o-o Quite short and not the best, but… Yea.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO! MASASHI KISHIMOTO DOES! I also do not own any of the OCs introduced, except the following:
Tsukuyomi Clan
Nero
Hajin
Miyuki
Botan
A/N: Beginning portion is Akira's POV~
Chapter Nine: Going Crazy… Power Hungry Kunoichi!
I could remember my mother very clearly in my mind as I sat with my back to a tree trunk, covered with cuts and gashes. She had long dark purple hair, it looked almost black and her eyes were a nice, cloudy gray that oddly warmed you. She was always smiling… She made the funniest faces when Hioshi and I argued. It made me jealous how she always told Kazuya she was proud of him.
Father was the same way. He was a stern kind of guy with short raven hair and icy blue eyes that looked just like Hioshi's. He was always getting after me for fighting with Hioshi and he would yell at me the most. I'm not being a kid when I say that either because it was true. Everyone saw it, but even so, Hioshi didn't seem to like him for siding with him constantly. Hioshi told me that he wished father wouldn't be so biased. At the time, I didn't know what that even meant…
Despite having a firm father and a picky mother, our family was pretty content. Kazuya was working hard, even back then. Hioshi was the center of attention, being a prodigy child. I was just being mean, the risky moron. Then Ruriko was born and she was as loud mouthed back then as she is now. Everything seemed fine…
Back then… Before they died.
Before I killed them.
Before I waited until Kazuya, Hioshi, and Ruriko were out the door… Coming back to find me practically bathing in the blood of the woman who conceived us and the man who helped bring us here.
I asked Kazuya, Hioshi, and Ruriko on several different occasions if they ever hated me for what I did, my heart throbbing painfully at the mere thought of what I had done. I remember that only a year after it happened and I asked, Kazuya held onto me for almost an entire hour, telling me how much he loved me and he wished I'd forget what I did out of fear.
Hioshi told me he didn't care what I did, that in fact, I released some of the stress that was driving him insane. He even took the time to pull away from his work to take a nap together like we used to.
Ruriko, being the annoying little brat she was, told me she always loved me more than them, which I understood… She didn't know our parents as long as Kazuya and Hioshi did…
The thought of it was making me cry again. It was instinct now that whenever I thought of our past, of our parents, of what I did, that my eyes would burn with hot tears and my body would shake. Random words flowed out of my mouth that made no sense to even me. I felt like my younger self was taking my body over.
I gasped when pain shot up my throat and I was torn from my thoughts as Miyuki gripped the front of my shirt, jerking me up off the ground, my back scraping on the tree trunk. I yelped in pain, grasping her fist to try and pry her fingers, but she was definitely intent on pleasing Daiki. She had replaced her headband back over her eyes to hide the horrible secret beneath them.
"You will pay for murdering Kishiko-sama, little one…" She murmured monotone-like as she reeled her fist back. I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for the pain that I deserved when she stopped suddenly, letting me hit the branch at our feet. She turned as I scrambled to my feet, looking up at what stopped her. At the other end of the branch, Sora and Mai were positioned and ready for a fight. An expression of distaste and annoyance could be seen on Miyuki's face as she turned to face them.
"Leave Akira be!" Sora commanded, clenching her fists. Mai stood there as stoically as ever, but she was definitely tense for a battle. Miyuki frowned, giving her head a little tilt as if she were trying to be cutely innocent.
"You are in the way… If you do not want to die, I suggest you depart." Her voice was raspy from lack of use and harsh, very cold. Sora even flinched a little, but Mai was there to back her up.
"I believe you're the one who's causing a detour, interrupting the Chuunin Exams." Mai retorted smartly, narrowing her eyes. Miyuki tilted her head back up and made a hand sign.
"If you rather die, fine. I have no problem destroying worthless brats." She stated, her hands whipping out quickly. I watched as vines shot out from nowhere, aiming to strangle both the kunoichi, but they were ready. Mai shot up into the air and Sora did a few fancy flips, slashing her kunai at the vines. Ninjutsu was definitely blasting about now, flames and earth flying. I winced, watching Miyuki take a step back to avoid Sora, who had thrown a hot ball of fire at her. I took my chance and swung my foot around, kicking Miyuki in the side. I heard a faint gasp of surprise as she flew off the branch before doing a flip and landing on another one.
"Akira! Are you all right?" Sora demanded, running up to me as Mai bolted for Miyuki. I winced when I dropped my foot back to the branch, pain blasting through me, but I only nodded to Sora.
"I'm fine, just peachy… What about Ruriko and Nero? What happened to them?" I demanded, grabbing her shoulders. Sora blinked in surprise, staring at me as if she never expected me to suddenly blow up like that. I let go, muttering a quick apology and looked at her eagerly.
"Ruriko was going to fight Daiki last I saw and that other guy went after Nero, but Daisuke went to help Nero." Sora informed me rapidly. I nodded quickly, then glanced in Mai's direction, watching her engage in a pretty skillful Taijutsu battle with Miyuki.
"Be careful," I warned Sora, "I don't know what it is, but that Miyuki girl has a weird eye technique. I don't know if there's a limit or anything… But it'll do some real damage." Sora grimaced.
"An eye bloodline against an eye bloodline…" She murmured. I opened my mouth to comment, but Sora whipped around just in time to catch Mai, who almost slammed into the tree branch. A curse was sworn as Sora helped Mai get balanced. Miyuki, when I watched her jump to our branch again, had gotten some blows, I noticed. A bruise was growing on her cheek and her hair was disheveled, matching her clothes and the cuts slashed on her by a kunai and some shuriken.
"Care to try again?" Miyuki asked, annoyed. Sora glared at her. Mai went to go at her, but Sora grabbed Mai's arm to hold her back.
"Mai, you can't. She's not worth it. She's an S-ranked criminal against Genin." Sora warned.
"Sora's right," I agreed, "Fighting her is useless!" Mai was still glaring at Miyuki furiously, her fists clenched tightly as she gritted her teeth.
"She'll just chase after us to get to Akira. We need to get rid of her right away." She seethed, but I could see she was in pain by the gash that cut through her cheek. Sora went to make a comment, but Miyuki spoke first.
"You kunoichi have a chance to escape. Take it now or I will kill both of you and take the boy." She said. I glared.
"Leave them alone! This isn't their fight!" I barked.
"Akira…" Sora murmured. Mai flicked her eyes on me, as if to mentally curse me for even existing, which I happily accepted. Miyuki frowned and she went to put her hands together, Sora, Mai, and I all tensing for an attack, but a fist wrapped around her hands, halting her actions.
"That's quite enough, Miyuki," Daiki said softly, his clothes billowing as he landed on the tree branch with grace, "This battle is over." Miyuki immediately dropped her hands and bowed her head out of respect. Daiki looked over at me and I flinched right away. Daiki smirked.
"That's good. I hope you come to fear me because I will return to settle a score with Ruriko… And I will come back to take you as well." He mocked, then hooked an arm around Miyuki, surprising me. Were they together? Yea, stupid thing to wonder at a time like this, but really! He was holding her like some pervert would a prostitute. Without a moment's hesitation, they were shooting off.
"Holy…" Sora's voice drifted and she looked slightly dazed as she let Mai drape an arm over her shoulders to support her. I averted my eyes, frowning.
"I'm sorry you two were mixed up with this and I know this is totally irrelevant to the situation, but… Are you both single?" I asked, beaming. They both gave me the same flatly annoyed expression, complete with twitching eyes. I got a smack over the head for it, but I found out that they were single!
"Can you help me find Ruriko and Nero," I asked as we bandaged up our wounds, "I want to know that they're okay…" Sora nodded.
"We'd be happy too." She replied with a warm smile that made me grin back, although, out the corner of my eyes, I could see Mai giving me an annoyed glare. I had a feeling she was beginning to hate me…
Wonder why!
We shot through the trees a few moments later in silence. Mai was probably still mad at me, Sora probably had nothing to say, and I just didn't feel like talking now. Daiki's presence still bothered me. By 'settling a score with Ruriko', did that mean Ruriko was alive somewhere all by herself in this creepy forest? I frowned to myself, pushing off a tree branch, biting into my lip when my ankle made an eerie crack sound. I saw Sora wince and Mai frown. I ignored the hot, throbbing pain in my ankle as we shot through the trees before we heard the somewhat relieving loud cursing that made my heart soar.
Ruriko!
"Over there!" Sora told me, pointing and we went off to the left, landing on a tree branch high up and looking down. Ruriko was sitting in a clearing, looking pretty badly banged up and writing something in a scroll.
"Ruriko!" I yelled and hopped down. Ruriko jerked her head up, her eyes going wide as she dropped her pencil.
"Akira? Akira! You're alive!" She cried and leapt to her feet. I heard Mai mutter something about having confidence in them before Ruriko practically tackled me in a tight hug that kind of surprised me. I expected to be smacked or something, but instead, Ruriko buried her face in my bloody shirt, hugging me.
"Thank the gods, you're alive…!" She sighed. I smiled a little and hugged her back, concerned that the scent of blood was heavy on her. She pulled away from me, glancing over my shoulder to give Sora and Mai a weird look, mouthing something that I couldn't identify.
"What're you doing there?" Sora asked, pointing to the scroll as she bent over to take a peek. In a flash, Ruriko whipped the scroll up, rolling it in the process as she shoved it into her kunai pouch. She flashed them a cocky smirk that I was so glad to see.
"Ne, you may have saved my brother and trust me, I'm super appreciative, but that doesn't mean I'll be sharing any information on the criminals we were set to investigate." She responded. Sora blinked, jerking upright as if she completely forgot she was even taking the exams.
"Ah! I almost forgot!" She cried. Mai smacked her forehead. Ruriko laughed, not even wincing as a cut split open under her eye. I stared at her.
"That was the scroll?" I asked her, confused. Ruriko paused, rolling her eyes around as if trying to search for an excuse in the trees.
"Ehhh… Let's go! I managed to see the direction Botan and Daisuke went in. If we hurry, we might be able to catch up before anything happened." She babbled. Sora, Mai, and I shared looks of suspicion, but Ruriko was already pushing off the ground, leaving behind a glob of blood from her arm. I grimaced and chased after her with Sora and Mai taking up behind me.
"What happened with Daiki anyway? It looks like he got you good…" Sora murmured, grimacing at the wounds on my sister, who smirked in response.
"Nothing. It was a family bonding moment… Let's say that." She responded, but that was all she would answer with when we kept questioning her. I was getting a little unnerved. Ruriko was a blabbermouth sometimes and she always took a chance to leap at her accomplishments. This time, she wasn't going into detail. It made me wonder what really happened with her and Daiki…
Ruriko's POV
I knew Akira was getting suspicious. He was giving me that weird look that Kazuya gave Hioshi when he was hiding valuable information, demanding for a price. Of course, I really couldn't tell Akira what the deal was. I got information to pass the exams in turn for Daiki coming back to take Nero and him… Of course, I already had a perfect plan, but the only hole in it…
Was the fact that the next part of the exam was a preliminary round, which meant I would have to fight someone from the other teams. I just prayed that it wouldn't be someone who already knew my techniques or else I would have to delve deeper into my plan.
From what Daiki told me, I had enough information to head straight to the tower without anymore detours, hopefully. I couldn't tell Sora or Mai that the scroll I had was actually a scroll Daiki gave me to write all my knowledge on. He apparently had some inside information on the exam, being a sneaky rat.
We landed in a clearing and as soon as my feet touched the ground, I was almost swept off my feet by a familiar dark-cloaked blob.
"Ruriko! You're actually alive!" Nero cried and hugged me so tight, I almost fainted. I gasped, blushing slightly at the unwanted contact as Nero held me against his chest.
"Hey! Don't cup a feel." I heard Daisuke's voice yell. I felt my face grow hotter and I finally wiggled away from him, scowling.
"Pervert." I muttered, brushing myself, ignoring Nero and Akira demanding each other the same damn things over and over again. I frowned, glaring at them in embarrassment when I felt a tap on my shoulder, making me jump slightly. I turned to find Osamu giving me a weird look, like he was trying to hide something.
"Hey… Glad you're not dead." He stated. I blinked, dropping my arms to my sides and tilting my head slightly to stare at him from a different angle, wondering if maybe this was all just a big Genjutsu. I paused, then straightened up and smirked, pointing at him.
"Damn straight you're glad. Cuz I'm going to kick your ass." I replied. Osamu's eye twitched and he held a fist in my face.
"You big mouthed brat! I'll smash your teeth down your throat!"
"I'll rip your throat out with my teeth, no joke!"
"Fucking cannibal!"
"Stupid brat!"
"Aren't you two good friends?" Daisuke mused sarcastically, giving a light shrug. Osamu and I both glared at him until he waved his hands in front of him as if to surrender. I huffed and folded my arms across my chest.
"Well, this is the part where we all split ways," I stated aloud, "We worked together for a bit, but I think it's time we worked on our own."
"Ruriko's right," Kishi said quietly, averting her eyes, "We have what we need, Osamu. We might as well go." Eiji nodded in agreement. Osamu snorted indigenously, then flashed me a quick look.
"See ya later, loser." He shot off. I went to go after him, but Nero caught the back of my vest to hold me back.
"Get back here, you…!" I started swearing incoherently, wishing I could tear that brat apart! He was so cocky! I was still fuming, but stopped when I felt a new pair of arms wrap around me. I blushed and jerked my eyes up to see Daisuke hugging me.
"Hehe, it was fun while it lasted, Ruriko~ We'll see ya at the tower~" He cooed at me before Sora pulled him off and they vanished from site.
"Flirt." Nero muttered under his breath, folding his arms over his chest. I sweat dropped and rubbed my arms, trying to rid myself of the feeling of being hugged too many times.
They just weren't my thing, ya know?
"Well," Akira said with a frown, looking at me now, "You seemed pretty smug on our way here… Why is that?" I frowned back at him. Nero gave me a quizzical stare. It was quiet before I decided to fill it with a short laugh, putting a hand on my hip.
"What's that look for, Akira? You act like I've got a big secret… I'm just pleased that we can head straight to the tower with the information on this scroll." I said, patting my pouch. Nero blinked.
"I thought you gave the scroll to Osamu." He pointed out. Note to self: Tear Osamu's tongue out and strangle him with it. I rolled my eyes and folded my arms over my chest, shifting to my other foot.
"Yea, the one Anko gave us. But this scroll has new information on it… I gathered lots of Intel from Daiki about various criminal organizations, even his own. He gave me the scroll to write it all down, telling me that at the tower, we need to go in and place a scroll on a platform at the center of the entrance hall. It should open another set of doors, leading to a large arena where a preliminary round is supposed to be held and-"
"Wait," Nero cut in, "You're not serious." I frowned.
"What's there not to be serious about?" I asked, making Akira whine a little and hold his head, probably slightly confused. Nero glared at me and it made me almost uneasy.
"Ruriko! We were just attacked by an infamous criminal organization and almost killed and you still want to continue with these stupid exams?" He demanded angrily, clenching his fists. I glared back at him this time. That was what he was worried about?
"We did not just go through hell just to drop out now!" I protested furiously.
"Guys…" Akira complained, but he was ignored as Nero took a threatening step at me, almost like he was going to hit me or something, which made me step back from him.
"Ruriko, in case you haven't noticed, this was just the second part of the exam. We have a preliminary round as well as the final round of these exams. What if they get worse? I don't want to risk almost losing you guys as well as my own life. Forget it. This ninja thing… It's just not for me." Nero dropped his voice to a mutter. I could not believe what I was hearing! He was giving up! Just like that! I gritted my teeth. We had to get through these exams or my plan was going to be so screwed up, that I really will lose everything I have.
"I don't care," I seethed, ignoring how truly heartless I sounded, "I don't care what happened. You guys worked to the bone for this and we almost died, all three of us so we could continue these exams. You shouldn't have joined if you had known you would have to put your life on the line… And what makes you think I'm going to become a shinobi to save people, huh?" Akira stared at me, paling slightly.
"Ruriko…" He managed. Nero stared at me. I glared, clenching my fists tighter, digging my nails and drawing blood from my palms.
"No way… Screw you guys. I'm not dying for anyone. Not Kazuya, not you, not the village, no one! I'm going to keep myself alive and I'm going to get what I want. I already have thoughts on what's going to happen. For now, you two just back down and let me take charge or else I will not hesitate to tear off a chunk of your flesh to make you listen!" I barked, spitting at them. Nero glared, gritting his teeth.
"You're acting like a heartless bitch!" He blurted, wincing a little. I smirked, putting my hands on my hips, giving him a flash of my slightly sharpened canines.
"Oh, what? I thought you said you loved me dearly, or was that a lie?" I demanded. Nero flinched, dropping his fists at his sides.
"Ruriko… What's going on with you? Why are you acting like this? You were fine before we started the exams…" His voice trailed. I frowned. I suddenly felt like someone had thrust a brick at my chest and it was growing tight.
He was right.
What the hell was I talking about? If he or Akira died… I wouldn't be able to live with myself, knowing that it was my fault… Sure, my intentions on becoming a ninja were selfish, but when it came down to it, I would protect my village…
Power. I grimaced. Daiki had mentioned that when we spoke…
Power is a scary thing, Ruriko… Once you get a taste of it, you'll want more and more and more until it's consumed you… Why do you think I no longer care for what happens to my teammates? I couldn't possibly care less about either of them now that I know that I have power over them…
I touched my head to my forehead, sucking in a sharp breath and getting that bricked feeling in my chest.
"I don't feel good…" I managed before I felt my knees hit the ground, my world caving in on me as a spiraling black vortex.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A/N: What I had in mind at the beginning was good, but, eh, this chapter for some reason doesn't please me… Next one will for sure, though. Sorry if there's some OOC. It's midnight right now and it's the last day of my vacation. :'D It was pretty fun too, got some good pics and shiz. Anyway, yea. Ruriko's getting power hungry like her dear uncle… Funfun. So, thanks for reading, hope there's some characters in character, and non-harsh reviews would be lovely!