a/n yeah, here's the next chapter. hope you enjoy :) oh and I feel weird for using song lyrics from an ACTUAL song in here
Chapter Six--Figures
It had barely been a day since I left the lodging town when I noticed two figures jumping from branch to branch in the forest I ran alongside. It was while I was sitting down, resting and having a bite to eat, that I noticed them.
They were a little ways in so I couldn't very well make out their features. Plus they were moving quickly so all I could really make out was a body being there.
As I bit into a race ball, I thought nothing of it. They were probably headed towards Konoha, too. After all it was a very popular place and I knew I was close to getting there, so they probably were too. Of course there was always the possibility of them heading somewhere else, but I didnt' bother to think that far.
My mind was concentrated on only one thing: Konoha. Of course I was also thinking about revenge for my sister, but that was in the back of my mind. In order for that to happen I had to start at Konoha where I could grow strong.
And who knows, I might find the assassins there. They could have originated from there. But also, I knew that there were many blood-limits and special people in that Hidden Village.
What better place to start the search? I asked myself as I sipped at the water Natso had given me when I left the day before along with food.
It was only when I finished eating and started moving again that I considered another possibility for what those two figure were--searchers. What if Tsukikage had sent those people after me?
Am I...oh no! Am I now a missing-nin?! I, worried, asked myself. I couldn't be a missing nin!! That would just mess everything up!
Maybe I should have thought this through better...I mean, maybe Tsukikage would have let me go if only I'd asked.
As much as the young man liked me and Reina-onee-chan, I sincerely doubted it. He'd want someone older with more experience to take care of that. Not a simple twelve-year-old Genin like myself.
"Calm down, Kaiyo. They're probably just travelers," I tried to convince myself; it didn't work too well.
Every time I caught sight of the pair so far away in the trees my stomach plummeted. I felt suddenly sick, like I'd throw up everything I had just swallowed down.
But then they disappeared from my view and I was calm again. I stopped running and decided to just walk for a little bit.
"This may never start..." I hoarsely sang to myself. "We could fall apart...and not be your memory. Lost your sense of fear...feelings insincere..."
I stopped all movement and noises very suddenly; I felt a lump forming in my throat.
Reina-onee-chan sang that song...a lot...
Ever since I left the lodging village I had been in an even more emotional state than usual. The tiniest things could set me off, and that song was one of them.
I swallowed down the sob that was choking me and kept walking, wiping my mint-green eyes with the back of my hand.
Strong, be strong. You'll never defeat those murderers if you break down at every single little thing! I shouted at myself; but it was hard to listen.
I never had been at holding back emotions.
But I will get better! I assured myself. If I was to be a good ninja, I needed to do that.
"Onee-chan!" I sobbed, placing a filthy hand to my house to choke it back. I stumbled along the path I walked, eyes becoming blurred with tears.
"I never did get to go on that mission with you," I whispered after a few moments. It was after I tripped over a rock that I remembered.
I was ten at the time and Reina was fifteen. She smiled down at me, ruffling my short mint-green hair.
I scowled although secretly I always liked when she did that. Smoothing down my hair I said bitterly, "I'm ten now, onee-chan. You don't have to treat me like a kid."
Reina rolled her eyes but made no comment. Both she and I were silent until we had climbed up the steep steps leading to the Tsukikages office and we stood before the large double doors.
Reina rapped her knuckles on the beautiful wood and waited for a response; slowly the doors were pulled open, revealing endless corridors lined with bright torches. Two Jounin greeted Reina and me; outside I would think of them as large people, but standing beside the mighty front doors they looked like little dolls.
"Reina-san; Kaiyo-sama! Please, come in!" one Jounin greeted in high spirits. Both stepped aside, although it wasnt really very necessary, and let Reina and me pass.
"You're here to see Tsukikage-sama, correct?"
"That's the only reason Im ever here, isn't it?" Reina said with a small smile; the two Jounin laughed as if she had some sort of joke and then let us continue onward.
I listened as our footsteps echoed through the marble halls. I stared at my reflection in the shiny-floor as we walked towards the Kage's office.
The office was large and located at the very back of the building. The doors leading into the grand room were smaller than the entrance doors but still unnecessarily large.
Reina stuck her hand out and hesitated before knocking.
The doors creaked open, revealing a large circular office; the walls were lined with tall bookcases. The Tsukikage kept so many books it was difficult to fit them all.
"Reina-san! Kaiyo-sama! It's good to see you!" the Jounin who had pulled the door open greeted. The woman smiled at the two and then exited the office, closing the doors behind her without much difficulty, despite their weight.
Reina stepped towards the large desk covered with all sorts of files and papers, smiling brightly at the Tsukikage. I hovered behind her, smiling slightly myself; even though both she and I were friends with the leader of our village, Reina was much better friends with the man. I was a little unsure about the subject I came to address with my sister, and it didn't help that I was already a little awkward around people older than me.
"Reina! Kaiyo-chan! Please, come sit!" the young Tsukikage amiably demanded. Both she and I stepped forward and sat in the suggested seats. I fidgeted as I waited for Reina to begin the conversation.
"Tsukikage-sama," Reina-onee-chan politely addressed.
"Tsukikage-sama...have you betrayed me?" I whispered to myself; there was a twinge in my heart. My hands immediately shot to my chest and gripped at my heart.
Was I homesick or did I feel guilty for running away? I never could tell the difference between the different twinges in my heart.
"What happened after that again?" I mumbled to myself, allowing my hands to slowly slip away from my chest; they fell limp at my sides. "Oh yes, I remember..."
"Reina! Please, you don't have to be so formal!"
"When we're in the office I feel I do Tsukik--"
"Ah-buh-buh-buh!" Tsukikage sand, a smile on his lips; he pressed a large hand over my sister's mouth and winked discreetly at me. "No formal names, please. Kaiyo-chan, teach her."
"How?"
The man smiled at me again. "You know how," he persisted; he cast me a look that stated he wanted me to be informal.
I struggled; I, like Reina, was just so used to using his formal name in the office. "Seishirou," I finally managed to sputter.
The Tsukikage laughed slightly at me before grinning and removing his hand from my sister's mouth.
"There we go! See, it wasn't that hard!" Seishirou, with some difficulty since it wasnt all that true, said.
Reina cocked an eyebrow. "Liar!" she joked. "And how come you can preach about using 'informal' names and yet you call Kaiyo, 'Kaiyo-chan.'"
Both she and I thought she won with that comment, but apparently Tsukikage-same had an even better come back than that.
"You call that formal? I feel like I don't know you anymore Reina!" he said with a surprisingly straight face. "And at least I don't call her 'Kaiyo-sama' like most everyone else!"
"Yeah, I've been wondering why that is," I interjected.
Reina and Seishirou looked at me uneasily.
"We'll talk about that later, Kaiyo sweetie," Reina, casting looks at Tsukikage-sama, managed to get out.
"Have you ever talked about that with her before?" Tsukikage-sama whispered; Reina shrugged.
"I've touched base on it a few years ago, but she didn't understand what I meant."
"Oh."
"I still don't really understand," I said with a hollow laugh. "But you aren't here to explain it to me."
"Why?" I inquired, sitting up and staring at her with interest.
"Because the Full Moon is always watching you..."
"Ima-san didn't explain it at all, though she made me remember what you said."
My thoughts suddenly darkened when I thought of Ima. I didn't like her very much at all. She was rude and suspicious. And there was something else about her that jut made me dislike her. She didn't like me either, so I didn't feel at all guilty about my feelings towards her.
"Hopefully I won't see her next time I go back to that town," I whispered. "Oki and Natso seem to like her, though, so it seems inevitable." I heaved a sigh. If I was to visit the Kaemon's regularly, I'd just have to get used to the ex-ninja's presence.
"I wonder what made her quit being a kunoichi?" I wondered. I didn't dwell on it too long though for my thoughts wandered back to the day at the Tsukikage's office
"So anyway! What did you two lovely ladies come here to talk about?"
Reina looked over at me and smiled. "Seishirou, we can with a proposition."
"Oh? Of what kind?"
"It involves Kaiyo, me, and danger."
"I'm listening."
"Well, we were wondering if maybe sometime soon, like before she graduates from the Academy--this could be soon due to her excellent grades--if she could go on a mission with me and maybe one other Chuunin."
"You know that would be dangerous--"
"I did say it involves danger!" Reina interrupted.
"Yes, I know. But a mission on your level?"
"No! On Chuunin level!"
"Oh, are you saying you're better than Chuunin level?"
"Um, yeah! And you know it, too!"
I laughed slightly to myself. It was true; Reina was easily recognized as one of the top ninjas in the village, even if she was still only a Chuunin.
"I'll consider it," Seishirou said lazily after a long hesitation. "But first I'd like to know the purpose of this...erm...exercise."
Reina-onee-chan looked over at me; it was my turn.
"Well, Seishirou-san, I learn better with hands-on stuff and the field-sessions we get are too easy for me. So we think that if I got the chance to, say, protect a person from bandits while bringing them back to their house, I might get more experience."
"Hm. Very well practiced, Kaiyo," the Tsukikage said with a laugh. "But you two have some good reasoning. I definitely will consider it. Of course I'll have to take it up with the council...I can't allow special privileges just because we're friends."
"We know," Reina-onee-chan and I said in a solemn unison.
"Kaiyo...you know you could already be a ninja. It isn't my fault--or anyone else's on the council--that you don't want to graduate before your friends! And we can't make you, although you clearly think we can which must be the reason you now slack off in class!"
Reina sent me a surprised look and I sheepishly ducked my head to avert my gaze.
"Yes, that's the truth Reina," Seishirou said grimly, shaking his head in disapproval. "There's nothing I can do about that either, though. I just wish she wouldn't. But anyway! I have other affairs to attend to, so if you two are finished..."
"Yes, Tsukikage-sama!" my sister and I simultaneously said as we stood.
"Thank you, again. I'll see you later tonight, Reina?"
"Hai!"
And with that done, we left.
"I wish I woukd get that chance...but it's gone forever now."
Although I was finished with that reminiscence, I was still in a trance. That's the reason why, as I trudged along the wide dirt path, I didn't notice the kunai knife fly towards me.
Just in time I took a step forward and the knife lodged itself in the trunk of a tree on the side opposite the way it came. Even though it missed me, I was still brought to attention. I searched the surrounding area, wild-eyed, in an attempt to find the person behind the knife.
It proved futile.
So, keeping my guard up, I continued onward.
Dark was falling when the next incident happened. I was settling down in an alcove of trees for the night, thinking it would provide protection against the unknown. Placing my bag on my lap, I began to rummage through it to find some food to eat before I fell asleep.
As I pulled out a plastic container filled with rice balls and set it on the ground, something hard slammed into the back of my head.
I jerked forward, mint-green eyes watering. I put a hand to the spot where I was hit and bit my lower lip.
That hurt! I cried inside my head, rubbing the spot; no doubt a bump would form there later on.
Like earlier, when a kunai was thrown at me, I looked around to find the person who threw it, but found nothing. I didnt feel like searching any further than eye-range anyway.
So, I took a rice ball from the container and went to bite into it. As soon as I saw the object thrown at me sitting, glowing in the moonlight somewhat, on the ground, I dropped the rice ball, too in shock to eat.
An apple.
But not just any apple...it was a special apple.
From Gekkougakure.
I picked it up and tossed it from hand to hand. Just seeing it filled me with a sense of home. I loved the cold feel of it against my skin.
I loved everything about it. To me, the apple was more than just an irregular apple from my home village...it was special; more special than the apples usually were.
Yes, I loved everything about that apple. Except the sense of dread it filled me with. This apple was only ever found in my village which meant...
Whoever threw it at me was from Gekkougakure, which meant they were after me. It was probably the two figures I had seen in the woods beside me.
Tsukikage-sama...he's sent them after me! I cried inside my head. I felt like pelting the apple back towards the direction it came but something compelled me not to. Instead I threw the apple in my bag and warily looked at my surrounding.
He must know why I left. Why would he try to bring me back?
I angrily threw the closed container of rice balls into my bag as well, my eyes always watching the direction the apple came from. They had probably moved since then, but I hadn't noticed.
I stood and swung the bag over my shoulder. I needed to get moving again--who cared about rest? Who cared about the dark? I needed to escape my stalkers.
I turned on my heels, prepared to set off again, but two figures standing just a few feet away stopped me.
"Konichiwa, Kaiyo-sama."
a/n reviews appreciated. :) but anyway! thanks for reading! who do you think the figures are? what do you think's gonna happen?!