Yes, I know it's been quite a while since my last update. I do apologize for that, and thank everyone who has continued to read and send your kind reviews!!! Thank you!!
Sorry if at any time Mai seems MarySueish(although my mother is truly a wonderful person, and does not in any way adhere to the definition of one of those crappy disgusting fangirls!!). I am just trying to make Mai's history like that of any typical Akatsuki member. They seemed to be pretty affluent, yet fairly unhappy. Itachi was being used as a pawn for his family, far as I can tel, and wound up killing them for God knows what reason. Sasori's parents wound up getting killed, and he went a little crazy. But they all were smart, exceptionally powerful and promising shinobi- and you, my readers, may start to think from the kekkei genkai I've given Mai, that I'm making her too powerful and therefore MarySueish. That because she has an affluent family, and is so respectful and caring towards them, that I'm trying to make her personality perfect. I'm not. Itachi seemed pretty respectful for quite a while, and then who knows what happened. Sasori seemed like a normal nice kid too- it seems like all of Akatsuki, that we know the histories of, were normal people until tragedy struck; but that they were much more promising than the average ninja right from the get-go. They all had special cicumstances, Itachi with his Sharingan, Sasori with his family lineage of amazing puppetry, Kisame as a member of the Seven Swordsmen... So I don't think Mai's jutsus are really all that outlandish, given her future in later chapters as the female meber of Akatsuki. Just wanted to say that BEFORE people start killing me for MarySueing.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the Naruto series, including Akatsuki members. Masashi Kishimoto does. I do own rights to the Hoshikori family which I made up, but not any of the terminology like chakra(that's Buddhist) or anything else that you hear often in Naruto. And if anyone wished to use Mai or any other made-up characters or their jutsus, all they need do is ask me, and they can use them all they want, and have rights to them and all.
Dusk and Daybreak
Chapter 6: The Family Legacy
Mai could hear the sounds of fighting outside, and what sounded strangely like rushing water, as the huge man choking her punched her in the stomach, causing her to double over in pain as he threw her over onto one of the beds.
She gasped for breath, relieved to finally have her airway clear again, ignoring the urge to rub her neck and try to relieve the searing pain. She worked quickly, trying to think of what would work best on this man.
Mai knew she would need to conserve chakra to help Isamu-san and Eiji, since through the walls she could hear a huge fight outside. Sounded like that jerk had called in reinforcements. Yet Mai could sense that this huge guy, Jian or whatever, had a huge chakra store, unlike herself. If she didn't hit him dead on with whichever jutsu she used, she might have one other shot to kill him, but that was all. And since her family's bloodline limit jutsus had to take up so much chakra… she probably wouldn't be able to help Isamu and Eiji, even if she lived.
Mai performed the series of hand seals just as the man latched onto her again, trying to rip the shirt off her back. Like hell she was going to let that happen. "Raiton: Akumu no Shigai!" (Lightning Release: Nightmare of Ultraviolet), she tried to yell, her voice coming out in a hoarse and broken whisper. The UV-rays flew at the man unseen, but he must have sensed that she was attacking him; he dropped her limply onto the bed and dodged with lightning fast speed to the other side of the room. Mai sat up, rubbing her neck this time, as the man came back at her, throwing kunai in a method that made them come at her from all directions.
She got up off the bed and dropped to the floor, dodging all but one, which stuck into her arm in an odd and painful angle. Mai ripped the kunai out quickly, ignoring the rush of blood from the wound. Eiji could take care of that later.
She began performing another series of handseals, but her attacker was quicker, and Mai found herself in a bubble of water, the walls slowly closing in on her. She coughed, having breathed some of the water in when unexpectedly attacked. Of course, all the coughing did was allow more water to enter her lungs. "Heh, I hope you like slow and painful deaths kunoichi bitch!..", The man said, coming and standing next to the bubble, a sadistic look on his face. "Of course, you could've just made it worth my while, and I would've made it nice and quick. I'll give you one last chance- 'cause I'd sure hate to see that pretty face all crushed and blue."
Mai's lungs were nearly filled with water, and she knew she didn't even have another minute before she would drown. She was already starting to lose feeling in most of her body, drowsiness taking over. She just nodded sadly, eyes downcast, waiting for the bubble to be released. But the man didn't release it; he just laughed even harder. "Heh, you must think I'm stupid. It was funny though, seeing what a pathetic excuse for a shinobi you really are. I knew Kumogakure was pathetic, but really, to fear death so much that you'd beg for your life and just give yourself up like that?.. That's sad. You idiots don't deserve to be called shinobi."
The man turned and began walking away, almost doubled over in laughter. Mai didn't know what she could do, being stuck in this water bubble- she had no idea of whether any of her jutsus would work or not. But she had no other choice- it was either attempt one, or just drown and die for nothing. She performed the 7 handseals needed with almost invisible speed, thinking as she did that maybe the water might focus the rays if she positioned it right. "Raiton: Toushi Seru Toukai Inmetsu!" (Lightning Release: X-ray Cell Hidden Destruction), she mouthed, not able to speak, as more water poured into her mouth and water-logged lungs.
Just as she passed out from lack of oxygen, she saw her attack hit the man right in the back, knocking him to the floor. He hadn't even seen it coming. The bubble burst, dropping Mai to the floor; the water droplets had indeed focused the X-rays, allowing them enough concentration to pierce the man's cells and kill him.
"Uh… What happened?" Mai blinked her eyes open, squinting in the bright light. She tried to sit up, but found a tube in her neck, pumping tiny amounts of water out into a bag hanging near the bedside, making anything but lying down impossible. "Don't get up Mai-san." Eiji got up from a chair at the foot of the bed, and walked over to Mai, resting his hand on hers comfortingly. "I had no problem healing the gash in your arm, and me and the other medics worked on your throat when I got you back. I mean, I did all I could in the field, but.. You're gonna have to stay in bed for a few days. There was no other way we could get all the water out of your lungs, and it needed to be done as soon as possible. But don't worry Mai, most of the water is out now. The machine is just draining out the tail end of it."
He smiled at Mai reassuringly, and she forced a smile back. Then realization dawned on her, her expression changing. "Taiki-san, he.. I was too late Eiji-san! I tried to save him but-"
"Mai, you should try not to talk. And don't worry about Taiki, he's fine. We were able to heal the injuries in time, and he's resting in intensive care right now. True, he won't be allowed out of bed for a week or two, because of all the blood he lost, and because it seems they used the same jutsu they used on you on him- except I guess he passed out and they left him for dead. But there wasn't anything you could do. They were the best ANBU Kirigakure had to offer. We just weren't expecting that was all. Our informant said they were jounin. They weren't something that we could really handle. Our squad shouldn't have been sent on this assignment, and wouldn't've been if we'd known. We were lucky to get out of there alive Mai, be happy that at least we did. Taiki lost a lot of blood, and went without oxygen for a while it seems- but we think he'll recover for the most part."
Just then, Mai's parents walked in, rushing over and hugging her. "Anyway, I stayed with you all night, but I really need to get home. See ya Mai."
Mai waved at her friend apathetically, but she just couldn't stop thinking about Taiki-san, and how it was all her fault. 'Ugh, it's all because of me. I took too long to find him.. I should've been able to sense those jerks' chakra right away, concealed or not. After all, I'm supposed to be an ANBU!.. If I could've helped him sooner, he wouldn't have been injured… He was drowning just like me! He probably got brain damage or something, the way Eiji was talking.. No matter what though, I promise I'll never let something like this happen to anyone on my team, ever again…'
Mai was released from the hospital three days later, and Eiji-san came to visit her and remove the tube from her throat. "See? All better." he said as he used a healing jutsu to close up the hole in her neck. "You won't even have a scar. Just.. take it easy the next few days, okay? Your lungs still aren't up to-" "How's Taiki-san? Is he okay?... I feel so bad Eiji-san." Mai exclaimed, bolting out of the bed once the tube was out and Eiji was done healing the opening.
"He's fine. You can go and visit him whenever you want. We moved him out of the intensive care yesterday." Mai nodded and got up, bowing and thanking Eiji, and slowly walking out of the room. She'd been told that her parents were waiting in the hospital lobby, and went to meet them there.
Mai's ANBU squad had no assignments for the rest of that week or the next, since both she and Taiki had been ordered by the medic-nins to rest and recover. Every morning, Mai visited Taiki and brought him flowers while he slept, sitting with him until he seemed about ready to wake up, when she would quickly shunshin out of the hospital, unable to face him with her guilt. Once she would leave the hospital, Mai went and trained fervently until dinnertime. She tried her best to work on better conserving her chakra, perfecting her bloodline limit, and learning to deal better with pain.
Finally, near the end of the week, after having watched Mai train feverishly well into the evening, missing dinner with the family and all, her father decided it was time to have a talk. He walked out to the training grounds, only to see Mai still training in the feeble moonlight making its way through the overcast sky.
"Mai..", he said, walking over and resting his hand gently on her shoulder, "your mother's been worried sick about you. It's time to come home; enough training for one day." Mai turned and looked up at him, her eyes begging him to let her stay, but the rest of her not daring to disobey her father. As they walked, Akio cleared his throat quite a few times, trying to start a conversation with his daughter, and each time thinking better of it. He wasn't exactly 'close' with his children- that was their mother's job after all; he was the disciplinarian, and the head of the household, but of course that didn't allow for very intimate relationships with his five children.
Finally, just as they reached the gates of the estate, and Mai began pushing one open, he mustered the courage to have a nice little father/daughter talk. "Mai, wait." Mai froze with her hand on the gate, and turned. She would've thought she was about to be lectured on staying out past dark and missing dinner, yet her father's tone seemed almost sad, and as she turned and looked upon his face, she noted that it held the same feeling as his tone had. It frightened her more than any disciplinary action, no matter how severe, ever could; Mai's father never showed any emotions, save anger. Mai's hand left the gate, trembling as it did, even though she was too worried to notice. "Otousama, is.. is something the matter?..", Mai asked disconcertedly. "Oh, um.. no Mai. But..um, before you go in, I think we should have a little talk; you know, a heart-to-heart." "Um, okay..", Mai replied, thrown a little off balance by his answer, and completely freaked out. "Good. Um.. how about we take a little walk then?.." Akio started off, and Mai followed hesitatingly.
"So, Mai… I noticed you've been training quite a bit more lately. You know Mai, regardless of what any ANBU may say about kunoichi not 'measuring up' or anything like that, you should know that you're unlike most of those other girls, and-" "It's not that…", Mai broke in, not wanting to listen to any more of her father's tirade about how she should have good self esteem or something, and uphold the image and honor of the great Hoshikori family as it's heiress; she'd hear it a million times before. "-and, and I apologize Otousama for cutting you off. I just felt that you shouldn't worry about me upholding the family name. I'll make sure that I do so to the utmost of my abilities sir." Mai said, bowing quickly, before continuing to walk on alongside her father. "Oh. Well, alright Mai. I.. was just concerned about you is all. I'm glad it's not that though. But something is wrong, and I'd like for you to tell me." Her father rested his hand comfortingly on her shoulder again, this time going so far as to pat it reassuringly. 'Damn', Mai thought, 'this is gonna be one hell of a long and retarded night..'
"And so… then I was attacked, because I was too stupid to realize it was just a highly skilled henge no jutsu. I almost drowned, and if I hadn't thought quickly enough that Toushi Seru Toukai Inmetsu could be focused by the water, I would be dead right now. I let myself be tricked, attacked, and nearly killed. Taiki is still in the hospital, because I was stupid, and wasn't strong enough to save him. If Eiji hadn't found us and used some medical jutsu right there, we'd both be dead.. Because that man was so much smarter than me, and so much stronger. I shouldn't be a shinobi Otousama, you were right! I should just quit now, and go see the Raikage with my resignation in the morning!.. I'm just a liability to everyone- I guess you were partially right earlier in what you said; it's because I'm a kunoichi that I must be so weak…" Mai cried into her father's shoulder, as he hesitatingly rubbed her back, unsure of what to do to comfort her.
"Mai, don't cry." Akio said sternly, after which he returned to a more comforting tone. "I'll admit that I don't want you to be a shinobi, and under different circumstances would certainly stop you from continuing as one. But regardless of my feeling about the new Raikage, we live in this village, and we must abide by his edicts. He called your sister and yourself back into active duty because he obviously needs you, and anyone else he can possibly get. And so, if only for that reason, for the honor and safety of our village, I can't let you just quit. I can't believe I'm saying this.." Akio laughed. "But really, Mai, everyone comes to a point where they blame themselves for something, which upon a further look they'll see couldn't be helped. You want to be there for your friends; but you can't always save everyone. Yet I think it's time I showed you something that can help you feel a bit better about yourself. You've mastered every other kekkai genkai jutsu of the Hoshikori family in remarkable time, and I'm sure you could master the family kekkei genkai if you tried hard enough." Mai looked up at her father, pausing in her sobbing, shock on her face.
When they arrived home, Mai's father immediately went over to Midori and asked that she keep the other children from bothering him and Mai, then brought her into his study and locked the door. Of course, this didn't get past Mai's siblings, and Taikimaru and Kikyo could be hard banging on the door for a short while, while the muffled voices of Mai's mother explaining something to Akeno were heard from the living room.
"I didn't want your brothers and sisters in here, because then they'll get jealous and want this too." Akio handed Mai a scroll, which she took and stared at, unsure of what to do. "Sorry, let me explain. Not many people in this family have ever mastered the entire kekkai genkai; the last to do so was my grandfather. I only saw him use it once, but afterwards, I begged him to teach me." Akio laughed to himself, a faraway look on his face, then realized himself.
"Anyway, getting back to what I was saying. This jutsu is very dangerous Mai. If the person it's taught to tries to learn it too fast, uses it too often, or just doesn't have the proper chakra control and affinity, they'll die. Instantly. My grandfather refused to teach it to me, because he didn't believe I had enough chakra for my body to withstand it, or the proper control. He did write down instructions on how to begin training for it though, in case I ever did somehow get to the point where I could learn it when I was older. Mai, I couldn't learn Raiton: Kujo, Ranpu Ichidou no Kokushibyou; I can barely use Toushi Seru Toukai Inmetsu. But I've seen what you can do- how fast you learn, and how powerful your jutsus are when you use them. I believe that you can be the 5th person in the history of Kumogakure to learn Raiton : Kujo, Ranpu Ichidou no Kokushibyou. Don't ever use this jutsu unless there is no alternative though Mai, because too may uses will kill you; and don't try learning it 1-2-3 either like you always do. My grandfather warned, as I believe he states in that scroll, that attempting to learn something like this jutsu too fast will cause it to backfire, and destroy your own cells. You need at least 3 months of training on this. You'll have to teach yourself though, because I can't help you with this one. Show it to no one."
"I.. Arigatou." Mai got up and bowed to her father, then left the room and went to hers to read. Scroll or not, she wasn't going to wait 3 months before she could feel that her being on a mission actually had a purpose.
"What the fuck?! Ew! Damn you Kakuzu, you bastard!" Kakuzu did his best to ignore Hidan's cursing and yelling, walking purposefully towards a small village in Kaminari no Kuni (the Land of Lightning). "Fuck!! That's it, screw this!! There's no friggen way I'm walking through any more of this shit! I mean, seriously…" Kakuzu turned, frowning, and walked back to where Hidan stood, knee deep in mud, and took the body from him. "Listen, I let you do you stupid ritual thing, and now we're 45 minutes late. And you know how much value I lost on this bounty because you just had to do your stupid ass ritual?!" "Hey, listen man, seriously. You damned fucking heathens don't understand how important it is. I'm not gonna fucking rot in hell, just because you want to. And I only agreed to carry the damned thing halfway; and you said this shittin' bounty station would be cleaner than the last one jackass!"
Kakuzu tuned him out again, because he'd finally reached the bounty station. It was cleaner than the one they'd been to last time anyway, though he really couldn't understand Hidan's problem with the last place since they'd gotten so much money. But he hadn't lied to Hidan, this bounty station, he thought as the two were led through the spotless, quaint inn, to the basement. After all, Hidan hadn't asked about the road there, or lack thereof.
Kakuzu laid the body on the table, and the bounty official looked it over. "Hmmm, it's not in the greatest condition, but I know you're a pretty trustworthy guy Kakuzu, and I know what you've got to deal with", he glanced over at Hidan, who was clasping his prayer beads and muttering to himself, "so I'll give ya 90 of the bounty." Kakuzu glared at Hidan as the official handed over the money. "Let's go. And enough with your damned rituals already. We're not supposed to touch anyone in Kumogakure, and I don't care what your stupid religion says. We're just there to look for the Nibi." "Yeah, yeah, whatever asshole. Screw you, I got the point already man. Besides, I told you that was why I fuckin' needed to sacrifice that other guy, so that Jashin won't damn me for not doing what I'm supposed to. Whatever, so I won't touch the fucking heathens in the village."
Kakuzu walked off towards Kumogakure, counting his money somewhat contentedly, while Hidan ranted on about how the world was going to hell, because all the stupid heathen assholes were too stupid to be saved.
Okay, well that's it. It's kind of a filler chapter too, even though I didn't originally intend for it to be. Sorry. Part of the next chapter will be too, but I'm going to jump ahead a bit with time in the next chapter, so this story doesn't drag on forever. I know a lot of you asked for more Sasori and Deidara at the end of this chapter, but there's Hidan and Kakuzu fnas out there too, and I figured I should give each team a bit of time in the story, before Mai actually goes and joins them. So, much as I hate Hidan, I used the two of them. I think they're totally OOC though, so if someone can point out exactly where and how I screwed up characterization of HIdan and Kakuzu, that'd be amazing!! Thanks a bunch for reading:)
And as promised, more of Mai's bloodline limit- I'm going to post all of her Genjutsu, to save time. Don't worry- Mai has a lot of bloodline limit jutsus, one for each of the wavelengths of electromagnetic energy, but most aren't very powerful. I think there's only 3 I'd call powerful at all, and only 1 or 2 that are Akatsuki caliber. None of these are them. Anyways...
Genjutsu
Visible Light - Raiton: Seishin'ijousha Niji no Konmei (Lightning Release: Psychedelic Rainbow of Confusion) This jutsu splits visible white light into its spectrum of colors, and surrounds the victim with sporadically changing, spinning colors. The victim, in essence, sees 'psychedelic colors' as though they were high, and is unable to see anything else around them. But it is easily countered, and is really not a very powerful jutsu.
Infrared- Raiton: Akai Konmei (Lightning Release: Red Confusion) Make everything around the victim look almost as though they were wearing night vision goggles; shapes become discolored, obscure, and distorted, and the victim becomes disoriented. This jutsu isn't very powerful, but Mai is able to sporadically change the appearance and apparent shape of things the victim sees, confusing the victims even more.
Ultraviolet- Raiton: Akumu no Shigai (Lightning Release: Nightmare of Ultraviolet) This jutsu uses ultraviolet light to disorient and incapacitate its victim. As you can understand, things look different in UV, and our eyes and brain are not wired for seeing at that wavelength. This jutsu however surrounds the victim in UV, and messes with their brain so they are capable of seeing partially in it. However, the victim becomes very disoriented and frightened, and eventually begins to be driven mad, passing out from the stress on their brain. Like the X-ray ninjutsu, this genjutsu can also cause damage in later years such as cancer- but only after prolonged exposure, if it was used on a victim repeatedly.