Chapter 40
By morning I was wide awake, the rain had stopped, but it was barely light. I crawl out of the tree slowly and stretch, trying to bear the pain in my shoulder. I look around, I don't recognize this marsh-like terrain. I yawn loudly and scratch the back of my neck.
Daisuke and I explored the area, looking for a way out, until eventually we found a cobblestone path. "Which way should we go?" I ask.
"I dunno. Lets go this way." Daisuke says, pointing down to the left.
"Kay."
I follow him as he begins walking. That's when I notice a peculiar mark on his shoulder. "What's that?" I ask, poking it.
"Huh?" He looks over his shoulder at me. "What's what?"
"That." I say, poking it again. He tried to look at it, but he couldn't get on the right angle.
"What?"
"It's a mark of some sort." I say.
"Like what?"
"I feel like I've seen one like that before..." I shrug. "Oh well."
"What mark?"
"I dunno, I'm not sure what it is." I say.
"Now I'm freaked out." He says.
"Do I have one?" I ask, trying to look at my shoulder.
"Not that I saw." He says. "Hey what's that?"
"What?"
"It looks like a gate of some sort." Daisuke says, pointing to a gate ahead. It seemed to have a small fence made out of white sharp things joined with rope, and the gate was a standard wooden gate, with a skull on it. We both look at it all curiously. It seemed to lead off into a few more trees then a grassy field in the distance.
"It sure looks more happy out there than this place." I say.
"Yeah, I have to agree with you ther-" Daisuke stops, as if frozen.
"Daisuk-" I turn and freeze in fear. A giant serpent, looking down on us like prey.
"I-I've never seen a snake get so big.." Daisuke stutters. The snake opens it's mouth hissing in a hostile way.. we were lunch.
"We gotta get out of here!" I exclaim.
"Don't leave without me!" Daisuke shouts, ramming through the gate. I follow close behind as we sprint away.
Once out of the murky area, and into the clear air in some sort of forest, we stop running, stopping to pant. Not from exhaustion, but to release fright.
"That.. was too close.." Daisuke pants.
"At least.. we found.. a way out.." I reply.
"Agreed.. hey, it's quite warm here." Daisuke stood in a ray of sunlight, smiling. I smile back and look around.
"I wonder where we are.." I say.
"I dunno, but I like it here. Much more bright and peaceful." He says.
"But we can't stay here, that snake might still be on our tail!" I mention.
"You're right. Lets go." He says, then begins running. I follow close behind.
It had ben a few days since then, we lost track, but I'm guessing around three or four days. Daisuke and I had found a small town, and were sharing a small motel room. Inside it were two futons either side of the room, a desk, and a small TV with poor reception. The flooring was creaky wooden floorboards, and the walls were made of wide wooden planks, with small chips and carvings embedded in them. Then on one of the walls was an averagely-sized window, it squeaks loudly when it opens and closes. There were broken blinds in front of the window too. Between the futons was a tiny heater, the kind with metal rods that heat up and a fan that blows the heat out. If we wanted the room warm at night, we'd have to turn it on early in the evening. However, the worst part were the cobwebs in the corners of the roof. I hadn't seen any spiders since we started living in this room, but the webs made me paranoid.
Currently, I was adjusting the small antenna on top of the TV trying to get a clear picture, I also tried turning knobs and flicking switches on it. Daisuke was laying on his futon watching.
"Hit it!" He kept saying, but no matter how many times I'd hit it, it still would refuse to work.
"You try!" I say, about to give up.
"But I'm comfortable." He says. I sigh and sit back down on my knees, staring at the fuzzy grey screen, and listening to the scratchy sound.
"Then no TV!" I say, and crawl across the small room on my hands and knees to my futon, and collapse on it lazily and pull the covers up and close my eyes feeling warm and comfortable.
"Fine! I'll get the darn thing working!" Daisuke exclaims, sliding his way over to the TV on his butt, moving by pushing his legs across the ground. I open an eye, wanting to watch him struggle. Daisuke unexpectedly punches the top of the TV box firmly, causing a loud thud, then the TV flickered and a clear picture showed, the sound was slightly scratchy but the voices were still understandable. Daisuke gets a smug expression and slides back over to his futon and gets comfy again. I laugh slightly and roll my eyes, then watch the TV.
The picture was a normal sepia tone, and it seemed to be a movie. It had three young boys running around a farmhouse playing with chickens. The storyline of that movie were the boys grew up and were reunited by a natural disaster and had to try and prevent a bad guy from destroying the world. As the night progressed on, I ended up falling asleep by the end of the movie. I didn't see whether Hiro, the main character, managed to beat Tawaru, the bad guy.
"Suki.. Suki wake up!"
"Huh! I'M AWAKE!" I shout, jumping to my feet, then suddenly feeling the coldness. I whine and lie back down and pull the warm covers over me. "Why is it so cold?" I complain. Daisuke shakes his head.
"We gotta get up though!" He says. I shake my head repeatedly.
"No no no no no! It's way too cold!" I groan.
"Well maybe you should reconsider about wearing singlets and small boxer shorts to bed." He says with a small smirk. I raise an eyebrow, noticing his expression was a perverted one. I slide the covers up over my face so only my eyes show, and I stare at him cautiously.
"Well.. it's all that was in my bag..." I say quietly. Daisuke sniggers and leans over me, freaking me out.
"When you speak in such a low tone, it's kind of cute." He says. I shiver slightly.
"E-er..." I could only stutter, I didn't like this at all. He then stands up and walks towards the door laughing.
"Get dressed, I'll meet you outside." He says, then walks out. I sigh of relief, however I was reluctant to get out of bed, it was way too cold. I lazily reach over and grab my bag and slide it over towards me. I look through it, then I saw a green suit of some sort. I'd never seen anything like it.. but it was kinda cool. I decide to get up and put it on, I then notice a pair of orange leg warmers, they seemed thick and soft. I put them on too, they warmed up my legs quite well. Upon walking towards the door, I couldn't help but notice how easy it was to move around in it. Suddenly, I felt like I just had déjà vu, have I.. worn this before?
I blink a few times then shrug it off, and walk out the door, meeting Daisuke at the end of the corridor.
"The hell is that?" He asks.
"I dunno, but it's pretty comfy." I reply.
"It's pretty ugly." He says, putting his hand in his pocket.
"Well I like it!" I huff, folding my arms. Daisuke rolls his eyes and walks out the exit of the building, I follow. The streets were quieter than usual, even though it was only a small town, it was still rather quiet. "So what are we doing today?" I ask.
"Well I'm hungry, so we'll go get some breakfast." Daisuke says.
"Mmmmm breakfast." I chime. We walk past a stand selling pies. I smell the delicious aroma coming from them. Next thing I know, Daisuke holds one out to me, and takes a bite of one in his other hand. "W-what the?"
"Eat up. They wont stay hot forever." He says, using his tongue to catch the meat falling out of his pie.
"You can't just take hem! You gotta pay!" I exclaim.
"With what? Neither of us have any money." He says.
"Then we have to earn some, I mean, we need to pay the rent on that room we're living in!" I say. Daisuke looks at me.
"We don't need to." He says.
"But it's the right thing to do! We have to!" I exclaim.
"No, we don't have to. If they try and force us, then we'll just murder them." He says, then takes another bite. I stop, he looks over his shoulder and stops too. "What?"
"You can't murder people!" I say, astounded by his words.
"Why not? If we do we wont have anyone chasing us. Simple." He says with a shrug, and takes a last bite of his pie and licks his fingers clean. I felt uncomfortable about him now.
"But what about their families?" I ask, starting to walk again, but slowly. Daisuke sighs and shakes his head.
"Too bad for them aye." He says. "It's their mistake. Mistakes have consequences."
"But... killing is too far.." I say, my voice trailing off to a quiet mumble. Daisuke grins and puts the other pie in my hand.
"You sound shy, as I said it's cute." He says. He seemed really different today, than normal. I edge away from him, but continue walking beside him. I remain quiet and nibble on the edge of the lid of the pie. "Huh- Suki get back!" Daisuke says suddenly, pushing me behind him.
"What is it?" I question, trying to peer over his shoulder, but he was too tall.
"Fucking Konohagakure ninjas.." He grumbles with disgust. I didn't like his language, but I couldn't do anything about it, and Konoha ninjas? "Suki go hide over there, I'll kill them." He says, pointing to a building. I nod and run over, hiding behind he wall. Though I wasn't going to hide completely. I peek my head around the corner and watch as three Konohagakure ninjas approach Daisuke. One seemed to be a Jonin, he has dark brown hair and matching eyes. The other two were shorter, maybe my age. They were both blonde boys. "Hey you Konoha brats!" Daisuke shouted out, capturing their full attention. Daisuke reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handful of shuriken. The trio of Konoha ninjas got into a defensive stance.
Daisuke threw the shuriken at them, however they all dodge and run at him, except for the blonde one with his hair tied up. He got down on one knee and made a form with his hands and watched Daisuke closely. Three against one isn't fair, I wanted to go out and help Daisuke. I quickly ate the pie, wiped my mouth on my sleeve and watched the situation.
Daisuke gave a heavy punch to the other blonde boy's stomach, causing him to cringe, then Daisuke reached up and grabbed the Jonin's throat as the Jonin was about to drop kick him.
"You let him go!" The blonde boy demanded, getting back up.
"Susumu hurry up!" The Jonin shouted. Something in my mind clicked.
"I'm trying Komaru-sensei!" The blonde boy on one knee shouts, sweat dripping from his forehead. 'Komaru.. Susumu... where have I heard those names before..' I stare at the trio, their faces didn't seem familiar at all.
"W.. what the... I can't move..." Daisuke stutters. The blonde boy stood up, and opened his hands. Daisuke copied those movements, putting the Jonin down. Did they have Daisuke trapped in a jutsu?
The other blonde boy began scowling at Daisuke. "How dare you attack us like that you ungrateful bastard! I'll tear your head off!"
"Your bark is louder than your bite.. idiot." Daisuke scoffs.
"Daisuke!" I shout out, running out to them. Both the blonde boy and Daisuke's attention snaps to my direction. "I'll save you!" I exclaim, running to the boy.
"Setsuki!" The boy shouts. I stop running, I don't know what he just said, but he didn't seem hostile towards me. He actually walked up to me and tried to hug me. I push his arms away. "Setsuki? What's the matter? It's me, Daisuke." He says.
"No! Yo.. what?" I look back and forth between this boy and Daisuke. Daisuke grimaces at the boy.
"Thank God we found you." The Jonin says, also walking over to me. I take a step back. "Your uncle has been worried sick! Where have you been!" He questions. I don't think I have been so confused in my life.
"Suki-chan, you look so confused..?" The boy 'Daisuke' mentions.
"What..? How do you know who I am?" I ask.
"Come on, stop fooling around." The boy says.
"I think it's amnesia, Daisuke." The Jonin says.
"Komaru-sensei!" The other boys shouts. "I can't hold him!"
The Jonin turns around, Daisuke was moving very slowly, as if he was under pressure.
"Alright, I got him Susumu. You guys go and take Setsuki and head home. I wont be too long." The Jonin says. The blonde boy with his hair tied up nodded and seemed to release a jutsu. Daisuke ran at him, but the Jonin jumped in and pinned him to the ground.
"Get off me you asshole!" Daisuke scowls, trying to get his hands together. " Ninja Art: Lightning Dragon Tornado!" Suddenly black clouds roll in overhead, followed closely by thunder. My hand twitches as a giant lightning dragon comes down from the sky. Suddenly, I remember, everything. I take a step back. Daisuke, my teammate, grabs my wrist.
"Come on Setsuki, I'll explain everything on the wa-"
"LETS GET OUT OF HERE!" I shout over the top of him and begin sprinting, dragging Daisuke along behind me. Susumu ran over and runs beside me, well tried to.
"Have you got your memory back?" Susumu asks. I nod.
"Yup! And I'm glad I did! Now we really have to run!" I exclaim.
"Where the hell did you go!" Daisuke questions. "We have been worried sick!"
"He thought you were dead!" Susumu exclaims, pointing at Daisuke.
"Did not! You did! I would never think something so horrible to my Suki-chan!" Daisuke retorts.
"You told me yourself, baka!" Susumu gushes.
"Why would I, Yamanaka Daisuke, wish for something so terrible to my, beautiful Godess, Kuromizu Setsuki?" Daisuke gushes.
"YOU-... ugh.. forget it." Susumu grumbles.
Minutes later we stop running and look behind us. "You guys think Komaru-sensei is okay?" Daisuke asks.
"What kind of insult is that?" A sudden voice behind us says. We all jump and look behind, Komaru-sensei was standing there with his arms folded.
"So you are alive!" Daisuke exclaims. Susumu groans and facepalms. Komaru-sensei flicks Daisuke's head.
"So tell us Setsuki, where the hell have you been these past few days?" Komaru-sensei inquires. My eyes wonder.
"Well... I went out training... and got distracted.." I begin, trying to conjure up some sort of lie.
"How? Tell me every detail." Komaru-sensei says. I scratch the back of my neck, it seemed rather itchy lately.
"That guy back there! He's an Otogakure ninja, and he was hiding around the training area, so I went after him to bring him to justice.. and well we got in a massive fight, and this tree-" I stopped to spread my arms out as if gesturing the size of the tree. "MASSIVE tree fell on top of us, and when I woke up I couldn't remember a thing and neither could he.. so um yeah.." I put my hands behind my back after I finish talking.
"..Mmhmm.. is that so?" Komaru-sensei inquires.
"Yup!" I reply. Komaru-sensei sighs and starts walking.
"Fine fine, come on then." He says. Suddenly tight arms wrap around me from behind.
"I'm so glad you're okay, Suki-chan!" Daisuke exclaims, rubbing his face into my shoulder. My eye twitches.
"Um.. thanks?" I respond and try and break out of his grip, but he wouldn't let me go.
"Come on Romeo." Susumu sneers, then grabs Daisuke's ear and pulls him off, following Komaru-sensei.
"Ow ow ow ow! Susumu! Dammit! Ow ow! Let go!" Daisuke gushes. I laugh and follow along.
"Well at least you're safe." Takashi says, then gives me another big hug. I close my eyes and hug back.
"I'm really sorry Takashi.." I say in a low voice.
"I don't want you chasing after Kabuto, okay." He says. I was about to argue when Komaru-sensei gave me a look to say shut up, so I kept my mouth shut and gave a reluctant nod.
"I'll leave you both now." Komaru-sensei says, starting to walk to the door.
"Thank you Komaru-san." Takashi says. Komaru-sensei gave a nod and walks outside, to Daisuke and Susumu. I sigh quietly. "Are you hungry?"
"Yeah." I reply.