Ch. 18: Accidents
As soon as I was back to our spot, I nudged someone standing nearby with my elbow. "Who won the last match?"
"Kumizo Hana."
"Thanks," I murmured distractedly, focused on the spinning panels about to announce the next two fighters.
"What, you don't recognize me?"
Surprised, I spun around and found myself face-to-face with—"You?"
"Depends on who 'you' is." The person was my height, my age, had wavy blond hair, and bright blue eyes.
"You're the one from my dream!" I gasped, not realizing how odd the statement sounded.
"Well, yes. I was born with the ability to speak to people in their dreams."
"Kekkei-genkai?"
"Yeah."
"How did you know who I was?"
"Well, I was the former owner of the Taiyou, and because of that, I am able to know who it moved to after me!"
"The Taiyou?" I was officially confused.
"That's why I told you that you were chosen! Because you were!"
"Chosen for the Taiyou," I deadpanned.
"Right, sorry, that's the name of the genjutsu where your eyes turn purple."
"Yeah, I knew that!…not really…" I got distracted again, looking across the battle floor to where some of my newer friends were crowding around…Washi, who was holding…two photographs.
"Excuse me for a second."
I walked until I was right behind him. The crowd immediately grew silent, but Washi hadn't noticed. I reached towards my weapons pouch and spoke up in a high-pitched, timid tone. "May I see what you are looking at, Warami-kun?"
"Oh yeah, of course!" He turned around to hand me the pictures, expecting a much shorter person, then froze as he took in a purple-clothed stomach instead of a face, then, eyes traveling upwards, took in the red stitching in the purple fabric, and then the dark, extremely pissed-off glare. I pried the pictures out of his loosened grip and looked to see what they were of. The first picture, a mistake, showed a thin pair of arms moving my head somewhere, both Kazu and I asleep. He must have drugged me, or else I would have woken up. The second picture showed the results of the actions in the first. What was the second picture? Kazu sleeping, legs criss-cross-applesauce, leaning against the wall, and me, lying alongside the same wall, legs extended and my head lying…in Kazu's lap.
"Warami," I said sweetly, feigning kindness as I used someone's cigarette to set fire to and burn up the photos.
"Yes?" he answered fearfully.
"You're so dead."
In a matter of heartbeats, I had him pinned to the wall with kunai stuck through his clothing, and I had another kunai up to his neck. It was then that I noticed a commotion by the door. I lowered the kunai and yanked the other ones out of the wall, then turned. "You got lucky this time." I ran to see what was going on, just in time to see Sarutobi-san stride through the door. He scanned the room, and once he spotted me, he beckoned for me to come to the doorway. I did as he motioned and made my way to the ever-growing crowd, on the edge of which I spotted him. Tsubasa. I grabbed his elbow and dragged him with me as I fought through the crowd, trying to get to Sarutobi-san.
Finally, I found myself in front of him. I released Tsubasa's elbow, and Sarutobi-san gave him the once-over.
"Who is this?" he asked warmly.
I noticed Tsubasa was starting to feel uncomfortable, so I leaned over and made a little something up. "Don't worry, he's a nice guy, like an old grandpa," I whispered. "Now introduce yourself!"
He smiled nervously, then opened his mouth to speak. I looked up at Sarutobi-san's expectant face. He gave me a knowing look. "Well, um, er…my name is Tsubasa. Nekowa Tsubasa."
Sarutobi-san stiffened very slightly at the sound of his last name, but poor Tsubasa was too busy mumbling out incoherent sentences to realize it. Sarutobi-san spoke up gently, interrupting him. "Why did you bring him to me?" he asked conversationally.
"Well, you wanted information on the true legendary Mangekyou Sharingan, so I thought you might want to talk to him," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Was he not your—"
"Twin brother, yes, but I have something to add. The original legend about the Mangekyou only working around the current host of the Taiyou is wrong. It will also work if in contact with anyone who has ever had it, and if it has at any time been exposed, it will continue to work until passed on to another person, in which case it will 'reset.' So Akuma was able to use it since birth. He hit me with it, but it had already moved from me soon after I was born, so it only sent me into torture instead of getting rid of the Taiyou."
"Only?" I exclaimed incredulously.
"Tomoko, bring Tsubasa with you to my office as soon as your last two teammates battle."
"Yes, Sarutobi-san."
"Very well, see you then." With that, the formerly retired Third Hokage strode swiftly back out of the entrance. To my surprise, Kaida walked in as soon as Sarutobi-san had left.
"I'm back! Miss me?"
After the excitement at her return, everyone soon turned back to the match that had already started, and we 'Mist Six' as Tsubasa nicknamed us, were back at the spots we were originally at. Well, for the most part, we were clumped in the spots we had at the beginning of the matches. The match currently going on was between a Zogiri Itsuki, the earth user who I had correctly classified before the First Exam, and Kokano Michiko, a thin girl from Suna.
After I introduced Tsubasa, I was surprised by how well he fit in the group. After all, he defused an argument between Washi and Deki by making Washi laugh at jokes that really weren't offensive to anyone, then stretched Deki's brain with anagrams and puzzles that none of us had ever heard before. Kazu he entertained by acting out stories, he impressed Kaida with his knowledge of weaponry, and he even kept Yumi and I interested by making up absurd ways to kill people with the weapons and the most random objects. We barely even noticed Washi and Yumi going aside to take care of Yumi's chakra issue. Barely. Meaning Deki bent five senbon into 'V's at the same time, then jabbed each one into the concrete, while Kazu and I stood ready to hold him back if he lunged, until Tsubasa calmed him down with another brainteaser.
Yeah, you really don't want to be around when he has his male version of PMS. The last time it happened—Kazu got kicked through a wall while I got hit with a lamp. Just because the mist was 'too thick.' Then again, it might have been because we ran out of his pills…
And then there was the time I lifted up and threw a bed through a wall, then ripped apart a phone book in rage the first time I got my female time-of-the-month.
And when one of the village bullies got Kazu riled up and extremely provoked, the disaster was about the same.
You know what, it just might have been the safest thing for your health to just avoid our team and our unpredictability in general. Yeah, that was probably a smart thing to do.
Anyway, we sat, waiting for the match to end and for Kazu and Deki's matches to come along, not really paying attention to what was going on. We started discussing the previous matches, and, out of the blue, Washi asked if anyone knew what had happened with Kaida's match. I was the only one who raised my hand, so the five others plus Tsubasa crowded around me, trapping me between the wall and themselves. Not like I was going to go anywhere.
I recounted the story, from when they were calling names, to the point where the weaponry came out, then ended with the med-nin carrying them both away.
"How come you could see all that stuff but I couldn't?" Washi asked.
"Dunno. Maybe because of this." I took out the Sharingan Disk, and as soon as I touched it, my senses, particularly my sight, sharpened.
"Cool, let me see that!" I let Washi hold it, a bad decision.
Within a second, he was on the ground, screaming muffled by Kazu's quick reaction of slapping a hand over his mouth.
"Wh-wha-what the—" Deki started stammering, never a good thing. Kaida looked stunned, Yumi lost her balance in alarm, and ended up landing, hard, on her bottom.
"What the fuck is happening?" Deki finally finished his sentence.
"The disk! Get it away from him! NO! Only Tomoko can touch it!" Tsubasa's voice snapped me out of my frozen shock. I snatched it from Washi's spasming fingers and stuffed it into my shuriken holster. Washi was still writhing on the ground.
"What do we do!" Yumi's hysterical half-scream sent Tsubasa into action, ordering us around.
"Tomoko, you're the only one who can do anything about it! Kazu, just put your foot under his head so it doesn't crash into the concrete, and keep him quiet!"
"But what do I do!" I wailed.
"Tomoko! Do what the med-nin did to Kazu!" Deki directed.
"I don't KNOW what she did!"
"I do! She used the Mystical Palm Technique, it's a medical jutsu. The hand signs are Ox, Tiger."
I froze. Out of everything I had mastered through years of practice and experience, I had never memorized the handsigns. I could copy them quite easily, remember sequences and perform them, but I could never remember their names, or call out the order. It was like a person who knew phrases in sign language, but could never separate out the words or make his own sentences.
So in other words—Washi was as good as doomed for the moment.
Kazu and Deki realized my dilemma.
"Tomoko, Deki's doing the Ox handsign, and I'm doing the Tiger handsign. Just go from one to the other, then apply chakra to your hands. Not too much, not too little. Just enough to push the disk chakra into his system." Kazu's surprisingly composed demeanor helped me to calm myself.
"B-b-but the disk—"
"Just do it!"
I took the disk back out and put it on Washi's chest with shaking hands, followed the handsigns and put my hands on the disk. The glowing green chakra turned to the same orangey maroon as before, while I fervently hoped I was using the right amount of chakra. Washi's thrashing slowly stopped, so I took the disk and my hands off of his chest. He abruptly sat up with a scared, wild look in his eyes.
Already prepared, Deki dumped a vial of sedative into Washi's partially opened mouth. Washi's breathing slowed as did his racing heartbeat. When he had calmed down enough, Kaida asked if he was okay. He opened his mouth and spoke slowly.
"What… hell…"
"Don't you mean 'what the hell?" Kaida asked. Washi shook his head 'no.'
"What hell… did I just go to?"
"Umm… just… I don't know…"
We noticed the people crowding around and staring at us.
"Nothing to see here, just watch the match! Sheesh! Nosy much?" Yumi was as polite as ever.
"We're all going to see Sarutobi-san later," I said with finality. "Just hang on until Kazu and Deki's battles. After that, we'll go there." Everyone nodded, and we turned back to the battle.
Zogiri Itsuki, the earth user, had just locked Kokano Michiko in a rock dome.
"Been there, done that," I said, mostly to myself.
"Been in there, done with that," Yumi said in response, referring to a mission back in Kirigakure that seemed to have happened years ago, though it really had occurred not even a month before. We both smiled, small smiles, still recovering from the scare and trying unsuccessfully to forget the ordeal as Kaida helped Washi up and he went to sit with the other three boys.
All of a sudden, we heard a shrill flute play. A fierce wind swept through, eroding the dome into plain dirt and sand. The next sequence of notes took that sand and drove it at the boy, Itsuki. He put up a rock slab as a shield. Michiko put down the flute, did a sequence of handsigns, and yelled, "Great Flood Jutsu!"
As a huge wave of water swept around the rock and engulfed Itsuki, Deki filled us in on their abilities. "Zogiri is an earth-user, as you can see, and Kokano can use some elemental jutsus, and her flute can be used to both control wind and cause genjutsus."
Sure enough, after doing a series of handsigns and yelling "Whistling Sands!" the next strain of notes caused Itsuki to fall to the ground, screaming. Yumi and I laughed at the sight of the large male screaming like a (baby) girl at the hands of the petite girl playing the small flute. Itsuki finally broke out of the genjutsu and jumped up, rocking a little unsteadily for a short second.
Then, to our surprise, Michiko removed the end of the silver instrument. The resulting sounds were very much higher, driving fiercer, sharper, more deadly, sharp winds towards Itsuki. His eyelids fluttered, squinting, to block out the intense, biting air force. Michiko started advancing, closer and closer, then threw sand into the cutting wind, causing Itsuki to screw his eyelids completely shut. The result was a gritty cloud of sharp, increasingly bloodier, blinding pain.
Unfortunately, Michiko was unable to see Itsuki barreling towards her through the cloud of grit.
We all heard a loud 'thud!' as the two bodies collided, then had to wait for the dust to clear before seeing the chaos. Somehow, Itsuki had ended up on his back with Michiko lying on top of him, and, at some point, their lips had met, and they were still connected. We looked on as Michiko's eyes widened, she shrieked, jumped up, and just as Itsuki started to get up, a chakra- and anger-powered fist knocked him into oblivion… and into the wall ten yards away.
"Match goes to Kokano Michiko." She was still screeching, and was now rubbing her mouth, spitting, and grimacing. Wonderful.
I caught a glimpse of that one girl, Yamanaka Natsumi, as she looked up at the same time. She was laughing. Hard. I started chuckling too, as did Yumi. I glanced up at the nameplates, only catching a glimpse.
"Hey, Kazu! You're up! Good luck." I heard a collective murmur go around at the name of his opponent.
"Nekowa?" Deki thought for a second. "Didn't Kazu already kill that guy?"
I was about to agree when I realized something. "Umm, Deki—he wasn't the only one with that last name."
"Good luck!" Tsubasa wished enthusiastically. "Oh, and I hear that this guy is a real hottie too."
Kazu looked at him oddly for a second, as if he was trying to figure out whether Tsubasa thought he was gay or if Tsubasa was gay. He shook his head to clear his thoughts before descending to ground level. I glanced up at the nameplates just as a confirmation of my suspicions. Sure enough, it read,
Nisi Kazuyuki vs. Nekowa Tsubasa.
As soon as Tsubasa joined Kazu on the battle floor, Deki announced to the other four of us remaining, "Well, I wonder what Tsubasa can do."
"What country is he from? I didn't see a forehead protector."
"Well Tomoko, if you had been observing him, you would've seen it sewn on his pants. He's from one of the villages in the Snow Country."
"Oh. Well thanks for saying that so considerately."
"You're welcome."
"Hey, is he on the same team as that Reiko guy?" Deki and I both looked at Yumi at the same time.
"I think so," Deki answered.
"Why?" I asked.
"It'd be pretty weird if they were three-for-three, wouldn't it? I mean, if everyone on your team fights someone on their team. I wonder who the last person on their team is?"
Kaida spoke up. "Maybe the girl screaming in the corner, cheering for 'Tsu-Tsu' is their teammate?"
I shrugged. "That reminds me, Washi, how are you feeling?"
"I think I might need to see a shrink."
"Why? Was it that bad?" Yumi asked.
"You don't want to know." She did anyway.
"Yes I do! Tell me tellme tellmtellmetellme—"
"FINE! Let's just say this—imagine Deki streaking—"
"Stop."
"—Across your front yard then colliding with that Itsuki guy-"
"Stop it."
"—Dressed in a tight skanky outfit—"
"STOP TALKING."
"—That includes any EXTREMELY short skirt—"
"SHUT UP!"
"…Yeah, multiply that horror by about a hundred and you get how I feel."
Yumi, Kaida, me, AND Deki shuddered.
"Poor you." Understatement of the century.