notes; thank you so much to the anon who reviewed the last four chapters! i really, REALLY appreciate the feedback. as for the lucidity, i am trying to do a 'slow reveal' type of thing which may be the reason the plot is a little murky right now. i really like painting vivid images but thanks for pointing out that i may be using a bit too much :p i will try to incorporate your advice in this chapter! (although the last scene is meant to be very heavily action-based! 'cos you know. kibaino sexual tension 4life)
5. — now there's grey
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The cameraman blinked, eyes flickering above to a dark brown vulture that glided past in a gentle swoop. It let out a mighty cry before it transitioned to a tiny dot on the horizon, and then to a fading memory. He briefly wondered if he had seen it at all.
"Yo, camera dude!"
His attention was snapped back to the man who'd called his name. He was a blonde, standing out among the rest of his fellow felons. He was waving with a cheeky grin on his face, much to the annoyance of the others.
"You're going to ruin the picture with your stupidity," Sasuke told him dutifully.
"Why can't I smile?" Naruto pouted.
"Because we're criminals. We're supposed to look menacing."
"No but seriously? We have got to look badass. How else are we gonna scare the shit out of Big Bad Policeman?" Tenten inquired, crossing her arms.
The moment she did so, however, Ino let out a rough growl and tried to pull out from Neji and Lee's restraints. She did not succeed, and it only led to her gaining everyone's attention once more. They stared at her.
"It's just a picture, Ino," Sakura tried to assure her, leaning forward to catch her gaze.
Ino glared. "Oh, trust me, I know what you're doing."
"We really don't have time for this," Chouji sighed, while Shikamaru nodded briefly to show is approval. His glance later flickered to Ino, and it rested there for a moment before flitting away again.
"Well if Ms. Lavender keeps this... this unyouthfulness up, we will not be able to take a good photo!" Lee insisted, still trying his best to keep Ino in place as she continually tried to wrench herself away from his grasp.
A collective sigh emerged from the group, and from the cameraman as well. It was clear he was second-guessing his decision to come out all the way here. He briefly hoped it really would be worth his time, and these hobos were as famous as they claimed to be.
Sasuke turned to give Kiba a look. "What are you going to do?" he asked, eyes narrowed. Kiba got the message.
This is your responsibility, after all.
Kiba suddenly grinned, and its wolfish quality rung a bell. Everyone knew that smile. He leaned over to the side and whispered something to Hinata, who had been meekly standing behind him the entire time.
"Just smack her upside the head."
And though she looked pained to do it, her hand sharply came into contact with the back of Ino's head, causing her eyes to bulge and her mouth to drop. She had frozen completely.
Everyone broke out into spontaneous laughter.
Snap.
"Perfect," said the cameraman.
The police dogs ran as a pack, and their leash holders as an extension of that pack. Suigetsu and the others followed closely behind, tensed at the context of the atmosphere.
"So you're sure this is leading to something?" Karin discreetly murmured to Sai as she ran alongside him.
"Positive. I know the scent of blood," he informed her with his favorite smile.
Karin blanched. "Ugh."
Suigetsu gave Sai a strange look upon hearing the remark, but didn't ponder it further. The dogs were slowing down and sniffing around, trying to pinpoint the source... or in this case, their target.
The dogs reached the base of a tall tree, trying and failing to hike up its trunk. They settled for barking at it incessantly, confusing the policemen. They scanned the area, but nothing could be readily seen.
"Ah, you're looking in the wrong area," Sai pointed out. "The dogs are barking up, you see."
Everyone looked up, eyes widening and jaws slackening at something they weren't expecting. A scarecrow hung from the highest branches, dressed in a familiar old, torn lavender dress. It boiled Suigetsu's blood to know exactly what Inuzuka was trying to say. He glared at it, eyes locking with its dark dirt eyes.
"It's just their stupid mind games again," Karin said, exhaling loudly in frustration. "We seriously ran all this way for a fucking scarecrow? Suigetsu, are you serious?"
Suigetsu brought a finger to his lips. "Shh," he said.
Karin frowned at the gesture. She stepped forward, presumably to inspect the scene herself, before Sai spoke out first.
"Four Eyes! Don't take another step!"
She was moving too fast to process the statement, and Karin fell into the trap wire. The pull triggered the release of something else, Suigetsu didn't even know what, but he knew that that scarecrow was falling down, jerking to a hault one inch above the ground, still hanging from the rope.
There was also screaming.
"Who..." Karin trailed off, but her eyes widened in horror as the universe answered her instantly.
The dangling scarecrow slowly whirled around, and a man was strapped to the back of it, holding his own severed forearm. He was splattered with crusting, dry blood. He also hadn't stopped shouting.
"Shit!" Karin cursed, immediately feeling for her walkie-talkie. She turned around the others, commanding, "Contact the nearest hospital, now! And bring the jeeps, there should be a first aid kit stuffed in the secret compartment!"
While everyone scattered to obey, Suigetsu stood in place, slightly intrigued as he continued to stare at the de-limbed man whimpering and sobbing in front of him. He did not say a word.
"Sir," Sai said. He had been at his side the entire time, taking his duty to protect seriously. "The blood is clotting. We may be able to re-attach the arm if we hurry."
Suigetsu was barely listening. "Please leave us alone for a moment."
Sai pursed his lips before he nodded and walked the other direction, following Karin, whose hands were visibly shaking even from the distance. He shook his head and figured she could probably talk to someone anyway.
Suigetsu watched the man, his face caked with dried blood, teeth bared as he inhaled every breath harshly due to the pain. His eyes were bloodshot, and his skin was dry and filthy. He looked absolutely disgusting.
When he spoke, the words came easily. Familiarly. "You're Inuzuka's brother-in-law, aren't you?"
The man sobbed in response, trying to muster up the strength to be angry. "He cut it off," he cried. "He cut it off."
"I thought you were family," Suigetsu said, continuing to ignore him.
"That animal cut my arm off," he continued, still writhing from the memory.
"Is that so?"
"He's not human. He's a monster."
"Why would he do that," Suigetsu whispered, leaning in close enough to inhale the iron from that man. "What does that mean, huh?"
The man shook his head, tears leaking from his eyes. "The pain is killing me. I'm dying, I'm dying, I'm dying... Please, take me to a hospital..."
Suigetsu placed a hand on the man's shoulder, stepping up even closer. "He dressed you in my wife's clothes and tied you behind a scarecrow that we would only find if the trap wire was set. What's he trying to tell me?"
"I - I'm not," the man managed to get out, still a blubbering mess of tears. He paused, realizing Suigetsu's hand was slowly trailing down his left shoulder. Slowly. Agonizingly.
"No," he pleaded.
"Why did he send you?" Suigetsu's hand was on the rim of the wound now, centimeters away from touching bare bone and sticky blood. The man began to hyperventilate, eyes bulging as his chest began to rise and fall quickly.
"I don't know, stop - stop, please - DON'T!"
"Is he going to do the same thing to me?" Suigetsu grilled, voice borderline amused as his hand fearlessly gripped the area of incision. The man's scream was ear-piercing, but Suigetsu could barely hear it.
"You're KILLING ME!" he screeched between his roaring screams, kicking and shaking back and forth in unbearable pain. He kept screaming, up until the point where his speech was no longer coherent and his voice was practically mute from strain.
Suigetsu let go, clearly unsatisfied.
Ino woke up, and she started crying again. Lower lip trembling, salty tears falling into the crook of her lips. She was curled up on her side, pretending like her back wasn't aching from sleeping on rock. She was dressed in clothes Sakura had given her: a well-worn, short purple top and shorts. It was almost like athletic wear - so nothing she would ever consider, anyway. She had tied her hair back into a low ponytail; unable to find a good hairband.
She felt so lost, and so hopeless.
She had screamed for him in her dreams.
Sui, where are you.
Her voice echoed back, taunting her even in her unconscious.
If you don't hurry up they're going to kill me.
Are you trying to see how brave I am? Because I'm not! I'm not brave!
I'm just pretending, I'm...
Ino, unable to contain herself, let out a sob.
I'm screaming. I act brave. Please tell me you didn't leave. Please answer me. Answer me!
"When will I see you," Ino whispered aloud, voice still raspy from yelling.
"Hey, you!"
Ino slowly turned around, trying not to give herself away. Tenten was crouching over from the top of the pit Ino was currently being contained in, holding a basket in her arms. "Praying is not gonna help you out here. Anyway, here's some food."
Ino found herself wishing for Sakura again.
"...Kiba, the tape is running. ... Oh, it is? ... Yeah, start!"
It would seem like Suigetsu was barely listening to the tape droning on in the background, with the way his eyes were focused on the newspaper he was reading inside of his quaint little tent. But it really wasn't the newspaper he was staring at. It was the photo of his wife, his wife's wide, terriifed eyes, surrounded by maniacally laughing idiots.
"Sup. How ya doin'? Well, not well, I hope. 'Cause, you know, this is all your fault in the first place. But you know that, so."
Suigetsu took out the cigar from his mouth, blowing grey ringlets through the air. He stared at the bright orange embers embedding the end of the tube, almost wanting to laugh, realizing he loved the burn. He touched the hot end to one of the convict's faces in the newspaper, watching it slowly turn into charred black dust.
"I'm poor. I don't have an education. I haven't been sucking on a silver spoon since day one; I'm not you. So of course, that makes me the villain here. That's how these things work, right?"
Suigetsu blew off the burnt remains, now poking through the next face.
"Did you see the picture? Recognize your wife's pretty little face? We went through a lot of trouble to take that picture, so keep it safe, yeah? Don't lose it. If you don't see her again, at least you'll have the picture."
He was working on the third face, now. It was one he recognized. Konohamaru.
"Are you mad? Does it hurt? Does it feel like something's pushing down on your chest and making you suffocate? One woman abducted from your home is apparently enough to get seven jeeps trailing after us, stirring up every little living thing and human in these woods. Am I supposed to feel flattered?"
He burned through them faster. He stuck the cigar's end through Uzumaki, Uchiha, and Haruno.
"Are your people beautiful, priceless works of art? And are ours just dirt? Meaningless, just another casualty on the report card?"
Aburame. Hyuuga.
"You better pray. Pray that your wife doesn't end up the same as my sister."
And then, Inuzuka's face was gone, too. He stared at a paper filled with char-brimmed holes, mind blank yet focused, eyes emotionless yet driven.
"So keep it safe."
Ino had almost forgotten where she was, mind somewhere far from chirping birds and rushing water. She glanced down, realizing that the steam was absent, and the hot rice had grown cold. She hadn't been hungry.
She stood up, dusting the soil off of her skin, wincing when she touched an open cut. She blew on it gently, hoping it wouldn't get infected. She examined her surroundings, wondering if they left her anything else.
There were a bunch of doubtful-looking plant roots descending from above; a possible escape route. Ino tugged on them, wondering if they were steady.
"Is anyone there?" she called out, waiting.
When she received no affirmation, she wasted no time in starting the climb. It was probably one of the most athletically challenging experiences she had ever gone through - climbing up a wet, wall-like pit with seemingly nothing to hold onto. She dug her fingernails into the tiny ledges she could find and began to hoist her way up the roots.
She was almost at the top when the makeshift rope snapped, and Ino nearly fell. Blinking tears out of her eyes, she let out a groan as she tore a nail trying to hold her place. She attempted to boost herself out with just her arms, hands desperately holding on to the ledge. Feet scraping against the wet walls, she barely managed to propel herself onto the ground without falling.
After lying on the ground, recovering in deep shuddering breaths, she realized what she was doing.
Ino gathered all of her strength just trying to stand up. She hadn't realized what a toll the past few days had taken on her. Her entire body was aching with soreness, and certain areas pained when she put pressure on them. She didn't even want to know how many bruises she had and where they all were.
Ino headed for the shrubbery, where she hoped she would go unnoticed, veiled behind thick forest life. Unfortunately, she was already five minutes inside, trying to climb over a boulder that blocked her path when she noticed someone sleeping a mere five feet away.
They were here.
She bit her tongue, trying not to utter curses, slowly making her way around the large rock. She chided herself, how could they be here, how did she not know where she was going, what were they doing here, did they know-?
Her eyes, unfocused as she had withdrawn into her mind, failed to notice the terrain she was stepping on. It was wet, slippery mud, and she fell right on her behind. Before she even had to worry about the shriek she let out waking anyone up, she was sliding downwards into a sudden declination in land she had failed to notice. She tumbled through tree trunks, random thorns, and when nature spared her - leaves, until she slowly came to a stop at the bottom.
She cracked one eye open, slowly uncurling from the fetal position she had assumed during the tumble.
She thought - maybe this was it.
She stood up again, adrenaline pumping through her veins in the thrill of sudden danger, free hair littered with soil and leaves and flowers swishing behind her as she began to start walking again, anywhere as long as it wasn't here.
But whenever hope came, it left just as quickly.
"Stop."
The voice rung clear; her heart stopped; her stomach dropped, and she froze.
"Where ya goin'?"
Ino frenziedly scanned her surroundings, trying to find him. Eyes wide and dark, dark blue, she spun in circles in trying to pin down the source.
"Go back to where you were, tie yourself back up, and go to sleep. Do not make this harder than it has to be."
Then it made sense, as a camouflage blanket (except it was real camouflage - he was covered in leaves and dirt) was casually shrugged off his shoulders right in front of her, and Kiba sat up from what appeared to be a very deep nap. His eyes were swollen and he appeared to very cross.
His eyes met hers, and a telling smirk rose upon his face. "Be a good girl for once," he said.
Ino continued breathing shakily, determinedly meeting his gaze, feeling the rage that his voice filled her with. How could he so condescending, how could he be doing this to her; she was fucking sick of being helpless and she did wanted to see him dead.
The next few moments occurred in such a rage-fueled, mindless haze that she didn't even think they happened. She remembers grabbing the staff by his feet and pulling it back to swing - but that's when things slowed down. She swung forward, a scream erupting from her throat, but Kiba barely moved. He was still smiling at her.
He easily stopped her, his hand wrapping around the staff that would have, if a second late, came into contact with his skull.
He stared at her, dropping the smile, as if challenging her.
Ino glared back, and did the rational thing - she screamed and tried to swing at him again.
Kiba dodged her again, almost showing while he did it. He had an advantage, he knew it, but it was Ino inviting him to play and he was not about to turn her down on that one.
He stood suddenly, stretching his arms forward and popping his neck. His sleeves brushed by Ino's face, and she was momentarily paralyzed as she began to realize something. She didn't want to accept it, though, whatever it was she was realizing, so she swung again, this time at his face.
Kiba caught the staff once again easily, but this time he held on to it. Ino tried to wrench it out of his grasp, but he would not let go. Instead, he twisted it around her, forcing her to step closer, mere inches away from his face.
His gaze connected with hers again, and he felt a tension began to bubble in his stomach. He saw fear, and something else, in Ino's bottom-of-the-ocean eyes, clear but murky, tainted with something else. He thought she was easy. Not weak, but easy.
And that's what cost him. Ino stepped back gracefully, kneeling to the ground and splashing sand into his face. His eyes immediately clamped shut on instinct, and Ino took off running. He shook his head, blinking sand out of his eyes, and grinned at her distant figure.
She was smart, and this was fun. In a weird, sadistic way, he thought in addition.
Kiba knew she would eventually have to stop. Ino only realized this once she reached a dead end, so busy looking back that she hadn't seen the creek right in front of her. She had slipped once more. and now she was drenched in clear water. The ground surface was covered in large, rounded stones, so it hurt when her cheekbone came into contact with one of the jagged rocks.
She could hear his footsteps, but she tried to focus on the scent of the water in her hair. It was like life and fresh dew.
But she would have to face the inevitable, anyway. Ino turned, fear finally showing clearly in her eyes as she turned on her back, watching Kiba's ominous figure looming over her. He had no weapon in his hands, but she wondered briefly if that would stop him anyway.
Her quick thinking decided to strike her one more time.
Kiba was standing in the creek, his feet perched on the rocks. Back still partially on the ground, she used her foot to nudge the rock he was standing on out of the way. He lost his balance, and Ino finally saw genuine shock and fear in his eyes. Before she could revel in satisfaction, however, she realized she had only made things worse for herself.
Kiba fell forward.
He fell forward, but he caught himself just in time, both hands next to either of her shoulders. He wasn't touching her, but he was mere centimeters away from it. Ino felt herself swallow as she was sucked back into his gaze once more, as if he wanted her to look at him. She didn't understand why.
Was he trying to make her feel intimidated?
Kiba didn't move. The only movement was the heaving of his chest to breathe, widely out of sync with Ino's own chest. She was inhaling erratically, barely realizing that she was blowing hot air onto his lips.
She propped herself up onto her hands, taking gentle, slow movements backwards. Kiba still hadn't moved, and she prayed he wouldn't. She tried not to do anything that would cause alarm, so she held his gaze as she backed up, even though it was the most uncomfortable thing. She didn't know why it made her feel so nervous.
She began to sit up, but froze in alarm, realizing her chest would soon come into contact with his face if he did. He was still looking at her, though, seemingly unaware of anything that was going on, yet also seemingly completely aware. He moved back so she could be free.
He said nothing as she stood up, merely lifting his face to keep his eyes on her as she began to retreat.
He didn't smirk this time.
Ino realized they were in limbo. She didn't know if she was going to keep up the fight or just let it go. But he didn't ask, so she didn't answer. Instead, she sat down in front of the giant oak tree, trying to gather herself while Kiba waited by the waterfall. Of course, this is what Kiba thought was happening. Ino, in reality, was very close by him.
Kiba kept his eyes open, surveying the area for her. He wasn't sure if she was going to try something, so he was still trying to remain alert within the frenzy of thoughts currently running through his mind. The thoughts that she was the cause of him. Ino was the reason for everything these days, he thought.
And then he cried out, feeling a wind rush by and a sharp pain pierce his neck.
Ino stood behind him, eyes wide with the realization that she had actually struck him. She seemed like she regretted it, especially when her hand covered her mouth at the sight of blood pouring from the cut.
The blood that made Ino gasp made Kiba smile. He touched it; watched it drip down his fingers. He turned around, ready for her. His laughter incited her anger.
She struck again, crying out in anger, "Let me go!"
He dodged her cleverly every single time she attempted to strike, taunting her with faces every time she missed. Once, he ducked under and passed through the curtain of her hair, eyes fluttering closed at the surprisingly feel-good sensation.
When he decided he'd had enough, he stopped her by grasping the jagged rock-weapon in her hand, pulling her back into his chest close so that they were almost touching again, but never would. He easily snatched the weapon from her hand, discarding it behind them. And then, he put his hand a mere inch away from her face, slowly gliding it downwards.
His hands hovered dangerously close to the swell of her breasts, and he observed her expression, watching an unfamiliar emotion swim in her eyes. He didn't want to say she was terrified, but it was the only adjective close enough to describe it. He continued to taunt her with the unsaid expression that was lingering in the air, hands hovering so close to her body, to her face - but never touching her.
The thing Ino was beginning to realize earlier finally hit her at full force, as she watched his hands slowly retreat, and felt the breath on the nape of her neck slowly recede.
He had power, but he would never use it against her.