Author's Note: Ahh! I am so relieved that you guys didn't yell at me!
I mean, I would have totally understood if you did, but still. :D Have I ever told you that you all are AMAZING?
Anyway, this chapter was a bit difficult for me to write. I'm still not all that comfortable with fight scenes. I would gladly welcome any constructive criticism you have to offer! :)
So... yeah. I'm really sorry if it gets a bit sloppy! I feel like that's what happens when I write fight scenes, haha.
Thanks to MikaUchiha666, Echo Uchiha, invisible-gurl, and BlackRose723 for the reviews! And a double thank you to AkariWolfPrincess, whose name, for whatever reason, keeps getting screwed up in my ANs. Sorry about that! I honestly don't know what happened, haha. It won't let me add the periods in between the words. :/
Anyway, I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter! I know I've been hitting you hard with cliffhangers in this story... and I'm sorry about that. :P

Twenty-One: Blindfolded

"Where did he go?" Nikko questioned, his hatred residing as confusion took over.

Gripping my sword in both hands, I carefully shifted my stance to peer around behind me. No one. He simply vanished into thin air. "I don't know," I answered the boy, "but I don't like this technique of his. I don't like it one bit."

"This is what I meant when I said, 'He always seemed to appear out of nowhere and disappear just as fast,'" said Mai as she fidgeted with her hands by her chest, "One second he's there, and the next—"

A shrill scream interrupted Mai, causing all of our heads to turn in search of the source. Upon witnessing what had happened, my eyes widened, and I inhaled a sharp gasp of air that seemed to catch in my throat. On the ground lie a trembling Hana, who clutched her side with her left hand as she struggled to support her weight with her right. Between her quivering fingers, I noticed blood trickling out of a fresh wound. Each breath of hers quickly became shorter and more ragged, and her face scrunched into an expression of intense pain. She bit her lip so as to refrain from crying out, but a small tear managed to escape from between her tightly closed eyelids.

"Oh, no," I breathed, sprinting toward my injured student while sheathing my sword. I supported her weight with my arm so she could relax, but, unfortunately, that didn't seem to relieve any of her pain. Examining the wound, I decided that it must have been a slice from a kunai blade, and it was deep. Quickly, I began rifling through my pouch of medical supplies for some bandages. "It's ok, Hana," I told her, "I'm going to bandage you up."

As I scrambled to stop the Hana's bleeding, I heard a low, maniacal laugh at my right. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Koji phasing back into view, and he had a crazed look in his eye, as well as a wide, toothy grin that stretched across his entire face. It was him, I realized, he's a lot more dangerous than I originally expected…

"See that?" Koji taunted, his voice getting louder and more frantic as his thirst for blood began taking over him, "I just injured that little girl and no one even noticed!" His evil laughter continued, but this time much louder and more frantic than before. He phased back out of view before he could even collect himself.

Nikko was seething. His fists were clenched tightly at his sides, trembling with rage. "Show yourself!" He shouted into the air, "Or are you too much of a coward?"

"Nikko!" I barked while simultaneously wrapping bandages around Hana's midriff, "Stop mouthing off, or you'll just end up getting hurt!"

"Oh yeah?" he replied in a insolent tone, "This guy's nothing but a big—"

Suddenly, Nikko halted mid-sentence when he doubled over in pain, clutching his gut in both hands as all the air was forced out of his lungs. A split second later, his head flew back as he was launched high into the air, then forced back down to the ground with a hard thud a split-second later. Nikko landed on his back, and a loud cry escaped his lips as pain shot throughout his entire body.

Idiot! I thought to myself, sporting a pair of intensely narrowed eyes and a mouthful of gritted teeth, When will he learn?

The sinister laughter continued, this time toward my left side, near Nikko. Koji did not phase back into view, but the sound of his voice allowed me to pinpoint his location. "Give it up, kid!" He shouted, "Stop acting all tough, when you know you don't even stand a chance against me!"

I motioned for Mai to continue dressing Hana's wound, and she instantly obliged. When Mai's hands had replaced mine on the injured girl's leaking cut, I silently rose to my feet and unsheathed my katana, immediately flowing some wind chakra into it.

"You're just wasting your energy, you little brat!" Koji continued.

Just keep talking, I smiled to myself, because now I know exactly where you are.

Swinging my sword with all the power I could muster, I let out a loud kiai as I released a burst of my own chakra from the blade. My wind chakra, taking the shape of a thin, but razor sharp, circular blade of a translucent aqua color, sliced through the air at blinding speed, the trajectory heading straight for the location that I had figured Koji was located. A low groan soon followed, and Koji reappeared as he fell to his knees, grasping his left arm tightly in his right hand.

He managed to get away, I thought, disappointed, but I did injure him, even though I didn't hit any vital areas on his body.

Nikko, whose body was still quivering from Koji's surprise attack, managed to lift himself to his feet and meander toward me. "Wow, Kaeda Sensei," he breathed, "that was totally awesome!" The boy's face tensed in pain soon after he finished talking, and his arms returned to their original spot, tightly clutching his throbbing midsection.

Not wasting any more time, I flowed more chakra into my blade and wound up for another attack. I grunted as I applied even more force into my next swing, causing the chakra blade that I had created to grow even larger, and probably even sharper, than the first. It headed straight for Koji's neck. Smiling to myself, I reassured myself that it was almost over.

"This is it," I murmured to myself.

SLICE!

…Thud!

My eyes widened in shock.

Koji, who lie on the ground, turned his head to look at me, a smirk visible from underneath the long black hair that fell over his face. "Not quite."

"He dodged it at the last second!" Nikko grunted, baffled.

Koji flipped his body around so that he was lying on his back, tossing the tree branches aside, which had been sliced by my chakra in his place. He performed a swift kip-up, and once he was back on his feet, he aligned himself so he was facing the four of us, and smiled. "Well, Kaeda," he said, "I had no idea you were such a skilled swordsman."

I narrowed my eyes at the man, bending at the knees to maintain a sturdy stance. The guy acted like he had known so much about me, like he was shocked that this piece of information had eluded him. I wondered how he had even known my name in the first place. As far as I could remember, I had never seen this man before, and I felt certain that, if I had seen him, I would have remembered him. His presence alone gave me a certain eerie feeling that I just couldn't shake, let alone his wicked grin and his evil black eyes.

"Don't waste your time trying to figure me out," Koji said in a teasing tone, interrupting my thoughts, "you'll just end up disappointing yourself. After all, you never were the brightest shinobi."

My knuckles whitened as I squeezed the handle of my katana. "Just who the hell are you, anyway?" I demanded, throwing all self-control aside, "And how the hell do you know so much about me?"

"Oh, Kaeda," he chuckled, smoothing his black trench coat nonchalantly, "I know just about everything there is to know about all of you. You see, I'm a researcher, the type of person who likes to study my prey before I capture it, as well as all of the people they associate closely with. Before I had chosen Toshiro as my, let's say donor, I researched and observed the Isami clan for weeks before finally making my decision. It wasn't until months later, after I had spent a great deal of time studying not only Toshiro, but his family, his peers, and of course you, Kaeda, that I finally had enough information to devise the brilliant little plan to kidnap the boy. Obviously, my methods have proved to be successful," Koji smirked, flashing a quick glance at the Isami, who lie nearly lifeless on the ground next to Koji's two associates.

"If you spent so much time researching," I interrupted, emphasizing the word in a curt tone, "then what was the point in sending those two men out to size us up? Shouldn't you have already picked up on what kind of fighter he was?"

"Ah, that," Koji rolled his eyes, "well there's a simple explanation for that. You see, although I had witnessed the boy's training enough to know that he was an excellent shinobi, I had never truly gotten to know the full extent of his power. I had to simulate an actual fight to find that much out."

What a creep, stalking a twelve-year-old boy, I thought, my nostrils flaring as my lip twitched in anger, I'm going to make him pay for this.

As if Koji had read my mind, he suddenly vanished from sight, causing the wind chakra that I had already forced into my katana to go unused. I groaned inwardly, frustrated at the man's untimely disappearance, but not wanting him to know it. There had to be some way to locate him, even if I couldn't actually see him. I tried to use what little talent for the sensory art I possessed to detect his chakra signature, but all I managed to pick up was the signatures of my three students, who I had gotten to know so well over a long period of time. Sighing sadly, I gave up on that idea and instead tried to think of something else that I could possibly do.

All of a sudden, it hit me.

Still wielding my sword, I replaced the wind chakra that I had previously forced into the blade with earth chakra. Then, after the switch was complete, I stabbed the long, sharp blade into the lush earth. Keeping my grip on the handle, I knelt beside my weapon and focused on pouring my chakra from the metal into the ground, hoping that I would be able to detect a disturbance in the flow as Koji began to move around the vicinity. Since the earth in this particular spot was less rocky more on the soft side, the task proved to be even more difficult than I originally expected, and I was forced to focus more intently on this one task than I would have liked.

Just when I thought this plan had been a failure as well, however, I felt a sudden disturbance in my chakra that caused my eyes to widen. The erratic pulses that I began to feel moved hurriedly in the direction of Hana and Mai. "Hana! Mai! Move, quickly!"

Mai, who had obviously just finished dressing Hana's wounds, scooped the injured girl in her arms and jumped upward onto a tree branch. The pulsing sensation halted for a moment, before it finally switched direction. "Nikko!" I shouted.

The boy understood, and sprinted out of the way of his invisible opponent. The pulsing, once again, faded. After a moment of silence, Koji's all-too-familiar wicked voice called out, "That's a cute little trick, you've got there!"

His comment was, undoubtedly, directed towards me.

"Feeling threatened?" I smirked. But that smirk of mine was quickly replaced by a feeling of fear. My heart began to race, and I desperately sent more and more chakra into my blade. I couldn't sense anything. Not even the slight rhythmic vibration that I had felt a moment ago, alerting me of his unmoving position. I was, once again, blind.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a powerful force sent my katana flying out of my hands and landing twenty feet to my right side. As I frantically searched the vicinity, hoping that my intuition was strong enough to guide me through a battle in which I was, essentially, blindfolded, I wondered what exactly had just happened. As long as he was on the ground, I should have been able to track him!

He must have jumped, I quickly concluded, there was no possible way for me to detect him while in the air. This guy is definitely a sharp—

Interrupting my thoughts, the feeling of shoe leather collided hard with the left side of my face, shooting sharp pains all throughout my body and sending me flying into the air. Managing to maintain my focus, however, I extended my arms outward to perform an improvised back handspring, saving myself from landing painfully on my back.

I shot a quick glance to each of my teammates. Nikko maintained a tough exterior, but he still slouched slightly as the pain in his gut prevented him from standing tall. Mai remained atop the tree branch, a blank expression gracing her features, as though she was so overwhelmed by this mission that she couldn't force her mind to function. Hana stood to Mai's left, leaning against the tree trunk for support. Her bandages had already sported a small pink stripe where the blood had started seeping through, but the girl wore a stern look on her face. I could tell that she was running through battle scenarios in her head, trying desperately to conjure some brilliant plan that could defeat Koji and save Toshiro. My white-haired student looked the worst of all, still lying nearly dead near the rocky hideout. As I gazed on the poor boy's bruised skin, I felt my rage quickly subdue as sadness washed over me. Toshiro was probably the nicest, most talented student I could have ever asked for, and he, in no way, deserved the suffering that he had endured. Hell, no one deserved a fate such as this… except, perhaps, people like Koji.

I quickly shook my thoughts away. If I was going to have any chance at all of defeating Koji, I had to focus. My eyes shifted toward my katana, which gleamed brightly against the sun's rays, as if calling for me to reclaim it. I knew that, without the aid of my weapon, I was powerless against Koji, so I resolved that that was the first thing I had to do. Slowly and silently, I began taking small steps toward the weapon, all while frantically shifting my eyes across the area in search of the man I knew I wouldn't find. I had an intense feeling of foreboding, like I was walking myself right into the lion's den, but I kept inching toward the sword anyway.

"Kaeda Sensei!" Hana managed to squeal from her post, cringing as speaking alone sent searing pain throughout her abdomen, "Watch out!"

Instantly upon hearing the girl's warning, I jumped to my right. A split second later, a loud explosion of earth erupted into the air in the exact spot that I had just been standing. I was, of course, quite confused at how the girl could have possibly known that an attack was coming when I hadn't seen, heard, or felt anything that would've suggested it. "How did you know?" I immediately asked her.

"I saw him," she panted, pointing a shaking finger downward, "in the reflection of your sword!"

I swiftly turned my head, gazing into the sword's gleaming metal blade, but saw nothing. "It was only for a split second, while he was moving," Hana told me, as if she had already known the next question brewing in my mind, "but I saw him!"

Whirling myself around, I sprinted in the direction of my sword. A bit frazzled, however, I ended up stumbling over my own shaking legs. I fell to the ground, immediately pawing at the earth as I clumsily fought closer and closer to my weapon. It was finally within reach, so I breathed a sigh of relief as I reached my arm outward…

… only to have it snatched right out from under me.

Before I could even avert my gaze, I was swept off of the ground by two pairs of very large hands. One pair gripped my wrists and the other pair my ankles, preventing me from moving away from the crazed pair of black orbs that bore into my own brown ones. I struggled against their holds, but to no avail; Koji's associates were strong, much stronger than I.

Koji held my katana delicately in his arms, as if cradling a small child. He ran a finger along the dull edge of the blade, stopping at the end to softly tap at the razor sharp edge. A small amount of blood trickled out of the pad of his index finger, causing that wide grin of his to stretch across his face. "It's sharp," he observed before bringing his finger to his lips and slowly licking the red liquid from his finger, "which means this will be quick and painless. You got lucky, Kaeda."

"Kaeda Sensei!" Hana and Nikko shouted in unison. The two seemed to completely forget about their pain in that split second of terror. The sight of Koji holding my katana in his hands, ready to thrust the sharp blade into my chest at any moment, had awakened even Mai, who had been stuck in a stupor for the majority of the battle. They sprinted toward me, eyes widened like saucers, but I could tell that even in their adrenaline-powered state, they wouldn't reach me in time. I wanted to close my eyes, but, for some reason, I just couldn't look away.

A scream filled the air.

Silence soon followed.

And then, all I could see was red.

Author's Note (Again): Um... heh *rubs neck* did I mention that this chapter also has a cliffhanger? I'M SORRY! *runs away*