With the fallen sky
And the rain
We're awakening
Here we are now
With the desperate youth
And the pain
We're awakening
Maybe it's called ambition
You've been talking in your sleep
About a dream…
You're awakeningI want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to know that my hearts still beating
Its beating, I'm bleeding
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to live like I know what I'm leaving
I want to know that my hearts still beating
It's beating
I'm bleeding
It's beating..
IM BLEEDING—
Sato awoke with a start, bolting straight up in bed, biting back a scream. Cold sweat had beaded on her pretty forehead, and she clenched her fists around the sheets tightly.
The dream—
Sunlight was streaming in through her bedroom windows, with the promise of a new day. The bright rays had a freshly minted look, and Sato looked over at her bedside clock, breathing rather heavily. It was seven thirty.
Sato caught her breath for a few more seconds, and wiped her brow with her left arm. The young Tasogare paused in this action, drawing her arm away and peering intently at the curse scars etched in her skin. They were throbbing dimly, a pale green.
The Dream…my curse…
Sato could hear birds chirping outside of her room. The cheeriness of the morning contrasted violently with what she was feeling on the inside.
The dream had come to her again in the night, tearing at the very fiber of her being with sharp claws. It had dragged her from the safety of the mental walls she put up for herself, thrashed her soundly, and had left her broken again.
Again. She hadn't had the dream for nearly a month.
Sato screwed up her eyes, and rubbed her temples. Every time the dream came, it was worse and wracked her senses even more. And each time the images that came to mind were more and more vivid….
Her mother, her father, her brother….her cousins, her aunt, her uncle, her grandparents..
"Stop it!" Sato muttered to herself, as those fleeting memories of the dream threatened to get back in. Sato untwisted herself from her bed sheets, and swung her legs out over the bed, her toes dangling about six inches from the ground.
…All gone, all dead and gone forever. "The legends are a lie, Satora. The Tasogare are as mortal as the next man."
"Stop it!" Sato repeated a little more vehemently, standing this time. She gave a quick gasp—pain shot up and down her legs and she sat back down quick. Sato sat there on the edge of her bed, contemplating this new development. Slowly, carefully she raised her right leg.
The pain came again this time, but Sato was ready for it. As far as she could tell, her muscles were just incredibly sore. With this knowledge, she stood again.
Sato managed to stifle another gasp, but the pain was still there. Cautiously she rolled her shoulders and found that same stiffness there too in her arms. No doubt these aches were coming from her experience in the forest of death. Sato gave a sigh, and let the air hiss out over her teeth. She should have trained more before the second part of the exam had begun, if she had done that she wouldn't be so sore right now.
"Out of shape." Sato murmured to herself scornfully.
Crouching down next to the body of her dead mother…holding her cold lifeless hand and finding it slippery with blood…
Sato closed her eyes again, and swayed a little. The dream—
Confusion, running from prone form to prone form, asking again why they won't get up, screaming, screaming...slipping…falling….
"STOP IT!" Sato threw her head back and howled.
The dream could attack her at night when her mind was most vulnerable, but she would not allow it to take her when the sunlight was so evident.
Ignoring the pain in her legs and arms, Sato walked to her bathroom and went through her usual morning routine. Ten minutes later she had eaten breakfast, and was out the door.
As far as manors went, the Tasogare estate wasn't all that big. It was still the largest living quarters in the entire village. back in the day it had been the home of the entire Tasogare clan. Fifteen years later, the only person living in there was a lonely teenager who still has nightmares about the day her family was killed.
Sato forced herself to whistle a merry tune as she walked down the path from the front door out to the main road, and headed into town. The usual bounce in her step was gone due to the fact that it caused her considerable pain to even put one foot in front of the other.
There were very few people up and about this early in a village so small. Those who were out getting the paper or something of the like gave Sato a polite smile as she passed.
Sato would nod in return, and continue. Today she was not in the mood to socialize. Today she wanted to train. To get on her game. To be ready for the third part of the exam.
Another ten minutes later, and Satora was in the center of the village, waiting for the rest of her cell at the fountain.
Makuro was the first to come out of the village, shuffling along and looking rather tired. He rented room and board above the ramen shop, and Sato had only been there once in all the time she knew him. Predictably, it was bare to the cupboards, the only decoration being on the coat rack when Kuro hung his trench coat every night. Sato often joked that the stoic linen-clad ninja could be happy in a box. Nothing was too plain or basic for her mummified friend.
Makuro gave a curt nod to his friend as he sat down next to Sato.
The two of them sat there for a good fifteen minutes, waiting for either Shinri or Yoake. Neither broke the silence, or even mentioned the previous days events. They both knew that there were still probably cells out there in the training ground, but only time would tell who would actually survive that part of the exam.
At long last Yoake appeared but not from the village, but from the forest. What had she been doing in there? The Lady Yorukage was in her Kunoichi outfit, looking lithe and ready for action. She pointed at Sato, and said, "Follow me."
Wordlessly both Sato and Makuro rose, but Yoake shook her head, and pointed at Sato once more, "Just the Tasogare. Come on, kid we have to go."
Sato shot a questioning look at Makuro, but he could offer no answer. She smiled weakly at him, and hurried off after Yoake.
Yoake headed back the way she had come. A thousand questions were going around in Sato's head, but she kept them to herself with some difficulty.
Sunlight was streaming through the leaves, and it got considerably cooler in the shade. Sato rubbed her bare arms, and wished she had grabbed a sweatshirt from her home. It was too late for that now. Satora set her teeth, and concentrated on blocking the throbbing soreness that was still shooting up and down her body.
Sato was willing to bet that neither Shinri nor Makuro were walking around as sore as she was. She could have expected it—Shinri was almost always out in the forest doing something or other and was kept in shape in that manner. As for Makuro, Sato still didn't know how he trained.
Yoake could probably sense the pain she was in, because she looked around at her young charge, and said quietly, "You're sore, aren't you?"
"Of course I am." Sato snapped back with a little more venom than what she had been planning—her thigh had given an especially nasty twitch, "After yesterday? What did you expect?"
" You'd best stretch some before we get where we're going." Yoake said flatly.
Sato took her sensei's advice; occasionally stopping to bend over and touch the ground with her palms, or do some ankle squats. They hurt like bloody hell, but at least her muscles weren't hurting so much anymore.
Yoake lead the way West. Soon Sato was totally lost, but she did not let a complaint pass her lips. Perhaps this was some sort of strange test. The sun rose higher and higher in the sky, and still the two of them trekked onwards.
At last they came out on an open clearing. Sato immediately recognized it from her earlier days as a genin. She Shinri and Makuro had gone through many rigorous training exercises in this part of the village, but hadn't been back here in at least seven or eight months.
Sato felt something stir in her midriff, "Umm…Sensei, what do you have in mind?"
Yoake's face was very grave. There was no light in those green eyes on this morning.
"Last night I realized that this plan may put your life in more danger than what I anticipated. With the Akatsuki actively involved far sooner than I had thought, the three of you need to step your game up a few notches. Consider this training not only for the exam, but for the battle that we all know is coming."
Sato took a deep breath. The pain in her legs seemed like nothing right now compared to the thoughts that were now spinning around in her head.
I'm the only one here that needs to 'step my game up'. The other two are fine, it me that's lagging behind. I've never had real training, I've always thought that because I'm a Tasogare, that I don't need to worry about failing. Yesterday I was proved wrong, and everyone here knows it. I'm just like everyone else, the only thing different about me is that I have these scars….
Sato glanced moodily at her rune scars as Yoake continued.
"I did not expect the Akatsuki to be involved this early in the plan. You could say I was totally shocked when I was told about you and Itachi in the forest. I wanted to write it off as a fluke, as maybe a sound jonin under a disguise, but in my heart I knew it really was Itachi. Firstly there was the haunted look in your eyes that really confirmed it. Then there was Shinri's tale of the scene on the battlements. I'm just sorry I wasn't there to protect you."
Sato felt another twinge. Who would have thought I'd ever need protecting?
Still Yoake continued, "Sato, I can almost promise you that from here on out every battle you face will have you against an opponent who will know how to exploit your weaknesses. Now, we want avoid that as much as possible so I'm going to need to teach you to rely on something other than the obvious."
"What do you mean?" Sato asked cautiously.
"If you and I were going to fight, the first thing I would do is somehow find a way to block the flow of that incredible amount of chakra stirring around in that small body of yours. If I could do that, it would effectively leave you helpless, and there would be no way for you to defend yourself. Do you see where I'm going with this? That would be like me totally relying on a fire-based ninjutsu as my primary offensive maneuver. When a water-nin comes along, and douses my flames, where does that leave me? Without any other means of attack or defense."
"I get it." Sato said flatly, "Like when I was fighting Itachi. I discovered that he could see past my ultimate defense, the hiding in shadow's technique. I didn't know what to do at that point because I didn't' have a backup plan."
"Itachi is going to use that fact to his advantage next time you two meet." Yoake said grimly, "And you can be sure Sasuke will do the same. What we need to work on is getting you a fallback set of moves."
"What are the chances of my chakra supply running out, or whatever?" Sato asked, "I mean, I have so much chakra running through me that they had to cut my arm open so it could escape! That flow isn't going to be stemmed easily!"
"Neji Hyuga." Yoake shouted unexpectedly, eyes narrowing, "Konoha. With the brush of a finger he could seal all your chakra inside of you, which would in time kill you. Shino Aburame, also Konoha. All the little beetles he commands love a good feast of chakra. They would eat you up before you could even open your mouth in a word of protest. Kakashi Hatake, Konoha. His sealing jutsus could leave you in a very bad spot. Orochimaru and his curse mark would make more problems than what I'd like to handle. The list goes on, would you like to hear it?"
Silence fell, and Sato's ears were ringing.
"I'm sorry, sensei." Sato said quietly, "I should have thought about that before I said it. I get it, I get it. I can't only rely on my Tasogare powers to get me out of fights anymore."
"I'm sorry too, I shouldn't' have shouted." Yoake shook her head, and looked a lot older than what she really was. Sato's heart gave a sympathetic twinge.
"So what are you going to teach me then?" Sato asked humbly.
"For now I want to steer clear of anything to do with chakra." Yoake said, 'So that of course means that we'll have to teach you some extensive Taijutsu."
"Taijutsu?" Sato exclaimed before she could stop herself, "That takes years of hard training, how am I supposed to learn enough to save myself in a few—."
Yoake held on hand up, and Sato quieted.
"You will learn taijutsu, an you will learn it well. Right now the only taijutsu you know is what you graduated from the academy with. I don't except you to become a master in the next few weeks, but I do want to see some progress. This isn't just your life we're talking about here, Sato. The entire village rests upon if you have what it takes to stay alive."
"Alright, then." Sato said rather moodily, folding her arms and regretting it at once as the gave a painful throb, "Let's get started."
"Your teacher should be here any minute now." Yoake said, glancing around the clearing.
Sato blinked, "Wait…you're not going to teach me this taijutsu?"
"Of course not." Yoake smiled, turning again to face the young Tasogare, "I'm no good at taijutsu, I'm more of a genjutsu girl myself. Your teacher is good, trust me. He'll tell you what you need to know."
"Who is it?" Sato felt her curiosity rising, "Who did you ask to teach me taijutsu?"
"Sorry I'm late, Yoake." A flat voice called from behind them both.
Just before Sato turned to see the new arrival, Yoake grinned, "Have fun!" and was gone in a flash.
Sato ground teeth when she saw who had stepped into the clearing. She was face to face with none other than Hebigiru Shinri.