REPO
THE ninja opera
It was late well past midnight, the clouds had covered the moon and the stars, and the only source of light to be found was the light was that inside of his mask. He had been waiting for nearly an hour for his target to return home for the night. Hitome something or other, he never really bothered remembering their names a face was all he needed. Now that he thought about it was actually kind of ironic, here he was waiting so he could take those 'beautiful eyes'. He actually felt a small smile slip onto his face at the irony. Not for the first time he wondered if the job was finally taking its toll on his mind, though he quickly pushed those thoughts aside when he saw someone cross the street towards the building. He figured that at this time of night chances where pretty good this was his girl. 'God I hope she's not a screamer.' He thought to himself as he remembered the last one brought almost three squad of anbu down on him. Not that it mattered once they saw who he was the backed off fast enough, though he could tell some of them decided to stay and watch. Fucking bastereds, not like he's not under enough stress the last thing he needed was an audience. Landing quietly behind the girl was easy enough; she was just a civilian after all. Grabbing her shoulder and spinning her around he immediately knew he had the right girl. Before he could even bring his knife up to cut her thought she let off one of loudest screams he had ever heard. 'Of coarse she's a screamer.' He thought to himself before quickly slashing her thought and laying her body down on the ground. He hated eye repos, they where a real pain to get out intact. Though he had to admit it beat the hell out of finding that dam cat every other day, god he hated that cat, and when he suggests amputating a leg or two everybody freaks out. It's not like it would have been that hard, hell he could have done it with what he had on him at the time. Still he shouldn't be complaining, D-rank missions might be boring but he got enough excitement at night, besides they were normal and he needed as much normal in his life as he could get. There finished a personal best if I do say so myself two and a half minuet total. As he stood up he couldn't help feel the eyes on his back, and lo and behold a squad of anbu, new guys too I could tell, none of the veterans even stop to look any more. He didn't even give them a second look as he grabbed his bag and started to walk away longing for the very comfortable bed waiting for him back home. now that his job was done does he allow his mind to wonder, 'I'm still not entirely sure just how we passed our genin exam, hell the only reason I offered sakera some food was because her stomach growling would of given us away in no time and I really didn't want to have to go back to the academy. Oh well we passed so it doesn't really matter anymore, though I'll admit this whole team thing really isn't me, maybe I've been doing repo's to long or maybe I've always been the lone wolf type but whatever genin work in teams so that's what I'll do besides its better then my night job.'
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Naruto well and truly hated this place, nothing good had ever happened here, he sold his soul here, he had killed his first man here, he had first meet old snake face here, now there was a memory he wished he could forget. It also didn't help that a good number of people here knew exactly what he was and that had always left a bad taste in his mouth. However it seemed like a good idea to tell his employer that he wouldn't be in the village for a while, didn't need him thinking he had up and ran. He stopped at the receptionist's desk in front of the large double door that would lead to orochimarus office. "Excuse me, I don't suppose his holiness is free at the moment?" this had been a longstanding, ... game he supposed, between the two. Naruto never called him by his real name and orochimaru always to whatever he said as the highest complement possible. It was both annoying and amusing at the same time. But he refused to be the first one to crack and well orochimaru didn't seem like he was cracking anytime soon either.
"Why of course Mr. Senju, you know his ... holiness," she sniggered a little at the nick name. "Always has time to talk to one of his ... employees." She raised a slight eyebrow at the end and pushed a concealed button that opened the double doors in front of him.
He simply rolled an eye at her thinly veiled reference to his night job and walked into the surprisingly humble office, well as humble as the snake could get. Thankfully none of his 'kid's' where there at the moment. The three were almost as fucked up as their father, and personally he preferred dealing with the snake more, he at least knew what to expect from the man.
"Ah, Naruto my boy, it's such a pleasure to see you again. It really has been to long since we've been able to talk face to face like this." The snake sanin greeted with a large grin on his face. "But I'm sure this isn't a social call now is it."
"You know me to well, actually I just came to inform you that my squad has been given a mission outside of Konaha and so won't be able to ... collect any outstanding debts in the mean time." Naruto said taking a seat on the couch in front of the snake sanins desk.
"Oh is it that time already? Off saving damsels in distress and fighting evil missing Nin?" he let out a little chortle at his own joke. Naruto just rolled his eyes. "well I'm sure we'll be able to hold down the fort while your off saving the world and what not, but if you don't mind my asking just where is it you'll be heading, after all we have people from all over coming to us and there's always someone missing a payment now isn't there?" he questioned with a knowing grin.
Naruto just groaned, here he was hoping that he might get a small vacation and now along with guarding the old man he had to play repo as well. "well be heading to the land of waves, though I wouldn't think that there would be many repossessions needed out that far, it is a rather poor country not exactly the type of people who opt for elective surgery if you know what I mean."
"Now Naruto lets not be so hasty, there's no way to know for sure unless we look now is their?" he questioned.
Well dam so much for a nice simple mission. "No I guess there's not." He answered knowing there'd be at least a few, there always were.
"Well then let me just check the file." He said as he turned and walked over to a filing cabinet flipped through a few folders before coming to a stop. "Well what do you know, there are a few outstanding claims in wave, not to many of courses but enough to keep you occupied I'm sure." He said with that evil fucking smile of his.
"And here I was hoping to actually get a few nights of decent sleep." Naruto said mostly to himself.
"sleep is highly overrated my dear doctor, besides you've been doing fine so far, I'm sure a few more nights won't hurt that much." He said with a snide little laugh.
" And how, pre tell, am I suppose to keep my little night-time excursions from the rest of my team, I'm sure kakashi is already suspicious and I doubt he would miss bunch of bodies missing organs. He'll find me out for sure." He was getting desperate now and he knew it but he really didn't want to deal with this crap on his first mission.
"Now you're just whining, besides I'm sure you'll think of something out and if not, well how long did you really think you could hide this little secret of yours?" he asked
Fuck it, there was no way he was getting out of this he might as well just cut his losses and go. "Fine, but really is one little vacation to much to ask for?" and with that he grabbed the folder and headed out, he still needed to pack and now he had to pack twice as much.
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God he hated his luck. His firs C-rank mission and what happens their attracted by a bloody A-rank missing-nin with a sword taller than him. And on top of that he had something like twenty repositions to do while he was here. Sometimes he just wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all. What god had he pissed off to end up where he was. All he had ever wanted was to follow in his mothers footsteps, to be a good doctor, to help people. What the hell was wrong with that. But fait or chance or maybe his own incompetence had denied him his dream and had cast him from the light to where he now stood, Standing alone outside the home of his first target. Just some local fisherman who had needed a new heart, who was now going to loss that heart. Deciding that if he hurried he might be able knock off another target he quickly approached the house and decided that the direct approach might be the easiest, after all who expects a repo man to knock on the front door. It was actually kind of funny how many times this worked. Giving his head a good shake to clear it he raised his hand and knocked on the door and waited for the old man to answer he did not have to wait long as soon as the door opened he slashed the man across the thought before quickly pushing him back inside the house, ripping his old grey shirt off, and quickly cutting away at the surrounding flesh and mussel until he was able to simply reach in under the rib cage and pluck out the proper organ. His job done he then decided that he didn't have time go out and try and find any of the other targets tonight. Once again cursing that snake bastered for giving him so many dam targets and such a small window to complete it in. Well he would just have to show him. He may not have been terribly fond of the job but he was good at it and he'd be dammed if he let that snake bastered prove him otherwise. So quickly gathering his things and left the body to be discovered by the man's relatives or wild animals, either one was fine.
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As dawn broke Naruto found his conscious mind slowly return to him. He had decided to sleep outside last night he really didn't want to deal with any annoying questions first thing in the morning. Suddenly he noticed the presence of someone else in the clearing. 'Crap I'm still wearing my business suit.' Thankfully he still had his mask and that was the only thing keeping this person alive at the moment. Deciding that playing possum anymore was just plain stupid he sat up and turned his head to look at the person that had stumbled upon his sleeping form.
Haku had been out early trying to find the right herbs to help speed up his masters healing. He had only been in bead two days but he acted like it had been two weeks. How he could be a demon in a fight and petulant child in his sick bed still astounded him. However he was not out here to contemplate his master's mental quirks. Continuing his search however uncovered something he had honestly thought he would never see. A 'repo man' and not just anyone but one that had apparently fallen asleep in the clearing. He instantly remembered everything that he and Zabuza had heard about this particular group of people, which was admittedly not much, there wasn't a large demand outside of Konaha for organs though from what he had heard gene co. was starting to make headway in the other major shinobi villages. But still a repo man outside of Konaha was almost unheard of and here one was seemingly taking a nap. 'Probably had a long night.' That thought had brought the fact that a long night for him probably involved the 'repossession' of a number of organs, that was their job after all. However in all of his internal dialog he had completely lost track of the person he was studying and when he looked back he saw the person sitting upright looking right at him.
There was a long awkward pause. "Uh ... hi?" perhaps not the most elegant thing to say but he was never the elegant type anyway.
Haku wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. It wasn't every day you talked to someone who harvested body parts for a living, even for a missing Nin that was right up there on the wired-o-meter. However deciding that offending him might not be the best idea, besides all his body parts where part of the original set as it were, so no worries a bought being on his repo list. "Uh ... hi?" he really didn't want it to sound as awkward as it did,
This was just plain stupid Naruto thought to himself as he finally got to his feet and looked around for his bag. However what happened next was the last thing he had expected. The person had actually moved closer to him. This was a first, every one ran when they saw him like this better safe the sorry after all. But here this person was standing only a few feet from him. Actually upon closer inspection the person in front of him obviously a very androgens boy (you learn these to spot these types of thing in his line of work). However it wasn't the closeness, well not entirely, the only people that had gotten this close to him in his business suit were for the most part very dead. But no it wasn't the closeness he was staring him right in the eyes. No one had ever done that ever, not one of his victims, no ninja not even any one a gene co. hell he could hardly stand to lock eyes with himself in a mirror and they were his eyes dam it. Ok enough was enough this was starting to seriously creeping him out. "Uh ... can I help you with something?" he asked hoping the boy would take the hint and steep back a bit.
Haku quickly realised he was staring and quickly diverted his eye. "Uh ... no that's fine I was just out picking herbs for a friend of mine." He finished with what he hoped was a disarming smile.
"ah." And without another word started to look around for where he had left his bag. Finding it not too far from where he had fallen asleep he quickly picked it up and started to walk back in the direction of Tsunami's house, he would have to change on the way but that wasn't the real problem, the others were going to wonder just where he had gone. However before he could put his mind to trying to find the proper excuses the odd boy in the clearing once again disrupted his thoughts.
What the hell was he doing, he asked himself again. He should have just kept his mouth shut let the man leave. Unfortunately his mouth didn't seem to want to listen to him, and so he was just as shocked when the question left his mouth. "Can ... I ask you something?" he almost wished that the man said no and left.
Another first, this day was getting stranger and strange and he honestly had no idea how to respond. "I ... guess." It sounded more like a question than an answer but he was still trying to make sense of this whole thing.
"Why do you do ... what you do?" oh god, Haku couldn't believe he had just asked that. Of all the things he could of asked he was sure that this one was the most likely one to get him killed. As the man just stood their looking at him he cursed himself for not bringing not senbon.
The question hit him like a ton of bricks. 'Why did he do ... what he did?' because he was a monster, because he was good at it. No all those reasons came latter he did what he did because he had killed to only person to care for him.
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Flashback
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It had been just a cough at first, nothing to worry about. Then came the fever, again it was nothing, all she had needed was some rest. But as time went on she kept getting sicker and sicker, none of the doctors could tell what the problem was. And so it went on she would slowly get worse and worse, all the while he threw himself in to his studies desperate to find something anything he could use to help her. After months of study and research he had thought he had finally found the cure. But he had been wrong and instead of curing her it only sped up her illness and because of his cure she had died in his arms. He didn't know how long he had been sitting on the floor before he was found by his mother's old teammate and founder of gene co. orochimaru himself. It was their on that cold floor that he had sold his soul. Offered that if he came and worked for him that he would take care of him, make sure that the world never found out that he had killed his mother, that he could have a normal life. And like the stupid, naive kid that he had been he had agreed. And so he became orochimarus repo man.
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End flashback
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Naruto shook his head desperately trying to get rid of the memories from his past. "Because I was an idiot." And with that he quickly turned around and walked out of the clearing.
Haku just stood there in shock, he hadn't honestly thought that he was going to get an answer to his question, well at least one that didn't involve him trying to kill him anyway. But it wasn't the answer that had him rooted to the ground. His eyes, he had the same eyes as he use to have, pain filled eyes that spoke of loss like few could understand. He then looked at the retreating form of the man in front of him and silently prayed that he found his precious person soon, no one deserved to have eyes like that. And with that thought he turned around and headed off back into the forest after all he had his own precious person to take care of.
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He couldn't do this, he just couldn't. Was the thought running thru his head as he stared down at the paper in his hand. The smiling picture seeming to mock him. God he had never hated his job as much as he did now. There the smiling face of tsunami with the word reposes written in bold red underneath. He had never had to kill anyone he had known until now, until now everyone he had killed had just been a face and a name, no family or friends, that they weren't real people. But now, he knew her, had talked with her, had seen how much she had loved her son and father, the same love he had had for his mother. And now he was suppose to simply walk in there and cut her open then leave her bloody corpse on the kitchen for Inari to find in the morning. How the hell was he suppose to do that after all his talk about heroes and protecting the people he loved. He would rather face off against Zabuza bare handed then do that. But even as he was thinking that he was running thru the trees back toward tsunamis house, thankfully they had made camp nearby and he should be able to make it back before any one wakes up.
It had only taken two hours to get there and now he stood in front of the house that he had just left, and he could already feel his blood run cold knowing what he would have to do now almost wishing kakashi had seen him and was coming to stop him, not that he would no one in Konaha would stop him, it may be unwritten but it was still a rule no one interferes with a repo man. And so he slowly walked up to the house and looked into the darkened window and there she was, simply washing the dishes from the dinner that she had prepared for them not but a few hours ago, he was thankful that he had remembered every ones schedules, ironically at the time it had been to try and protect them better. Tazuna would still be at the bar and Inari would now be in bed, hopefully he would be asleep he really didn't want Inari to walk in on him gutting his mother. So deciding that the stealthy approach would be the best he quietly picked the lock on the door and slipped into the dark house thankful for the fact that the only light was the one in the kitchen and that she currently had her back to him. Slowly he made his way behind her cursing that he couldn't just slit her thought but this just had to be a lung (and windpipe) job. Before he was even ready he was already standing behind her. His pulse quickened and before he had even realised what was happening both he and tsunami where on the ground, her flat on her back him straddling her waist, it was then he looked into her eyes and all that he saw was terror and he swore that he could feel his what was left of his heart shatter, not but a few hours ago they had held such warmth and compassion when she was looking at him at the end of that bridge. He couldn't take it anymore. Before when he could just ignore that the people he had been killing were real the looks didn't bother him, but now coming from someone that he knew, that he had come to care for in some small way. For that person to look at him that way made him feel every bit the monster he knew he was. And so he did the first thing that came to his mind to make her stop looking at him that way, he took his scalpel and cut out her eyes. By now she was screaming bloody murder but he didn't care anymore quickly cutting off both her shirt and braw and proceeded to make one long incision and two shorter ones forming the classic Y incision and then pealed back the skin revelling the rib cage that protected his target. By now tsunamis screams had become nothing more that laboured breathing. He hated ribs it took him almost three minutes to cut through it and by this time tsunamis laboured breathing had stopped and she now laid deathly still. Finally he had his prize. Putting the lungs as well as the rest of his equipment in his bag he stood and surveyed his handiwork. 'Oh god what have I done?' he asked himself as he looked down to the blood dripping off his gloves. It was then that he heard a noise come from his left. With growing dread he turned his head and there was Inari standing on the bottom steep of the stairs pail whit looking unblinkingly at the scene before him. He then turned his fear filled eyes onto him and seemed to ask why? Why did he kill his mother, why had he ruined his life, why did he betray him like this. He couldn't take it anymore, he needed to run before he did any more damage. And with that he bolted out the front door and off into the woods back in the direction that he had come from.
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He had no idea how long he had been standing there and in all honesty he didn't care. Part of him even hoped that the rest of his team would find him here just so he wouldn't have to get close to them, so that he wouldn't feel anything for them, so that he wouldn't care if he ever had to kill them. Another part of him hoped that they would never know so that he would never have to see the looks of disgust and hatred. And another part of him just wanted the earth to open up and swallow him and erase all evidence that he had ever existed. Tearing his mask off and throwing it away in an act of self disgust he threw it across the clearing and fell to the ground crying images of all the other people he had killed flashing before him. no longer able to ignore the fact that every one of them had a family and loved ones just like tsunami, that for each one he had destroyed the live of countless others, stolen mothers from their children, husbands from their wives, children from their parents all because they had missed a single payment. So distraught he didn't even notice the person up in the trees looking down at him.
He had always known that his blond haired student was more then he seemed, but he had always assumed it was just the fact the he was the container of the kyuubi. But as time had gone on he started to suspect that there was more than just the fox to his student's eccentric behaviour. But he could honestly say that this came as a shock. To think that the son of his lat sensei, the adopted son of the legendary medic Tsunade, one of the most aspiring medical geniuses of the new generation was infect one of the most feared men in the entire village was shocking. And here he was, the repo man, not his student, crying his heart out and for once he had no idea what he should do. He had never lost anyone to a repossession before, though that was mostly due to the fact that everyone he had ever cared about was already dead, but that didn't change the fact the he had seen the after affects of those repossessions, hell he had actually watched in morbid fascination the first time he had run across the man at work while on patrol, and he could honestly say that it had honestly shaken him just how efficient he could be. And now he was faced with a moral dilemma, if this was either Sakura or Sasuke in front of him, hell if Naruto was wearing anything else, he would try and comfort them. But it wasn't just his student on the ground and that was his problem, it was obvious that he was trying to keep this a secret, he doubted that even the third knew. But it was just as obvious that the boy needed help. That's when he came to his decision, despite his students ... secret life, he was still his student and he couldn't just leave him there like that. So he jumped down and waited for the blood soaked teen to notice him.
He jumped to his feet as soon as he felt the new presence jump down from the trees. Frantically trying to wipe the tears from his eyes while at the same time scanning the clearing trying to pinpoint whoever it was that just appeared. It didn't take long to spot his sensei standing at the opposite side of the clearing. 'Nonononono' this was a disaster. He had been caught red handed, literally seeing as his gloves where still covered in tsunami's blood. He looked around the clearing desperately in some vain hope that he could hide behind it and everything would go back to the way things where suppose to be.
He watched his student frantically look around the clearing like a cornered animal, and just like a cornered animal he knew that there was a very real chance that this could very well turn violent. Deciding that he was going to have to be the one start things off he took a steep forward. "Well this is certainly a surprise." Even as he said it he was kicking himself, but honestly what was he suppose to say in a situation like this.
Naruto had finally given up on trying to find his mask, there was no point any more he had been found out and there was nothing he could do now. That only left two options. One, he could try and kill his sensei. Or two, he could prey that his teacher would keep his secret. As much as he hated having to trust anyone he knew the chances of him being able to kill kakashi were rather small, so he would just have to hope the man knew how to keep a secret. "I guess it would be. Though you seem to be taking it rather well."
"Well I've seen a lot in my life time, though I'll admit that this definitely makes my top ten lists." He hoped the little joke would lighten the mood a bit, but now that he was ground level with the blond he had to admit he made a rather terrifying visage. Pacing back and forth in that black suit of his, blood catching the moon light. He actually felt a small shiver run down his spine. "Though you could say the same thing about yourself I would imagine." All he did was glare at him harder. 'This isn't working.' He thought to himself. 'Hell, looks like I'll have taken the direct approach. "So busy night I take it?" that seemed to get his attention as the blond stopped pacing and was now just glaring at him.
What the hell was he suppose to say to that, it was more then obvious what he had been doing. "You could say that." He looked down at the blood that was still on his gloves.
"Anyone I know?" he asked half joking trying to lighten up the atmosphere, however he had not expected the blond to actually burst out laughing. And what a horrible laugh it was, he prayed he would never have to hear it again.
It was too much, he just couldn't help himself. "You could say that." He said in between his laughter. He then looked around for his bag, noticing it was only a few feet away he quickly closed the distance grabbed the bag and opened it.
Now kakashi was on guard, the blond was obviously not all there at the moment and the minuet he had grabbed his bag he got into a basic fighting stance.
Naruto closed the distance between the two until he was only a few feet from his sensei he then opened the bag and threw a plastic bag at kakashi.
Expecting an attack he caught the plastic bag before he even registered what it was. However it didn't take long for him to realise that he wasn't under attack. Suddenly his attention turned from Naruto to the bag in his hands. He almost threw the bag to the ground when he realise that there was a set of lungs inside if it.
"'Anyone I know?'," the blond parroted. "I'm sure that you don't recognise her but let me reintroduce you the person whose house you've been sleeping in for the past two week." The blond said with no small part of madness creeping into his voice.
All kakashi could do was look down at the plastic bag with a shocked expression, that had been the last thing he had been expecting.
"Seems she needed a new pair a few years ago, and well with the way Goto was running things she started to miss payments. And well, I was in town anyway so old snake face decided it was time to collect. It was almost funny that she was on the list, I mean what are the chances?" he asked
Kakashi was completely lost at this point, he had seen how well she and Naruto had gotten along and the thought that he had only a few hours before snuck into her house and cut out her lungs mad his blood run cold.
"Shocked, horrified perhaps? Come now sensei I haven't even finished my story yet." Said Naruto as he retreated a few feet and started pacing again. "You see I messed up, I didn't kill here quickly enough. She started screaming, not that I cared at that point, and when I was finished I found little Inari just standing there on the stairs looking at me standing over his mother's body. And you know what I did?" he questions sounding every bit as crazy as he felt.
Kakashi's mouth was dry, he honestly had no idea what he was supposed to do. Here he was standing in the center of a clearing in the middle of the night still holding onto a bag containing what use to be the lungs of the person who had been his host for the last two week, and on the other side of the clearing one of his students still covered in blood and apparently completely insane. And here he was practicing his speech for their first kills, god what he wouldn't do for it to have been something simple like that.
"No guesses, well no need to worry he's fine, ... well he's alive at any rate. Though it probably would of been kinder to simply kill him there instead of having to live with those memories, in fact I could probable get there and back in time if I pushed it, what do you think sensei?" he asked grinning widely all remnants of sanity having disappeared.
No one ever told him when he took this job that he was going to have to deal with psychotic genin. "You don't really want to do that Naruto."
"Don't I? Why not, what's one more person." He turned and looked up at the moon. "I have the blood of hundreds on my hands what difference would one more make, or two, or three, or five, or ten, or twenty. It's all the same in the end." Naruto finished still staring up at the moon.
"Naruto, listen to yourself, you don't really think that." It was almost physically painful to see the train wreck of a genin in front of him and all he could do was hope he could talk him down. "You're not a monster Naruto, you're just confused. You just need to calm down." He was never very good at this type of thing and was cursing his ineptitude.
Naruto looked back at kakashi then down to his hands. "Your right, I don't." He then gave a pointed look at kakashi. "But you were wrong too. I am a monster, I'm worse than the kyuubi. He's a force of nature, he kills because that's what he supposes to do. But me, I chose to become this. I finally see the truth. And you know what sensei?" he returned his glare back to kakashi.
Kakashi swallowed hard not sure of where this was going but was hopeful when he heard the madness in his student's voice gradually recede. Praying that this would end soon as he was sure that watching one of his genin self destruct was one of the most stressful things he had ever gone through. "What?" he asked not entirely sure he was going to like the answer.
"I just can't seem to bring myself to care anymore." With that he collected his mask and bag, though not before grabbing the plastic bag that contained tsunami's lungs and walked past a frozen kakashi. "You know what sensei? I think that this little talk of ours was just what I needed, I fell much better now." He continued to walk but just before he exited the clearing he turned back to kakashi once more. "Oh and by the way, I would really appreciate if this stayed between just you and me." and with that he walked into the darkened woods and disappeared into the night.
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A/N
Well there's chapter two for you, not entirely happy with it but I've already rewritten it twice and this was the best so far. Any way tells me what you think. Oh and just for the record if I don't mention it just assume that the things I skip over happen like they do in cannon. Any ways that's it for now and as always reviews are always appreciated. Also if anyone wants to volunteer to be my beta that would be much appreciated.