Moons: I'm so sorry this took quite a while to get out. I hit many roadblocks while typing this, and I didn't really go as far in the plot as I originally planned. Also, there were many distractions I am guilty of falling for. So again, sorry to keep you waiting.
I'll like to dedicate this chapter to anyone who has taught me science at any point for giving me a basic idea about how automail could work (even though that wasn't what you wanted me to learn), wikipedia for helping me fill in a few blanks, and my dad for making me watch a tv special for the real-world mechanical arms. Sadly, none of you will ever read this (hopefully on my dad).
It's true, we're all a little insane.
But it's so clear, now that I'm unchained.
Fear is only in our minds, taking over all the time.
Fear is only in our minds but it's taking over all the time.
~Sweet Sacrifice, Evanescence
Natsuki held the left hand up against the end of Sora's arm. "I can't honestly say that I've done this before." She warned, "I could damage you for all I know."
"Don't talk to me like I'm one of your puppets." Sora snapped, "Just do it."
Natsuki nodded in response and wrapped her arm around the wrist. Her light-blue chakra shot out of her hand. It sunk under Sora's skin and began to circle around his blood veins. He moaned quietly. Natsuki muttered a small apology and continued her work without pause. The chakra found the nerves system in the joint. It combined with the miniature magnets in the automail and a small spark went off inside him. Sora yelped. Natsuki flinched but didn't stop her transfer of energy.
And it was over. Both were starting to sweat from exhaustion. "Did... it work?" Natsuki asked, removing her hand. Sora moved his own up. His own!
It didn't fall off. He gave the fingers a twitch. They moved! He began laughing. "Haha, oh my Jashin! Haha! It worked!"
He continued to laugh, forgetting the girl was even there. She opened her mouth, but didn't speak as Sora continued to laugh insanely. He slowed it down and turned to look at her. He flashed a smile so terrifying to her, the teeth could have fanged.
"It's of perfect quality." He told her, eyes shaking slightly. "Make me another one!"
"Wh-what?" The words were so quiet, Sora almost didn't hear them. He grabbed Natsuki by her neck and forced her against a wall. A small scream escaped her throat. He looked at one of the many drawings pinned up next to her.
"'Ultimate Metal-focused Puppet'," He read aloud. "You've started working on this already haven't you." It wasn't a question. She forced herself to nod yes anyway. "Then put your project on hold and make me an arm. A powerful one. One that'll make me obtain blood so I can just lick it off."
"... Al... Alright. Hai."
Natsuki kept to herself in the shed. Sora was outside, gawking at his new hand or something like he had done for hours. She meanwhile was designing his new left arm from scratch. She wasn't complaining.
She had always had an interest in metals. Even as a little girl, she logically saw them as the strongest. Material such as wood and stone would bend, snap, and break compared to metal. When she started her training as a puppetmaster in the academy, she had also studied metals. At the age of ten, she met her senseis' expectations by controlling a basic puppet with skill, but she also impressed herself by teaching herself to recognize and identify every commonly used metal on the periodic table.
She mastered the metals, learning their melting pointing, memorizing when they would rust and under what oxygen conditions, figuring out what metal scratched what. She spent hours watching masters build weapons- daggers, kunai, blades, swords, shuriken- using the metals and practiced on her own behind the adult's backs. There were many burns, but none that couldn't be healed and not one that wasn't worth it. She collected miscellaneous parts of puppets- all metal- and bended, altered, blended, mismatched, and combined them to form her first and -for now- only original puppet.
She didn't name it. She figured there wasn't any need to considering she would be the only one to ever work it. It was made to resemble a canine of some sort. The head had come from a wolf puppet that barred growling fangs. The rest was an assortment of parts and weapons and traps that could be activated or taken apart with just a shot of her chakra and a twitch of her fingers. It wasn't enough.
Natsuki wanted a puppet with a defensive system. The 'ultimate metal-focused puppet' she nicknamed it, but never planned on giving it an actual name. She had the blueprints drawn out. She had all the materials necessary. She had all the skills to build it. What she needed was time. That which her new "boyfriend" Sora denied her off. As if her mother wasn't bad enough....
His arm, however, was forced in her mind to be nothing more than an interesting challenge to take a break from her project. Natsuki had already made a rough-sketch blueprint of the automail. It was nothing too different than a puppet part. The only difference was the 'puppet part' had to work with the human nervous system through the use of electrons. The blonde master planned it all out. It would be made of
"Alloy steal." Natsuki mumbled as she took the liquid hot product out of the furnace. "Lead with mixtures of other elements; made to be stronger than average. Requires heat treatment."
She poured it carefully into the mold. Each part of the automail was made separately and screwed together. It was designed in the same style commonly used by the puppetmaster Sasori-no-dana. There would be compartments for hidden traps and stashed weapons. If it was worked right, it would connect with Sora's nerves and chakra so that the arms would activate the traps at the brain's command.
Natsuki hated Sora, but she loved her job.
A figure was watching Sora from a distance, walking closer. Sora saw him and recognized him instantly from the large size. "Sempai!"
"Yo," Brom greeted, holding up his hand. He was much calmer and more cheerful than when they were last together. He was in a good mood.
"I thought you said-"
"No one's around." Brom told him. "It's not going to make much of a difference in small areas. Don't get any idea's about getting together in big cities though."
"Right." Sora replied, "Hey, check this out!" He held up his new right hand and showed Brom. His sempai's eyes widened. "H-how-"
"It's called automail, I think." He explained. He moved the fingers flawlessly. Brom just stared, "Wh-where'd yah get that?"
"Oh, uh, well there's this gi- shinobi around here. Works well with metals. Had this hand attached using chakra. Amazing isn't it!?"
Brom couldn't stop staring, "Yeah, sounds like some girl-"
"I never said it was a girl!"
"You make things too obvious." Brom said jokingly. "So, what's she like?"
"Shinobi, puppetmaster, and works well with stuff like this." -he held up the hand- "She's blonde, real quiet an' shy, and … yeah that's 'bout it. She took me here to escape that storm that hit."
"So-"
"Hey, I'm only staying at her place because it was to save my life 'cause she didn't know I was immortal! It's her job as a shinobi to save lives!"
Brom sweatdropped. "... moron." He mumbled before quickly adding, "Anyway, what's she doin' now?"
"Workin' on the other one." Sora replied calmly.
"Your arm?"
"Yeah, she had a hand already, but the arm has to be built from scratch."
"And she just agreed to this...?"
Sora thought back. He couldn't really remember the agreement they had, like he just shrugged it off and forgotten it instantly. "Yeah, she was completely cool with-"
The door to the shed opened. Sora jumped and even Brom looked surprised. "H-how much did you hear?!" Sora gasped.
Natsuki shrugged, "About all of it. The shed's not sound proof. I just got thirsty." She walked past them and entered the house.
"Doesn't look like much." Brom commented. Natsuki was honestly a weakling to him. She was short and had barely any muscle on her; none that he could see at least. True, about every thirteen-year-old was weak or small compared to him, but then again she was a puppetmaster. They were usually weak in taijutsu, making their puppets do the fighting for them.
"Yo, Sora?"
"Hm?"
"Kanemaru still needs a new leg. Make sure you get her to make him one. Threaten with death if you have to."
"Hai."
"I'll leave Kanemaru in this shed before we leave the country. She can work on him while we move on. We need a more isolated place to start your training. I'll be checking up on yah in a couple of days."
The man walked off, his feet crunching into the snow enough so they touched the grass beneath. Sora headed out of the cold and into the house.
"I heard." Natsuki said flatly as he entered.
"How the hell can you hear in here!?"
"Training." Natsuki's tone didn't change.
"You've been trained to eavesdrop on people?"
"Yes." Natsuki replied. She drained her glass and continued, "I'm a shinobi, not a clueless little girl. As such, I'm required to preform spy work if the occasion calls for it. In this case, I bugged your clothes to make sure you didn't plot to kill me when my job is done."
"What!?"
"Check your jacket." Sora did so and found a small microphone attached to the collar. "When the hell did you do this!?"
"While you were sleeping of course."
"... You- you... while I..." He pointed a finger at her. "You're one freaky bitch, you know that."
"If not then, when could I have done it?" She pointed out, "Besides, you are the type to stab a person in the back once they're useless."
"Whatever." He plopped down on a chair. "So how long until my arm is done."
"It's going quicker than expected, actually." The blonde reported, "The metal is cooling right now, and once I give it the weapons for power and put it together I can attach it to your shoulder."
"Nice." Sora commented, grabbing a fruit from the bowl on the counter.
"So who is this Kanemaru person?."
"Not person, animal." Sora corrected. "He's a bear. Heh, I kinda cut off his leg."
"Kinda?" Natsuki stared, arms folded and eyes disbelieving.
"I didn't know what I was doing! I was... insane!" Sora found the right word. His glaze moved to the ground. "I don't even remember doing it. … I just remember a few flashes and something about a little kid. I can remember praying to Jashin-sama and Sempai found me. He was pissed. Started shouting an ...yeah."
"He... he did that-"
"What this!?" Sora realized she was referring to his arm. "Hell no! Just, just yelling. The bastard who did this was telling me shit. Tried to make me convert to his religion, whatever the hell it was."
"Oh..." Natsuki sighed in relief.
"You care?" Sora asked, surprised.
"Huh!" Natsuki realized the sudden feeling of pleasure she had felt when she realized the man with Sora won't harm him. 'Dammit, don't think like that!' "No of course not." She said in her usual emotionless tone. A completely believable lie.
Many hours later...
"It's done." Natsuki sighed in relief She held up her handmade automail with a feeling of accomplishment.
The new arm shined from the metal gleam. It had perfect fingers, copied from the hand she had before it became the end of Sora's left arm. It was bigger than Sora's normal arm, so that he could grow into it. At the top it curved to make up part of his shoulder and be attached to the flesh remaining. She took a computer chip from the table next to her and walked out of the shed and into her house.
Sora was leaning back on a chair, looking bored, an empty plate still in front of him.
He saw the girl and a smile came on his face. "It's done!?"
Natsuki smiled back and nodded. She held up the automail. "Well what the hell are you waiting for!? Put it on!" Natsuki nodded and pushed away a sleeve so she could get to the flesh underneath. She pressed the metal end against it. Yep, perfect fit.
She took it back and inserted the chip into the half-of-a-shoulder on the automail. "It'll help your nervous system." She explained, "The human arm is complex . Chakra alone won't be enough in this case."
Her hand moved to the actual arm of the automail, ignoring the shoulder and hand. There were two openings in the arm. She opened the one on his forearm -the switch to open it was in the front by the wrist. It held kunai that were pre-aimed like they would shot out at any second. "Each kunai in here is attached to a string, so it can be pulled back to you." She explained. "There are traps in your arm that will shot them out at your command. You just got to imagine the lid to this compartment opening up and the trigger to the kunia firing and it will happen. "
She moved up the arm to the second compartment on the bicept. She showed him the opening "This one opens from the side instead of the front like the first one. There aren't any self-activating traps in this one, but it does store kunai, shuriken, and wire that aren't attached to anything. I imagine this whole thing wouldn't be easy to use right away. Besides, it sure wasn't easy to build."
"Then why have you been working on it twenty-four-seven since I've asked you?" Sora asked, "You could have taken a break or something."
'I didn't take a break in order to finish it sooner because you scare me.' Natsuki thought. She mentally shook the thought away. Shinobi didn't show or have emotions such as fear. "You never said that earlier." She pointed out, "Besides, I like my work."
"Whatever. What about the kunai thing?"
"You asked for an arm that would allow you to obtain blood. So the kunai shoots out, gets some blood from a cut on it, and is pulled back to you by the wire."
Sora spaced out for a while. "... I asked for that?"
"You don't remember..." Natsuki realized.
"...No. Whatever. Just get started."
Natsuki put the arm back onto the flesh and wrapped her hand around. The blue chakra flowed in her hand and into the new body. The process that was the same with the hand started over again.
It worked again!
Sora had a new right arm! It moved perfectly at his command. He stared in awe at it with an excited grin on his face. He had to use it!... But he was exhausted.
"It's about 3 in the morning." Natsuki said, "I'm worn out and going to bed."
Sora realized he was worn out too. It had just been a big event in his life. 'Only a few hours of sleep. Then I'll use this thing like crazy!'
Sora was laughing. He didn't know why at first. Then he looked at what he was holding up. His left hand. His new left hand was attached to his arm. "Oh my Jashin! Haha! It worked!"
He continued to laugh. The small sane part of him reminded him of Natsuki. She was still there. He realized then he couldn't control his actions. He saw her open her mouth, but the part of him that was in control didn't give a crap. His laughter slowed down and died softly. He flashed a smile and saw Natsuki suppress a shake of terror.
"It's of perfect quality." He said, "Make me another one!"
"Wh-what?" The girl's words were so quiet, Sora almost didn't hear them. He grabbed Natsuki by her neck and forced her against a wall. The sane half was surprised he did it. The half in control just hurt her more, making her scream.
"'Ultimate Metal-focused Puppet'," Sora read from a blueprinted pinned on a wall. "You've started working on this already haven't you." Natsuki nodded, staring at the insane boy like he was one of the demons. "Then put your project on hold and make me an arm." Sora ordered, "A powerful one. One that'll make me obtain blood so I can just lick it off."
Sora felt another presence in the room. An ice cold hand fell on his shoulder. It might have been a skeleton's from the feel of it. A dark fabric drooped over the white hand. The hand gripped his shoulder tightly, but gently. Sora heard a whisper- not from Natsuki. She was silent and completely unaware of this being. The voice was from a male and it was right next to him, inches from his ear.
He couldn't turn his head and see anything but Natsuki in front of him. The whisper was far to soft for him to make out.
Then Natsuki spoke, "... Al... Alright. Hai."
Sora woke up on the couch. It was just a dream. He looked at his new arm. Why was it now that he remembered exactly what happened?
"Natsuki?"
"Huh?" Natsuki was in the kitchen one room over, about to take a bite out of her toast.
"I pinned you to a wall and forced you to make me my right arm?"
Natsuki almost dropped her food. Instead, she put her breakfast down on the plate quickly. Her appetite was gone. "Yeah, that's right."
"You're still making Kanemaru his leg." He said sharply.
"Of course." She replied, "I don't want to die."
Sora did say anything. He just got up from the couch.
Moons: If you didn't understand anything, please just tell me through a review or something and I promise I'll make this thing easier to read. I'm honestly not that sure if anything makes sense anymore. And I mean anything. -sigh- That's what happens when you take chemistry and make fanfiction in the middle of the night.
It's about a quarter past midnight Sunday morning right now...
Liked it? Hated it? Think Natsuki needs a life that doesn't revolve around metal? Review and tell me. ^^