AN:
You guys/gals spoiled me rotten with reviews, so I nearly held this chapter ransom until I received a few more. But then that little voice told me how stupid that was, so here it is.
But Feedback=Inspiriation=Faster Updates.
Thank you all!
2/14/12
Thank you DreamingIn2Eternity for your insightful review. What you said is true, and yes the scene could be portrayed better. But there is a reason for their tardiness and rather convoluted form of communication that will be half explained in Part II, Chapter 1. Rin saw it because she was in a different place than the rest of her team. Thank You for not likeing Aragorn's response. It is totally out of character, and I more or less fixed it with your help. Thank you very much! Happy Valentine's Day!
Elvish
*Japanese*
Eldarion felt very foolish as he jumped onto the back of an Uruk-hai, beheading its companions. He could have stayed in the tree and put a genjutsu on them, but no. He had to join the fray. The tall boy was jolted out of his inner rant when an Uruk-hai swung its sword at him. He jumped upward, swinging his Guan Dao in a downwards slash. The heavy blade cleaved the beast's helmet and skull in two. Landing on a tree branch, he ran through the hand seals for a fire technique. Eldarion's lips twitched with morbid satisfaction as the wounds he inflicted ignited. His grey eyes flicked to Aragorn, who was troubled by several Uruk-hai. While he was sure that the ranger had it under control, Eldarion was not keen on denying the man his assistance. Repositioning himself and his weapon, the shinobi jumped onto the back of another Uruk-hai. Eldarion was pleased to see that the armor offered little resistance to the heavy blade as it scythed through the crowd, severing limbs and heads alike. Stabbing his "mount" with a kunai, the boy jumped off the burning corpse. Eldarion put the polearm to use, whittling away at the fiends surrounding Aragorn. In the midst of his attack, he beheaded an Uruk that was directly in front of the Dúnedain, nearly nicking his nose. Eldarion winced and ground out an apology while blocking an attack. But Aragorn seemed to be more troubled by the purple flames spitting out of the neck wound. The tall man gave Eldarion a look, and then stabbed an Uruk without missing a beat. While killing Saruman's beasts, the shinobi took the opportunity to guard his Adar's back.
"A lot of them, aren't there?" he said as casually as possible, spitting a senbon into a yellow eye. It was not easy to fight back to back with a weapon that was a constant whirlwind. But it kept the Uruk-hai far away.
"You created the fire," Aragorn stated, parrying a sword blow then dispatching the creature.
The Guan Dao whistled slightly as he slashed at their black knees.
"More or less. The color changes according to what it is consuming,"
Eldarion could see that most of the Uruk-hai left behind to kill Aragorn were dead. The majority of those still alive were then engaged by the timely arrival of Legolas and Gimli. But then a strangled sound hit his ears. The pale boy didn't even need to turn around to tell that some Uruk was trying to strangle Aragorn. Taking a glance at the man's stance and the fiend, he chewed his lip. Without a second thought, Eldarion shoved the Guan Dao between the ranger's legs and hit the Uruk-hai in the groin.
With a shriek of pain, the beast released its grip allowing Aragorn to slit its throat. Stepping over the red shaft, he turned to face Eldarion.
Pale-faced with a nearly non-existent tremor in his voice, he said:
"Be careful when you do something like that,"
The tall boy turned pink, catching his meaning. A loud clearing of the throat caught his attention. He turned to see Gimli standing beside Legolas. Both looked very amused, despite the situation. Eldarion had no idea what to say to them.
"You are fighting very well, Master Dwarf and Master Elf. But we should kill all of these things, just in case," he said, with a forced grin.
Gimli hefted his axe. "Then what are we waiting for?" he asked.
Aragorn gave Eldarion a small smile before the four ran down the hill to engage with the Uruk-hai.
†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†
"What have we learned today kids?" asked a chipper yellow-haired man.
"That oni are very combustible," chorused Team Minato.
Standing atop an ashy pile of orc remains, Namikaze Minato wiped away a tear of pride from his sky blue eyes.
"I have taught you well," he whispered melodramatically. Rin's cheerful eyes laughed at her sensei's acting. Her male teammates sighed and rolled their eyes.
Fighting the orcs was laughably easy in Minato's mind. Their only strength lay in their numbers, a strength Minato was trained to nullify. Rin had accidently discovered that the oni would explode if a chakra current was run through them. The petite brunette was not pleased to have orc guts all over her outfit, but she took it all in stride. Obito and Kakashi went wild with their Jutsu, nearly starting a wildfire due to their recklessness. So it no time at all, any oni in a 15 mile radius was exploded or toast.
"So what now?" asked Kakashi. "We can't go back just yet,"
Rin's eyes suddenly lit up. "We could do the laundry! Or better yet, take a bath! I saw something that looked like a hot spring not half a mile from here,"
Obito snorted. "The laundry? Do you even have the laundry?"
Rin gave him a look. "No, but you do,"
Checking his backpack, Obito saw that he did, indeed, have the laundry.
Minato raised his hand. "All in favor of getting clean say 'Aye',"
"Aye,"
"Aye,"
"Aye,"
†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†
Legolas found that he liked Hoshi's way of fighting very much. The boy was very graceful, almost elf-like. The whirling blade dissuaded many of the Uruk-hai from attacking head-on. Never the less, they were sliced to bits. They kept running down the hill, killing any of the fiends that could. More than once the Mirkwood elf resorted to his long knives to keep the orcs at bay. Aragorn was constantly targeted by the Uruk-hai. At one point he had to shoot one that was strangling the man. Legolas was pleasantly surprised to see the dwarf hold his own. The stranger often fought beside the axe user, bringing their wrath upon the foul creatures. But there were so many of them...
Legolas ducked as something flew over his head. After stabbing out a yellow eyeball then shooting the owner of the eye, he turned to the tree trunk. Hoshi was lying upside down against the tree, with a trickle of blood oozing out of his mouth.
"Hoshi!" yelled Gimli. The child's eyes opened. He blinked a few times then giggled.
"Everything is upside down," he slurred. The boy's weapon had disappeared, as it was no longer beside him. In the distance, Legolas heard the sound of a horn.
Aragorn grabbed Hoshi by the arm and yanked him up.
"Can you see clearly?" he asked, a concerned look on his face.
Hoshi shook his head. "Nothing is in twos and everything is so sharp. Where did the blurriness go?" he answered, snickering. It was clear that the boy was fine.
"This is no time to be goofing off!" he growled. After making eye contact with Gimli and Legolas, the four moved onward. It was clear that Boromir was in trouble.
The boy grabbed his head and inhaled deeply. He stood up shakily then trailed behind them. Aragorn continued to address the injured child.
"I want you to contact your teammates, now," he commanded as they ran along
Hoshi gave the ranger a desperate look. "Across the river and several miles inland? By the time I get there the battle would be over!" he nearly whined.
"You must find a way!" cried Legolas. "We cannot deal with this number!"
The dark-haired boy was silent, then nodded. "Give me a minute,"
Hoshi ran off toward the river, while Boromir still called on his horn.
†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†
Merry was scared. The number of the orcs coming after them was enormous. Boromir was doing his best to protect them, but there were too many. There was not much he and Pippin could do other than throw rocks and stay out of Boromir's way. Suddenly, the Gondorian man was shot by an oversized arrow. Admirably, he shrugged off the pain and continued fighting. Then somebody else entered the fray.
"Hoshi!" cried Pippin. The human boy was throwing needles into the creatures' eyes, blinding them.
"I cannot stay for long," he stabbed an orc that got too close. "I need to get to the river,"
"Hoshi!" cried Boromir. Despite his exhausted, grim-covered face, he looked delighted to see the boy.
"Boromir, my friend! I would stay longer, but it must get to the river," the child replied in an overly cheery tone, and looked just about ready to leave until the man called out to him again.
"Gondor, will Gondor be safe?" he panted out while blocking several attacks at once.
Merry was confused. He looked up to the Hoshi giving Boromir a watery smile.
"It will thrive far into the Fourth Age," he croaked. "Farewell, Boromir, my friend,"
Just as the boy disappeared into the trees, Boromir was shot with another arrow.
†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†
Eldarion stumbled to the shore, half blinded by tears.
"Damn it," he thought, wiping away the tears with the cleanest part of his sleeve. "I did not think that it would be this hard,"
Choking down a sob, he shook his head, grabbing a certain kunai out of his pouch.
"I must have hit my head really hard to get so emotional,"
Scowling, he stood up, carefully holding both kunai and tag attached to it. Concentrating, he channeled his chakra into the tag. Immediately after he did so, Eldarion threw the Kunai as far out into the water as possible. He held his breath as it sank below the surface...
†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†
Rin yelped as she saw half the river go airborne before landing miraculously back into the river bed. Glad that she was already dressed, she ran to find the rest of her team.
"Minato-sensei!" a spiky, yellow head poked out from behind a rock.
"We just finished packing up the laundry, Rin-san," he replied pleasantly. "Is there anything else we need to do?"
"We need to return!" she cried. "Hoshi just gave us one of the signals!"
The jōnin snapped to attention, as did Kakashi. Rin looked around.
"Where is Obito?" she asked.
"Here I am!" cried a voice somewhere behind her. Rin turned around.
"Aiiiyyeee!" she screamed covering her eyes. "Put some clothes on!"
"Sorry!" he said, running over to put on his clothes.
"Hurry up, tardy," Kakashi said to him.
"I know, I know! Jeez,"
†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†
Eldarion sighed. That should have been enough to grab their attention. He turned his head towards the hill. Sighing heavily, he slowly moved along the water to his destination. Eventually, Eldarion began to recognize the ground; White, round pebbles, and graceful elven boats. This was their mooring. He looked across the water, spotting Frodo and Sam. His eyes widened as he suddenly remembered something. Being near the Ring hurt him physically, but he had to do this. Concentrating chakra on his feet, Eldarion ran over to the boat.
"Frodo, Sam!" he called out.
The two hobbits stopped rowing. Frodo gave him a wary look.
"Don't tell me that you plan on coming with us," he said tiredly.
Eldarion shook his head. "Hardly. But there is something I should give you,"
Both Sam and Frodo had their eyes glued to him as he reached into his kunai pouch. Holding out Minato-sensei's Hiraishin kunai to Frodo, he said:
"Whenever you are in dire need, or just want to talk to someone, throw this knife and Minato-sensei will appear,"
The Ringbearer cautiously took the weapon. "Thank you, Hoshi,"
Eldarion forced a weak smile and bowed. "Have a safe and pleasant journey to Mordor,"
That brought a smile to both hobbits faces. Eldarion gave their boat a gentle push forward.
As they rowed off to the eastern shore, the tall boy moved back to the west.
†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†
Aragorn was placing Boromir's body into the boat when Hoshi returned. The boy had gained a haggard look, and there were a couple tear tracks on his dirty face. The child took a look at Boromir's body.
"So he is dead then?"
Hoshi's voice was oddly devoid of emotion. Aragorn reasoned that it had to do with the shinobi's rules on emotion.
"Where are Merry and Pippin?" he asked.
"The orcs took them," responded Legolas. "Where are your teammates?"
Hoshi was about to open his mouth when he heard Obito's voice.
"Hoshi! We got the laundry done!"
The remaining members of the broken Fellowship were struck dumb.
"Laundry," Gimli said quietly, with disbelief etched on his face. "You couldn't come to our aid because you were washing clothes?"
"And ourselves," added Kakashi. "We were all dirty from killing all those oni so we decided to take a bath," he looked over Aragorn and Hoshi. "I would suggest a nice bath for both of you. There is a hot spring two miles from here. Quite pleasant, it would do you both good,"
Aragorn, despite his lack of energy, felt himself begin to shake with rage. Legolas was infuriated as well, but it was Hoshi who snapped.
"Have you no shame? Boromir is dead, Merry and Pippin have been kidnapped and the only good news is the Sam is with Frodo on the way to Mordor!"
A sob left his throat, as his lanky frame began to shake with tears.
Minato walked over to Hoshi and embraced him. Both Obito and Kakashi looked ashamed.
"Why does everyone I befriend have to die?" he croaked.
Rin gave him a hurt look. "Are we not your friends?" she asked.
Hoshi shook his dark head. "No," he whispered. "You are another family, and I would like my family to pay their respects to my friend,"
Minato gave the grieving boy a pat on the head and walked over to Boromir's body.
"Boromir was an honorable man. He fought bravely and was loyal to his country to the end. I am proud to have fought alongside him,"
Aragorn was confused on why they were making speeches until Hoshi explained it to him.
"It is a custom in Konoha to speak about the fond memories one has of the dead at the funeral," he whispered, his voice cracking.
Kakashi stepped forward. "Boromir was a courageous man who never shirked his duty. He did what he had to do to protect his people. Rest in peace, Boromir-sama,"
Rin approached the boat next. "Boromir was a kind and strong individual. While I might not have known him for long, I respect him for who he is, a true servant of his country,"
Obito inhaled deeply. "Boromir was a great man. He never called me stupid and always laughed at my jokes. He was an awesome fighter and a fair person. I wish him happiness beyond the grave,"
All four shinobi except Hoshi were standing by Boromir. On unsteady legs, Hoshi walked up to the boat.
"Lord Boromir, you taught me to hold a sword correctly. With unending patience you allowed me to hack away at your shield with sword or my blades. Your love for your city showed in your words and actions. I admire your courage and devotion to your people. I wish that I could have thanked you before this, Boromir. You were a dear mentor and beloved friend,"
After a moment of silence, Aragorn pushed to boat bearing the body of Boromir into the current, where the water would take it over the waterfall.
The quiet was then broken by a certain yellow-haired shinobi.
"So I understand that we have some hobbits to rescue?" he asked
†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†(/-\)†
End of Part I