Title; Fading
Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.
Chapter - 6
A Gift is a contract with a God.
In years passed according to legend people served the Gods in a more personal manner some claims are even held that the most powerful of the Gifted would regularly interact personally with the deity they served, very much at odds with modern Gift bearers whom need to avoid and repel the Gods for their own protection.
It's said that the Gods wrath came about due to the nature of the contracts, originally it was believed that the Gifts held by priests or followers of that God could easily be revoked upon betrayal, that is until the followers realised the Gift was exactly what its name suggested and couldn't be taken back under any circumstance.
There was no longer a need to follow the Gods, there powers were secure and their descendants would likely inherit the same Gift without any involvement with the Gods.
Some said the Daemons were the Gods revenge on humanity for stealing power from them, others said that the imperfect Gifts- which would kill their bearers in time- were the vengeance, certainly divine vengeance was the most common reason given for both plagues.
Only a select few know that the Magic Gifts are not the only ones the Gods placed in the world, the others being far more subtle in their masters intentions.
Three weeks had passed since my first raiding mission, nightmares aside it had been an uneventful period for the most part where I done little more than refine my sword skills and bought some better clothes to replace the rags I had been wearing before.
I'd gotten information from Sasuke too, under the guise of small talk, I knew now that the minor Gifted lived on the second floor, the regular Gifted on the third floor, Nobility on the forth to sixth floors and on the seventh floor the high Gifted among them the Holy Gifted; the first floor which I originally thought the Gifted lived was actually offices of sorts for the Gifted and Nobility to interact with the public.
It wasn't good news, I had checked out the security, it had not been a pleasant experience to say the least; getting to the second floor was simple enough, but I was caught on the third and thanks to some excuse about visiting a friend and getting lost I got if with only a warning.
Well a warning and an aching jaw and midsection.
I had found that there were more levels of difficulty involved with living in the Raiders barracks than simply the fighting I was required to do, for a start using the baths was tricky with my body issues, generally speaking late morning was a safe period since most raiders kept a semi nocturnal sleep schedules.
I had taken to the habit of hanging around the outer walls of the city in my free time and using a device I had purchased in the market for three coppers, it allowed me to see much further than I could naturally.
Sasuke had joined me today for a change, he'd been under a lot of stress lately, Captain Rex had tried to have him court marshalled for assaulting him on the Raid and had tried to blame him for Anders death and all the damaged equipment. There was mixed results, Rex got the blame for the vanguard being undermanned apparently whoever had given him the orders denied as much.
The Uchiha was punished too, but he refused to tell me how.
We were underneath a sheltered portion of the wall currently, I had gotten bored of examining the fields outside the citadel, there was nothing there today, sometimes I managed to catch glimpses of Daemons just at the edge of my enhanced vision…they were different than the ones I had seen on my Raid, bigger and more monstrous.
I had seen one that resembled a man, though in general shape only, it was deformed missing chunks from its body were a normal person aould be consistant and having strange spiked protrusions randomly sprouting from its body, it's arms were too long or it's legs not long enough- maybe both- so that it's arms almost touched the ground as it walked, using a nearby tree that I'd passed on my only Raid so far I estimated the thing must have been at around ten to twelve feet tall.
I'd told Sasuke about it, he'd told me that he'd never actually been out in full daylight or known anyone who had so it was entirely possible such beasts and worst existed outside in the daylight, that's why you Raided at night.
"Anything of interest?" asked the dark man looking up from some scraps of parchment he'd been reading carefully for the last while.
"Nothing." I answered honestly.
I may not have been completely honest, while I did spend this time usually examining the Daemons outside- after all knowledge was power- if there happened to be none I'd been using my time to examine the guards patrol routes, who went were and when and of course figuring out the best possible routes and times to move around unnoticed.
Naturally Sasuke might become a little suspicious if I started doing that now.
"So are you looking after Sakura tonight?" I asked to fill the silence after another scan showed me the fields as far as I could see well anyway were empty, I hadn't managed to figure out exactly what his schedule was for helping out his friend, the first week he hadn't visited her at all after his initial medical care, the week after he'd helped the place two nights in a row and the third week he's helped three nights spaced out during the week.
"No, tonight I need to collect the new equipment for the Vanguard." He answered me with a yawn, we still hadn't been out again yet mainly because of the damaged equipment, there weren't enough spare weapons to replace the damaged ones and there wasn't even halfway correctly sized armour.
I had held onto my original sword despite it being chipped, it was double edged for a reason after all I'd been told when I tried to have it replaced or repaired.
"Speaking of which you should come with me, you can carry your own equipment." He added as I had turned once more to examine my surroundings, I shrugged half-heartedly placing my device in a pouch on my belt, I couldn't exactly claim to have anything better to do at the moment.
"Does this mean we'll be going on another mission?" I asked hoping my tone came out more even than I suspected it had, it was probably a good thing though, I had been content without the work but the other Raiders had been getting edgy, out of money to drink I suppose.
"In the next week or so." Answered the Uchiha without looking up from his papers.
"You've heard something?" I shot back an awful lot more interested in our small talk now.
"Just to have a group equipped and ready for a Raid, I even get to pick my men this time." He had deposited the papers into a pocket and we shared a significant look, I knew it in an instant that he was considering asking me to join him, or ordering me.
"We'd better go collect our equipment." He changed the subject suddenly climbing to his feet and stretching, I guessed my position would come up later as I followed him out into the open air pulling my hood up to block out the rain, we moved quickly along the inside of the parapet and down the soaked stone steps into the main streets.
The streets were oddly alive with life, people bustling around, horse drawn carts, street performers and beggars, there was a hum of happiness in the air.
"There something happening today?" I asked my companion, I wasn't really one for keeping up with social event, mostly because I would never have been invited to these events before or after joining the Raiders.
"It's the red moon in three days." Answered Sasuke leading the way through the crowd, I had to snare lightly at the answer, I really hated this time of the year…maybe I'd been blocking out the dates.
The red moon was just that, a full moon that glowed a pale red and for whatever reason it drove the Daemons wild, to keep them from assaulting the city it required more than the regular rain so the mages overclocked there holy spell for added rain, of course this resulted in serious flooding.
An unpleasant thing if you lived on the streets.
"What happens to the Raiders then?" I asked weaving my way around a heavy set man in a stained vest, I had noticed the taller and broader Uchiha never had any similar problems with most people going out of their way to avoid the dark Raider.
"It's up to you really, you can either be sealed in the barracks for a few days or handle your own accommodation?" answered the Uchiha as we pulled off the main street into a smaller winding alleyway, in the narrow passage we were mostly sheltered and I was happy to pull down my rather itchy hood.
"Would you be stuck in the barracks or could you explore the castle?" I asked attempting to keep my tone casual, we paused as a heavy wooden door, Sasuke knocked heavily four times before turning back to me.
"I wouldn't explore at all if I liked my organs where they were." Answered the Uchiha as several loud bangs resounded before the door was wrenched open.
"Wha ya want?" asked the older man in the threshold, his grisly black beard was streaked with grey and a well-worn apron strained against his bulging gut, his arms bulged with heavy muscle veins crisscrossing his biceps, I could spell alcohol on his breath and not for the first time I questioned Sasuke's wisdom in electing to use this blacksmith for the repairs.
"My order Victor." Answered the Uchiha crossing his arms and tilting his head to the right slightly, an odd habit I noticed he repeated when he tried to enforce his authority over someone, the man snared before stalking back into his workshop, Sasuke followed him and I took this as an invitation to enter too; the smoke from the forge was thick and stung at my eyes as I followed the two men through the sweltering heat into the back of the shop.
"That was some fuckin' work boy, wha you say you happen again?" asked the blacksmith Victor pushing some scrap out of the way and dragged a smoke stained chest out into the opening.
"I didn't." answered Sasuke his brow darkening slightly.
"Aha, tha's your order." Returned Victor, Sasuke wasted no time in opening the chest, withdrawing and inspecting a chest plate before handing it off to me.
"Try it on." He ordered sorting through the rest of the items, I did finding to my surprise that it fit for better than it used to despite it clearly being my old armour, it had been altered.
"So ta runts a Raida." Muttered the blacksmith with obvious surprise, I decided to ignore the I hoped accidental insult.
"This the best you could do?" asked Sasuke eying the sword he held with obvious distaste, it was plain the hilt a simple iron affair, I had to wonder what the Uchiha's problem with it was unless he wanted it to look prettier, it basically resembled his old weapon.
"Wha's wrong with it?" asked Victor clearly displeased at the critique.
"It's too light." Grumbled the Uchiha giving the weapon an experimental swing, it rent the air smoothly producing a soft 'whoosh'.
"Beta material boy, your old one was a very elderly thing." Returned the Blacksmith, it did little to reassure Sasuke though as he kept the sneer painted on his face, we returned our equipment to the chest before saying our goodbyes to Victor and leaving the workshop each of us holding a handle of the heavy chest between us.
Our return to the barracks were uneventful as Sasuke took the lead guiding me through unfamiliar narrow alleyways to avoid most of the parading and activity.
I honestly would have liked a chance to partake in the festivities, the festival of the Red moon wasn't the biggest celebration in Naru but it was easily the cities favourite, in essence it was a potential last laugh in case the Red moon set off the Daemons too much for even the extra holy rains to hold them off.
I'd ask Sasuke to join me I decided, the gruff austere man could use a little fun.
There were several bonfires in the open market square, towering infernos protected by special shelters constructed just for the day, between each of them resided performers- jugglers, men swallowing swords and other strange acts- as well as stands for games of chance and contests of skill, in the very centre of square couples danced together to the music from some band.
While I held an expression of awe and excitement having never been to anything quite so amazing as this beside me Sasuke had the expression of a man trying to face his executioner bravely.
I stifled a giggle.
"So what do you want to do first?" I asked him, hoping to get some interaction and elicit some sort of enjoyment out of him.
"I could use a drink." Answered the Uchiha his voice more than a little dark, it turned out to be an easy wish to fulfil, nearly every third stand seemed to sell something alcoholic, soon I found myself enjoying the various games while the surly Uchiha simply observed with disinterest.
"You really did come here for the festival." Commented Sasuke after an embarrassingly poor performance of mine at a ring toss game, I nodded not quite understanding what the older Raider was getting at- what else was I supposed to be here for.
"Most men would come here for other appetites." He mentioned shooting a quick glance over my shoulder, I followed his view to see several guards men in uniform but clearly not on duty talking to a group of giggling women.
"Why aren't you either?" I shot back, it was cheap just shooting back the accusation but it hadn't even occurred to me to go shirt chasing with the Uchiha so I didn't exactly have a well thought out excuse.
"I wouldn't want to catch anything." He snarled darkly as to my confusion a blonde woman dressed elegantly in purple broke from a group similarly dressed women sliding up to the Raider and snatching a hold of his arm.
"Hello Sasuke." Purred the woman, apparently intending to ignore the dark glare the man shot her.
"Ino, what do you want?" asked Sasuke with a sigh, I was quite confused at how Sasuke actually knew this clearly high born woman.
"Oh I think we both know." The Ino woman purred, I raised an eyebrow at the sight which was so far removed from my old impression of noble women.
"In that case my answer remains the same. Let's go." Answered Sasuke directing the second part to me as he pulled his arm free and began to walk off, clearly of a determined disposition the woman kept pace with us.
"So you hit Rex and you've started hanging around with trash, what's happened to you?" questioned Ino vehemently, I had to wonder again how Sasuke knew this woman, it wasn't until we cut down a flight of steps to a lower alleyway- already flooded with maybe half a foot of water- that the tenacious woman abandoned her chase.
"She seems nice, old friend of yours?" I asked my voice heavily laden with sarcasm.
"Ino's one of those odd kinds of liberal nobles, not the marry below their station kind but the kind that figures a husband and a lover aren't necessarily the same thing." Snarled the man darkly, not for the first time I noticed the anger and contempt he held inside for the noble class but for the first time I saw the personal edge to it.
"As for a friend, not really, but like an acquaintance from the distant past." There was more to Sasuke than simple Raider, he could read, knew nobles personally and yet his only known friend besides myself was a sickly prostitute and he worked the most dangerous job. There was something he was keeping from me but I could hardly call him out on such a thing.
We trudged through the watery lower alleys before at the Uchiha's suggestion we climbed back onto the higher streets and sought out an inn for a warm meal, we didn't speak much each of us wrapped up in our own thoughts.
The basic layout of Naru is three levels, a common ground level that branches all over the citadel's districts, a lower level existed in the poorer living districts, the Market district for more unsavoury or risqué interests and a few other districts for some of the shadier dealing carried out in the citadel, the higher levels were traditionally reserved for the rich nobility.
The Garden district had a mid and higher level but both were off limits to the general public, under the Gifted herbalists the Garden produced a portion of the crops the citadel depended on, the rest of course coming from the secured farm land to the East and West.
The floods put a halt to most businesses, the only food available was from the Garden district as shipments from the Farm had to be stopped, blacksmiths had to cancel their work both as a suitable furnace was impossible to keep during the cold of the floods and shipments from the Southern mines were cancelled for the period.
The Red Moon floods also left the lower levels completely unusable and even the mid-level streets difficult to use, the dredges of society were forced from their submerged homes to seek what little shelter they could obtain from the churches and missionaries before returning to their homes to salvage what they could, in a sense they were fortunate in that most of the poor had very little from the rains to damage.
For a period of three days after their Red moon festival most spent people spent their time huddled together for warmth, trying desperately to ignore their hungry stomachs and ignore the roars from the furious Daemons trying to get through the holy burning rains in their maddened bloodlust state.
I wasn't sure if the barracks were better or worse during the red moon period, as it turned out most Raiders chose not to stay during the flooding, the additional space did come at a price though, the roaring fire's that were in kept burning in the barracks became little more than embers giving of only the smallest amount of heat- apparently the fires upkeep was the territory of the Gifted whom were so busy now- and food was rationed carefully.
It may have had to come out of my own pocket but at least in one of the inns it wouldn't have been so bitterly cold and a decent meal would be available…the company would probably have been better too.
The Uchiha had done little more than train and lounge before the fire studying his scraps of parchment reverently for the last day and a half, attempts to speak with him had earned me little more than various grunts and curt noncommittal answers.
He was so at odds with every other person I had met, there was just something profoundly wrong with the way he acted, it wasn't bad I thought but I still couldn't understand it.
I had decided years ago that with the exception of my dear dear sister people were only there for the good times and wanted nothing to do with you during the bad, if you were hired to do some work and had some coin- if your situation was positive whatsoever- everyone would hang around you, speak with you and offer assistance, if you were starving on the street the same former friends wouldn't even meet your gaze.
By needing help you abandoned the right to it.
That wasn't how Sasuke seemed to work, if anything it was the reverse, if I found myself some day in the bowels of Hell surrounded by Daemons it wouldn't surprise me to see him in the distance trying to cut a path to me, on the other hand a simple conversation while everything was quiet and peaceful proved a difficult task for the warrior.
I didn't understand it, how the man had managed to seem both altruistic and self-centred at the same time.
"How would you fight someone with a Gift?" I asked him the morning of the second day while we sat by the embers enjoying our breakfast rations, the question unlike some of my other attempts sparked a glint of interest in the Uchiha's eyes and torn his attention from his papers.
"Odd question, why do you ask?" I shrugged giving him a round-about answer about being curious, I thought better of mentioning that I may have use for the information someday.
"It's impossible to fight an offensive high-level Gift, and near impossible for a midlevel Gift, even against a minor offensive Gift the odds would be against you." He answered to my disappointment, though oddly he dropped his papers by his feet in a neat stack and leaned forward conspicuously.
"Of course the biggest problem is your question, fighting implies a trading of attacks, a Gifted attack would wipe out a large squad. It's impossible for the average individual to survive." Continued the older Raider, I noted his use of the average recalling his unique trait.
"So what if I said kill instead of fight?" I asked feeling suddenly paranoid, the ruling class of Naru were Gifted- if fact that was why they were the ruling class- I doubted they held conversations like ours in much esteem.
"Then it's easy." Answered Sasuke with a smirk.
"But what about their power?" I asked, the Gifted were capable of driving Daemons away from Naru wholesale, enveloping an area the size of the castle in fire or reigning down lightning from heaven if the stories were to be believed, that hardly seemed easy.
"The offensive Gifts are designed for massive destruction not one on one combat, a Gifted has to meditate to draw on their power and that can take a lot of valuable time." He spoke before retrieving his papers.
It was food for thought as he returned to his reading, if I understood the Uchiha right with enough speed I would be able to defeat a Gifted opponent, I'd have to get used to the heavy armour for that among other things.
Hope you're enjoying folks, let me know if you've got any concerns or questions.
R&R