This is the forth chapter of the splendid story.
Don't read without leaving a review.
Chapter 4 ~ Bloody Sand
... A few sombre clouds floated across the dark sky of the midnight.
The pale moon didn't seem to be on it's full spark tonight although it was almost on it's complete form...
Katsumi rested her hands on her hips while staring confusedly forward towards certain location. she was panting lightly and sighing of relief. Her entire body was still heated up like if she was just sunbathing although the weather of the desert in the night was pretty cold for her thin skin to resist. It was The heat of the unpredictable battle responsible for elevating up her temperature and prompting her to feel like if she was burning from inside, especially on her feet, those seemed to absorb down all the heat from her body.
"... Did we get him!?"
She murmured nervously, looking back at Kyuseishu who sighed as he stepped few steps back away from the Hunter's immobilized corpse.
He looked up towards Katsumi with a slight smirk on his lips as two sweat drops rolled down upon one of his head sides. He wasn't sure himself from their so called victory.
"...I think so..."
Katsumi blinked, sensing some hesitation on his way of speaking but she grinned and started to walk forward slowly in her sandals towards him, letting soft sighs exit her dry lips.
"...Then let's be off."
Kyuseishu nodded but he suddenly narrowed his eyes as he observed the assumed corpse of the hunter more closely.
"!?"
A suspicious look crept up into his face as his eyes went wide a fraction. The assumed corpse of the hunter was a mere sand statue which soon crumbled down upon the ground in front of Kyuseishu's astonishment.
"A sand clone...!?"
He exclaimed, feeling like his lips started to quiver unwillingly. He couldn't help but to take a cautious step back.
"When did he...!?"
Katsumi twitched, witnessing their fake victory proven by the crumbled sand statue which was disguised as the hunter. She have seen that Jutsu before plus she could even perform it because it was a basic Jutsu that any Genin from the Sand village must learn but she was surprised now that this guy had used it in the very last second to save himself from decay.
"Wah...!"
She gasped because she eventually watched the sandy ground behind Kyuseishu starting to quake.
"BEHIND YOU!"
She yelled at him at the same time wondering why didn't he notice it himself. Kyuseishu winced receiving her warning and rolled his eyes to the corners immediately, glancing behind him through his shoulder, only to watch the Hunter emerging out from the sandy ground mere meters behind him.
'I see... He used a substitution Jutsu with that sand clone... But when!?'
He questioned himself while eying his foe carefully. His foe finally lifted his both hands slowly in front of his chin and formed the Tiger handseal as he glared at Kyuseishu darkly.
"You keep impressing me, Leaf brat.. But I found it quite amusing."
Kyuseishu trembled and glared at the other male furiously as a sweat drop rolled down his pale cheek.
"... You."
The hunter smirked smugly as the sand started to gather from the ground and whirl around him slowly.
"Your capability to look through the weak spot in my defence is incredible... I substituted myself with a sand clone at the very last second before your attack reach me."
He stated. Kyuseishu narrowed his eyes suddenly remembering the amount of sand that blocked his punch before he tosses his Kunai towards the Hunter's neck. He gritted his teeth nervously without shifting his ablaze glare away from the male.
"... Don't tell me when you used the sand to stop my punch... in that moment... You predicted my next attack so you prepared a sand clone beforehand..."
He murmured, watching the Hunter parting his legs slightly upon the ground and glancing at him with wooden expression.
"Yup... When you said ``Now I think I get it!`` it made me realise that you figured out the weak spot in my defence. So yeah, I can't keep up the sand shield around me more than five seconds before it crumbles down... but your realisation came too late..."
He said and Kyuseishu placed a step back, narrowing his brows sharply against him.
"Whatever..."
Katsumi was clenching her fists nervously while looking with perturbed expression towards the Hunter, trying to presume what he was up to. the cool wind breeze started to sway some of her long hair strands behind her back.
"Kyuseishu! What are you waiting for..."
She uttered. Kyuseishu turned his head back slightly in her direction and stared at her for a moment across his shoulder.
"Katsumi... Get out of here! this place now is dangerous for you."
He shouted at her before looking back forward with plucky eyes.
"This is my battle... I'll fight him alone. Furthermore, he is after me not you...!"
Being protective eh? Katsumi thought to herself and stomped the ground with her foot indignantly. her eyebrows frowned as she gazed over at him firmly.
"NO WAY! I CAN'T LET YOU HANDLE HIM ALL ALONE! UNDERSTAND?"
"Too late!"
The Hunter suddenly called stopping Katsumi's train of thoughts. He eventually clapped his hands hard onto each others.
"RYUUSA BAKURYUU NO JUTSU! [QUICKSAND TSUNAMI!]
All the sand of the environment suddenly started to elevate from the ground in front of him, forming enormous waves of sand that quickly reached a height of more than 30 meters above the ground. It was like all the sand amounts on the ground were summoned to form that giant ocean of pure sand manipulated by the Hunter.
Without any suspense, the raging Tsunami of sand dashed forward towards Kyuseishu and Katsumi, covering their line of sight entirely while drifting backwards everything that might stand in it's way with an immensely destructive power.
Katsumi widened her eyes shockingly while staring at the overwhelming incoming amounts of sand. She felt all her body parts shudder watching the inescapable threat approaching but it was already too late for her to think about a solution to deal with the aggravated situation Because there's no escaping from an actual Tsunami like this.
"...!"
Kyuseishu cupped his arms in front of his face and chest trying to shield his vital organs at the least. Once he observed that the sand Tsunami started to form, he figured that he'll get overtaken by the overflow before he could even attempt to use any trick.
The dashing Tsunami already flooded a large area and eventually swept Kyuseishu several meters backwards before covering him up completely but he managed to pull out his head from the sand somehow only to warn out Katsumi, just before his head gets drowned under another flow of sand.
"KATSUMI! STAND STILL!"
He felt the heavy amounts of sand suffocating him and squishing his body wildly like if he was receiving several stabs at the same time with a jagged blade in every part of his drifted body before he finally loses consciousness.
"Gahh..."
Katsumi gasped as the Sand Tsunami reached her after Kyuseishu. She stood still like he had guided her although she wasn't sure if that was the best option left for her to do. Soon, her consciousness faded away as well before she could feel with her skin being ripped off her flesh mercilessly.
...
Few minutes passed after the sand Tsunami had flooded the entire area in front of the Hunter. The raging sand overflow finally calmed down and began to solidify slowly forming a thick layer of sand stabilized around 7 meters over the original platform of sand before the outcome of the sand Tsunami that engulfed a very vast area in the Hunter's line of sight.
He held his hands down and rested them on his hips, sighing briefly while observing the extreme damage and changes on the whole landscape he made within mere minutes.
"... Well done."
He muttered confidently and turned around to walk off, tugging the bottom of his long cloak on the sand behind him.
It was just another successful assassination mission that he didn't feel honored by fulfilling it. He was just a tool made to kill, that's him. And he believed that every other Ninja are tools manipulated only to serve certain hidden purposes.
The east horizon started to lighten up slowly with the approaching dawn. The Hunter continued to walk away before pausing suddenly and turned his head back slightly to look behind him, narrowing his eyes. He was overconfident of his victory until this second when he watched a human arm began to emerge out from the sand behind him which made him look surprised.
"!?"
The human arm extended up over the sandy platform before consecutively emerging out it's shoulder then a head finally popped out. It was Kyuseishu, his body was stained with sand and blood trickles everywhere. He was panting heavily as he fully managed to emerge his upper half out from the sand with several wounds and bruises all over his pale skin.
His flak Jacket and the grey shirt underneath were ripped to to small parts over his skin. He lifted up his head weakly and groaned as he stuttered faintly
"Katsumi..."
The Hunter continued to stare at Kyuseishu silently in slight disbelief as he turned around completely to face him. He admitted to himself that the guy before him was no an ordinary person to get out alive from that destructive assault which could take down an entire army.
"... You have such an incredible endurance... But why you want to live that much?"
He whispered and started to walk slowly towards Kyuseishu examining his injured body closely with expressionless look. He believe that he was dying even if he managed to pull himself out with miracle but miracles don't happen twice. After a few paces, He stood a few meters in front of the grounded male and smirked while staring down at him.
"Why you want to live that much? I think life and death are the same for the Ninja and you don't even seem a bright one."
"Shut up!"
Kyuseishu yelled aggressively, refusing to lesson to the other's teaching. He was in no condition to hear anything anyways but the Hunter continued to utter carelessly.
"You are done for anyway... Your wounds won't heal even if a high skilled medical Ninja tries to heal them. however, your chance of finding a medical Ninja in this vast desert is impossible so it's the end for you... The sand particles that infiltrated your wounds will prevent them from healing up until they decay and It'll take less than two days for your whole body to rot. Well, It would be blissful for me to cut off your head right now but it will be more blissful if you die slowly, because you wasted too much of my precious time as a hunter."
He said patiently and turned around then started to walk away again with slow steps before fading completely into darkness...
Kyuseishu eventually fell back on his elbows after emerging the rest of his bottom half out from the sand. He didn't contain the full meaning behind what the Hunter said because his mind was cloudy but he understood that he got less than two days to live. He rose his head up weakly, trying to spot any trace left for the Hunter but the other's silhouette had already vanished from his sight.
"Damn... You..."
He stuttered faintly and pressed his both palms onto the ground, lifting up his torso hardly. He felt like his body weighted more than a Tonne and the stingy aches on his body didn't want to stop. It felt like if he was burning alive slowly from inside out.
"At least, I... can still... move... barely... Ughh... Water... I need water..."
A sweat drop rolled down across the pale skin of his face and mixed with the big blood trickles that stained his chin before the mixture of blood and sweat dripped down to the sandy ground.
His bare left shoulder was completely covered with blood that was still flowing out from a deep wound on the meaty part of his shoulder. The pad of the same shoulder was broken. His stomach and chest were also filled with several critical bruises and injuries. A big patch of blood was smearing the sandy ground around his body, he was literally sinking in his blood that was still flowing out from almost every region of his body.
"Katsumi... I have to rescue her..."
He wasn't certainly worried about himself at this moment. As he murmured, he rolled around himself heavily then started to crawl weakly with his four limbs, dragging his half dead body onto the sand towards a certain location.
"Katsumi..."
He groaned and collapsed again on his face onto the ground but he suddenly started to dig into the sand with his bare fingers. he never stopped panting heavily and feeling the pain growing with every second he spends longer.
"Hang on there..."
He tossed the solidified masses of sand out from his way rapidly as he continued to dig more into the surface with his bare hands, trying to create a tunnel to extract Katsumi through it.
"Hngh..."
He felt that the sand grains were scratching the skin of his hands harshly and penetrate the wounds on his hands, prompting them to bleed again as he kept digging with the same determination while whimpering faintly from the extreme pain. By this point he lost any feel with his fingers like if the critical damage had reached his nerves as well.
The several wounds on his both wrists started to bleed again too, drawing out more blood as more sand penetrated his skin, rupturing his flesh and tissues. But he never stopped digging.
"Argh..."
He grunted. His eyesight slowly started to get blurry as the motion of his hands slowed down until he finally stopped digging into the sand after some minutes and narrowed his eyes, staring down desperately at his own hands coated with blood like a slaughtered sheep.
"... I... I can't..."
He muttered with quivering voice and shut his eyes closed...
He felt the pain on his body expanding to reach his inner organs as well. It was like several knives slashing through his tissues at the same time but it was actually the sand doing it's job inside his body.
He pressed his teeth hard together trying to endure the severing pain.
"I CAN'T AFFORD TO HOLD BACK!"
He gasped faintly and started to open his eyes slowly, grasping two fistful of sand with his hands in frustration. He began to feel the guilt of dragging Katsumi with him into this mess but his pale eyes suddenly twitched while noticing a black cloth wrapped around two tiny fingertips which surfaced mere inches above the sand right before his palms.
"!"
He blinked surprisingly as he robotically began to remove the sand masses from around the two surfaced fingers, soon revealing on the rest of the buried hand before using an extra effort to finally pull the whole buried arm from the sand. It was Katsumi's arm and it was filled with numerous bruises and wounds but it was still bleeding which gave Kyuseishu a slight hope to find her alive with the rest of her body parts intact.
"...Her veins are still pulsing..."
he whispered in excitement, revealing with his hands on the top of her buried head before shaking off the sand from her messy hair. He saw that her eyes were closed but her swollen lips were shaped into a peaceful smile like if she was actually sleeping.
"..."
Kyuseishu rested the female's head gently on his lap after dragging out her whole body carefully from the sand then started to observe her body closely as he sat up on his rear. Her dark hair locks were scattered almost over her whole face and covered some of the deep wounds and scars on it.
"Thank God... She is ... still alive."
He whispered to himself and released a fainted sigh, eying Katsumi's injuries with concerned look. The wound were only on a part of her left side and bare stomach.
"...!"
He blinked, noticing something bizarre. Katsumi's clothes were teared apart almost completely but he figured that her injuries were only skin-deep compared to his. The female suddenly started to open her shivery eyes, giving him no chance to wonder about her injuries and her eyevision slowly began to clarify, picturing Kyuseishu's familiar figure above her.
She shifted her body suddenly, trying to stand up but she fell on her rear onto the sand.
"Ow!"
She held her head with her hand, still not being able to remember what happened. She felt dizzy like if she was about to throw up her viscera.
"Ugh... Where am I!? W-what happened?"
She questioned not regarding the male who gently laid his palms on her shoulders and leaned a bit forward towards her. Her image was still swaying in his eyes and he figured it's just about time for him to faint again.
"... You have to pull yourself together... It's probably a miracle that we are still alive that's why he left after making sure that we'll die anyways..."
He murmured with weak voice. Even his voice was betraying him now. Katsumi shifted her head right and left rapidly, scanning the area around them as she puts her left hand on the ground beside her crossed left leg. She realised that Sand is still everywhere so she wasn't in heaven nor in hell like she had assumed, although what she been through was a literal hell for her.
She nodded her head slightly and looked downwards over her knees, clutching the side of her head with her hand.
"Ahhh!... I feel my head is heavy like a damned rock!"
She grumbled while a heavy sigh and looked back up blankly at the male over her. Her reddened cheeks and lips were still shivering lightly.
"I don't think my injuries are fatal although I barely survived from being suffocated to death under these tonnes of sand ...thank you..."
She paused for two seconds before adding with the same brittle voice.
"You were here at least to rescue me... However, look at your injuries, you should have tried to take care of your wounds instead of pushing yourself to the edge to help me."
She spoke while eying him with concerned look mixed with slight empathy. Kyuseishu stared at her for a bit longer and removed his hands from her shoulders.
"I don't care..."
He said, imagining that the scene should've been embarrassing to both of them if they weren't in this hard condition. His breathing pace was still heavy and he felt like dying but showing his weakness in front of a woman especially Katsumi was the most humiliating thing he'd do. He didn't want her to pity him
"... I think I won't live longer with these enormous wounds on my body anyways... Argh... The sand has penetrated throughout my body and... It will work to prevent the wounds from closing up from the inside so it's useless to-"
His eyes suddenly widened before he completes his sentence and he quickly covered his mouth with his right palm as he began to cough up blood intensively. Katsumi winced as her eyebrows twitched.
"Wh-wah!"
She gasped and leaned close from him, resting her hands on the back of his shoulders.
"Kyuseishu!"
She yelped worryingly. Kyuseishu breathes became heavier as let his chin drop over his chest. A thin line of blood flowed down from the corner of his mouth as he moved his hand away.
"..."
He groaned silently, feeling that his consciousness began to fade from the extreme blood loss and his heart began to beat slower. Katsumi stared at him anxiously for a while as she knelt up on her both knees beside him.
"Are, Are you okay!?"
She asked, caressing his shoulders lightly. Kyuseishu placed his hands on the ground while he continued to stare down quietly at the blood that dripped from his mouth tainting the sand below him.
"Erk... I am done for... I think... The sand already began to damage my vital organes... Ha... Ha... Ha... I can't even feel the rest amount of Chakra remained in my body... "
Katsumi's eyes widened more, hearing him say so. She bit her lower lip lightly while gazing upon him with furrowed eyebrows. She couldn't believe it's the end for him here.
"... Wait! If we enter Konoha in time... We might find a Medical-Nin to heal you. My injuries aren't critical though, I'll carry you."
She said, grinding her teeth lightly with agitation while looking to the side away from him. She was ready to do anything in order to save him.
Kyuseishu arched his dark eyebrows, frowning as he glanced up at her harshly.
"... Your current condition ain't any better than mine... Don't try to hide your suffering, I can obviously feel it!"
He sighed heavily with irritation before continuing.
"I can move still... I won't let you carry me..."
Katsumi tilted her head and huffed lightly, pressing her lips against each others without looking at him.
"Don't worry about me... I managed to absorb the offensive Chakra fused with the sand once it attempted to penetrate through my wounds... So, basically I am fine for now... The sand was fused with high amounts of Chakra, that's why it's terrible."
Kyuseishu blinked few times in a row and rose his head to look at her through the corner of his vision with dumbfounded look.
"What?! Is that so..."
He took a full minute to grasp entirely the fact that Katsumi had just uttered about herself which he never knew before. He eventually realised that there still too much to know about her if he manages to live longer.
"Anyways... staying here anymore is not in our advantage... let's get going!"
He uttered and used some of his remained strength to lift his upper half in order to stand up but he felt Katsumi's soft hand holding his right upper arm as she exclaimed.
"Wait! You shouldn't move now with these critical injuries!"
But he stood up while gasping faintly, ignoring her. He pulled off his arm from her hand harshly as another line of blood started to drip down from the other corner of his mouth. He preferred to die while walking at least if he were to die.
"I am fine with it..."
"But..."
Katsumi muttered as she continued to stare up at him anxiously. She digged her fingers into the sand in front of her knees without shifting up from her position. She'd never seen such a hard-headed person like him who refuses to get help even in such miserable condition. But she got more dumbfounded when he smirked confidently while wiping the blood off the corners of his mouth with the back of his bony hand.
"Let's hurry up and get going... I know a person in Konoha who will surely agrees to heal us."
He whispered as he lifted his eyes off the ground and looked onwards towards the horizon in his line of sight where the sun began to emerge slowly, spreading it's first rays of light upon the desert.
Katsumi rose a wondering eyebrow and stared up at his face for a moment with doubtful look.
'... I don't believe he's even able to withstand these fatal wounds and stand up...'
She whispered to her inner self and slowly stood up in front of him before starting to shake off the sand from her skin sluggishly. A minimal part of her clothes only remained intact after the assault of the sand Tsunami, enough to cover up the private regions of her slim body. She sighed softly and shook her shoulders as she looked up at the male.
"Alright... If you say so..."
She said and slid her right hand inside the pocket of her ripped skirt pulling out three small, brownish pills. She then held out her hand to Kyuseishu offering him the pills.
"Swallow these blood pills... They'll help to restore some of the blood you've lost..."
Kyuseishu gazed at her hand for a moment before smiling then he reached for one pill and quickly tossed it into his mouth.
"Thank you... Keep the rest two for yourself. You need them more than I do."
He whispered faintly, staring at her face with grateful expression only to realise that the fatigue made her look more pretty.