, stepping into the clearing. Sakura tried to follow, but an outstretched arm from her sensei told her it was best to stay put. A glance back told her to do what she could once they knew what they were dealing with.

"Why should I? You don't own him."

"Neither do you."

A purr entered the girl's voice. "Mmmmm, I suppose you have me there. But I won't give him back." Yuna took her own step forward. A wave of power hit the Jonin, almost staggering her. She had no name for the energy swirling around her; it certainly wasn't chakra. It told her, though, that this child was dangerous.

A familiar weight tugged at her jacket. Mamoru was back. Taking a breath, the tattooed nin took another step forward. "You killed those people, didn't you?" Amaya blinked and the girl was gone. After a moment of searching, her eyes fell on the white cat perched on the shrine roof.

"Who? Little old me? How could I harm a human many times my size?"

The auburn-haired shinobi barely had time to move before teeth tried to sink into her neck. She dropped to the ground, feeling a trickle of blood where a razor-sharp tooth had scratched her.

"You're fast. For a human."

Amaya glanced back up to see the cat, its tail twitching, lounging on the shrine's roof once more. Seconds later, fire hurtled toward her. She sprang into a crouch, using her chakra to draw up a dome of rock around her. The fire's heat penetrated the dome, searing the nin's flesh to a rosy pink but doing no other damage. She released the jutsu and stood only to find the cat, twice the size of Kakashi's biggest ninken, right in front of her. Claws swiped at her face and stomach in quick succession. She dodged both times with only a hair's width to spare.

"Hey, cat! Over here," a voice yelled. Both the kunoichi and her attacker paused for the briefest moment to look. Another Amaya strode from the tree line, but then another clone joined the first and another. Soon, twenty Amaya-clones charged, surrounding the original before charging again.

"Well done, Sakura," the real Amaya muttered as she joined the charge. The clones attacked with kunai and shuriken while the original used each pounding footstep to create a spear of rock directed at the cat. The creature writhed this way and that, evading rock and clone alike. The latter it ripped into with a focused fury until only Amaya herself remained.

The cat resumed its attacks, but the tattooed shinobi found herself able to dodge more effectively. Her eyes darted here and there until Mamoru spoke to her from his pocket. "Look at its tail." There, stark against the white fur, were the weighted bracelets she's given to Sakura. They were active, dragging at the cat's speed just enough to give Amaya some breathing room. But breathing room was all she needed.

A flurry of seals was followed by water flowing from the ground and grass. Both grew cracked and dry as long tendrils of muddy water encased the Jonin's arms. She breathed out and then began to circle the cat at full speed. Each heartbeat, a whip hit the creature, staining its fur with grit and a trickle of blood. The cat spun in circles, swiping at random, hoping to get a lucky hit on the annoying human. So distracted, it failed to notice the coat of mud it was acquiring.

Amaya stopped suddenly, dry earth flying, and slammed her hands onto the cat's flank. Water fled from her touch, hardening the mud in seconds. Soon, the creature yowled in frustration as it struggled to break free. More seals formed a spear of water around the kunai she drew. Pulling back, she prepared to drive the spear through the cat's heart. It was an old trick but a good one.

"Stop!"

Amaya's head snapped around. A man stepped out from the shadows of the shrine behind the unconscious Naruto. The kunoichi's eyes narrowed. "Masaki."

The shopkeeper smiled and snapped his fingers. The cat vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving behind the shell of mud that encased it. "I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this. I'd hoped to scare you away and then return this boy. It seems I miscalculated his importance." Masaki's plain clothes were gone, replaced by a green haori over a grey shirt, ninja pants, and sandals. Gold still glinted at his neck.

"So there was no bakeneko. It was you killing and making people black out."

He clapped slowly, a smug smile twisting his face. "Well done. Such a display of intellect. I bet you're dying to know why I did it all."

"Help will be here soon," Mamoru whispered.

"I don't need help," she replied softly. The Jonin stepped around the still-standing cat-shaped casing. "I could care less. I don't listen to the tales of dead men."

Masaki smoothly descended the handful of shrine's steps to the grassy area surrounding the monument. "Oh? You think you can kill me so easily?"

"I know I can. And I only need one technique."

"No!" Mamoru hissed. "Between what's left of your normal supply and your reserves from your tattoos, you barely have enough chakra for that. Stall for time. Kakashi should be here any minute."

Amaya shook her head slightly. If protecting the people precious to her meant running out of chakra, so be it. Besides, it was her turn to play the hero; Kakashi had had enough of the spotlight.

"Then show me this great technique of yours." Masaki opened his arms wide. "Go on. I won't stop you. Someone who fell prey to my genjutsu so easily can't be that strong."

Ignoring his taunt, the auburn-haired Jonin began to gather chakra. Masaki, despite his boasts, began hurling kunai and shuriken, along with small fireballs, but the other shinobi easily dodged them. She wasn't sure if he was toying with her or if he was simply too tired to put in more effort. Powerful summons took a lot of chakra and the cat she'd fought was probably his strongest, certainly one of the fastest Amaya had ever fought. It might have been enough to exhaust her if Sakura hadn't helped. Weakened enough, the Jonin would have been too low on chakra to do much to stop Masaki.

As things stood now, she'd be lucky to remain conscious after her jutsu. Her reserves were much lower than she liked and her natural chakra wasn't much better. But she had to end this fight decisively. She didn't know much about Masaki's abilities, so she couldn't take the chance that he was toying with her.

Finally prepared, Amaya slammed her hands to the ground and sank into the earth as if it were water. Sakura watched from the trees, trying to figure out what her sensei had done. The ground looked the same as ever, except there was now a pool of water near where Amaya had sunk.

"Am I supposed to be scared of a little puddle? Great technique indeed! Why don't you stop hiding and fight me?" Masaki taunted before taking a step forward. Two things happened in the same instant his foot met earth. The shopkeeper sank to his knee in water and a whip of rock lashed out at his face. Yanking his leg from the water, he moved back with no time to spare. But his next step saw him sliding on a slick of mud.

Masaki's eyes darted this way and that. The ground all around him was an ever-changing canvas of green, brown, and dark blue. He had no way of knowing if his next step would be safe or not. Solid earth could be solid. Or liquid. Or a strange mixing of the two. All he knew was that he had to find a way to overcome this technique soon or he really would be too tired to fight anymore.

The Genin watched as the enemy tried to regain his balance over and over. He would succeed for the briefest of moments before being thrown off again by one of the water, rock, or mud whips hounding him. Was Amaya trying to drive him to the pool of water? Sakura watched Masaki closely, as the man continued struggling in his evasions. As Masaki continued to struggle, Sakura watched him closely. Amaya's attacks were random, unpredictable, yet the enemy nin was still heading toward the pool. She realized that he must have noticed that the pool wasn't changing.

He landed on the water, whips chasing his movements. Finally stable, the nin laughed in triumph. "Looks like I found your weak spot. Your source of water." Masaki was sure he held the upper hand now. The annoying whips had ceased their stinging strikes and he felt certain of his footing again. He could now devise a plan to flush the Konoha weakling out of hiding. She'd had him worried for a while but no more.

Between that thought and his next, Amaya struck. Thick cords of water and earth rushed up to envelope Masaki. He struggled in vain as the two elements swirled tighter around his body. The restraints tightened with each passing second, cracking bone and forcefully expelling the air from his lungs with their crushing pressure. Sakura covered her ears, trying to escape his screams, but soon after they'd begun, his cries ceased. The Genin watched as Amaya materialized from the earth next to Masaki's corpse.

The Jonin gazed down at her defeated opponent. "Don't fuck with my Genin." Moments later, the world tilted crazily. Color drained from her sight and her face. She heard Sakura shouting and Mamoru squeaking in her ear. Above both, though, another voice rang out, clear as day.

"Maya!"

The kunoichi hit the ground hard, her vision already fading. Her breathing slowed to a crawl. The last thing Amaya saw before the world went black was Kakashi's face, frantic with worry.


Amaya groaned as she opened her eyes. The lights were too bright. She shut them tight against the brilliance, gasping as pain flooded her system. Everything hurt.

"Maya?"

Kakashi's voice forced her to open her eyes. She had to stop the worry she heard in his tone, had to show him she was okay. She found him seated beside her, hands holding one of hers. "Scarecrow?"

As their eyes met, he bent his head. The silver-haired Jonin didn't reply for a while, but when he did, his voice was heavy. "I almost lost you. If Mamoru hadn't come and got me, I wouldn't have been there to save your life."

Amaya knew that, for him to sound so choked, he must have cried while she slept. The female shinobi licked her dry lips. "Water?" Kakashi filled a cup from the pitcher next to the bed and offered it to her. She drank greedily, trying her voice again after she downed another cup. "What're you talking about?"

"Your heart stopped."

"Oh."

Kakashi raised his head, anger replacing the heaviness in his words. "Oh? If I hadn't been there to shock your heart, you'd be dead!"

"Are Naruto and Sakura here? Are they okay?" Now that the light wasn't so blinding, Amaya realized she was in a Konoha hospital room. Dying flowers sat in a vase on the window sill and two other chairs stood empty.

"Worry about yourself for once, will you? You could've died."

Amaya cracked a small smile. "I've almost died lots of times. What makes this time any different?"

Kakashi took her hands in his again and pressed them to his lips. His words were barely more than a whisper. "I can't lose you. Not again. Not ever." He raised his head, his voice stronger. "That's why I'm moving in."

"Wait, you're what? You mean like permanently?"

"Yeah. It's already underway. Gai helped me move stuff yesterday and all that's left is a few boxes and to end the lease."

The auburn-haired shinobi didn't know what to say exactly. She had wanted him to start staying with her a few nights a week, but this…. This was new territory. But the more she thought about it, the happier she felt. If they were going to be together, this would have happened eventually anyway. She smiled. "I can't even begin to think how Mamoru will take this."

"Oh, we had a talk on the way back and he's all right with it. As long as I give you this." The Copy-nin reached into one of the pockets of his flak jacket and pulled out a silver chain. On the chain hung the silver-and-emerald ring she had once found in his dresser. Kakashi reached forward and hooked the chain around her neck.

She eyed the ring dubiously. "You're not proposing, are you? Because if you are, might I be the responsible adult and say maybe wait for the 'the-woman-I-love-almost-died' hormones to wear off."

The silver-haired man's smile was bright under his mask, lighting his eyes quite distractingly. "Calm down, Princess, I'm not proposing. I have a little more sense than that. The ring is a promise, though. A promise that I will never leave you and will always be there to save you."

"I suppose that's acceptable, though I can save myself, thank you," Amaya said as she admired the jewels' shine. She still thought he was giving this to her on impulse; she'd have to "lose" it somewhere he'd find it.

"I never said you couldn't. After what you did to that rogue Ame nin, I would never say such a thing."

"Oh, yeah. I never did find out what he was doing there."

Kakashi shrugged. "Smuggling drugs into Kumo. People were getting suspicious, so he was taking them out. Killed that poor woman's granddaughter too."

The doctor interrupted their conversation before Amaya could ask anything else. She was given a heavenly dose of painkillers and drifted off to sleep. Kakashi stood, stretched, and decided he should get some actual rest. He wasn't sure he could spend another night in a chair. He gazed at the kunoichi fast asleep and leaned in to kiss her forehead. "See you at home, Princess."