Chapter Thirteen
I was woken up for my watch promptly when Tenten called my name softly. I murmured a quiet thank you and she merely nodded, going to her own sleeping pallet and curling up to get as much rest possible. The first hour of my watch was uneventful; much like any other time, only the sounds of the forest around us to keep me company, until Yuna woke up and got on her knees with her head bowed. I spoke her name aloud but she ignored it for a moment, her hands clasped tight together as she mouthed words I couldn't hear.
"Yuna." I called again softly, eyebrows furrowed. She rose, her dark blue hair falling from its braid and her eyes focused in my direction.
"I apologize." Yuna said softly, coming to sit beside me. "Prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."
"Do you really think that they deserve it?" I asked, thinking of how I felt about Akari and Rafu. I don't think I could pray for their murderers, even if I was religious, and I know she must have been close with some of the monks because of the look of pain on her face as we left the beach.
"Not for them." Yuna replied, head bowed "For me."
"You think you are wicked?" I asked, surprised at her answer.
"I have done many awful things in my life before I knew Mahira." Yuna said, regret tinging her voice. "I repent every day for the actions of my past."
"Is that why you quit being a Shinobi?" I asked, wondering if I was treading on unsteady ground. She had been the one to bring it up, but I wasn't sure how she would react to the question.
"Yes. I was a shinobi of Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mist." Yuna said, a far away look in her eyes.
"What happened?" I asked, wondering what kind of event could turn a ninja into a monk, to undergo such a drastic change.
"My husband and my children were slaughtered along with their entire clan for having a Kekkei Genkei." Yuna said, her voice only slightly unsteady. I froze, not knowing what to say to her, and imagined that kind of mindless violence just for.. Being born.
"I'm sorry." I told her sincerely
"Who have you lost?" Yuna asked me, turning to face in my direction with her legs crossed.
"I-how do you know I've lost anyone?" I asked her
"You carry a great pain with you. It hangs over your chakra like a shadow." Yuna replied, eyes meeting mine.
"My team. I wasn't there for them when they needed me and..they are gone now." I told her, eyes downcast. "I don't wish to speak of this."
"I apologize for bringing up a sore subject." Yuna told me, standing slightly and walking over to where she had been sleeping. "I'll leave you to your thoughts."
I wished her easy rest and thought on the conversation, her words echoing in my head until it was time to wake Neji up and go back to sleep. When I dreamt of Rafu and Akari this night, Yuna's words echoed in the background as I watched them die and when I awoke, it was in a cold sweat with Yuna's knowing eyes burning into the side of my face. I ate a ration bar and mentally shook myself, focusing for the upcoming day of travel and the potential of danger from the unknown shinobi. We packed up camp quickly, and were tree hopping once again to get to the temple as fast as we could.
"How far away is the temple?" Neji asked, using his Byakugan to scan the area as we traveled.
"Two days journey away at the current pace we are going." Yuna replied, the grown woman in her late twenties easily keeping up with the three of us.
"Do you know who those shinobi were?" Neji asked, a frown on his face
"Not personally, although I believe they were missing nin from a village." Yuna said "I did not get the best look at them as we were fighting."
"How high is the chance they will be able to ambush us?" I asked her, calculating our odds in my head even as we ran.
"They would be able too if they traveled fast, there is a canyon a half day away from the temple. That is where I would set up if I was to ambush a party coming this way, and they might be able to get there in time." Yuna told us after she thought for a moment "It just depends if they manage to catch up to us. We took the longer route, but they may not be faster or know the land as well as I do."
"We will be cautious. Please make us aware when the canyon is approaching." Neji commented, and silence followed. We traveled in relative silence after that, trying to go as fast as possible while still making it there battle ready. I didn't dare enhance my muscles with any more chakra than I was currently if we would end up fighting in the near future.
The day was uneventful, we made camp in the woods once again. There was open fields for most of the way left in front of us, so we camped at the forest's edge to not be in an open spot. We divided the watch rotation up into four this time, although I doubt Neji would sleep while Yuna was on watch. Every now and then I could see the almost distrustful look he would appraise her with, not that I could blame him. It was in our nature to be suspicious of Shinobi not of our village, and she definitely fit in that category, regardless if she was technically our client as a representative of the temple.
The night was much of the same. I was getting used to the silence surrounding Tenten, Neji, now Yuna, and I. It was unsettling and awkward at times, but I think it would have been worse if we tried to force casual conversation. The involvement of the shinobi brought the mission grade from a C to a B at least, but none of us considered abandoning the mission. It wasn't even brought up as an option, which didn't surprise me. Neji didn't seem like the type of leader to get scared off, especially when we had come out mostly on top during the last confrontation. I almost felt as though we should be more suspicious that these ninja were after the Tear, and if they knew it was being moved, why not wait to strike until it was on the road traveling? I voiced these thoughts out loud to Tenten, and she said that they might have known we had been hired and didn't want to confront enemy ninja. I could see her reasoning, but something still felt off to me.
Yuna told us we were two hours out from the canyon and we slowed down slightly, all of us had been more on edge ever since we left the forest but now we were downright hyper-aware of our surroundings. I kept activating the Sakimonagan every ten minutes to see if anything was coming, going down to every five minutes when we got closer. I realized that Neji and Tenten didn't know that I had a dojutsu at all, and I considered whether or not I should tell them. I had kept it a secret for so long that a big part of me was loathe to say anything, but I knew if I actually saw something I would need to come clean. It wouldn't be optimal to say something after I saw it, knowing they would question why and how when we wouldn't have time, but was it worth the risk of saying anything in front of an unknown like Yuna? It wasn't a common dojutsu, not that any really were, I just knew no one else who had the same on as myself. That was when the vision hit me.
The canyon had just come into view and the group slowed down, cautiously scanning the ridges . I could see why Yuna expected this to be a place someone would use in an ambush; the ridges gave good cover and had the added benefit that the ambushing party would automatically get the high ground. They would lose the element of surprise if they were here though, thanks to Neji's eyes; well, that was the hope at least.
We crept through the canyon, in a basic triangular defensive position around Yuna, and our eyes were constantly scanning. It took longer than expected to get through the canyon, but when we saw the end my muscles relaxed just a little. With luck, they had not been able to make good enough time to reach a point where they could ambush us; hopefully, we were ahead.
I saw Neji tense just as we exited the canyon, which gave way to a small clearing before turning into woods once again. He called out a warning just as shuriken were launched from the foliage of the forest from a couple of directions, perfectly timed. I drew my bow and -
"-en!" Tenten said, shaking my shoulder. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, still sorting through the information. We were going at a slow pace, still faster than a civilian but far from our top speed, but I knew the canyon had to be close.
"Your eyes were ice blue for a moment. What was that?" Neji asked sharply, never faltering but his voice tainted with an unspoken accusation.
"I don't have time to explain, but the ambush is going to happen as soon as we get clear of the canyon." I said hurriedly, hoping they would listen. The canyon was within eyesight now. "There are woods on the other side, they are waiting there and are going to throw out shuriken to split us up before engaging."
"How-?" Tenten trailed off, looking to Neji for guidance on what to do.
"Are you sure?" Neji asked seriously
"Yes." I replied, voice steady and serious.
"Can you form an earth wall so we don't have to separate to dodge?" Neji asked me, slowing the pace down as he thought of a strategy.
"Yeah, but I should be in the lead and we should tighten up. It won't be that wide." I responded, thinking about the wall I'd be able to make without doing too much damage to my chakra levels.
We entered the meadow from my vision and I saw Neji tense, I was ready though and quickly went through the hand seals before slamming my hands into the ground, hearing the thunk as shuriken hit the slab of earth I had raised from the ground.
"Incoming, two on the left, two on right, one is heading down the middle." Neji told us just in time, for a minute later there was no more time to talk. The four of us burst into action as the enemy shinobi made themselves known. One of them did leap over the wall and I used my bow to block the kunai he was using to cut down towards me. His momentum carried him behind me and I did a swift sidekick which he blocked. Neji had engaged the two on the left while Tenten and Yuna were fighting one opponent each on the right.
I did an axe kick, following up with a jab and a hammer fist as the man dodged my moves, I activated the Sakimonagan, and ducked when I saw he was going to use water bullets. I followed up with two kicks, trying to get behind him, but it was the same guy I had fought before and he was fast. I threw a couple of kunai at him but it was only a clone, then ducked as I saw him pop up behind me a couple of seconds before he actually did. I rolled to the right, but quickly back peddled as Tenten's opponent blew a stream of fire out of her mouth. I rolled quickly just as the guy I had been fighting punched where my head had just been, leaving a small dent in the ground, and performed a kip up to get back on my feet.
"Bukujutsu: Volley of Death" I cried out, string my arrow and letting it go. It was the only genjutsu I knew; I sent my actual arrow towards his throat, but the illusion made it seem as though there were at least twenty arrows coming at the target from my one. It confused them a lot of the times, but I wasn't surprised when he used a replacement jutsu. He gave the one arrow that was lodged in the wood beside him an ironic look before sneering at me.
"I won't fall for that again, worthless brat." The man goaded me, charging towards me. Just as he got close, I saw him coming in for a feint before attacking my left side with a kick, he must have changed strategies because as I was going to block the kick that was coming, he pulled it slightly and flung a kunai in my exposed side. I grunted in pain as I felt the blade pierce my skin and the man grinned malevolently at me, showing off sharp yellowed teeth.
I felt a brief flash of panic and deactivated my dojutsu; This was how Akari always won during our spars. She would change strategies at the last second, not giving me enough time to physically react to the action, which basically made the dojutsu useless. I could see it, but wasn't fast enough to do anything about it. A dangerous way to fight, without a plan, but effective against my bloodline.
I used one of my arrows to stab at the guy as though it were a knife, attempting to jam it in his throat, and he kicked me in the rib which jostled the kunai already sticking out of me and sent me flying backwards. I groaned, clutching my ribs and curling in on myself a little as I attempted to breathe normally. The other shinobi loomed over me and grinned down maliciously, killing intent filling the air leaving no doubt as to what his next move would be.
"Any last words, brat?" The man asked, smirking in victory. The clone on the ground dispelled as I rose from the ground behind him, stabbing an arrow through his neck and hopefully hitting his spinal cord.
"If you are going to kill someone, kill them." I said through gritted teeth as I twisted the arrow. "Don't stand around talking about it."
I kicked his body forward so it hit the ground just as I heard him gurgle through the blood no doubt filling his lungs. It would not be an easy death, but I could not dredge up any kind of mercy for the man now. I jumped over to Neji's fight, slamming into one of his opponents. With me there to take on the other man, Neji easily overpowered the second one now that he could focus his attention on one. Once Neji had taken care of his opponent, he came towards me and mine; that was when we heard the explosion and Tenten call out Yuna's name.
Neji hit the guy in front of us hard, dazing him, and I quickly snapped his neck before dropping the body. We both turned to assess the situation with our teammates, but saw Tenten standing in front of Yuna facing against one of the other ninja. Neji and I leaped into action, with him easily taking out the last man who tried to face the three of us at a time, and before his body had hit the ground, Tenten was by Yuna's side.
It wasn't a pretty sight. Her robes had been torn and blood was staining them; there was a large gash on her chest just under her breasts and it looked as though some shrapnel had gotten lodged in their. I later found out that the other guy had used a explosive tag in a desperate attempt and when Yuna stepped the wrong way, she got the brunt of the damage from it. Yuna's breathing was erratic and she coughed, a wet sounding rattle that didn't give much hope for her chances. I clinched my fist around my bow tight, knuckles white, and looked to Neji to see what he wanted to do.
"We will carry her. Maybe they will have a healer, we are only a few hours out from the Temple." Neji decided, coming to Yuna's side.
"Tenten and I should carry her." I suggested, looking at Tenten to see if she disagreed. "You have the best eyes and are probably the strongest of us, if there are more, you need to have hands free."
"Alright, let's move as fast as we can." Neji said, conceding my point before looking at Yuna. "Is the tear safe?"
Yuna nodded, still trying to catch her breathe which was only coming in as wheezes. The next few hours of travel were tense and we went as fast as we dared too; It said much for Yuna that she was alive when we finally reached the Temple, because she was on death's door and she was fighting for her life for the last few hours. Neji told me to accompany Yuna after a monk had taken the bag containing the Tear from Yuna. He and Tenten were going to report what happened to the person who was in charge at the temple, while I stayed with Yuna as she was rushed off to the healing ward of the stone temple. The younger monk who was waiting for them when we rushed in worked fast, cutting off the robe around the wound precisely and already beginning to pick out the shrapnel with some kind of tool in his hands.
I was directed to wait outside in the hall while they worked, and so I paced for a long hour, hoping she would make it. I don't know why I cared, I barely knew this woman, but I wanted- no, I needed her to live. I knew it most likely had something to do with Akari and Rafu, that I was projecting how I wanted them to be alive and how I wished I had been there to help them onto this woman I had met only a few days ago. I couldn't help the way my heart clenched just a little when I saw the solemn look on the monk's face when he came out to get me.
"She..She wants to speak with you. We've done everything we can." The monk said, gesturing for me to come into the room once again. What I saw didn't surprise me but it wasn't pleasant in the slightest. Yuna was pale, covered in sweat, and as I approached the bed on her right side the cough that I heard could only be described as a death rattle. It would most likely not be long until she died from the wounds. She reached out to my hand, grasping it with surprising strength, and I squeezed back to offer some kind of reassurance for what little good it might do.
"I'm sorry." I told her solemnly, my gray eyes catching her slightly glazed over dark ones.
"D-don't feel sorry for the dead." Yuna said, a coughing fit interrupting her words. "Feel sorry for the living. I'm going to see my family again."
"The tear is safe. It's here, the monks have it." I told her, desperate for her to know that it wasn't in vain; we had made it and her mission was fulfilled.
"Goo-" Yuna coughed, blood welling up at the corner of her mouth before she continued. "That's good. I have to- I have t-"
I squeezed her hand again, letting her know I was here as she rode out another round of coughs. It sounded as though she was choking on her own blood and I didn't realize what the wet was that fell on my hand; it took me a moment to realize I was shedding tears, as my eyes blurred slightly. I wiped them away, partly because I knew a shinobi should not cry as I had been this past week or so, and also because I didn't know her well enough to cry for her. For some reason, I couldn't help the immense sadness that filled me with her impending death though; she had been trying to turn her life on a different path, one without violence and death, but still will die young as often Shinobi do.
"Mahira, mistress of inscrutable depths, I ask forgiveness. Mahira, whose waves wear down stone and sand." Yuna said reverently, a far away look in her eyes as she prayed to her god. She developed a coughing fit and the monk beside me spoke up, opening up a book to read from it to finish what I assumed was a prayer.
"Would you join me in praying, Shinobi?" He asked me, gesturing to the page in the book. Even though it made me slightly uncomfortable, I nodded as I felt Yuna's eyes one me, and so I stood next to the priest and read with him.
"Mahira, wash the sins from this one and set her on the distant shore of the infinite spirit." The monk and I read, and after that one line I felt her grip beginning to loosen. I stopped saying the prayer, eyes wide on this stranger lying before me dying. The monk continued to read from the book with the same reverence Yuna had. "Mahira, this one's heart is pure, but full of wickedness and contention. Guide this one to where the traveler never tires, the lover never leaves, and the hungry never starve. Guide this one, Mahira, and he will be a companion to you as he was to me."
She took one last rattled breath, her lips tilting slightly upwards toward me, before her hand was slack in mine and she passed on to whatever waited her on the other side. I bowed my head, waiting in silence for a moment, before turning to the monk.
"Why.. why was the last line he, instead of she?" I asked him, my voice quiet.
"Yuna had already asked for forgiveness for the lives she had taken, Shinobi." The monk said, gripping me on the shoulder before setting the book down and covering Yuna's body with a sheet. "Her wish was for you."
I let his words sit for a moment before I turned and left the room, my body on autopilot as I navigated the halls back to where we had first entered the compound. I asked a monk to direct me to where Neji and Tenten were, and I bowed my head when I saw the man they were reporting too. He exuded power in an odd way, with an almost unassuming aura of it around him like a badge of office, and he expressed his sorrow for the lives lost at the temple by the sea and the life of Yuna. We stayed at the temple for one night, and we were silent during Yuna's funeral, her body burning. I stared into the flames, thinking of Akari and Rafu. I stayed staring until the pyre's flames were just hot coals, barely glowing in contrast to the darkness that had befallen. I didn't sleep that night, holding my own sort of vigil for Akari, Rafu, and now Yuna. Thinking over her words, thinking about my life with my two teammates, my friends, my family. I was in the same spot when Neji came to fetch me the next morning, telling me to eat a quick breakfast because we would be leaving for Konoha in fifteen minutes. I barely acknowledged him, turning my back on the ashes of the brave woman I had met, and a small smile touched my lips. I truly hoped she was with her family now; if she was.. Maybe, just maybe, I could be with mine again one day.
A/N: I think I like this chapter, but I want your honest opinion; did it seem a little rushed? I tried not to make it seem that way, but somehow I still kind of feel as though it is.
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