I came to, dizzy as crap. My eyelids felt like they weighed a hundred pounds. My legs were heavier than the weights Lee had let me try and lift. And I could barely move them a centimeter, shoving with all my strength.
I looked around slowly. My body felt like I was trying to move through a pool of thick ink.
Ughh…..I wanna sleep.
I closed my eyes again, and fell back asleep.
When I woke up this time, my head was pounding.
I winced in pain as I scooted backwards. My hands were bound behind my back with large chains, and a massive padlock the size of my fist. My bare feet slid on the concrete floor, chafing against a layer of sand.
I opened my eyes a bit, and then squinted as my head was assaulted with sunlight.
"Fuuuuuck…owwwww…." I moaned, dropping my head between my knees to fight off the sudden nausea. After a few minutes, I could stand to move again without feeling like I was gonna puke. I looked around at my surroundings, trying to figure out where I was. Natsūme was out cold in the corner, still in the full body restraint Tsunade had ordered her to be wrapped up in. Kōhī was snoring, sprawled on her back, on top of a pile of raggy old blankets. If her face paint had been smeared before, now it was beyond smeared. It was actually all over her face, like sheen. She was sweating that much.
I wiggled back against the hot stone wall, using the leverage to stand, shakily. I was exhausted by the time I was upright. I leaned against the wall as I stumbled towards the window and looked out.
Sand.
Not a damned thing except sand.
Whatever we were in, our window was a half-foot above the desert floor, and the sand kept shifting in. I growled angrily, as a mini-sandstorm crossed the horizon. Then a gust of wind blew my way and slammed a wall of sand into my face.
"FUCK!"
I fell backwards, trying to twist so I wouldn't land on my head. I hit my knee, but at least my skull wasn't smashed into a million pieces. I choked up sand, dry-heaving with the combination of the dry crap and lack of water.
How long was I out?
A day, at least, if not two.
My eyes watered with the stinging sand, and I shuffled over to Kōhī, on my knees. I was exhausted from the little physical effort I had just used. I somehow got up beside my purple-face friend, and snuggled up against her. I could tell it was over a hundred degrees, because we were all sweaty. And when I say sweaty, I mean drenched. It was gross. But even with the heat, I felt like I was in an ice bath. I was freezing. My teeth were even freaking chattering, I was so cold.
I tried to warm myself up against her, but it wasn't working.
The cold was so bad I passed out.
I woke up again, pressed against the wall. My skin burned against the scorching hot stones. The only upside was that the poison had finally neutralized in my system.
I still felt like I was going to puke though.
Kōhī was crouched over Natsūme, frantically trying to pull her out of her trance.
"Natsūme! Neko-chan! WAKE UP DAMMIT!"
"Kōhī..cussing….interesting development," I croaked from the blanket pile. "Shut up! Ijōna, Natsume wont wake up! And you were all shivering and acting cold, trying to get warm, and your body temperature was over a hundred and four. Dammit, Ijōna, I'm scared."
"I'm scared too, Kōhī. If you hadn't noticed, I was poisoned with god knows what."
"Okay…true…"
"Yeah…I think we're near Suna."
"Really? Why?" she said, too excited. That's why she's never sent on missions that mean going to Suna. Tsunade doesn't want her running off to find that guy she's infatuated with. Especially since we don't know who he is. But I think that her recent face paint is modeled after what she remembers of his. Why else would she randomly start wearing the purple stuff on the anniversary of the fire? That dream comes every year, and she relives the whole thing in a nightmare.
"Why else would there be a building in the middle of the desert? Albeit a buried one. It's probably ruins."
And if it was ruins…there were more. And there were probably guards. Guards that I can't see and can't tell where they are, that Kōhī can't sense because she freaking out and can't settle down long enough to freak out properly. Guards that are completely invisible. And that's scaring me.
I stumbled over a heap of blankets, and caught myself on the bars. We were in some sort of prison cell.
"HEY! WE'RE DEHYDRATED, HUNGRY, AND MY FRIEND THAT YOU POISONED WON'T WAKE UP, ASSHOLES! HEY? DO YOU HEAR ME? YOU DAMNED JERKS!"
I peered down the dark hallway, when someone suddenly dropped the frick outta nowhere.
I saw her Mist forehead protector first, which she was wearing like Izumo does.
Her goldish-brown, wavy hair reached to her shoulders, unbrushed and untamed. Her bangs ran down the middle of her round face, and framed it harshly. She was short, stocky, and seemed young. Maybe around 13 or 14. If that. Her eyes glared holes into mine, brown, cold, and mean.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Keito." She snapped.
"And why exactly did you and your people kidnap us?"
"She's the Hokage's niece. You're the daughter of the world famous Copy Nin. She's the sole heiress of one of the most powerful shrines in all of the Five Great Nations. The ransom money will be a phenomenal amount, not to mention your uses in the meantime.
"Technically, I'm adopted."
"Regardless, He's very protective. Several of my comrades have been watching you for the last eight years. Even if you aren't his real daughter, he loves you like you are. Keh. Love. Such an idiotic and weak concept."
"No it's not. And anyway, Kōhī's entire family shrine burned down, and her whole family is dead. Even if it was still standing, she doesn't have any idea how to run a shrine, let alone the one that belonged to her family. It was huuuuge."
"An heiress of her shrine is exceedingly pure. Everything she does is touched with innocence."
"Uhh…"
"Shinto spirits have sympathized with her family for centuries. She is obviously blessed with their innocence, or she'd be as foul-mouthed and corrupted as you are."
"HEY! I take offense at that statement."
"With her, our endeavors will be helped by Shinto spirits, powerful Kami."
"You're one cynical little kid…."
"I'M THIRTEEN! I'M NOT LITTLE!"
"Says little miss flat-chested."
"SHUT UP!"
She sliced her hand through the air, and between the cell bars. She quickly formed a fist and punched me in the throat. I flew back, and Kōhī caught me.
"When…we…we get…get out…" I sputtered, "I…am going…to kick her ass."
3 DAYS LATER
6 days in the desert.
They didn't give us much to drink, and gave us even less to eat. Natsūme wasn't coming out of her little coma, but she had begun to twitch irritably. Kōhī was starting to accommodate our clothing for the climate, ripping off anything and everything that wasn't necessary. Shirts became sleeveless, pants were made into shorts, and our bare patches of skin thanked her for the lack of heat-trapping clothes. Anything to cool us off. Next, she'd have us cutting off all our hair. Which might not be such a bad idea. We have no idea how long they'll be keeping us in this god-forsaken desert ruin before moving us closer to their hideout.
"Uhh…Ijōna?"
"What?"
"Look down the hall."
I wearily turned my head, and then perked up as I saw light sparking from deep in the darkness I knew as that hallway.
Is that…Kakashi? Chidori?
…
Fuck. It's just Sasuke.
I heard Mist shinobi come running from all over the place, but they were easily thrown off by him. He looks aggravated as hell.
He came right up to our cell door, and hit the bars with an echoing clang that made my ears hurt.
"Sasuke? What the hell are you doing?"
"Breaking you out. What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Well, it sounds like you're trying to shatter out eardrums!" I yelled over another loud clang.
His strikes to the bars weren't doing much.
"Shut up."
"You aren't doing much with the sword. Why don't you try something that doesn't permanently make me deaf?"
"Like what?" he growled.
"Chidori, dumbass."
"Shut up."
"TEME!"
He glared at me, and was about to perform chidori when Keito popped out of nowhere. (She's pretty good at that…) Following her out of her hidey-hole was a bunch of Keito minions. We'd found out by now that they were the Special Forces of this place.
"Oh fuck," I said, causing him to stop and raise one eyebrow. I didn't bother to warn him, instead just sitting down. Why bother wasting energy standing when he's not going to break us out?
I watched as the swarm of girls attacked him, and took him down. As they pounced on him, Natsūme randomly began to scream like a maniac. I jumped, and toppled backwards, hitting my head on the cell doors for the umpteenth time. I laid there, dazed. After a few minutes, I sat up slowly, trying to fight off the dizziness. My head spun, and I had that ten-second-phase you get when you stand up too fast, and you can't see and your head feels funny.
Sasuke was chained up with the same chains that I'd been wearing when we showed up here.
Huh. I never realized they were gone…when did I get those off?
He was glaring at Natsūme, who had stopped screaming, but was curled in on herself, convulsing. Kōhī was in the corner, covering herself up; suddenly shy of her exposing clothes now that there was somebody else here. Even if it was the asexual freak.
Seriously. That's what Kakashi thinks, and I do too. He told me once. He said and I quote:
"I'm beginning to believe that Sasuke's asexual, and will eventually split and repeat like some sort of angst-ridden amoeba to revive the Uchiha clan."
I didn't stop laughing for hours.
"Sasuke…"
"What?" he snapped. I took advantage of his being chained up, and slapped him. Hard. The second I did, Natsūme growled. Or screamed. Does she have some sort of sixth fangirl sense that tells her whenever Sasuke gets attacked or something? I disregarded her, and kept glaring at Sasuke, who now had an angry red hand mark on his face, standing out against his pale face.
"So, teme. You're too weak to hold off a bunch of thirteen-year old girls?"
"Shut up."
"You're the one who's stuck in here 'cause you can't- wait…"
"What?" he growled.
"Why're you here anyway?"
"Rescue mission."
"They sent you. Just you."
"Well…no…not exactly….."
"THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE ALONE?" I screamed in his face.
"Everyone else was in my way and wasting time."
"Haven't you learned by now that staying with your team is best? Otherwise you show up, get your ass kicked, and now look like an arrogant bastard."
"Shut up!"
"Teme!"
"Bitch!"
"Can the two of you be quiet? I'm dizzy and have a headache." Kōhī complained.
Suddenly, Natsūme busted out screaming again. I tried not to laugh at the irony.
Sasuke and I turned our heads to look at her, while Kōhī covered her ears and leaned back against the wall wearily. "How long does she usually scream?" Sasuke yelled.
"Not this long-WHOA! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"
A dark gold glimmer was rising from Natsūme's body, and settled to float beside her. Natsūme's screams abruptly stopped as the gold-ness was completely separated from her body.
The shadow began to solidify, into a tall humanoid figure.
As she fleshed out, she stood menacingly, growling down at Natsūme's body.
She had long tawny-blonde hair that hung almost loose, bound at the end by a leather cord. She had wild golden eyes, with blood-red, full lips. And sharp teeth. She wore a shirt made of stitched together pieces of leather, in several different colors. It only had one sleeve, which was off-the-shoulder. The other side reached up to wrap around her neck like a collar, with an angular cut out around her neck, exposing a lot of her upper cleavage. Her mid-riff was uncovered, a skirt made of stitched-together fur pelts, which were made of fluffy cat fur, in calico and golden tabby color. Her long, tan legs had leather shin-guards, with a large piece of leather on each leg from ankle to knee, with a circular straps design on her calves holding them on. Otherwise, she was barefoot. A long leather whip was wrapped up, attached to her waist with another leather cord. A weird spiral pattern was on her stomach, like a series of curved lines coming from her navel and branching of to make a circle, of sorts. She was the personified image of wild and seductive.
She saw me, and hissed.
"Don't make me hurt you again." She snapped.
"…..Again?"
She padded over to Sasuke, walking on the balls of her feet, with feral grace. She knelt behind him, a knee on either side of his back. Her arms wrapped loosely around his shoulders.
"Yes, again. How dare you hurt my Sasuke-kun, you bitch?" she growled.
"…because he's annoying."
While all of this happened, I saw Sasuke flushing a bit, and looking down nervously, to the side. A bit like Hinata around Naruto, actually. But without the whole shyness feel.
I looked at him for a moment, before it clicked.
HOLY CRAP! HE ISNT ASEXUAL!
I gasped, and then glared at the weird cat girl, and that's when I realized she also had kitty ears. Pointy, golden-brown, cat ears.
I tried not to laugh, finding the combination of cat girl's ears and Sasuke's arousal almost hysterical.
"Uhhh….Sasuke…pfft…pfft….who's this."
"I don't know!"
"My name is Akuma-Neko."
"…We'll stick with Akuma." I said back to the girl.
"Whatever. My name is Akuma-Neko, and Sasuke belongs to me."
"…Then why exactly are you…all….in Natsūme….chan…."
"Because-"
"OUKASHOU!" came a scream from above.
"What the-"I said, as we all looked up at the ceiling in confusion.
The ceiling crashed down on top of us, and Sasuke made a mad dive to cover Natsūme's unconscious body with his own. I dived for the blanket pile, where Kōhī had already burrowed herself.
A series of crashes came from above us, as the ceiling began to fall.
After a minute, the pounding stopped. A few more minutes, and the last chunk of concrete fell. I crawled out of the blankets, where Kōhī was still all tangled up. I stood, and stared upwards into the blinding lights. Looking around, I saw Akuma standing over Sasuke, holding one arm up to guard herself. A massive chunk of cement had broken on her arm, saving both Sasuke and Natsūme.
I almost began to laugh with relief. We were actually the hell free! I looked up into the sun, where I was blinded, when suddenly I was being suffocated with a bone-crushing hug.
"Oh….crap…can't….breathe….person…who's hugging me..." I couldn't tell who was hugging me, but I had the notion that it was Kakashi.
"Ijōna…I was so worried. Don't you ever fucking do that again." He said desperately, crushing me into his chest. Even though it hurt like hell…it was sweet. I hugged him back, and almost broke down crying.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry," I cried, burrowing my face into his shoulder. He picked me up, and I leaned against his shoulder. He held me bridal style, but it wasn't romantic, if that's what you're thinking. It's just a really touching father-daughter moment right now.
"So…who else came on this rescue mission?" I murmured.
"It was Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba, Shikamaru, Mokota, Kankuro, and Temari."
"Who's the last three?"
"Kankuro and Temari are from the Sand Village, siblings of the Kazekage. You should know that."
"I've never been able to meet them, and I'm so hungry I'm close to forgetting my name."
"Hahaha…..that's plausible. Mokota is from the Hokage's office."
"Oh…well I know her. Moko-chan used to baby-sit Natsume when we all went over there."
I looked over to Kōhī, who was being helped up by a tall guy in a black outfit, three scrolls on his back, and a black hood with kitty ear-lookin things.
What's with the world and kitty ears today?
She stood up, and looked up to thank him, when her face went slack, and she had a completely dumbstruck expression.
After a minute of staring, she hit him so hard in the face that his hood flew off. Her hand came away with purple paint on her knuckles.
No…it's not…
Then she squealed like a fangirl and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hard kiss on the lips. It was a violent move, completely unlike her. She broke away, blushing, then she collapsed, and he caught her. I squinted as the glare off her sand headband hit my eyes, smiling as I heard him laughing. He must have recognized her.
Yep. It was.
Turning the other way, I saw Sasuke holding Natsūme bridal style, holding her away from Akuma, who was staring at her with a murderous look. Sakura was pulling her hair in a ponytail, and beginning to try and heal Natsūme. Natsūme groaned, and Akuma doubled over. Her image began to fade, and all at once she seemed to disappear in a gold cloud. The cloud disappeared into Natsūme's chest, and she screamed loudly, before jerking awake, saying something about cats, and passing out again.
"Well…umm…that was interesting…" Sakura said, holding her glowing hands away from Natsūme like she was going to bite.
"Crap like that has been happening for the last week." I called to her. She nodded, and began to heal Natsūme again, muttering darkly about head wounds and freaky possessions.
"I thought you said Shika and Moko-chan were here…"
"They're with the Kazekage in Suna."
"Oh…"
Kakashi strode over to Kiba.
"Can you take her on Akamaru?"
"Sure!" he flashed a bright smile, and took me from Kakashi, and helped me onto Akamaru. I closed my eyes, and started to daze out, still listening to Kiba and Kakashi.
"Listen, Kiba. If you do anything, touch her or anything that makes her uncomfortable, I will kill you and make it look like an accident."
"Yeah. I got it, Kaka-sensei." I smiled to myself. That Keito kid was right. He is really protective.
Kiba climbed up behind me, and nervously began to talk. "Umm, I have to put my arms around you to make sure you won't fall off…"
"It's fine." I whispered, as he wrapped one arm around my waist, and used the other to hold on to Akamaru's fur. I saw as Sakura carried Natsūme on her back, and Kankuro took the also unconscious Kōhī bridal style. As the entire group began to run, I realized how flashy my clothes (or lack thereof) were, and quickly dismissed it, choosing instead to fall asleep. I leaned back into Kiba, and he tensed for a moment, before relaxing and wrapping his arm tighter around me.
I didn't think Shika was attractive. I don't think Kiba is attractive. I'm just tired and he's warm and his body feels good to sleep on-Oh fuck it. I admit. Right now I'm really freaking attracted to Kiba. And Shika-kun.
Shit.
I pushed those thoughts away, and snuggled into Kiba, burrowing my face into the corner of his shoulder and neck, and fell asleep.