Phew! I have had an extremely busy weekend. I'm not sure if this qualifies as a short chapter or a long chapter. I do hope you enjoy it, though. Thank you to all of you who reviewed and alerted. I get giddy with every review I receive.
I do not own Naruto. If I did, there would be at least one girl in Konoha who thought Sasuke was a toad.
.
.
Practice and psychos aka Round Two
I took a deep breath and tried again. One step, two steps...three...I put my left foot out and then I fell.
'Umph! Ouch. Why is it always the fourth step?' I lay back on the sofa cushions and took a moment to catch my breath. Looking up at the stubborn, unscalable wall, I could only sigh. 'What am I doing wrong? Maybe I should try putting more chakra into it.'
Getting up I rubbed the newly created sore spot on my butt. Perhaps for the first time in my existence, I thanked God for the extra cushioning.
I closed my eyes and gathered chakra into the soles of my feet. I put one foot against the wall and felt it fuse and attach. Raising my second foot slowly I attached that one too. It was weird and uncomfortable to be horizontal off the ground like that. I took one step forward bringing both feet the same level. The pressure on my torso increased. I took another step. I started to feel like I was doing crunches. I took another step. I felt my hold weaken, focusing hard I forced more chakra into the soles of my feet. For a second it seemed to work and then I was falling backwards again. I felt the air knocked out of me for the millionth time that day. I had had enough. Walking gingerly over to the refrigerator I took out a bottle of water (I bought them and everyone drank them). Taking a deep breath I closed the fridge and froze. Standing in the doorway was a smirking white haired Jashinist. I backed up unconsciously. Still smirking, he propped his scythe against the door and walked slowly, predatorily in my direction. I moved backward, maintaining a steady distance between us. Opening the fridge he rooted around before taking out the bottle of orange juice (I bought it and everyone drank it). He then began opening cupboard after cupboard.
'There are cups in the shelf above the sink.' I said keeping my voice low. I wanted to do nothing more than run off to my room but I was very unwilling to put my back to him even for a second. He poured himself a full cup and leaned against the counter drinking my orange juice and staring at me. When he was finished he dropped the cup in the sink and turned to leave.
I was suddenly grabbed by the collar of my tshirt and pushed hard against the fridge. I felt my breath rush out of me. He smiled ferally at me. With his other hand he grabbed the hair close to my scalp and pulled hard forcing me to look him in the eye. I felt my knees weaken with fear and the pressure on my scalp increased painfully.
'Don't worry, I can't kill you,' He whispered, face close to mine. 'yet. Leader made that very clear but you should know I'm not much for following rules... Jashin will be pleased with your pain.'
I panicked. Struggling hard I managed to hit him hard across the face with my left hand. It snapped his head to the side but when he looked back at me, his expression wasn't one of anger, it was excitement. Grabbing me by the shoulders he shook me hard before slamming me against the fridge again. Momentarily stunned I was unable to react when his hands closed around my throat. Bringing his face close to mine he began to squeeze slightly. I felt the pressure begin to build as my blood was trapped in my face. My eyes started to tear up. I reached up and hit him again. The hit was weaker this time but his pleasure was distinct. It was disgusting. I tried to kick him but his lower body effectively pinned mine.
'Not so smug now, are we?' he asked as his hold tightened. I closed my eyes and focused. I brought my hands together and pushed them up between his arms. I put a lot of force (read chakra) behind the motion and managed to knock his hands off of my neck. Next, I feinted kicking him before using the distraction to run for my room.
It was the wrong thing to do. I was grabbed by the collar and tossed effortlessly to the floor where I slid to a stop against the window. He advanced then stopped, the sound of a cupboard door closing making him stop. We both looked behind him. Closing the last door, Itachi reached out and shook the orange juice carton before beginning his own search for a cup.
'The cupboard above the sink.' I managed to croak, startling myself.
He looked around Hidan at me. 'Thank you.'
Getting gingerly to my feet, I walked around the counter keeping Hidan within sight the whole time before all but running to my room. Once I was safely inside, I sank to the floor and began having the biggest panic attack of my life.
I spent the rest of that day hiding. I had been having such a good week too. I had never considered myself very domestic but cooking, cleaning, napping and practicing walking up walls had been fun. Interspersed with these experiences were conversations with Soji (who managed to find me often enough that it had to be stalking) and conversations with Konan and Kisame that didn't include death threats.
I crawled into bed feeling bruised and cranky. I hated hiding, I hated being afraid and the bastard was forcing me to do both. Growling softly to myself I forced myself to my feet and went back to the living room. To my relief and chagrin, Hidan wasn't there, so my grand gesture was wasted. Itachi, however was sitting by a window with a book in his hands.
'You're very stupid. Are you suicidal?' He said not looking at me.
'You're not one to talk.' I answered irritably.
'It would be better to avoid him. Hidan is unstable.' He looked at me then and his eyes went from blood red to black in an instant.
I sank down on the sofa. 'Tell me something I don't know. He is such a freak. I never knew that he was literally a masochist...the perve.'
He returned to his book.
'Itachi, can I ask you something?' no response. 'Why is it so hard to walk up walls? I always get four steps up before I fall off. I know that I've only just started and it'll take a while to get stronger but still I should be able to get more than four steps up shouldn't I?' still no response.
When I decided that he wasn't going to answer, I got up to leave. I was almost at the doorway when he answered, 'Momentum. When you're learning, you need momentum.' before resuming his reading.
I returned to my room and tried to read for a while. When I accepted the futility of that endeavour I practiced running up the wall (with my mattress as a cushion) before giving up on that too and falling asleep.
Review if you can.