Hey it hasn't been a month this time!
My friend gets discharged from hospital hopefully tomorrow! Just in time for the holidays...
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It was hard to leave Konoha. Murdock couldn't help but look over her shoulder as she left. The village's silhouette was pitch black against the sun that was just dipping below the horizon behind it. A few dark spots could be seen jumping across the rooftops. She wanted to stay and help Laura but she wasn't a medic, she could barely patch up her own wounds, let alone treat poison that wasn't covered by a bezoar.
The second she was out of sight she masked her presence and disappeared into the dense woodlands.
Deidara would probably be the easiest target currently, unless he already had a partner, then she might delay it until she knew more. Then she would go after Kisame and Itachi.
She hadn't gone for them first and, as much as it pained her, she would not kill them. Doing either of those things could form a motivational link to her as Max which she could not afford. Not until her task was complete, and maybe not even then. Murdock was still not sure if Max should remain dead.
She couldn't feel anyone following her as she headed towards the Land of Lightning. Two tailed beasts made their hidden village a good size target for Akatsuki.
-
Tsunade listened to the reports of a red haired girl who had just left the village, if she'd had any idea that the girl would come here she would had asked for her to be escorted to her office. That girl was a mystery, a mystery with enough guts to steal an Akatsuki member's head then turn up to one of the most powerful ninja villages. Yet the girl had still managed to stay under the radar. If that girl ever returned to the village then all shinobi were ordered to apprehend her.
-
Louise stood in front of the Stargate, it was the first time she had actually seen it. While she had watched the series it looked weird up close. Shikamaru was her escort as she was technically still a civilian, just an important one employed by the village. Tsunade didn't want to lose the last of the weird trio.
On the other side of the gate they were assigned an escort, Shikamaru obviously recognised her. Hermione Granger, graduate of Hogwarts. Upon finding out the situation, Hermione volunteered to research the subject, but her field of research was runes, not medicine. She had gotten into contact with Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape, they would look at the blood samples and try to figure it out. Louise didn't feel the need to inform them of Max's death, it would be better coming from someone they actually knew well.
-
It was easier than Murdock had thought to steal Deidara's ring.
She had located where he was camping and noted some of the traps set up around it. This was going to be a pain but it was the best way, she took out her coloured contacts and applied a light genjutsu to keep the disguised colour. She then stumbled upon one of the trip wires sending sand into her eyes. It would give the impression she was a civilian, not able to see the trap and avoid it like a shinobi.
Staggering forward using FA to guide her she reached a clearing and to gain Deidara's attention she tripped over a root. She could feel the heat of the fire he sat at, so she knew she could use that as an excuse of why she suspected someone was here.
"Uh, hello? Is anyone here? Help please, I can't see," she called out nervously. She bit her lip and crawled forward towards the fire wincing as the dry ground scraped against her knees. She almost crawled into the fire but a hand grabbed her arm pulled her back.
"Are you trying to burn yourself?" Deidara scolded. He released her arm and resumed staring at the fire.
"I didn't realise it was so close," Murdock apologised meekly, "I could feel the heat I didn't think it was so close"
"What are you doing here?"
"Taking a short cut, I was supposed to be going to my aunt's house to help out, she broke her leg and needs all the help she can get. I walked into something and something got thrown into my face so I can't see"
"You should watch were you're going, that was one of my less dangerous traps. Didn't your mother ever tell you the woods are dangerous?"
"I was running late, I need to get going as it is or she'll tan my hide"
"How exactly do you plan on getting there, you can't see?"
"Uh, didn't think about that, guess I suppose. I know I need to go about south-east, and the sun is in the right side of my face so I need to go that way," Murdock said pointing south-east. "I can also hear a river near by so I can wash the stuff out my eyes," she started to crawl away.
"I should kill you, you know," Murdock froze, had he somehow found out her identity. "I didn't want to be disturbed." She almost sighed in relief, Deidara didn't know. "But you reminded me of someone I knew, everyone thinks she's dead, I don't believe them. She's a fighter, but she's also, just, ditzy I guess, you just seem similar"
"Was she your girlfriend?" Murdock asked, not because she wanted to know, she already knew the answer, but she was a girl, they were nosy about that kind of stuff. She was flattered that Deidara thought she was still alive though.
"No, just a good friend." There was a pause before Murdock 'saw' Deidara get up. She was still frozen from the 'kill you' comment, as a normal kid would be and pretended to be unaware of his silent movements. "I'll take you to the river, I don't want you to drown." Deidara said helping her stand, Murdock had remembered to twitch at the supposed surprise contact.
"Uh, thanks"
It had been easy to stumble on a few more roots and grab his hand or arm to steady herself, using that she had slipped the ring off his finger and hidden it in the folds of her skirt where multiple pockets were concealed.
She'd also solved the mystery of where Sasori's ring was, Deidara had also been in possession of that one, a couple more stumbles and she had acquired it too. Deidara left her as soon as she had washed the sand out of her eyes and Murdock was back on her own, almost halfway done with her mission. She now held four of the ten rings. Any demons they found would take a lot longer to seal giving a rescue team longer to find them.
At least she could stop for a while, Itachi was going to be difficult to track down.
The threat of Louise was enough to send anyone into hiding. If Laura had been in full health and Max still around then not a force on the planet would be able to stop them. But as it was Max was supposedly dead and Laura was ill.
-
Upon the discovery of the poison used on Laura the antidote was rushed to Konoha, time was now of the essence. The healing coma wouldn't stop the poison's work, just slow it down. If left too long then Laura could be left paralyzed, trapped in her own body. Only one group of hostile ninjas had been stupid enough to get in their way. Only one remained, drooling, slumped up against a tree, he would be of no use to anyone, his mind was beyond gone. Limbs littered the small area, eye balls gathered in a small pile. Two bloodstained teens continued their way back to Konoha, people giving them a wide berth.
-
Miles away, unaware of the bloodshed cause by her friend, Murdock entered the female side of the hot springs, it was unusually empty but it was also three in the morning. She had picked this time for a reason, she needed to re-dye her hair, she didn't want to add dye on top of the first lot, so she was cleaning the old dye out first. To do that she needed privacy so her identity could keep anonymous.
She filled a bowl with water from the springs, added the dye removal solution and stirred it. It thickened into a gel like substance which she coated her hair in. The gel would dissolve the dye and then could be washed out. She cleaned out the bowl and filled it with clean water ready for rinsing.
She untied the sash holding her robe closed and removed the item of clothing, hanging it up on the hook near by. The warm water looked so inviting as she slipped in, barely disturbing the surface out of instinct. It would take ten minutes for the solution to work and she hadn't had much of a chance to relax recently. The heat soothed her tired muscles.
The ten minutes whizzed passed and Murdock grudgingly got out of the spring, she put her robe back on, the material sticking to her wet skin. She rinsed her hair in the bowl of water, she didn't want to contaminate the spring with the chemicals.
After all the stuff was gone she rinsed her hair again and sat down to wait, leaning against the bamboo wall. Her hair needed to dry completely before she could even think about using the dye again.
She didn't realised the warmth was making her drift off to sleep, the heat was fuzzing up her senses.
That's possibly why she didn't notice her attackers until it was too late. The needle entered her skin before she even realised someone was in the hot springs with her.
-
Laura was propped up in bed, the cure had worked but her motor control would take some work to fully regain, the nerve damage would take time to heal. Louise sat in a chair next to her reading a book aloud for Laura's benefit. Sasuke and Naruto had visited earlier before their latest mission.
Sasuke would have liked to stay for longer but Konoha needed all of its ninjas with two of its strongest now gone. Laura seemed to enjoy the second of Max's books, it had been found stuffed behind a sofa cushion, about the only safe place from Anko who refused to even go near it after an incident with a bag of slime and a cucumber.
One of the nurses had come in clutching a wad of blood stained tissues to her nose when checking over Laura's vitals. It was obvious that the poor nurse had been listening at one of the romantically intimate parts between two guys.
For a few hours they forgot the world as Louise read the book.
-
When Murdock woke up everything felt wrong. Her movement was limited, all she could see was white with some grey shadows, she couldn't smell anything and all she could hear was white noise. She tried to remember what happened but it all seemed fuzzy. She tried some experimental movements to see exactly what she could move.
What she found out, she didn't like. It seemed she was in a straitjacket, her ankles also tied together, at least she was wearing what seemed to be hospital pyjamas underneath.
So someone had managed to capture her, but they hadn't killed her yet, they weren't taking her anywhere to collect a bounty either. There was no one yelling at her about pretending to be dead so that safely ruled out Konoha, or if she was in Konoha, they hadn't gotten past her disguise.
It didn't matter, she would escape anyway with one of her many tricks.
It was then it hit her, the lack of colour or smell or even sound wasn't what felt wrong.
She couldn't feel her Chakra, nor her magic, and it scared her. She had none of her equipment on her, it was all back at the hot springs hidden, buried near a tree.
The hot springs, that's where she had been when she had been captured, she had been sorting her hair…
The situation had just gotten worse. Her hair was silver, confirmed as she shook her head and saw the shining strands. Who ever had captured her knew she was Max. Max was supposed to be dead.
There was only one thing to do now, wait, see who her captors were and find some way to escape. Konoha had been completely ruled out now.
She managed to shuffle up against a wall and drew her knees up to touch her chin, her arms were forced to hug her chest by the strong material of the straitjacket.
She sat, curled up, and tried to meditate to reconnect with her chakra with no success. The white noise buzzing in her ears keep snapping her out of it before she could get far. It was stopping her from even thinking too much with her sensitive hearing.
Were her captors trying to make her lose all of what remained of her sanity?
-
Sasuke finally got his time off in the form of a mission, he was to look after Laura while she recovered outside the hospital, making sure she didn't strain herself and that no one else tried to harm her. He didn't mind, it had been a while since he'd had time to spend with her. They were snuggled up on the sofa watching a film. If asked he wouldn't be able to explain what the film was about, he was to busy watching Laura, threading his fingers though her blond hair.
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