It had been 2 days since Kakashi and I had left Sea Crest city, and we hadn't seen hide nor hair of any other bishounen in the region since.
Standing just off the beaten path, I argued with Kakashi, pointing up to the top of the tree. "Just climb up there and see where we are."
"Why don't you do it?" Kakashi countered, reading his book and pretty much ignoring me.
I sighed, knowing he was just baiting me. He had been doing this ever since we got out of the city. I'd ask him to do something, he'd ignore me, I'd get frustrated, then he'd laugh it all off, pat me on the head with a quick "Just kidding Danny-san." and not only do what I asked, but then some.
"Because, you can climb trees better than I can."
"Really, now? How do you know that?" He grinned, turning a page in his book and shoving his free hand back into his pocket.
"Because everyone can climb trees better than me." I groaned. That seemed to be what he wanted to hear, because he put his book away and smiled at me before walking straight up the trunk of the tree that I'd been pointing to.
I leaned back against the tree with a fwump, crossing my arms over my chest. I figured it would only take Kakashi a moment to survey our surroundings, but he'd stay up there another 20 minutes if I didn't climb up there to drag him down.
Finally, figuring he had settled in to read, I wandered away from the tree, planning to just walk a little ways away and back before dragging Kakashi back down.
After a few minutes wandering in one direction, I figured I should turn around and head back. I took a deep breath, feeling so relaxed. In the city that I lived in, it was so crowded, so polluted, and even in the country, I had never been in a place so pure and clean as this.
I wrinkled my nose after a moment, sniffing the air again. Scratch that 'pure' air thought. Although it was faint at first, once I caught the scent, I realized that something really stank, in that understated way that you only noticed after a double take. I kept sniffing, following my nose to the source of the scent. It smelt bad, like decay. Not the clean decaying smell of the forest, but the scent that reminded me of road kill lying on the side of the road. I just couldn't put my finger on it, but that was as close as I could get to describe the scent. I moved further and further away from Kakashi, still sniffing the air like a dog.
Finally my nose led me into a clearing. The signs of a struggle were evident all over. There were gashed in the bark of trees, gouged in the earth, and blood everywhere. One hand flew to my mouth out of reflex, as I started to shake. On the far side of the clearing lay a prone figure. For a moment I couldn't bring myself to move any closer than I already was, almost positive I knew what I would find.
It took a few moments, but I edged across the clearing, finally kneeling in front of the source of the stench.
"Oh god…" I whimpered, that hot feeling rising in my throat that signaled the beginning of the waterworks. It was a young woman, her bright pink hair stained brown, glassy forest green eyes frozen wide open. Her body was swollen from being left in the sun, and riddled with cuts and bruises. Running diagonally from her right shoulder to her left hip was a slash cut down to the bone.
"Ka…Kakashi…" I couldn't keep myself from stuttering, tears streaming down my face by now like twin rivers. Who could have done this? What in the world would possess someone to do something this horrible?
While I was staring at the corpse, a wail shattered the relative silence of the forest. "A baby?" It sure sounded like it.
"Kakashi!" I screamed, finding my voice and hoping that the people who did this weren't still around to hear me.
Scrambling to my feet, I spun in a circle uselessly, unable to figure out where the crying was coming from.
In that same moment, Kakashi dropped down into the clearing from the trees without a sound.
"Danny-san, I heard – oh…" He trailed off as he saw the corpse, his voice suddenly gaining a gravelly tone.
"Kakashi, I heard someone crying! Help me find them." I begged, still looking for the source of the wailing.
Kakashi nodded, expression grim as he lifted his hitae-ate up, revealing his legendary sharingan eye to me for the first time.
"Kai!" He said after a moment, and the air around one single tree to our left seemed to shimmer for a second before a small, squirming bundle appeared, wrapped in a dirty blanket and wailing miserably.
"Oh my… Kakashi, do you think that's her baby?" I asked, unsure of what to do. I was torn, remembering the professor's warning on taking chibis, but unable to leave the poor thing laying in the roots of a tree and crying.
"Either she was the mother or guardian. It looks like she concealed the baby and turned around to fight… there aren't any footprints beyond those roots there." Kakashi was all business, tracing the footsteps around the clearing.
"Kakashi, what should we do?" I asked, wiping my face with my sleeve and blinking away any remaining tears with a sniff.
"Right now you just worry about the kid, give me a few minutes." He said, and I nodded. That was all the encouragement I needed.
"C'mere little one, shh… it's going to be ok." I cooed, rubbing the baby's back as I paced the clearing with him.
After a few minutes Kakashi walked back over to me, standing behind me and looking over my shoulder to stare at the chibi Iruka in my arms.
"That Sakura isn't one that I know, but my biggest concern at the moment is getting this Chibi taken care of. I'd say he has to have been out here at the least 48 hours, and who knows how long before all of this happened." Kakashi said grimly, pressing bare knuckles against the child's face. The kid did look feverish, his tanned face flushed and eyes glazed over from fever.
"I don't have any baby food, 'Kashi…that wasn't exactly part of the newbie plan, yanno?" I replied, biting my lip. The chibi had quieted by now, chewing on his fingers and hiccupping every so often.
"Any soup?" he asked, grabbing my dex and scrolling through my capsule inventory.
"Um…try capsule 7." I mumbled, rubbing Iruka's tummy, trying to make him smile.
"Ok, I'm going to just smash up the vegetables in this soup and see if we can't get some inside him. Wrap him in a clean blanket and put a cool cloth on his forehead." Kakashi instructed, finding the soup he needed and popping the can open.
While he started a fire and warmed up the soupy mush, I cleaned and changed the poor little guy as best I could, and wrapped him snuggly in a clean blanket.
"Here, it's cooled a bit, try and get him to eat some. Just a little." He cautioned, handing me the bowl and a spoon.
"I know. I don't want him to throw up any more than you do." I replied, taking a spoonful of broth and blowing on it before I offered it to the unhappy chibi in my arms.
For a moment he turned his head away, refusing the offering. Reluctantly, after a moment, he sucked on the spoon, dribbling broth down his chin. I repeated the process a few more times before handing the bowl back to Kakashi and rubbing the chibi's back.
"We'll give him some more in a bit. I'll go get a cool rag for him." Kakashi decided, leaving me alone in the clearing with chibi Iruka.
"What happened here little guy? I suppose you're lucky that you're so little… you won't remember all this when you evolve, I think." I mumbled, smoothing that soft brown hair back as he yawned.
After a few minutes, Kakashi still hadn't returned, and I was starting to get nervous. Not that it was an unfounded feeling of course. What happened to the fantasy world that I had tried to run from less than a week ago? I went from hanging with an anime character in an amazing, unbelievable world, to holding an abandoned baby in a clearing straight out of a horror movie, sitting next to a decomposing corpse and praying Kakashi returned before I lost my nerve completely or wound up like that poor Sakura.
A twig snapped in the trees behind me, and I whirled around, clutching the chibi closer to my chest.
"Kakashi? Is that you?" I asked nervously, scanning the trees.
No answer.
"Kakashi?" I was inching towards my backpack now, desperate for something, anything I could use as a weapon.
As my hand closed around a hefty flashlight, a twig snapped on the other side of the clearing.
"Sakura…" I whirled back around again, and was shocked to see a disheveled looking Iruka kneeling over Sakura, tears streaming down his tanned face.
"Oh…" My grip on the flashlight slackened when I saw him, and cautiously, I took a step closer.
He turned to stare blankly at me for a moment, and then his face twisted in rage. Kunai slid down into his hands from under his sleeves as he stood, glaring at me.
"Um…" This wasn't good.
"What have you done?" Iruka snarled, advancing on me in a very blunt, non-shinobi like fashion.
"What? No, no I didn't!" I protested frantically, scooting back until I bumped up against a tree trunk.
"My wife is dead, you hold my son in your arms, and expect me to believe that? Trainers… I knew you were a breed apart, but I never knew you were so despicable." He growled, leaping at me.
"Kakashi!" I shrieked, rolling away from the tree with the chibi still clutched protectively to my chest.
"Give me my son!" Iruka shouted, skidding to a stop and spinning to face me.
"Promise not to kill me!" I retorted. He dove at me again, and as I backed away, I tripped, falling flat on my back with an 'omph!' Chibi Iruka started to cry, and as Iruka closed in on us, I curled up around his son, turning my back to the enraged parent with my eyes squeezed shut.
The pain I was waiting for never came, just the sound of metal on metal. I rolled over to see Kakashi and Iruka locked blade to blade just above me.
After a few seconds of watching them trade blows, I grabbed a bishiball, rolling it around in my palm. I had to find the perfect shot, because once Iruka figured out what I was doing, I'd not have a second change.
As Iruka circled Kakashi and put his back to me, my arm snapped, sending the ball flying through the air to smack the center of the man's flak jacket with a satisfying 'thwak!' and a flash of red light.
"Danny?" Kakashi stared at the small black and silver ball shaking violently at his feet.
"You ok 'Kashi?" I asked, hoping beyond hope that the ball wouldn't break under the stress Iruka was putting on it.
"I'm fine. What about you? He didn't hurt you did he?" Kakashi replied, eyeing me curiously.
"No, 'Kashi. I'm fine. So's his son. I think that Sakura must have been his wife…" I said sadly, picking up the now motionless bishiball.
"I've never known an Iruka to lose it like that." Kakashi commented, putting away his kunai and picking up the flashlight I had dropped in the scuffle.
"Can you really say you've ever known an Iruka who found his wife slaughtered and his son in the arms of some trainer? I can't really hold him at fault for this, you know?" I spoke up, defending the scarred man. Chibi Iruka by this point had quieted again, just whimpering and reaching for the bishi ball as if he knew his dad was in there.
"This wasn't your fault." Kakashi grunted, busying himself with rearranging my belongings.
"I didn't say it was. But I can empathize with the poor guy. I'd lose it too, if I was in his shoes." I said, stroking the chibi's hair, just to keep my hands busy.
"What do you mean, you can empathize?" Kakashi asked curiously, making his way across the clearing towards me.
"Nothing… I'm gonna let him out, so be ready, just in case." I sighed, and tossed the ball into the air. It activated the release mechanism, and in a flash of light, Iruka reappeared, blinking and looking at his hands, which now held no kunai.
"You…cowardly…" Iruka started in on me the moment his vision cleared.
"Here… He's feverish but he's had food and liquid in him. I'll let you go once I know you aren't going to hurt Kakashi or myself. I'm serious, this wasn't our doing. We found this just a little while ago. I only got here two and a half days ago, and Kakashi thinks this happened at least 2 days ago. We were both in Sea Crest city at that point." I handed Chibi Iruka back to his father and barreled right on into my explanation without waiting for him to say a word.
He narrowed his eyes, studying me for a moment before turning to eye Kakashi in a similar manner. Kakashi just shrugged, not saying a word.
Then his son squirmed in his arms, pulling a stray strand of brown hair and smiling brilliantly. It was like a tension had been lifted, as the angry chuunin visibly melted, smiling back at his son.
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"Here." I said, kneeling between Iruka and Kakashi, offering them both cups of warm tea.
"Thank you." Iruka said, shifting his son so he had one hand free to take his cup.
"Thanks Danny-san." Kakashi echoed, taking his own tea and setting it on the ground by his knee.
"No problem. I'm gonna go grab some fire wood; I'll be back in a few." I replied, standing and dusting off my knees.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Kakashi told me, staring off into the distance as he spoke.
"Because…?" I prompted, sure that I already knew where this was headed.
"That requires going back into the forest." He replied without missing a beat.
"That'd be where the trees are, yup. Yanno, trees? The big tall pointy things made out of wood that burn really well?" I quipped, smirking cheekily at him.
"You know what I mean. I don't want to have to race off to your rescue again." He said flatly, staring at me with his one visible dark blue eye.
"Well gosh, Hatake-sama. I know ah'm just one lil' ol girl, but mebbe if'n ya gave me one of them there sharp pointy thingies I could try to fend off all the scary trees out there till you kin save me." I drawled dramatically, leaning against Kakashi with a sigh.
"Take a kunai and be careful. Maybe stick close, just in case?" Iruka butted in cautiously, handing me one of his knives hilt first with a small smile.
"See? Told you he wasn't just a homicidal maniac." I teased Kakashi, slipping the knife up into the sleeve of my jacket with a smirk.
"Stick close." He warned me before going back to his staring.
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Once in the woods, I started my firewood hunt quickly. For all my bravado around Kakashi, I really didn't want to test out my nonexistent kunai skills.
As I walked I looked around for suitable firewood, which meant I wasn't watching where I was going, and nearly tripped over a pile of blackened logs.
"What the?" I hadn't noticed the random remains of a campfire underneath the tree I had just walked around.
It looked like a makeshift campsite, not just a fire, upon closer inspection. One that had been dismantled in a hurry.
Careful not to disturb anything, I did a quick search of the area, not really expecting to find anything. There was a small pile of firewood piled up next to another tree, which I gleefully stole. It made my job a lot easier. Underneath, however, was a smashed bishi dex. It looked like maybe it slid out of someone's pocket while they were dropping off the firewood.
I pocketed the broken tech, grabbed the firewood, and took off. My imagination was getting to me now, every shadow was making me edgy, every rustling leaf set me on alert. I didn't know if the campsite I was vacating was where the killer had stayed, or just some poor trainer who had gotten spooked by something and left, but my paranoia was pointing me in the direction of the former.
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Walking back into our clearing, I dropped the firewood and then sat next to Kakashi, smiling smugly up at him like a child.
"What?" He asked in confusion, turning to face me.
"I found something." I replied in a singsong tone, grinning from ear to ear.
"Oh?" He tried to feign nonchalance, turning away again.
"Yea, check it out." I dropped the busted dex into his lap, and leaned back to grab some wood for the fire.
"Where'd you find this?" Kakashi asked, careful to handle it only with the gloved partso f his hands as he turned it over, inspecting it from all angles before he passed it into Iruka's waiting palm.
"An abandoned campsite. It was under the firewood. It looks like whoever was there packed up and left in a big hurry." I said, absentmindedly poking the fire with a stick now.
"Where?" Iruka demanded, leaning over towards me with an expression of sheer urgency.
"Honestly, right over there. It can't be more than two, three hundred feed into the woods really." I replied, pointing in the direction of the other campsite. It took Iruka only a moment to kiss his sleeping son's forehead, put him in my arms, and transport out of the clearing in a puff of white smoke.
"There's nothing there, I looked. All that I found was the busted dex and the firewood. Everything else was gone." I told Kakashi, pulling out my own dex. "We should really figure out how to contact the authorities, ne? Trainers have to be involved in this somehow, if that dex was there, don't you think?"
Kakashi just nodded, doing a few hand seals and smacking his hands to the ground, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
A small dog appeared in a puff of smoke, blinking lazily up at us.
"You get ahold of the authorities, and Pakkun will get the ANBU from the nearest village. This is something that the human and bishounen organizations both need to know about." The pug didn't wait for Kakashi to elaborate, taking off into the trees without a sound.
"Ok. I'm gonna see if Lia or Violet knows how to contact this place's version of 911." I decided, pulling up Lia's number and hitting 'connect'.
Beep Beep Beep. Lia's line was busy. I dialed up Violet next, and let it ring.
"Moshi moshi!" The voice on the other end was not Violet's, it was too…male.
"Kiba?"It took me a moment, but I finally realized who I was looking at on the small vid-display.
"Oh! Danny nee-chan! What's up?" Kiba grinned up at me from the dex screen, Akamaru popping up out of his jacket to bark happily at me.
"Nothing good. Is Violet around?" I said, looking over my shoulder to see Iruka coming back.
"Yea… sure. Vi-nee-chan…" Kiba said with a frown, suddenly very serious. The dex was then taken from Kiba, and Violet appeared on screen, picking up on Kiba's mood change and looking at me with worry.
"Danny? What's going on?" She asked warily.
"We found something in the forest this morning…" I proceeded to catch her up on everything that had happened in the last few hours. In the background, I could hear Kiba growling, and at one point I thought I had heard Hinata gasp. "So, I need to get ahold of the police or whoever their equivalent is here. Any ideas?" I finished.
"Wow… do you need Lia and me out there?" Violet asked seriously, chewing on her bottom lip and looking thoughtfully off to the side of the screen.
"Lia's still with you?" I asked, figuring that may be who she was looking at.
"Yea, we just beat the gym trainer this morning." Violet nodded.
"Congrats! And tell her that her dex was ringing busy 30 seconds ago! But I've got Kakashi, and Iruka too for the moment. I'll be fine. Just need to get the cops out here." I said after a moment of thought.
"Ok. In the bottom left corner of the dex there should be a little red button with a whistle on it. If you hit it, it'll give you the option to contact the emergency dispatch center closest to the broadcasting tower your signal is coming from. I don't know exactly how it'll work. I never called 911 back on earth and I haven't called the dispatch center here either." Violet said, and as she was talking I looked at the keypad on my dex, finding the button right where she said it would be.
"Thanks Violet! I'll give you guys a call once we figure out what's going on with this. Other than that, just be careful. Watch your back out there, and I'll meet you at the tournament in 2 months!" With a nod and a quick 'see you soon' her image disappeared, leaving in its place the main menu of the Dex.
I didn't waste any time, clicking the button in the corner and waiting to connect to the dispatch center.
"Bishi World Emergency Services Dispatch. What is the nature of your emergency?" A male voice drifted out of the speakers, but the screen showed only a still shot of a bishiball against a black background, 'Bishi World Emergency Services Dispatch Center' wrapping around the ball in white lettering.
"My bishounen and I found a body in the woods to the west of Sea Crest city…"
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Bishi Dex
Haruno Sakura – a pink haired kunoichi who was teased as a child for her large forehead, until she befriended another girl, Yamanaka Ino, who helped her to be more outgoing. She is loud and obnoxious, or quiet and depressed. She is a moody bishoujo, especially when you get her around a bishounen she likes, usually a Sasuke or Naruto. Sakuras are usually healers, but when backed into a corner, they will fight tooth and nail to protect themselves and their trainers, to the point where they will forfeit their own lives if need be.
Umino Iruka – a sensitive bishounen, Irukas are usually strong fighters, but prefer to play the role of teacher and big brother to those they travel with. Under most conditions, Iruka does not lose his cool, forgiving people for most everything that they do to him. However, when his loved ones are hurt, or in the case of this Iruka, killed, the bishounen in question can snap, and becomes a terrible foe.
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A.N.
Well, I'm pretty happy with this chapter. It's a bit darker then the past couple. Not quite as bad as the first chapter, but still not campy and happy. This one is actually pretty long for me too, I just couldn't stop writing. Hand written, this is 14 pages in my notebook, 8 pages + Bishidex and A.N. typed. Please review and let me know what you think. If you'd like, email me a character description and I'll put you in the story. As last time, Violet Jones is PeaceLoveOcelot's character, and I own no character in this story except Danny and Lia. Matta Ne!