[When Fate and Destiny Collide
By: maliciousfate
Chapter: Fifteen
"Evil Has a New Face"
One of the many things that annoyed me more then anything was when someone shook me as I slept. I especially hated it when they shook me while I was sleeping in my nice, warm and cozy bed. Where I could have pleasant dreams of things not real, but when someone shook me, those merry dreams were warped and hazy. Unreadable.
At and this moment, someone was doing just that. And to be honest, they were shaking me quite hard.
"Tsuki!" The voice yelled as they shook my shoulders harder. How hard could they be shaking me? My head was throbbing and I was beginning to feel nauseous. Why couldn't they just let me sleep?
I couldn't take the persistent shaking anymore, and I felt a loud groan escape my bloody lips. Wait, why was there blood on my lips? What happened? Everything in my memory is foggy, nothing readable.
"Tsuki! Wake up!" They screamed again, but this time as their voice vibrated into my eardrums millions of pictures flashed through my mind. Instantly the events of what had happened began to make there way forward as the smell of smoke reached my senses. I wasn't in my cozy bed anymore.
"Hinata!" I screamed aloud as I sat up knocking the person in front of me to the ground as I did. I groaned again closing my eyes as my head gave another pain staking throb. My vision was completely blurred.
"Tsuki! Are you alright?" A familiar voice asked kindly as two strong arms lifted me to my wobbly feet. Right then, I instantly regretted opening my eyes.
The once vast green forest was lying in a charred mess on the smoky ground. There were small flames scattered all around as the crackling sound was heard all over. And the smell of charred wood wouldn't leave my senses. The explosion was a lot bigger then I had expected.
"Oh god..." My voice was scratchy and my throat felt like sandpaper.
"Tsuki? Are you alright?" Yuuhi asked again as he held me upright.
"Y-Yeah, I'm alright." I wasn't completely lying; I think my body had numbed any pain I was currently feeling, "-What happened here?"
"I don't know. You and Neji know more then me. But all I know is that we must leave at once. Hinata has been kidnapped..." Did he really say that? Did Yuuhi honestly just say Hinata was gone? Kidnapped? By who?
I searched the devastating sights around me for any sigh that Yuuhi was lying. I wanted to pretend that Hinata was going to pop out of one of the bushes around me laughing that contagious laughs of hers. But I knew Yuuhi wasn't lying, his expression made sure of it.
"If you are alright, then we must go now. They already have a huge head start, and we don't even know where they went." Yuuhi repeated, and without waiting for a reply he turned and began to run forward into the smoke.
As he disappeared into the thick black cloud I realized Neji was no longer next to me. Had he been kidnapped as well? Taken away from me as I sat so close to him moments before? I felt my stomach sink, that thought brought tiny tears into my eyes. Did I honestly hold such strong feelings for him?
"Tsuki." The voice brought a smile to my face, it was Neji. He was alright, safe.
"Nej-" I stopped mid-sentence as I let my eyes wonder over his body. I was wrong, he wasn't alright.
He had a deep gash on the side of his face that was currently still bleeding. His clothes were ripped and torn in numerous places showing dark bruises on his tan skin. He was in pain, it was obvious, but he wasn't showing any sign of it and just watched as I looked him over.
"We need to go, Tsuki." He looked eager to follow Yuuhi and it then occurred to me Hinata meant a lot to him, his heart was probably breaking just standing here. I gave him a short nod before we began to silently run side by side in the direction Yuuhi had disappeared towards.
As I dashed closely by Neji I could see the worry in his eyes and feel the same worry in the put of my stomach. What were we going to find at the end of this forest?
"I am so sorry. I should have told you all before, I am a fool." Yuuhi shook his head with disappointment radiating off his every word. Apparently there was a reason behind why Yuuhi kept circling the same part of the forest over and over. We were being followed, and he didn't want to reveal where our mission was so he tried to throw them off. It didn't work
"It's fine Yuuhi, you were looking out for your squad members. Don't blame this on you." I offered, I didn't like seeing Yuuhi in such a distressed state. He was kind and gentle, always laughing and smiling. But when he was down it seemed the whole world was down with him.
"Of course I should be blaming this on myself. It's my fault! If I would have told you guys we might have bee-"
"Shut up, both of you!" Neji hissed cutting Yuuhi off. His eyes were squinted into small slits as he glared into the forest with his Byakugon. Yuuhi and I both instantly turned to watch Neji; both silently wondering what caused his outbreak and sudden aggression.
"There is someone here..." Neji whispered still looking into the forest. I scooted closer to Neji knowing full well that if there was someone out there, being separated would be the easiest way for them to defeat us all. We still didn't know who we were up against, or how many there were.
It was quiet, an eerie silence looming over the forest. Nothing moved and no one breathed, and the tension in the air was getting thicker by the second. Everyone was on their guard waiting for someone or something to come out of their hiding place and attack. However, no one was making a move, it was soundless. No bird flew by, no breeze pushed the air. It was silent.
"Can you see anyone?" I asked as quietly as I possibly could. My hands were gliding on the cold metal of the kunai in my pouch. My eyes wondered the treetops and shadows for anything that moved.
"No-" He shifted slightly. "They're using a genjutsu..." I bit my lip. Genjutsu was my weakest technique. Whoever was out there had an extreme advantage over me, and I hoped they didn't realize that.
Suddenly, a giant tree branch fell to the forest floor, scaring birds from their nests and into the air. I slid out four kunai gripping then tightly in each hand, waiting for an oncoming attack.
A few remaining leaves fell from the tree, gracefully gliding to the floor. I watched them the whole time they fell waiting for something to happen...anything. My body was getting weary of this hectic waiting.
And at the most silent of moments a loud and vile laugh echoed through the forest making the hair on my neck stand on end. My eyes widened as I listened carefully. The voice was familiar.
"That voice!" I thought as my eyes desperately searched the forest for the person who owned it.
I knew that laugh all to well and I'd easily wish to never hear it again. It was the same laugh that was with me the day I was in the Hyuuga Forest. It was laughing then too, now it seemed to almost mock me.
"You can't find me, un?" His laugh bounced off the surrounding trees stabbing straight into my nerves. I had to grit my teeth while I still tried to locate the perpetrator.
"Quit hiding!" Yuuhi yelled toward the forest. He seemed so furious and it made me wonder; what connections did he have with that voice? But his only reply was the same evil laugh that made my legs crumble.
"You are looking for the girl with the blue hair yes, un?" It asked. I felt my hands ball into fists. He was trying to distract us, he wanted us to stay here and waste time while his partners got farther away with Hinata. I couldn't allow him to do that, I needed to find her!
Making up my mind right there I turned and began to dash away from Neji and Yuuhi into the direction that we were originally supposed to be going; determination coursing through my veins.
"Tsk tsk tsk. Bad little girl, that isn't the right way." The voice mocked and before I could run away from it, an explosion ignited right in front of my face hurling me from my feet and into a thick tree.
"Ahhh!" I screamed as my head collided with the bark. I could already feel blood leaking from the side of my mouth.
Neji was at my side in seconds while Yuuhi stood before the both of us. The look in his eyes made me gulp; I've never seen so much hatred in the eyes of someone so kind.
"Tsuki! Are you alright? Why did you do that?" Neji asked with the mixture of anger and concern ringing in his voice.
"He wants us to stay here so his buddies can get farther away with Hinata." I replied as I furiously wiped away the blood from my mouth as Neji helped me to my feet.
"Tell us, what do you want?" Yuuhi asked after Neji and I both came to his side. I still had no clue where this guy was, or if he was even alone.
"Hmm, you are asking me what I want, un?" It was silent after his spoke; did he even have a reason for taking Hinata? After about ten seconds of silence he let out another malicious laugh that bounced off each great oak.
His laughing was starting to piss me off, and I knew it was for Yuuhi and Neji too. I didn't know where he was or who he was, all I knew was he needed to get to the point so I could find Hinata. And fast.
"The thing I desire is simple," He paused, "-I want the Heir." When he finished another explosion went off to my left. It was too far to hurt me but it was enough to make me cringe. "-But I guess that has already been accomplished, since she is not in your presence but ours, un." He laughed again as more explosions went off. Each one was still too far from any of us, but the smoke was clogging our lungs and the debris was raining down on us hard.
"Show yourself!" Yuuhi boomed as he spun his head around looking for the wicked man who called himself human. I followed suit trying to keep my nerves in check, but it was hard when all I wanted to do was rip the man apart.
"So you want to see me, well I'll oblige to your offer but only because I'm getting bored, un." I held my breath as all the trees surrounding me started to shake viscously, spilling millions of leaves in the process.
"Was this man seriously this powerful?" I tried my best not to be intimidated by the physical power this man was showing, but this was beginning to be too much.
Then without warning, hundreds of explosions went off all in a circle. The explosions trapped all three of us together in a tight circle. We soon took this as an advantage and formed a three-man circle of defense.
As the flames died down enough to see over, no one was there. The forest was silent yet again.
"Where is this guy? He keeps toying with us!" My anger was getting close to overpowering, this man-thing, whatever he was, was playing mind games with all of us.
As if accepting my pled, a final explosion went off near the burning circle we were stuck in. As the dark smoke cleared a man stood in its place.
He had platinum blonde hair that was tied high, leaving only his bangs covering his left eye. He wore a large black trench coat that had a few strange red cloud shaped designs scattered on it, and on his forehead he bore a hitai-ate from the Village Hidden in Leaves. But the symbol itself had a straight cut slicing through it. His visible eye was light brown with a red rim that was squinted into a malicious glare. He was actually enjoying all of this.
The wind picked up slightly, swishing the burnt leaves into the air and thickened the disgusting burnt smell. The wind moved the man's hair wiping it to the side, revealing a black metal like lens in place of his eye. My eyes widened slightly, not expecting the foreign object in place of where his eye should have been. Who was he?!
He smiled a wide smile, showing off bright white teeth that were slightly pointed. Evil was radiating off every inch of this man.
"Let me introduce myself un," He was smirking now and as odd as it seemed he was smirking directly me."-my name is Deidara