The Unsung Story of the Inconspicuous
A/N: In this chapter Raiku is a ghost, a wimp, a shadow and after seventeen chapters she is at last, a real ninja.
This chapter is very rough, but after writing it I honestly never want to look at it again. Ino and I... don't get along.
I do not own Naruto or any of its characters or affiliates.
It was less than thirty minutes into the exams that the explosions began. Raiku was surprised, in truth.
She didn't think it would take that long.
Darting through the trees at breakneck speeds, Ryuu gave a sharp whistle from somewhere to their far left. Daisukenojo jumped to intercept from the ground, while she remained in the canopy, planting her feet firmly on the branch she had been about to step off.
She tilted her head curiously as another Raiku followed, darting through the trees below her. So it was beginning? She was glad, in truth. They'd set up the system to make it easy for anyone to interfere, more specifically to impersonate her.
She was the hardest to imitate, for obvious reasons.
However, if this team member was cocky enough to impersonate her they would have left a teammate behind to make sure she didn't interfere. Raiku smiled to herself. They wouldn't send their scroll bearer directly into the hands of the enemy and they wouldn't send them after her. She just had to destroy the one after her badly enough that the third decided to intervene. Ryuu and Daisukenojo would keep the fake with them long enough to trick her into thinking that she'd succeeded, at which point they would find Raiku and trade the imposter for the real one. That left only the scroll bearer to deal with when they finally decided to show themselves.
That being said she sat firmly down into a cross-legged position on the massive, moss covered tree branch and started whistling to herself, fishing from her pocket and making adjustments to a long, razor sharp wire.
'Ryuu, what's going on?' Raiku asked, rubbing the back of her head tiredly and stifling a yawn, landing lightly in the sun dappled clearing he had called them to. 'I thought we were going to find another team.'
Ryuu didn't look at her, readjusting his sandal as he crouched in the middle of the clearing, hair ruffled by the breeze. 'We are,' he said shortly.
'I don't see one,' Daisukenojo drawled, sticking his hands in his pockets, squinting as the sun hit his eyes. It was hard to adjust after the almost pitch-black of the forest, but he didn't have to worry in his current setting.
'Team Gai is nearby,' Ryuu said, straightening. 'You said they have the same scroll as us.'
'Well yeah,' the redhead shrugged. 'But I don't see any reason to team up with them.'
'We're not going to,' Ryuu explained. 'We're going to follow them and then take the scroll they're almost guaranteed to find before we do.'
'You're a sneaky bastard and it works. Raiku, you ready?' Daisukenojo asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. She creased her eyes, nodding.
'No problem!'
'Oh but wait!' Daisukenojo said sarcastically. 'I forgot that there is a problem! How does this sound? Team Gai hates us. Or hates you, really,' he said to Raiku.
'Me?' she asked, pointing to herself in that strangely habitual way.
'No, I meant the other Raiku. Of course you!' he snapped.
She set her hands on her hips. 'But Rock Lee likes me!'
'Yeah, but isn't it a shame about Hyuuga? You know, the guy who leads the team?!'
She glared at him. 'It's not that bad!'
Ryuu paused and Daisukenojo smirked. Raiku stepped back, instantly on edge. 'Let's go,' Ryuu said firmly, turning on his heel. 'We need to approach slowly, or they'll put their guards up.'
'Didn't… Didn't you have a problem with this plan?' Raiku asked Daisukenojo, raising an eyebrow.
He shrugged. 'He's the boss.'
She didn't notice how keenly he watched her when she responded. 'Sure,' she sighed.
'It's going to be nightfall soon, so they may try to get the drop on us,' Ryuu added as they walked. 'Teams Kakashi and… Raiku's friends are also nearby.'
'I can't sense anything,' Daisukenojo frowned. His brow creased, deep in concentration. 'Not unless I strain. And I know damn well you aren't better at that than me.'
'A birdie told me,' Ryuu said, ducking under a low, lichen covered branch. They settled into silence for a while as they walked, making slow progress.
'Don't even think about trying to get me to try and sense the scrolls from here, bastard,' Daisukenojo warned when the idea occurred to him, jumping nimbly over a protruding tree root easily twice his size.
'And you mentioned… My friend?' Raiku ventured cautiously.
Ryuu tilted his head slightly, eyes fixed on some unseen point in the distance. 'Sound-nin that we beat the crap out of.'
'Ah.' She nodded, falling silent.
'Reckon she'll be alright? The girl in Team Kakashi,' Daisukenojo asked after a while, deep in thought. 'She didn't seem like she particularly wanted to be here.'
'She'll be fine,' Ryuu answered. He frowned suddenly. 'Team Gai's moving out. My guess is to scout for other teams.'
Raiku smiled faintly.
'Good.'
'Now,' Raiku sighed theatrically, sitting back on the branch and using her hands to support her. One leg bent and the other ankle resting on her bent knee, she jigged her raised foot carelessly. 'You're not very good at this stealth thing, are you?'
She was beginning to see why her father liked being in charge of the family. This was amazing.
The bound figure was wriggling like a worm on a hook, ankles tied together and wrists tied behind their back. Wire bound their arms completely to them, and the black cloth gag forced between their teeth couldn't hide the horrible burns on their face.
They glared at her.
'Right now,' she said, lifting a hand to look at her bared fingernails, studiously ignoring the burns in the shapes of handprints on the boy's body. 'Your teammate is travelling with my team. You thought you'd replace me because it's easy to impersonate a wimp.' She inclined her head in acknowledgement, even if it was a little self-deprecating. 'That's true. Very soon I'm going to sever the cord holding you to that tree branch. You're going to die, probably, I'm not quite sure. But that should teach you not to try and rip the clothes off underage girls.'
It had been a harsh lesson. A lucky one, for her, since he had genuinely taken her by surprise. Only the initial surge of electricity from her skin had kept her alive and kept him down until she could tie him up.
But now she got to look like it was on purpose.
The boy had paled and tried to shake his head when he heard of her plans, then nodded in agreement.
She blinked. 'You think you've already learnt?'
He nodded again, desperately. His eyes were wide and imploring.
She sighed again. 'I believe you.'
He sagged with relief when she stood, stretching her long, thin arms over her head.
'But!' she added brightly, putting her hands on her hips. She creased her eyes at him in a smile. 'That doesn't change the fact that you ripped my sleeves!'
She stepped closer to him, bringing his upside down face to eye level, and glowed slightly.
The boy closed his eyes.
Dawn found Raiku clinging to the underside of a tree branch, electric blue eyes glowing brightly in the dark like some strange, exotic insect. Which was, she reflected, eyes firmly fixed on the figures of Team Asuma, a great improvement from a spider. The three Rookie Genin were slumped in a relatively clear patch of ground, the noisy blonde slumped against a tree branch.
'How are we going to get scrolls if we keep running away, Shikamaru?' the blonde asked in tones perilously close to a whine. Raiku raised an eyebrow and leaped silently for another branch, chakra-laden fingertips and toes keeping her easily suspended. Courtesy of Daisukenojo, this skill required no chakra of her own to use.
'Avoiding troublesome shinobi is our best option for the first few days. After that the weaker teams will be worn down and easy pickings,' the brunette sighed, expression deadpan, as per usual. Raiku noted his hair was almost as spiky as hers, grinning slightly and adding an upwards tilt to the disembodied, glowing blue eyes.
'Hey… Shikamaru,' the fat one asked slowly, reaching for a bag of potato chips he appeared to have perpetually attached to him. 'Would Hyuuga be considered troublesome?'
'Which Hyuuga?' Shikamaru yawned.
'Neji,' the fat one answered, casually munching on a chip.
'Hide!' the blonde hissed, lunging to her feet and leaping over the bushes closest to Raiku to crouch. Shikamaru instantly slid down next to her, narrowly avoiding the fat one's leg colliding with his head as he too followed them, crouching behind the bush, backs to the clearing they had previously occupied.
This brought the fat one about a metre from Raiku's floating, blowing blue gaze. For a moment his eyes squinted blindly into the dark, senses apparently entirely occupied with focusing on where he feared Hyuuga might be approaching. Raiku tilted her darkness-shrouded head slightly, grinning. This was perfect! She was a coward and thus, made for stealth! How had she never thought of this before!?
The flush of heat brought on by her encounter the day before began to ebb, appeased at the idea of at the very least frightening them. She didn't force it away just yet- it gave her reflexes an unexpected boost and she was actually sort of glad it was there.
While she burned, she wasn't afraid, which was a nice change. A great deal of her cowardice was exaggerated, but it wasn't appropriate in this setting.
Well, exaggerated wasn't the right word.
Alright, it was all real, she admitted to herself grudgingly. But right now she was enjoying her stealth.
She widened her eyes, tilting her head with deliberately owlish movement as Neji stepped into the clearing behind the three.
The fat one's gaze finally locked on hers, attracted by the movement. All the colour vanished from his face, she noted with glee. He pointed at what to him looked like a pair of floating ghostly eyes, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.
Was this why her teammates liked picking on her? Because she could hardly blame them.
Neji came to a stop, turning to look in the direction of the three (four) hiding Genin. 'Stop hiding and come out,' he instructed.
'…Ghost…' the fat one managed to whimper, finger shaking. He saw the eyes narrow. He was ignored.
'But we hid as fast as we could!' the blonde whispered.
'What a troublesome one found us,' Shikamaru muttered to them, yet again ignoring the utter terror on the fat one's face.
'Plan Number One – hide and run failed!' the blonde said in a whisper to him, turning her head away from their petrified, pudgy teammate. 'Now we have to execute Plan Number Two!'
She could insert capitals into sentences too. Raiku smiled.
'It'll work for sure,' she said firmly.
Shikamaru sighed, grimacing. 'I don't mind.'
The fat one's resolve snapped and he jumped to his feet, barrelling past his teammates so quickly t ground shook under his feet. 'Ghost!' he cried.
'Chouji!' the blonde exclaimed, leaping to her feet alongside Shikamaru to follow. 'Chouji, what are y- Hyuuga Neji!' she remembered, laughing nervously, caught in an act of frustration and trying to look innocent. She turned slowly towards him, and her sudden pose put Raiku in mind of a fangirl. The wire attached to her gloved fingers tugged gently, and she gave a brief, savage yank in return.
It didn't move again.
Neji turned, giving them a thoroughly unimpressed look.
The blonde valiantly continued on as Shikamaru stood over their prone teammate, currently curled into a foetal position. 'How lucky to meet last year's Number One Rookie Genin, Neji-sama, here!'
Neji tilted his head slightly. 'Oh. It's just you there.'
The blonde suddenly reached up to adjust her ponytail, body language coy. Raiku stared, inching closer. No… That couldn't be the plan…
The hair band came out, letting blonde hair spill attractively over the girl's shoulder as she winked flirtatiously. Raiku almost choked in shock. 'I've always wanted to see you, just once,' she cooed.
Neji's expression didn't change as he turned his back, taking a few steps away. 'Begone.'
The blonde looked scandalised, face flushing with anger. Raiku's grin resurfaced. Awesome.
The blonde began to rage at Neji's retreating back and her teammates , expression livid. She punched the air towards him, resulting in his immediate stillness.
'You're pointing your fists at me… Does that mean you want to fight?' he asked coolly. The blonde stumbled back, rage vanishing.
'No! Not at all!' she exclaimed, raising her hands in a gesture of placation.
Neji exhaled sharply in annoyance, turning his head slightly to look over his shoulder. 'Then begone. Even if I take a scroll from cowards like you, I'll just become the laughing stock of the village.'
Without even waiting for him to finish, the three ran back to the bush. Coincidentally towards the by now long-forgotten 'ghost', but she was of course gone by then.
Neji made a derisive sound under his breath. 'They're like cockroaches.'
'Alright!' the blonde said, laughing in a brittle, high pitched tone that hurt Raiku's ears as she crouched above them. 'Let's go find some weak people!'
'There's no one weaker than us,' Shikamaru grumbled.
'Don't be stupid, Shikamaru!' the blonde said, making a fist. 'Team Yamada and Team Kakashi!'
Raiku was quietly offended, lightly balanced on a branch somewhere above their heads. She sank back onto fingertips and toes when Neji paused again, quietly despising his bloodline limit. 'When I said "stop hiding",' Neji said, raising his voice slightly. Team Asuma beat an even hastier retreat, quickly vanishing from sight. 'I meant you too… Gairano.' He turned his head to look at her directly, eyes narrowed.
The pale morning light failed to hide her black clad form, and she simply waved at him cheerfully. 'Hello Hyuuga! I won't get in your way!' she smiled.
His sharp eyes caught the glint of the steadily improving light on a wire attached to her hand. 'A trap?' he muttered to himself.
'No!' she assured him hastily, waving her hands reassuringly. The wire jerked. 'No trap! Well,' she amended. 'It was a trap. But it's not one any more, since someone's already in it, so you don't need to worry!'
'Your team isn't here. What game are you playing?' he demanded, but she smiled when she noticed he wasn't yet in a defensive stance.
'I'm going to meet them now,' she nodded, giving him a casual salute and vanishing. Even Neji's eyes failed to trace her steps, but couldn't miss the blue that singed the branches she trod on. He glared at her back as she sped after Team Asuma, relatively confident that it would take her to her teammates.
Chouji sat on a branch and munched happily once Shikamaru had determined they'd run far enough, and searched long enough. Above him, unseen and mirroring him in pose and action, Raiku sat with her mask pooled around her neck and munched happily on a piece of beef jerky.
Yamanaka groaned, putting a hand on either side of her head in frustration. 'We can't find any weak-looking people at all!'
Raiku smiled to herself giddily, wriggling on the spot in barely contained glee.
Shikamaru sighed heavily, turning to face her with his arms folded across his chest. 'Actually, only Naruto's team and Team Yamada are probably weaker than us.'
For some reason this instantly inspired Yamanaka's ire, despite Shikamaru only repeating what she'd said earlier. 'Idiot!' she snarled. 'Do you know what you're saying!?'
'What?' he asked, expression flat.
'Naruto and Sakura may be weak, but they're with the super genius Sasuke-kun!' she snapped.
He 'hmph'ed. 'I don't know about that. Geniuses can be quite fragile in real combat.'
She growled under her breath, a vein throbbing alarmingly in her forehead. Shikamaru sighed again. 'Fine, fine. I'm sorry that I upset you.'
'There's no way Sasuke-kun can be defeated!' Yamanaka dismissed, flipping her hair over her shoulder dismissively. She snorted abruptly. 'Though Sakura can be!'
Chouji, previously happily silenced by the fruit he'd foraged, paused mid-chew and squinted into the distance. Raiku, teeth-deep in a piece of particularly uncooperative jerky, looked down at him curiously. She had a much better view from where she sat, but she was surprised he hadn't noticed until now.
'Hey!' he called down to Yamanaka and Shikamaru. 'Sasuke's on the ground! And Sakura's fighting,' he added as an afterthought.
'What did you say?' Yamanaka demanded, swiftly jumping up to stand on the branch next to him. She shaded her eyes with her hand and squinted. Shikamaru jumped and crouched on Chouji's other side. Yamanaka gasped, catching sight of the scene.
Raiku supposed it was quite traumatic. Yamanaka wanted Sasuke as a Love Interest and he was pretty badly beaten and unconscious. And while her and Sakura were rivals, they appeared to be at least an idiosyncratic type of friend. She sighed, scratching her head. She didn't want to fight Team Asuma on her own, but she hadn't found Daisukenojo and Ryuu yet. Maybe the imposter had killed them?
She muffled a snort, taking another struggling bite of jerky. It would take more than a knife to kill that guy, she mused in amusement, trying to picture anyone catching Ryuu off guard, ever. And as he refused to be beaten by Ryuu, Daisukenojo would hardly fall prey to the traps that Ryuu would avoid.
Team Asuma moved forward and she moved with them, high and unseen.
Midday found her on a branch above Team Asuma still, watching the utter defeat of Rock Lee. 'But our moves are the speed of sound, and exceed yours,' the porcupine-nin stated, standing over Rock Lee as he sunk to his knees, panting.
The Plot tried to shove Raiku forward and off her branch, complete with pun about the speed of light. She clung to the wood obstinately. Granted, she didn't want Rock Lee to be hurt. But Rock Lee still had a Plot about him, and wouldn't be killed now. Fire ripped through her veins, tearing a pained gasp from her. Unbidden her hand rose to the level of her eyes, sparking dangerously as it turned into a fist. With the other she slammed it into the branch, ignoring the pain. She would never allow herself to fall victim to her own temper, she told herself firmly, eyes narrowed. Never.
'I will teach you,' the porcupine-nin continued gloating. 'That there is a wall that you can't get past with just hard work.'
Lee dodged an attack and suffered the blowback. Raiku growled under her breath. Clearly he was from Sound. Clearly the attack was vibrations. The attack could not be any more obvious. The porcupine-nin went on to explain.
'Your outdated moves won't work on us,' the smirking boy who trodden on her foot, the asshole taunted. 'It was effective for a while,' he smirked. 'Until I showed you my technique.'
What did you do- tread on him? Raiku's inner voice bitched. It occurred to her this was a lot of enmity to stem just from a slightly squished foot.
'So it's not going to go as smoothly as you thought,' the bastard said, pulling his fists out of the ground. 'I can control supersonic waves and air pressure. And I'm capable of destroying even a rock. I can send air into the ground and make it a cushion, also. It's different from your dumb moves.' He unfolded his hands to show Rock Lee and Sakura, and obviously what they saw was pretty upsetting.
Raiku was just a little annoyed that her gaze wasn't physically breaking the man in half. Her fist tightened around her wires and all that was attached, every second of their use a proud testament to Uncle Morino. She paused, as even her feeble chakra senses picked something up. There was a shift in the air and a change in the wind direction. Wind was not, as many had been led to believe through popular fiction, inclined to change direction on its own. She couldn't sense them, but that was a message clear as day sent by Ryuu that Daisukenojo had picked her up. She ignored the sounds of combat behind her in favour of stifling the surges of power and dampening her chakra signature, small as it was. She'd come to rely on her power and its ability to cloak her chakra, but in a dangerous situation like this it was foolish to not take active precautions. She adjusted the senbon that was holding her ripped sleeve in place, detaching it from her glove and letting it slide down her forearm, dragged by its own weight.
Raiku turned back to the scene in front of her to catch the porcupine-nin's upraised arm and Lee's prone form.
'I won't let you!' Sakura snarled, producing kunai out of nowhere.
Raiku blinked. That was… new. Spontaneous weapons generation?
She realised that the night deprived of sleep wasn't doing her any favours, and resolved to never do it again. The porcupine-nin raised his protected arm, easily deflecting the sharp projectiles.
That was precisely why Raiku preferred to use wires in everything she did. Even if it was blocked, BAM!
Live electric current.
'C'mon,' Chouji urged below, peering through the bushes along with his stunned teammates. 'Let's run away! They're dangerous!'
'Looks like Sasuke and Naruto are out of it,' Shikamaru mused thoughtfully, dark, serious eyes analysing the scene. 'But even Lee is getting beaten, and now it's just Sakura.' He turned to Yamanaka. 'What are you going to do, Ino?'
'What, you ask?' she responded distantly.
'Sakura's in danger. Is that okay with you?' Shikamaru pressed. 'You two were best friends, right?'
Raiku grinned, temporarily distracted by her approaching team and enemy. She'd been right! Ryuu was having a positive influence on her after all!
'Hey, Ino,' Shikamaru repeated when she didn't answer. 'What are we going to do?'
'I know we have to help, but we can't do anything! We can't just jump in there!' she snapped. Raiku, their ever-present shadow, rolled her eyes, using hand puppets to imitate their discourse in silent mockery. Right up until the girl Raiku had so lovingly electrocuted stepped in. She felt a strange surge of resentment, and wondered at her own suddenly volatile feelings.
'Your hair is glossier than mine,' the girl said, grasping Sakura's hair and hoisting her slightly off the ground. 'If you have time to care for your hair, train more!'
Alright.
So there were some things that she was in the right about.
But that didn't mean she liked her, or anything.
'Trying to be sexy?' she asked mockingly, giving Sakura's hair a particularly savage yank. She raised her voice. 'Zaku! Kill the Sasuke guy in front of this pig.'
The foot-squisher laughed. 'That sounds good.'
Sakura tried to move and found her hair almost ripped out of her head, berated by the Sound-nin holding onto her. 'Don't move!'
Something occurred to Raiku.
Maybe… she wondered in the beginnings of concern. The Plot…
Involved their deaths?
And so technically… helping them… wouldn't be a problem?
She squinted, desperately trying to rationalise the situation to her advantage.
'Then let's do this,' Zaku-foot-squisher snorted, walking casually in the direction of Sakura's fallen teammates.
'Sasuke and Naruto are in trouble!' Shikamaru hissed, starting forward in his own worry.
And then Sakura did something that Raiku found admirable enough to break the rules for. She managed, through her pain and the unwillingness of her joints, to bring her hand up and slice through her own hair, freeing herself.
Ino's jaw dropped.
Raiku tucked her hands into her armpits to avoid clapping. Sakura's forehead protector dropped to the ground with a clang.
'Kin, kill her!' Zaku shouted. Sakura's hand began to move in a series of seals, just as Kin slammed into her side. An explosion of smoke heralded the use of a replacement technique, leaving only a log.
Raiku idly wished for popcorn, concealed in the leaves about Team Asuma. Sakura darted towards Zaku from the right, unleashing kunai. As he raised his hands to use his own technique she used her own again, vanishing just in time as the air sent her kunai whizzing back towards her.
The next time she dropped in from above, hands already moving in a seal. 'I'm telling you,' Zaku yelled up to her, 'it's not going to work more than two or three times!'
Kunai pelted through the air towards her, and he instantly looked around for the next place of her attack. 'Now where'd she go?'
He paused as blood dropped onto his face.
Sakura, still approaching from above, readied her kunai and landed on him heavily. The kunai slammed into his arm as he tried to defend himself, her teeth embedding themselves readily in the other.
Raiku winced.
She just knew she'd have to interfere at this rate…
'Let go, damnit!' Zaku growled, struggling with Sakura furiously.
Porcupine made a move, and Ino- finally- made hers too.
Sakura looked up when the blow didn't come, eyes widening at the sight.
'Ino…' she whispered.
'I'm not going to let you take all the good parts in front of Sasuke-kun!' Ino said, as her and her team stood between Sakura and certain death.
Raiku tilted her head quizzically. 'He's… he's unconscious,' she said faintly, incredulously. 'What?'
'What are you thinking!?' Chouji demanded of Shikamaru, currently holding part of the fat boy's scarf out as a barrier. 'These guys are way too dangerous!'
'It's troublesome, but we have to do this,' Shikamaru informed him. 'Since Ino revealed herself, we men can't just run away!'
Good old fashioned emasculation? Raiku wondered.
Ino giggled to herself. 'Sorry to get you two involved, but we're a three man team. We have to do everything together.'
Shikamaru was smirking. 'Oh well. Whatever happens, happens.'
'No!' Chouji wailed. 'I don't want to die yet!' he struggled to try and get away. 'Let go of my muffler!'
'Shut up! Stop moving!' Shikamaru growled.
Zaku gave a brief chuckle. 'Run if you want. Fatty.'
Chouji abruptly stopped moving.
'Hey,' he said in a tone far removed from his usual state of comic relief. 'What did that person say? I couldn't hear him too well.'
'I said,' Zaku repeated, raising his voice. 'You can go jack off in the woods if you want… you fat ass!'
Chouji remained still for one further moment, then spun around with an expression of utter rage. 'I'm not fat! I'm big boned!'
He struck an offensive stance, chakra rippling up around him. 'Hooray for big-boned people!'
Raiku looked at her thin limbs sadly.
'Okay! You two understand that this is a fight between Konoha and Sound, right!?' Chouji demanded, pointing at his teammates.
'Geez,' Shikamaru muttered. 'This is going to be troublesome.'
'That's our line,' Zaku corrected.
Kin took a step.
Raiku hummed to herself so quietly as to be inaudible to anyone else, fingers quietly moving over her wires.
Raiku wasn't strong. At all.
But she was very, very fast.
In an environment like this Raiku would always have the advantage, her speed and natural terror of being spotted and retaliated against making her incredibly stealthy. Who knew being a wimp could come in handy? she asked herself. Quietly praying she wouldn't be seen, naturally, but whatever worked. The wires wrapped around her fingers pulled sharply, leaving her running the risk of having her gloves cut through. These wires were more than strong enough to cut her actual fingers off, so she released all but her original trap. She was willing to help, after all, but only as long as it didn't endanger her.
Chouji's bulk expanded almost instantaneously, and his head and limbs vanished inside his clothes like some sort of turtle. He launched into the air and began to spin. 'Meat Tank!'
He hit the ground rolling, hurtling towards Zaku. 'What's this?' Zaku laughed. 'It's just a fat ass rolling!'
As suddenly comical as the situation was, Raiku felt obligated to look away as the wind became biting. Ryuu was giving the second warning. They were within a kilometre. She silently admired Daisukenojo's truly formidable knack with chakra. She could barely sense someone a hundred metres away.
She looked back to see porcupine-nin paralysed, possessed by a shadow stretching from Shikamaru's feet. The giant green ball was up in the air… she frowned. For… some reason. But she did think there was something naturally impressive about someone who could use their own shadow.
She quietly cheered Shikamaru on.
Who cared about Sasuke? He looked like a girl.
The green, rapidly spinning ball that was Chouji slammed into Zaku, sending him flying. Raiku sat back and enjoyed the show, no longer bothering to play with her wires.
'Dosu!' Kin demanded as the porcupine struck a dancer's pose. 'What are you doing!?' Her eyes fell on Shikamaru striking the same pose, widening in realisation. Shikamaru grinned mockingly.
'Ino, now it's up to you women,' Shikamaru said, further mocking the entrapped porcupine-nin by making cat ears with his hands.
'Okay Shikamaru,' Ino answered. 'Take care of my body.'
Now, Raiku was not unaware of what went on in some teams. But she didn't honestly see that one coming.
'Mind transfer technique!'
Oh. That explained it.
Ino's body fell against Shikamaru, instantly supported by her teammate. Dosu mimed the same action.
'Kin!' Zaku yelled, barely evading Chouji's attacks.
'What's wrong!?' Dosu demanded, still frozen in place.
Kin, to the surprise of no one but the other Sound-nin, raised a kunai to her own throat. 'This is it!' she said. 'If you move, this Kin girl is dead! If you don't want to retire here, leave your scroll and get out of here! Once you two back off far enough that I can't sense your chakra, I'll let this girl go!'
This provoked no response.
Kin growled. 'Chouji!'
The ball of Chouji went flying back down towards them at the same time Zaku raised his hand, intercepting the wind but still letting Kin's body slam into a tree with a hoarse cry.
'You took us too lightly.'
'Our purpose is not to get a scroll or to get through this exam. It's Sasuke-kun.'
The Plot thickened. Raiku shifted uneasily, trying not to let it see her. She kicked it off the branch, shuddering.
Dosu was making it quite clear that Kin was expendable, finally freed from Shikamaru's Shadow Imitation.
'How disgusting,' Neji's voice interrupted the tension filled scene. Raiku looked up to see him and Tenten standing on a high tree branch. 'A mere minor Sound-nin… Acting like victors for beating those second class ninja?'
Raiku clutched her heart with one hand and the branch with the other. The suspense was killing her here.
'Lee!' Tenten said worriedly, eyes falling on her battered teammate.
'Looks like he screwed up,' Neji muttered.
'You guys just keep coming out like roaches!' Dosu called, and Raiku couldn't help but agree.
'That bobbed hair kid is on our team,' Neji informed him. Chakra flared to life with his Byakugan, making the veins on his temples swell. 'Looks like you went overboard with him!'
Raiku gave a low whistle as the fighters in the clearing visibly freaked out at the sight of the activated Byakugan. Neji stood, shoulders squared and one hand forming the seal to channel his chakra. 'If you're going to continue to fight, we will fight with everything we have.'
Dosu made a sound of contempt. 'If you don't like what we're doing, stop showing off and come down here!'
'No,' Neji denied. 'It seems like there's no need for me to do that.'
It was at this point Raiku settled back against the tree trunk, secure in the knowledge that this Drama-fest would continue on happily without her.
The wind toyed with her hair, carrying the smell of blood. Third sign. Nearing half a kilometre away, Ryuu would bite his own thumb, or something similar, and send the scent to her directly. First sign- wind change. Second sign- hard wind. Third sign- blood wind. Final sign- no wind.
They were travelling slowly. She guessed it was to stop the shinobi trailing them from losing them completely.
'Jeez, guys,' she muttered, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. 'I could've been seriously hurt in the time you've spent toying with this guy!'
'Sasuke-kun! You woke up!'
Raiku retched at the sudden, violent influx of Plot-corrupted chakra, hunching and holding her hand over her mouth. She'd never felt anything… Another wave hit her and she bit down on her lower lip to keep her mouth shut. In terms of practicality, a vomit-covered mask was one of the worst things she could provide herself with. She curled into a ball, allowing the electricity to come back to her skin and provide her with a gentle glow. The foreign impact of the chakra lessened as the soothing sensation of something far more natural to her surfaced.
She tried to force out a laugh.
Soothing… that was new. The heat vanished, evidently as cowardly at heart as she was. She was out of her league, here.
A/N: God that was long. And rough. So very... very rough. Raiku's cowardice is mixed with stealth for once! Yaaaaay. She's capable. Just... a wimp.
Reviews:
Vampy: Ahahaha! I know, right? You can provide the offspring. I think I'm allergic.
anonymous yay: Alright... this is going to take a few lines to respond to, since I really appreciate the effort you put into your review and I want to address what you've brought up. Bear with me?
I've tried very hard to keep Raiku free of sue-ness, and you have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that you think I've succeeded. I advertised her as well balanced, and recently realised she'd never been angry and thus I've introduced her to the foreign sensation and ask you to bear with me as she struggles with it. I'm trying to show the advantages and disadvantages of her being an electrokinetic, and how it impacts her life in a semi-realistic way. I got quite tired of OCs who had very little in the way of trouble with their abilities and so I've strived to show a different aspect of that kind of life.
Her struggle between being a Gairano and a shinobi is one I'm actually enjoying writing and fully intend to perpetuate. I'll try not to disappoint you.
Aha! You brilliant creature, you've come across the point I've tried to make. You have ... no idea how much that pleases me. The idea that a Plot can only be a bad thing is one that the Gairano family sticks to without any apparent premise, and is one of the main obstacles Raiku will later have to face. The ability of a Gairano to interfere with any Plot they like is also essential as well as their reasons for being so desperate to maintain a firm grasp over the Naruto Plot. As such, I'm afraid I can't answer these questions just yet, and apologise profusely.
I promise to answer them through the course of the story.
Thank you very, very much for reviewing, and please let me know the second I step out of line. I'm writing this primarily because I want to, but I don't want to let you or any one else down. I'm so glad you like it.
Anonymous(envysXsin): Daisukenojo's chakra control has been referenced in passing in the chapter Sand and Floodwater. As a member of the Hatori family he has enhanced control over his chakra, which is a genetic trait rather than a bloodline limit, allowing Raiku to be in his team. It's going to be a recurring thing, so I'm just letting you know now, and I'm sorry if it wasn't clear! XD As for your opinions regarding Ryuu and Raiku, unfortunately I already have plans for Daisukenojo and Ryuu (don't worry, not together), but I'll certainly take what you said into account.
Don't worry about the length of your reviews or the pressure for me to update quickly- I love long reviews and I update as quickly as I can without sacrificing quality (I hope). As well as that, it's only by writing the chapters that Raiku can progress, and I find myself furthering her story simply by knowing where it's going to go.
I'm really touched you've liked it enough to reread it, and enormously pleased that it doesn't get old. Thankyou for sticking with me here!
