A rough scraping sound echoed through the compound, effectively waking Ari up. She shook her head, shaking away the drowsiness. Then she remembered her nightmare, it was horrible, so many cages, betrayal and pain. Then, a bright messy blob of yellow came tearing through the halls.
"Slow down dobe" a voice called to Naruto, who was standing at the door, chain in hand. Then the rest of his team arrived, all of them looked like they could fall asleep at any moment, except for Naruto he looked like he had been awake for hours. Kakashi yawned taking the keys and unlocking the iron door. Once again Naruto walked up to Ari, the air was thick, and it was hot, very hot. As soon as Ari felt the chain clip around her neck, she ran through the hallways, Kakashi yelled in surprise, as did Sasuke, Sakura screamed and Naruto was dragged off his feet.
Finally after what seemed like ages, the group reached the door.
"Kakashi open the door" Ari commanded grinning and fidgeting excitedly
"Why are you in such a hurry?" He retorted
"Because, I'll see the sun rise" she answered.
Deidara sat on his bird, waiting for Ari, Sasori sat next to him, grumbling about this taking too long. Deidara was excited, he couldn't wait to talk to Ari again, it felt like someone understood him, understood the need for freedom. She was like him, different to 'normal' people, if there was even such a thing as normal. Then Deidara saw the thread of gold along the horizon, the sun was rising.
"There's Ari, about time too" Sasori called, his tail pointing toward the clouds, they in return parted to reveal Ari watching the golden sun break through the heavens. Beginning its long trek though the sky. Deidara could only just make out the details of her face, but he make out, she was smiling.
Then she turned around and saw Deidara and Sasori who were sitting on the giant clay bird. Ari grinned and flew toward the two with one last look towards the rising sun. As she neared the giant bird, she shouted in surprise,
"Sasori? Is that you?" She shouted happily
Sasori in reply nodded what could be seen of his head.
"It's nice to see you again Ari" he stated as Ari landed gently on the large clay bird.
"Sasori, stop hiding in that hideous puppet of yours, get out breath the air, and feel the sunshine" Ari scolded touching the metallic tail absentmindedly, the tail jerked away from her touch,
"No" he replied
"Why not?" Ari whined unhappily
"Because I said so" was Sasori's stern reply,
"Butface" Ari mumbled to soft for Sasori to hear
"Butface?" Deidara asked in a whisper
"Or arseface, whichever you prefer" she replied childishly
Deidara snickered then turned his attention to the chain, not noticing the clouds parting with the wind. Then much to the groups surprise a shout came from below, suddenly Ari's chain was tugged violently pulling her off the bird.
"ARI!" Deidara and Sasori yelled dashing to the edge of the bird to watch Ari fall.
Meanwhile down on the ground, panic was evident, Shikako and his previous team had arrived after the alarm had sounded at the sight of the clay bird hovering thousands of meters above the village, thinking it was an attack Kakashi had sounded the alarm, but then found it was much more serious, Ari the key to the survival of the village was escaping. Ari was part of a demonic clan, as long as she or another of her clan was in the village it was safe from attack from the clan of demons.
Shikako's shadow rose twisting and spiralling to catch the falling Ari, she was on her back and unable to open her wings, one of them looked like it was dislocated from the force of the air rushing past her. Shikako's shadow reached Ari and caught her in a shadow possession Juitsu, the signature of the Nara clan, which Shikako was the head of, for a few seconds Ari hovered, Shikako forcing her to fly, but then to everyone's horror she continued falling, plummeting towards the ground.
Ari screamed as she fell, not from the fear of hitting the ground, but from the pain of her dislocated wing, it was flailing uselessly beside her.
I'm gonna hit the ground. I'm gonna hit the ground. I'M GONNA HIT THE FUCKING GROUND! Were Ari's thoughts as she fell, were mantra of 'I'm gonna hit the ground' again and again. Surprisingly it wasn't the first time she had fallen, each time she had lived, but she was much higher up this time, her only hope was that she would live.
Ari continued to plummet towards the ground at tremendous speeds, for a moment the light struck her and she looked like a falling angel, but that was one moment and it passed. Finally Ari finished her decent and hit the ground, a cloud of dust rose around the area she had hit the plume of golden dust reached up towards Deidara and Sasori, and shielded them from view, allowing them to escape.
The crowd of ninja circled around Ari, she lay crumpled in the dirt, and a small crater had formed from the force of her impact with the earth. Shikako stepped forward, and reached forwards with two fingers and pressed them to her neck, feeling her pulse, checking if she had survived the tremendous fall.
Much to his delight, she was, but barley her heartbeat was thumping lightly against his fingers. Shikako, her former sensei gathered the winged girl up in his arms, she was light so light his barley had to lift her at all, her arm was hanging at an odd angle, obviously broken. Gently with one hand he lifted her tattered shirt up, to reveal her ribs, six of them were shattered, but what was scary was, he could stick one finger in-between her ribs, she was so thin.
Chaos, pain, blood. They were the things that were depicted in Ari's dreams. Darkness, betrayal, and destruction. Ari jolted awake, her eyes adjusting to the warm sunlight, she sat up, her long hair pooling around her, she then turned her attention to her left arm, and it was covered in bandages. Her eyes widened, and raised her wings, to be specific her right one, the one that had been dislocated.
A smile covered her face, as she lifted it, tilting it making sure it was all fine, much to her joy, it was. The doctors had put it back in place. She heard the door creak as it was opened, in walked Shikako.
Ari's head whipped around, her face twisted into a scowl as she eyed her former sensei
"Hello Ari" he called,
"Shikako" she replied curtly,
"Not Shikako sensei?" he asked mocking fake hurt,
Ari glared her golden eyes narrowing and her wings pulling themselves, much like an angry bird would.
"You lost the right to be called sensei when you betrayed me" she replied her voice cold,
"Now we both kno-" Shikako began,
"We both know that's bullshit" Ari cut in her voice venomous,
Shikako sighed, as far as he was concerned he had no choice, if she died the village died, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
"Look Ari, you know why I did it. Can't you let it go?" He asked,
"Cut the bullshit Shikako, that dungeon that I was landed in is worse than death itself" Ari replied her voice dark, warning.
Shikako put his hands up in defeat, although he had known it would end up like this from the beginning he still had to try.
Once again the door creaked open and in walked the third Hokage.
"Ari, Shikako, have you told her yet?" he asked his eyes forlorn.
"No lord Hokage" Shikako replied, Sarutobi sighed,
"Ari, under order of the council, in one month you are to be... executed" Sarutobi informed