CHAPTER 16

Memories: Student and Sensei

The lightning was zooming in fast on Miyuki and the others continued to watch the fight from the sidelines. The power came crashing down on her with an intense force as a blinding light covered the battlefield. Crackling sounds of the lightning resonated on the field as Team Taka waited for the light to die down, so they can see what happened.

Karin was worried about the blonde. The chakra put into that attack was a frightening amount and there was a possibility that Miyuki couldn't escape that jutsu unscathed. Suigetsu on the other hand wanted to help her, despite her telling him not to. He was not the kind of man to sit back and let a girl do all the fighting. He decided without the others knowing that he was going to kill Ami the minute Miyuki's jutsu was finished or whenever he saw an opening, whichever option came first.

Jugo scanned the area, trying to look for the blonde, "Where is she?" he asked as he continued to look around. It was until a second later that he along with Suigetsu and Karin saw her again. The blonde had emerged from the smoke that had erupted from the electrical shock.

Miyuki had several scratches on her legs and arms from protecting herself from the rigid dirt that went flying everywhere after the attack was executed. She had barely dodged that last jutsu and she glided on the grass to get away from Ami. The blonde growled in frustration. Even though she was attacking with everything that she had, she wasn't getting anywhere at all and it was upsetting her. It didn't help much when Ami was looking at her with sadistic grin that was clearly mocking her.

"Ami-sensei, you are really pushing me to the brink, aren't you?" Miyuki asked with a hint of amusement, despite that this situation was nowhere near being funny.

"I can see the results of your training...Well, I must say you've definitely improved over the years, Miyuki..." Ami praised with a sinister smile. "...However, it still isn't enough to kill me..."

"Oh man...This is bad..." Suigetsu pointed out as he watched the conversation from the distance. "This is really, really bad..."

"What is it?" Karin asked.

"Miyuki can't go through with killing her!" Suigetsu guessed and just by looking at the blonde's expression, his guess was right on the money. "She has the desire to win, but she doesn't have the instinct to kill. She is not taking this battle seriously because her heart is not in it! If that was the case, she would have beaten her a long time ago!"

Karin thought Suigetsu was overreacting but when she looked at Miyuki's face, he was right. Her eyes were glossed over with hatred and confusion as she took in small breaths to even out her breathing. She could see it as clear as day now. She figured out where Suigetsu was going with this and it didn't take Jugo long to figure it out, either.

"Karin, Jugo, you understand, right...?" Suigetsu hoping that they knew what he was talking about and they answered him with a simple 'yes'. Now that they had that settled, all they had to do was wait for the right moment.

"Miyuki-chan, I see that your friends are contemplating a counter attack to try and help you out..." Ami guessed and Miyuki gasped as she glanced over her shoulder to see Team Taka silently whispering to each other. "...But let's not have anymore interference, shall we?"

Karin gasped. "Guys, if we really want to help Miyuki, I suggest we do something quick before she puts that shield up!" The red head warned urgently and the others noticed the quick hand signs that Ami was making from the distance.

"Raiton: Jou Kyoten!" [ 雷遁: 陛衛(Lightning Release: Imperial Guard)]

Suddenly, a blue light flickered in her hand as it crackled and lit up from the amount of chakra being put in it. "Now, my precious student...let the real games begin!" Ami spread her arms out and the light started to form a shield of pure lightning, stretching outward and surrounding her. The shield touched the trees and they snapped like twigs as it continued to quickly grow larger and wider in size.

As acting leader, Suigetsu had to think quickly. Even though Miyuki's healing jutsu was still trying to heal his injuries as well as the others, he refused to let Miyuki get trapped inside Ami's lightning shield. Standing up, the water nin grabbed his sword by the hilt and looked down at Jugo who was still trying to let his wounds heal. "Jugo, give me a boost!" he ordered.

Jugo stood up and nodded as the the two of them ran off in the direction where Miyuki was. Karin tried to called them back, but they were already too far gone to even hear her. Jugo activated his curse mark as his right arm grew appendages and it turned into a jet booster, which Suigetsu had jumped on. Seconds later, Jugo had reeled his arm back and sent Suigetsu flying towards the battle terrain.

Ami tilted her head to the side as she seen Suigetsu ascending towards the shield, having a death grip on his sword. Her sinister smile grew even wider as she continued to make the shield and in turn, making it stronger. With all his strength, Suigetsu swung his sword with incredible velocity onto the shield, trying to cut through it but that was proven to be quite difficult. He growled in vexation as he was trying with all his might to break it, but he was loosing his footing that he had secured on the ground. It wouldn't be long before the power from the shield would fling him back, electrocuting him again in the process.

'I gotta get through this fucking contraption...! I refuse to let that woman take her from me...! I won't let it happen...!'

"Suigetsu-kun, stop it!" Miyuki pleaded. "You'll hurt yourself! Get away from the shield!" She begged him to stop, but he didn't listen to her. He just continued to push forward. Ami had the upper hand at the moment as she relished the fact that Miyuki had some pretty strong feelings towards the water ninja.

Suigetsu just smirked and chuckled under his breath. "As if. You got the wrong one if you thought I would just sit back and let you do all the damn fighting. A man never lets a woman fight for him!"

"You're a strong one, brat. I'll give you that much..." Ami complemented, clearly enjoying him struggle.

"Suigetsu-kun, what about my promise?" The blonde asked. "I thought you understood what I wanted to do!"

"A promise means nothing...if you don't live to carry it out..." Suigetsu whispered. He couldn't hold his ground anymore and the strength of the shield flicked his sword away from him and the electrical currents got a hold of him. The lightning-based chakra barrier sucked him in and sent multiple shocks of electricity throughout his body.

The force from the electrical shock was so strong that it pushed Suigetsu back with an intense force, making him crash back-first into a large stone boulder that was planted heavily into the ground. His body shook violently as the aftershock sent tremors all over his and he slid down the rock, groaning in pain from the assault.

"Suigetsu, you all right?" Karin asked as she and Jugo came to his aid. The red-head knelt down and checked on him. Despite the pain he was in, Suigetsu was all right...on the outside. He was suffering from severe electric shocks to the Chakra Pathway System and it was slowly draining his strength, making it even harder for him to fight and move around. "You can't take anymore blows, Suigetsu. Anymore and you'll short circuit your Chakra Pathway System, and I think you already know what will happen..."

Suigetsu sucked his teeth. "I know that...me and my big mouth..." he joked and he slowly sat up again to watch the raging battle.

Ami chuckled deviously. "Such a pity that a fine young man such as him would go to such lengths to try and rescue you, Miyuki..."

"Why you!" Miyuki yelled in a rage and charged towards her teacher, who had her back turn at the moment. Ami turned around and the blonde was only inches away from striking her with a chakra-infused punch. "Take this!" Miyuki reeled her hand back as her hand glowed and she lunged forward. Her attack was zeroing in on Ami's face, inching closer and closer to pummeling her...

'Miyuki, help me!' A familiar voice called out to her and Miyuki gasped as she stopped herself from going any further. Was she hearing things? She could of sworn she heard her teacher's voice...her real voice...The one she remembered as a child.

'Ami-sensei...?' She thought with wide eyes. Her closed fist that was nearly touching the tip of Ami's nose was now shaking and her lips quivered in fear as she slowly backed away from her.

Karin narrowed her eyes at Miyuki and then she glanced over at Ami, who's smirk had turned more sadistic as she placed her hand on her hip. 'What's going on...?'

Taking this chance, Ami had kicked Miyuki in her stomach, making the blonde fly back. Then, she put her hand behind her back and pulled out a white flower with a long green stem and clasping leaves on it. With precise aim, she threw the flower at Miyuki as multiple roots opened up, trapping the blonde in a tight bind with the roots tightening down on her arms. Miyuki fell on her side in the grass, wincing in pain as the roots steadily squeezing.

"Miyuki had her right where she wanted her! What the fuck happened?" Suigetsu questioned to his teammates, unsure about what just transpired. Did he missed something? What made Miyuki stop her assault at the very last second? Jugo didn't know what had happened, either, but he did wanted to know was the blonde all right. He had never seen such fear in her eyes before.

'Ami's chakra...it's like it's controlling her from the inside. That can't be right...Everyone should be able to control their own chakra but hers..it's like it has a mind of its own. Is Ami trying to trick Miyuki into lowering her guard or is it something else...?' Karin wondered as she tried to figure out what was happening.

"Now, now, Miyuki..." Ami held up her right hand and she continued to take slow steps towards the trapped blonde as chakra flowed into her hand to form electricity "...we can't have you trying anything funny, now can we?"

'Ami-sensei...how did it come to this...?' Miyuki was focusing her chakra to try and free herself from the flower rope. While doing so, she started to remembered the good times with her sensei...

Outside the Ninja Academy, four figures were scattered across the field, each person relaxing after a long day of training. The sun was shining brightly and the temperature was nice and breezy.

Little Nariko had fell asleep the minute she layed on the grass. She had pushed herself a bit too hard and wore herself out as usual. Sarina, their other teammate had decided to sit by the river and read her book while staring at the clouds from time to time.

Miyuki however wanted to stay with her sensei and enjoy her company, even though Ami told her that she didn't have to.

"Ummm...Ami-sensei...?" Miyuki asked nervously.

"What is it, Miyuki?" Ami answered her with a smile and Miyuki blushed slightly when she called her name.

"Have I...well...has my training improved...?" Miyuki questioned, twiddling her fingers. "I mean...I know that I've been trying my hardest lately, but it seems like that I keep falling behind. My big sister always does everything that she is suppose to do and even Sarina is showing improvements despite the fact that she just got out of Muscle Correction Therapy a year ago..."

Ami raised an eyebrow at her student. She had always worried about her skills as a kunoichi. "Where are you going with this, Miyuki?"

"Even though we just became genin, I feel like that I can do so much more but I can't..."

"Are you showing self doubt in your own abilities?" Ami asked and Miyuki gasped from her teacher's observation. She had hit the nail on the head. "There's no need to doubt yourself, you know?"

"And why is that?"

"As a kunoichi, you're pretty well rounded. You're pretty fit than most kunoichi and you've master the "Mystic Healing Palm Technique" as well. Hell, you mastered it a whole lot faster than Sakura did." Ami praised, trying to make the blonde feel better.

Miyuki lowered her head from what she said. "But...I'm nowhere near as good as my Godmother..."

"Listen, don't worry about trying to be as good as someone else. Focus on becoming a kunoichi that you can see yourself as in the future. As the saying goes: 'Each flower has a soul blossoming out to nature'."

"What does that mean?"

"I can't tell you everything, now can I? The important thing about growing is that you figure out things for yourself. I'm not gonna be around forever and I want you and the other girls to be prepared for the shinobi world even when I'm not here. I'll tell you what. The day that you figure out what I had said to you, I wanna hear what you think it means."

Miyuki nodded and formed a hopeful smile. "Okay!"

"Now, I'm gonna go get Sarina and you wake up your sister so we can all go home." Ami winked at her as she stood up from the tree to dust herself off. Miyuki glanced at Nariko, who was now drooling out the mouth and she turned her attention back to her sensei as she watched her sensei's figure disappeared to retrieve her teammate.

'I promise...I promise that I will figure it out and I will tell you...someday...'

Miyuki was now being held up in the air by Ami, whose free hand was now shaped into a blade from the lightning that she had formed. Tears threatened to come out from Miyuki's eyes as she looked at her sensei with a look of sorrow. 'Why can't things go back to the way they were...?'

"Miyuki!" Suigetsu screamed, fearing that the young girl was about to get killed before his very eyes and Ami did the cruelest thing that any shinobi could have ever done. She turned around to the others, letting them see the helpless look on Miyuki's face.

"You see this, Taka? I'm letting you see her one last time before I send her to the afterlife!" Ami chucked in a dark tone as she raised her hand. "You and your parents will have a lot to talk about when I send you to see them. I'm sure that they'll be happy to know that their youngest daughter was killed in battle!"

"Shit!" Suigetsu yelled finally standing up and started running towards the area to help the blonde-haired kunoichi. Karin knew better to not try and stop him this time.

He was making a valiant effort to save her, despite the damage that had been done to his body earlier. He had cuts all over his body but he didn't care about that to say the least. The only thing that mattered right now was making sure that Miyuki didn't die right in front of him. He remembered when Sasuke told him to look after Miyuki and if she were to die, he could never be able to forgive himself if that was to happen and Sasuke will most certainly kill him for it. To make things worse, time was not on his side, because Ami was now swinging her hand down, coming closer and closer to decapitating Miyuki by her neck.

Five...

Karin and Jugo looked on as they realized that Miyuki was staring death in the face and their only thoughts were: Was she going to die?

Four...

"MIYUKI!" Suigetsu cried, praying and hoping that he reached her in time. He was not gonna let her die. He refused to let that happen...

Three...

"Goodbye, Miyuki..." Ami said without any emotion. Miyuki struggled for as long as she could, but she couldn't hold on anymore and she let her arms fell numbly to her sides.

Two...

The horrible sound of flesh being ripped apart and torn was heard from the distance as everything around them had stopped. The air was still and thick, and then, very slowly, the dark red liquid sprayed and splattered in the air as it coated the grass and trees with its sticky substance. Everyone was silent and their hearts stopped as the blonde kunoichi fell limp on the ground, her body not moving anymore.

And Karin's anguish screams filled the skies above them. "MIYUKIIIIIIIIIII!"

* * *NEXT CHAPTER SYNOPSIS* * *

The next chapter of Changing Fate is:
The Will to Fight and Protect Our Dreams

The battles comes to its final stretch! Suigetsu watches in sheer horror as Miyuki is struck down and Nariko shows Mizuki her last spark of fire...