For the longest time, I was obscenely jealous of them. They were the heroes; they were the ones who got to fight the bad guys. They were the ones who could risk their life for what they believed. They were trained in both mind and body to be honed as only the sharpest weapons. They possessed abilities that stunned and mortified with the sheer power. They the epitome of everything I wanted, but could not achieve. The ninja of The Village Hidden in the Leaves were simply heroes.
"Kai quit gawking, and help me with these potatoes." My mother scolded viciously, interrupting my thoughts and disrupting my wonderment as I gazed at some of the shinobi returning from missions. The group that had caught my attention were ANBU: special operatives. The reason why I was staring, was that to see an ANBU squad at all was extremely rare. Normally, they would take the most obscure and least open routs to the hokage tower. They kept themselves out of sight, especially from civilians.
"Kai!" the voice of my mother was so shrill that all the venders and their bartering, chattering patrons ceased talking. They gazed at the two of us with puzzlement, as if they expected one of us to spontaneously combust. No one but my mother could screech and make everyone think that there was a fire or a kidnapper nearby. My attention swiveled back to her. She glared at me fiercely, both of her thin hands were placed on her ample hips, and she looked ready to tear my head of with a good lashing of her tongue.
"Aa?" I mumbled softly.
"Don't 'Aa' me, young lady, now pick up those potatoes and hurry up about it." She snapped her fingers and proceeded to shove through the crowd of shoppers to the next stall. They grumbled and glared at her as she pushed and prodded those who got in the way. Some of them shot off apologetic looks at me. I nodded in acknowledgement; it was nice that someone cared enough to understand that you cannot pick your parents. The sad thing was that, those nice people were aware that I was related to her.
Carefully, I bent down and grasped the bag of potatoes; mother would be even angrier if I spilt all of the vegetables, rice, and other groceries that we picked up from this trip to the market. Under my breath, I grumbled some not-very-nice things about my very stern troublesome mother. The people on the street were considerate, they would move out of the way when they saw my load. I thanked each one softly.
My mother haggled with the poor fish stall owner mercilessly. She was a merchant, brought here long ago by my father, when he fell in love with her on one of his missions. Every one that hears this story goes all mushy and sighs something about true love. That is not the case, if they'd ever come to my house when my father is home and my mother is feisty, all notions of true love would go scampering out the window as fast as you can say ninja. I'm sure that some complaints have reached the Hokage's desk on more then one occasion. Both of my parents have voices that echo through the village soundly.
After all, my father is still only just a jonin, an unhappy cankerous man, who didn't know what he was getting into when he married my mother. Now he took as many missions that he could, and also served as an official courier for the feudal lord. That was the one joy in my father's life, serving the feudal lord and his village by bearing important messages between the two. It didn't matter to him that at most these correspondences were pretty formal words penned by scribes with as little connection or importance as small talk. Regardless, it made him happy. This equated to less noise in the house.
She shoved a package that rank of raw fish onto the teetering pile in my arms and paid the man quite a bit less then it was worth. He probably just wanted to rid himself of her. When we left, he shouted for us to have a good day, but left off the "come again soon" part. I adjusted the bags in my arms and docilely followed my mother home quietly. It was better then risk saying something that I would regret. She prattled on as per usual.
"And did you see Kinkano, I swear every time I see that women she gains another 5 kilos. She was with that boy, Tusu and isn't he one of the sorriest looking male you have ever seen, His face is completely scarred and pitted from that shrapnel, It's such a shame he was really a handsome boy."
I didn't listen any more, instead opting to quietly observe my surroundings. A slight breeze caressed the leaves of the giant oak tree above us, the pavement of the road was even cobblestone, patches were new and other were decrepit with age. That is one thing about living in a ninja village, Every so often it gets attacked and buildings and roads are blown to smithereens, so the ruined patches get redone lending in a fairly patchwork of new and old.
People streamed down this road slowly, traveling at different paces, going different directions. They would greet friends and aquaintences with smiles and waves. My mother did not receive very much in relation to how many she sent out. Her scowl deepened. However, I was smiling and nodding slowly to everyone that sent one to me. I couldn't wave as my hands were full, and they all seemed to realize that stopping me to chat would be a disservice as I would have to stand and hold it all. I was grateful for their thoughtfulness.
I glanced toward the clouds wistfully, this was defiantly not on my top fifty list of how to spend my afternoon, but it could not be helped. I just wish that this torrid routine would splinter in favor of something exciting and new…
Yelps of pain and angry curses erupted behind me. My mother wheeled around just in enough time to get shoved mightily so she crashed into a table of a little sweet shop we were passing. I tried to turn too, but with my arms ladened with food it was impossible to move quickly, but I was soon relieved of the weight as the man who tossed my mother aside like a rag doll, bowled me over. All of the vegetables flew into the air like a rainbow before falling, the mushrooms landed lightly by my feet, and I stepped on them in the fight to keep my balance. The squash splattered dully on the cobblestones of the road, and the apples rolled and bounced bruising their soft flesh.
I wasn't exactly sure what happened next. One moment, I was watching all of the groceries fall and break, when a flicker of movement from my left registered in my stunned brain. The next moment, I was facing the ANBU squad from earlier, and the man responsible for this calamity held me in a bruising and very secure grip. His left hand pressed a very sharp kunai knife to my throat, and his right arm pressed my back to his chest. In some ways, this was vaguely reminiscent of an embrace you would see between two young lovers. Except in those, the man did not hold a sharp tool for slaughter to the tender throat of his beloved.
Great, now I was a hostage. The man had grabbed the closest person to him when he realized that he wasn't going to escape if he ran. It was unfortunate that person closest to him was me; sometimes I have the absolute worst luck. He panted behind me, the rise and fall of his chest when it pressed to my back was extremely unsettling, the movement seemed so intimate, and each time he exhaled a puff of the warm moist air stirred the hairs on the back of my neck, causing goosebumps to erupt all over my skin.
Adrenaline pumped through my body. It started in my toes and swept up my appendages focusing itself on my heart as it started to thrum faster and harder. Despite that, I felt my face drain of blood and the slight tingle as it came back. A thin pressure wrapped itself around my lungs forcing me to take longer deeper breaths punctuated by gasps when I still could no get enough air to my lungs. My mouth was dry.
My captor called out to the captain of the ANBU. He was the one who stood before us. I could not see the expression in his eyes considering that a porcelain mask depicting a dog completely covered his face. Swirls, vermillion like fresh blood, colored the sides and ended in elegant swirls that ended just above the eyeholes.
His voice was gruff and rumbled along my back unpleasantly before it exited. When the words ground out, they seemed to fall with his rank breath onto the hairs of my neck.
"Stop! Don't take another step." His command was punctuated by the kunai's decent so its sharp point dug painfully into the flesh just above my left collarbone. I whimpered pathetically. The ANBU captain held up his hand, fist open in the universal signal for stop. The other members of his team halted their predatory creep forward.
My captor smirked feral and I could feel his breath catch in his throat in a humorless chuckle. He was enjoying this. The freaking jerk was enjoying the reversal of power. He liked the fact that the squad before us couldn't do anything to him, because he was cowardly enough to grab a human shield, me to be exact. I began to struggle in his hold. Kunai knife be damned.
His other arm snaked so it held even tighter around my waist, immobilizing my jerking movements. The knife plunged even deeper in the soft flesh. I muffled an agonized scream by closing my mouth and refusing to open it. However, it forced its way past my throat and came out choked and strangled. I ceased my futile resistance.
"ahh," he whispered soothingly. The sound was barely loud enough for the ANBU before us to hear is as they were no more then five meters away.
"You didn't sing." His voice held a note of dissatisfaction. "Why didn't you sing?" Lips, chapped and cracked, lightly grazed the skin at my throat. With a vindictiveness that I barely knew existed, the knife twisted while it was still buried in my shoulder.
Pain clambered its way up through my shoulder into my head where my vision blurred and grayed. As soon as the pain faded somewhat, another wave brought tears to my eyes and another strangled scream to my throat. But, I didn't open my mouth; I didn't beg for him to stop, as of right now my pride was strong enough to resist that. Regardless, with his mouth pressed, in a mockery of a kiss, to my throat, I could feel the malevolent smirk adorn his face.
I felt so blindingly helpless. Like I had no control over whether I lived and shunned this memory, or I died with a slice to my throat. It was unbelievably frustrating. There were two choices, I could trust this monster behind me with the vain hope that he wouldn't make a human kabob with me, or…I could fight back, and if there was any chance of my survival I was going to have to fight hard.
I suddenly came back to my senses. In my fight to stave off the waves of pain that were still emanating uncomfortably from the knife wedged in my shoulder and to minimize exposure to my throat my head ended up bowed with my eyes trained unseeing to the cobblestones beneath our feet. I snapped it up.
The abrupt movement startled my captor. He jerked his head back so he was no longer breathing down my neck. (Literally) His left hand gripped the knife even harder, but the adrenaline coursing through my veins made the pain a minor annoyance instead of a crippling force. My eyes caught those of the ANBU facing us.
I couldn't say, because I could not see his expressions because of his mask, but he seemed to be radiating surprise. It was like he never thought that he would see the day when a citizen would do more then just scream, writhe, and wait for the shinobi to handle the situation. The same surprise rendered the man behind me immobile, just long enough for the start of my retaliation.
With all the force I could muster, I flinged my unrestrained right arm backward to strike him solidly on his trachea. It crunched faintly under my elbow. The cartilage not being able to withstand the force collapsed. My captor's body curved forward as he gave a gurgle of astonishment. Without stopping to think, I lifted my left foot and raked my heel down his shin and stomped viciously on his instep. A grunt worked its way past his vocal cords. He was wheezing now, and blood colored the inside of his gaping mouth, but even through all of that, his left hand still clutched the kunai knife. As it was now, with the knife wedged under my collarbone, my entire left arm was useless. I turned partially; wrenching the kunai out of his grip and out of my shoulder, while simultaneously using my palm to hit the lower part of his nose forcing the bone to splinter under the hit. Just as the kunai clattered to the ground, I kneed the man in the groin. I sharp grunt and a muffled by blood curse followed this action.
The object of my beating crumpled to the cobblestones. He was choking and wheezing and obviously couldn't breathe. Blood spurted from his mouth with each cough as he tried to keep it from his lungs. His nose was flattened to his face. From it, two small consistent streams of blood, followed the curve of his upper list down his face and dripped from his chin onto the ground. His groaning echoed in the stagnant air. Two ANBU crept up on his prone form as if he was some wild animal that needed to be contained.
I scrambled backward. My right hand, done with punching and hitting people, automatically reached up to stem the flow of blood from my shoulder. When it made contact, I hissed in pain. It was a lot worse now there was no adrenaline to keep the pain at bay. I bit my lower lip in a half hearted attempt to keep silent. It didn't work.
The ANBU, cuffed and bound my assailant efficiently. In a matter of seconds they were forcing him to his feet. Although, it appeared that he was leaning on them too much for him to be entirely lucid. He stumbled and staggered, and they just tightened their grip and hauled him off. His eyes were crazed, and his face was pale from bloodloss.
My mother rushed toward me. But, before she could reach me the ANBU captain stood in her way, marring her progress. Protesting loudly, she swung her fist at the shinobi, effectively poking him in the breastplate with her finger. If my mother was any other person, the glare she received from him would have been sufficient to silence her protests, but my mother was not any other person. The glare just bloated her fury. My mother may not be a shinobi, she may not be very large in stature, but my mother does not back down from anything, and that includes ANBU captains,
"Excuse me?" I could see the rage that flickered through her body. If I'd had the strength to intervene, I would have for the sake of the poor man. I could see the minute changes in my mother as I recognized the signs of a full blown out tantrum. First; she settled back into what was vaguely reminiscent of a fighting stance. Then she lifted her shoulders, and flung her head to look above her, like a silent plead to kami, and then levels her honey colored eyes at the impassive captain.
"You WILL allow me to pass. I don't care what rules and regulations there are, my daughter is hurt. There is nothing you can do to stop me." Filled with self appointed authority she began to step around the man. He grasped her wrist and dully commented that her presence was not necessary at the current moment.
My mother all tears her thin wrist out of the restraining grip. "I will be there for my daughter, and my daughter needs me to be at her side. Who are you to say that I am unnecessary?" Then she insults the man in every conceivable way. She is just short of slapping him, when he turns and walks over to me. The irate woman looses her powerful demeanor in seconds. During her tirade, I remained completely forgotten. In that short time, I suppose I had slipped into the quagmire known as shock. My breathing was fast and unbelievably shallow. The entire world had once again faded to a strange monochromatic dreamlike quality. Tenderly, she glances at my face, pales and takes a tentative step forward.
"As you see, your childish displays have delayed me from doing my job, and your daughter is now entering shock. Now, if you would please vacate the premises so the medical ninja can effectively do their job in treating your daughter." His words were dispassionate and cool but they were effective enough to make my mother still. Guilt, an extremely rare emotion for her, settled on her face in the light furrow between her eyebrows.
"Her lips are blue…" my mom whispered softly. The observation swam around my brain for a bit before finally registering. I'd pay money to see myself right now.
"ANBU-san" I called faintly. The name comes out little more then a croak. I tried again. "ANBU-san"
"Hmm?" He was now kneeling beside me in the street. His large hand gently tugged on mine to remove it from my wound. I let the red stained appendage fall to the ground, where it left a smear of red on the white street. Exhaustion plagued my thoughts and stalled my thoughts. Soon a white cloth was placed on the wound and his hands applied more pressure then I'd had the ability to muster.
Hissing through my teeth, I wryly voiced my last thought. "I'm blood type O negative."
I slumped forward as the world spun in a carousal of colors and sounds. The spinning reached higher velocity and abruptly clunked shut when unconsciousness blackened my remaining senses.