Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...
Hey everyone!
First I have to say a massive thanks to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter! I was so busy I couldn't get on for a few days and when I got back I had 20 reviews! It really made my week!
Sorry this took me so long... I've been buried under maths coursework and learning for my mock spanish oral (which is tomorrow, eek!) and whole load of other boring school stuff, but it snowed last night and the school was closed today, so we got the day off which gave me some time to write a bit more...
This was mostly written a couple of lines at a time when I had time to take a break, but I managed to get it to a point where I can keep you folks hanging on until I have the time to write some more (it's half term next week, so the next chapter shouldn't take me too long!)
For those of you who spotted my mistake with 'hn' and 'un' thank you - i've changed it now, so it's all good...We'll let the Uchiha's keep their 'hn'! Oh, and I changed a sentence in Chapter 3. It's nothing big, it just said that they were on the border of Earth, headed to the Sand...and then they were running through thick trees...I changed it so that they're just on the border of Earth... I don't know if anyone spotted it, but I changed it anyway!
And enough of my blabbing...
Chapter 6
Amaya turned slowly to look at the man who had appeared behind her.
He was perhaps a little taller than Itachi, and his hair covered one eye. It was hard to tell in the moonlight but she guessed that he was probably blonde, though she couldn't tell what colour his eyes were. As he looked down at her a small smile played around his lips.
"So who are you, un?" He asked. It may have been possible to mistake him for a woman but his voice was even deeper than Itachi's and erased all doubt that he was most defiantly a man.
"Amaya," she answered.
She noticed that he was wearing the same cloak that Itachi and Kisame wore and wondered how many of them there were. It did seem to be quite a big place.
"Deidara," he replied, introducing himself, "Shouldn't you be in Itachi-san's room, un?"
"Ah, well, yes, but I…um…couldn't get back in…" she trailed off, wondering what was going to happen to her now, but to her surprise he gave a low laugh.
"I'll take you back," he said, leading her back through the door and down the stairs. She nodded and followed, silent but reluctant, glancing back at the moonlit garden once more before the door closed behind her, returning her to the yellow glow of the torches lit on the walls.
They walked for what Amaya guessed was about ten or fifteen minutes, though it was impossible to tell for sure, before he stopped, "Wait here, un," he said before he disappeared.
I wish people would stop doing that!
A moment later he returned with Hana and he began walking back the way that they had come.
"Hana-chan?" Amaya asked, confused.
"Amaya-chan? What's going on?" Hana's questioning gaze came to rest on Deidara.
"We can't stay here, un," He answered.
"Why?"
"Some enemies are on their way, un."
"Enemies? What do you mean enemies?"
"People who are against us, un."
"Great, we get kidnapped and now we're going to be attacked. Things just get better, don't they?" Amaya said sarcastically.
"We're moving so that we don't get attacked, un. Wait at the top, un," Deidara said, pointing up the stairs, as calm as though they were going for a leisurely walk.
Once at the top they left the small, cosy looking hut and were plodding through the trees again with no light, except for that provided by the moon.
"How long are we going to have to walk for?" Hana asked tiredly, fed up of trees.
"Not long, un."
Sure enough they soon came to a large clearing in the trees. They stopped. They looked up. There was complete silence.
It was broken, as usual, by Hana…
...As she fainted and hit the ground with a thump, unconscious.
Amaya just stared.
"Come on, un," Deidara said, throwing Hana over his shoulder and offering her a hand.
Turning her head to him, her eyes moved to his hand. Her eyes widened.
"It's alright, un," and he took one of her hands tightly in his own and leapt up. She wasn't surprised to find herself no longer on the ground. She'd gotten used to that trick.
"Are they…mouths?"
He nodded as he let go of her hand and put Hana down.
Things just keep getting weirder.
She noticed that he seemed to be a bit gentler than Itachi and Kisame. It was the way he laid Hana down, making sure she didn't bump her head as he did so, and the way he had held her hand firmly but not painfully tightly.
Maybe they're not all quite so mean…
"It's a big…" murmured Hana as she began to regain consciousness, shuffling so she was lying on her belly.
"Huge…" replied Amaya as she peered down at the ground over the edge.
"Massive…" Hana looked around for something to hold onto.
"Gigantic…" It was a funny colour and Amaya wondered if it was actually real.
"Enormous…" A frustrated sigh came from Hana as she found nothing to hold onto, so she flattened herself as much as she could against its back and hoped she wouldn't fall.
"Bird…" Amaya finished.
"Made out of clay, un," added Deidara, as though it were perfectly normal.
"Well, that explains why there aren't any feathers to hold onto…" Hana's eyebrows furrowed as what he said registered completely, "It was made? Out of clay? How? Who made it?"
"I did, un," and he held up his hands, showing the mouths on each of his palms.
Hana's face was a mixture of disgust and the desperate need to laugh uncontrollably.
Suddenly, without warning, the giant clay bird began to spread it wings, flapping them and causing the trees to rustle and sway dangerously. Then it soared into the air, all desire to laugh evaporating rapidly and turning into the desperate need to scream uncontrollably instead.
"It can fly?!" Hana screamed.
"What kind of bird can't, un?" Deidara replied calmly as he scanned the ground below for any signs of enemy ninja.
"Oh I don't know, a giant clay bird, perhaps?!"
Amaya only just managed to keep her balance and decided that she'd probably be safer copying her friend and so sunk carefully into a sitting position and then onto her stomach. She noticed that Deidara didn't even wobble as the bird climbed higher into the dark sky and wondered how long he'd had to practice to get that good.
Once they were in the air the bird swooped, brushing the tops of the trees. He seemed to be searching for something. Amaya was about to ask what, when the sounds of metal clashing on metal mixed with shouting reached her ears.
Through the trees Amaya caught glimpses of people running, all seeming to be headed in the same direction – back towards the hideout that they had just left.
The bird turned in the sky, following them silently. Another person dressed in the same red and black cloak caught her eye. Her first thought was that the person was lying on the ground, but as they came into view for the second time she saw that it was moving. She was a little unsure if it was actually a person though; it looked more like some sort of weird creature.
It soon became apparent that they had been spotted – how could they not be? – And a group of people on the ground were sending more of those wonderful sharp objects into the sky, in the general direction of the giant bird.
Like that's gonna do any good, thought Amaya dryly as most of them either missed or pinged off the hard clay surface. Not all off them fell dangerously back towards the ground though. Occasionally one would become lodged into the clay, splitting and cracking it a little, but Deidara was sending smaller birds into the sky and didn't seem bothered by it, so Amaya decided it was nothing much to worry about.
As she watched one of the small birds descend into the trees, which were momentarily turned into burning, splintered logs, it was one of those occasional weapons which sliced her cheek deeply, almost giving her a serious wound.
"What are these weird weapons? They're like knives but they're…weird!" Hana said at that moment.
"These are kunai," Deidara said, holding up one that same as the on which had just missed Amaya, "and these are shuriken, un," he explained, holding up the star shaped ones.
Amaya wasn't really paying attention as something attached to the kunai caught her eye. There was a piece of paper with something written on it but it was fluttering from the movement of the bird and she couldn't read it.
Shuffling backwards so that she was more in the middle of the bird's back she pointed to the piece of paper and asked, "What's that?"
"An exploding tag, un. Oh."
Boom.
It was a good thing that Amaya had moved, or she would have completely lost her head. Luckily none of them were caught in the blast but the force of it was still enough for both Amaya and Hana to slide from the bird's back. Deidara was able to keep his balance by channelling chakra to his feet, but neither of the girls could do such a thing.
"Damn it, un," he muttered as he watched Amaya and Hana plummet towards the ground.
Two chakra signatures rushing through the trees diverted his attention. They were still a fair distance away.
You'll have to move faster than that, un…
Oh dear. Poor Amaya almost lost her pretty head twice there...and now they're falling...
I wonder who is rushing through the trees to their rescue...? And three guesses what/who the 'weird creature' is...
Gosh, it's all a bit see-through and easy to predict, isn't it?
But there's still the mystery of why they were kidnapped. And could this attack just be coincidence?
Perhaps we'll find out in the next chapter...
Until then, please leave me a review! I'll update as soon as I can manage!