Title; Fading
Disclaimer; Nope I don't own any of the Naruto characters.
Chapter - 21;
A man dies once.
A Raider dies three times. The first death is whatever forces them or convinces them to join the corps, whatever makes them a Raider. The second is their first Raid, no one returns the same from it. And the final death is the last Raid, before they either retire to a new division or enter Miasma's domain.
A Wraith dies twice. Once to make them a Wraith stealing a Gift in exchange for new cursed powers. The second time heralds the Wraith to its new position as a Knight in some Divine court or to the throne of a court.
There are several documented abilities that come to the new-born Wraith in exchange for those talents lost.
Wraith Burn is the nickname given to the effect of the warrior's immunity to magic's additional effect. While Mages found it impossible to touch Wraiths with their Gifts other men and creatures physically made of magic power found it actively painful. Those with Chaos enhancements felt it only when they connected with an active magic, a punch with an empowered fist wouldn't only fail to gain additional force but would seize the limb in a cripplingly painful embrace. Daemons it was theorised felt pain in the presence of a Wraith, as the magic that gave the abominations life and allowed them to move painlessly with their often broken, bizarre and naturally unusable bodies faded and dulled in a Wraith's company- most assumed that was why Daemons strayed away from Wraiths.
Wraith Word is the term offered for a Wraith's ability to communicate with one another and their allies the Dragons through blood. Something in the divine touch on their bodies allowed their blood to retain memories and messages to be traded to those of their own kind.
Wraith Life is the third divine effect allocated to Wraiths and perhaps owed some of its effectiveness to the Wraith Word. A Wraith could recover perfectly from almost any nonlethal injury, broken or misplaced bones which would remain painful and weak in a natural human would shift unnaturally back into place in Wraiths. Even a limb could be reattached though not regrown, it only had to be kept attached either tied or sewn to its stump and the blood would resonate and begin to reattach the two halves to what it recalled as its correct form. Eyes would reform, deafened ears regain sound and pierced organs so long as they were not lethally so would recover to perfect working order.
And there are others but they are not given to a Wraith upon rebirth rather they are naturally sealed and blocked and must be released by a higher power of divinity, a high ranking Wraith, a King Dragon or a bearer of Godhood itself.
"Ouch." I whispered with a wince as the Uchiha kneaded the tight muscles in my calves over my pant leg, we were obviously not in the Raiders barracks at the moment but instead the room we rented from time to time. Despite having the privacy though we'd still done little more than kiss.
"It may not be a direct price but it's some deterrent for that technique of yours." Commented Sasuke appearing as sympathetic as was possible for the man. He moved to the other leg and I winced in agreement. I'd discovered not unexpectedly that most of my new abilities were negated by my companions quirk; the fireballs and the sixth sense I had expected to fail but the strength boast had also proved ineffective and even painful as I was hit by some sort of backlash, once an attack connected all the magical force faded away leaving only me before the after pains alighted my skin. My own streght wasn't enough to rock the stronger warrior unfortunately.
My Double Step however had shown its worth. While contact would dissipate the techniques bonuses I could use it at a distance to catch the Uchiha off guard, I'd even begun experimenting adding leaps to the move and trying to us the extra leg strength to fuel a kick- the former worked spectacularly and the latter set me on my ass. The price had been made apparent later when I had realised that all the extra pressure being applied to my legs had torn my muscles quite badly.
"Yeah, Tenten's…a bit forgetful of the prices." I was going to say a bit of a bitch but I was trying to avoid the foul mouthed Raider cliché as much as possible. The resounding cry of 'shit' when the other Raider's fingers brushed a particularly painful tangle of swollen nerves on the inside of my left knee reset the balance, Sasuke laughed.
"What do you think of the new squad?" I asked a little tentatively, our new squad was a hard group to read and honestly they were strangely suited to being the Uchiha's men mimicking his lack of social skills rather perfectly down to the dark looks and moody monosyllable responses.
"They're part of Orochimaru's plan no doubt." Grunted the Uchiha, I'd guessed as much myself simply as they didn't feel like Raiders but asked the Uchiha to elaborate to learn his process. Instinct was good but I didn't want to want to rely solely on empathy.
"They've got formal training, Raiders can fight well enough but they're unruly. These guys all rise, train and perform duties uniformly and without complaint which speaks of formal soldiering. On the other hand they've been doing other things, I'm sure you've noticed our new barracks has a couple of decorations, shiny stuff, they've been using those to watch and track us." Answered the experienced Raider. I had to giggle a little at Sasuke's use of 'shiny stuff' to describe the various gleaming shields and weapons lining our new barrack's walls, it seemed unusually ineloquent of him.
"So not Guards, Saints then." I deduced with an unhappy sigh, whatever Orochimaru had planned it certainly would be made easier with all these babysitters surrounding us.
"Most of them are probably Gifted." Muttered Sasuke finishing his massage and taking a seat on the mattress next to me.
"I'll try using my new trick then, see if I can gleam some details from him." I proposed stretching my still aching legs out with a groan, the Uchiha nodded his agreement tensely.
"What's wrong?" I asked reclining back on the bed with a groan.
"Hinata's being moved." That caught my attention, I bolted upright moving too fast for the good of my aching body. A lancing pain crackled it's way around my spine causing me to crash side wards into my partner, I thought I heard him laugh lightly before the pain creasing my features registered to him and he helped me roll into a more comfortable position.
After a moment the pain faded and I blinked up at the Uchiha feeling a little embarrassed.
"So what was that about Hinata?" I asked the relieved Raider, I was surprised to feel him take my hand gently in his and rub the back of my palm soothingly.
"She's being moved East to the farmlands, to be sacrificed." He answered but there was more, I could see it in his eyes and waited for him to continue.
"Kakashi's been ordered to act as a personal escort with a large group of high level Guards." He continued still massaging my hand gently, I was waiting for the good news though because Kakashi being there was not a positive. As far as I knew he was the only person in the entire city whom could outright beat Sasuke and most likely even the both of us together.
"And we'll be Kakashi's support." Finished the swordsman with a sigh. Well that was good, as difficult as the task before us was at least we were invited to the mess. I frowned in confusion at the information though.
"Why would Orochimaru invite you along, he's got to expect you to cause some problems." I offered raising more slowly to a seated position carefully, there was a small ache but it seemed I hadn't damaged anything permanently.
"He's probably counting on that. He wants to force Kakashi and I into combat, at worst Kakashi kills me and eliminates my threat to him and at best I kill Kakashi and flee with Hinata eliminating my threat and his competition." Answered Sasuke, it was certainly a bad position no matter which way we looked at it.
"The new 'recruits' are his back up then, maybe to kill the victor." I offered myself before letting out a shaky curse. Months of plotting escape routes from Naru and now my rescue attempt would take place elsewhere, months of training to overcome simple guards and now I had the Guard Captain and a squad of assassins between Hinata and I.
"So what do we do?" I asked drawing a grin from the warrior. It wasn't a 'I've got a good simple plan that will fix the entire mess' grin, it was a 'I've got something resembling a plan and the only thing certain at this point is its going to hurt' sort of grin.
"I'm not going to like this am I?"
I was barely conscious of being moved. I was half starved with hunger- the last time I'd eaten properly had been with Sasuke during our bizarre picnic- and I'd come to suspect they had slipped something into my water to make me more complacent and malleable.
They had also stuck a bag on my head, which I'd thought a little unnecessary and mostly just insulting.
When finally I was relieved of my bag I was surprised to see my reliever to be a rather familiar sight. Wet white eyes blinked down at me and I took in the pale skin marred by a thin scar on her left cheek and a dark purple bruise above her right brow.
"…Hanabi?" I questioned my throat dry as I reached out not quite believing my eyes, she took my hand and smiled softly and I felt tears prick at my own eyes.
"Hey Hini." She greeted her voice a little raspier and more worn than I remembered it.
"What…?" I couldn't find the first question I wanted to actually ask. My eyes found themselves straying to take in the nasty bruise and Hanabi seemed to take that as the focus of my inquiry.
"They roughed me up a little after I tried to get to you." She explained with a strangely bemused grin, I blinked at my sisters confusing cheerfulness.
"After you tried to get to me?" I asked hoping for an answer other than the most obvious one. Had Hanabi actually simply tried to overpower the guards to set me free and if so where was her partner, where was Sasuke.
"Yep when they were leading you to this carriage I rushed em…think I caught them off guard too, they were expecting Sasuke to do something after all." Explained the girl before she excused herself, made her way to the carriages corner and began to retch drily. I rushed over in ever growing distress to aid her but was shocked to see her finished and still grinning.
"I probably should explain." Admitted the younger woman as much to my disgust she pulled several solid objects from her vomit and began to rinse them with some of the water from the canister on her hip.
"I'm sure you've already guessed what's intended for you. Well Sasuke and I were attached to your security, along with the Guard Captain's personal squadron and a squad of Saints posing as Raiders, obviously too much to take by force." Began Hanabi finally getting clean the first of her I assumed quite precious items, a chain of glittering red prayer beads she wrapped around her right arm.
"So you decided to just attack?" I asked confused, if she knew the task was impossible then why had she attempted it.
"Yep, I'm better off in here." She answered easily and I waited, there was a glimmer of something in her eyes, victory I thought reflected in her expression.
"There's only one Raider out there right now, the very best of them too. And he's giving them all the wrong advice and leading them into every cluster of Daemons he sees signs of. It's almost a suicide mission." Explained Hanabi cleaning the second item a simple sapphire charm, I could see the logic of their plan but a lot still worried me.
"So you're in here for protection?" I asked and was more than a little surprised to see the girl bristle as if I'd insulted her.
"I'm in here to do the protecting Hini. Besides Sasuke's Wraith blood wards off most Daemons, they'll attack the others first, that's the idea." Explained Hanabi with obviously bruised prided, I apologised a little shocked at the alien behaviour.
"They plan to make this trip in a little less than a day by forced march, no stopping for dawn. The plan is to slow them long enough that they need to take shelter so we need plenty of wounded and exhausted soldiers." Continued Hanabi in a less severe tone but still with noticeable annoyance, I had to smile at the girls stubborn wounded pride.
"There's a certain ruin Sasuke's aiming for in his misdirection. Seems like a regular old prison but he helped clear it years ago, apparently there's an underground tunnel we can make use of." Finished the girl going into details of her speculations and opinions on her escape plan, all of which went unnoticed as I saw the last item she washed clean.
The silver necklace twinkled unnaturally seeming to wink at me.
"What's wrong Hini?" she asked noticing my dazed far away state, I blinked and shook my head hoping to free myself of the sudden in pour of turbulent emotions. I hooked a thumb under my vest and freed my own charm.
"Wow, now I see. Sasuke gave me this so we'd have a matching pair." Commented the younger woman with a dazzling grin. I faked a weak smile of my own, she didn't really get the symbolism but I guessed the Uchiha wasn't the type to explain his actions all that often.
'You should always keep it near your heart boy.' Akame's words rang in my ears and I wondered, had that been what Sasuke was doing in giving it to my sister.
"He can be weirdly thoughtful you know." Commented Hanabi a small smile creasing her features and for the first time I saw it, the reason why Sasuke had been helping me so kindly without any sign of self interest. It also explained his refusal of my offers.
"Y-you're L-lovers?" I questioned my voice betraying me as it cracked and revealed my stutter. A bright blush flared across her cheeks and she spluttered a little before putting her answer into words, though she needn't have, her reaction had told me everything.
"I know he's older and well you know what he's like but yeah…we're something like that." She answered almost wistfully…I probably shouldn't have but I had the sensation that I had just been kicked in the teeth.
"He seems like a nice man." I returned emptily retreating into myself with both feelings of resentment and of shame spiralling in council in the back of my mind. One whispering the unfairness of losing the first man I'd had an interest in, the first man whom had shown me kindness and a strength of character that my Gift had made me doubt humanity could possess. The other voice herald me a thief in ambition and spoke of the reasons Sasuke would choose Hanabi over myself, pure virgin Hanabi, proud brave warrior woman Hanabi, Gift less or rather Taint less Raider Hanabi.
Hanabi snorted and there was a monstrous bellowing roar from outside a second later, the younger girls expression tightened sharply.
"Good certainly, but hardly nice." Answered Hanabi with a tense smile before she glanced upward to the small window lining the top of the caravan.
"Listen Hini, I'm going to check on Sasuke but I need you to stay down here alright." She whispered conspiratorially reaching out and giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze of reassurance.
"Why?" I asked confused.
"I'm worried about him." She answered with a soft shrug raising to her feet, I shook my head.
"No, why should I stay down?" I tried again and I think Hanabi might have realised that was my question from the start, a dark presence seemed to enter her gaze as her eyes pierced right through me and I got a sense of danger, of horror in that expression.
"My first Raider was a brief one and though he stuck to the shadows I had Sasuke to look after me so I suppose it was a relatively light experience, a gentle easing in to the life of a Raider. It left me in tears, a sobbing mess." Explained Hanabi and I shuddered a little as I suspected Hanabi was reliving her experience, I feared the thought of activating my Gift in terror of what I might witness.
"This won't be such a gentle journey, I don't want you to see what happens to those who play at being Raiders." She finished breaking her hollow stare to climb to the window. The fearless warrior woman of course that was the type he would have eyes for. In a moment of compulsion I quickly climbed to my feet and to the window with a little more trouble than my taller sister had had.
I should have listened to her.
The blood caught my eye immediately, there were torrents of the scarlet life force pooling in the field and puddles of other alien fluids amid the human. Among the flickering torches I saw panicking 'Raiders' dancing in bizarre circles as they attempted to keep track of the dancing shadows of purple green and grey that swam about them darting into the light just long enough to test the warriors guards. Though it wasn't always a simple 'test', the slower men seemed to almost simply be struck by stray shadows and absorbed into the writhing mass their death cries being their final acts in life.
That was simply the backdrop however.
"How the fuck did you find that?" I heard Hanabi whisper softly but I barely registered the words.
Only portions of the gargantuan beast was visible not from torches planted into the soil but from torches piercing the beasts limbs and torso where they had been used as make shift spears. I counted three visible arms and whispers of a forth all of differing lengths. The shortest was almost human with a single elbow joint at its centre and yet clearly inhuman as the arm twisted in all directions grotesquely. The next had three joints with spikes protruding all along it allowing the arm to swath at the Raiders near its feet in twisting swirling unpredictable strokes more like an animal's tail than an arm. The longest had more joints than I could count and hammered the ground near it like a devilish whip. All of the limbs where as thick as a full grown man's shoulders and as they found their victims they crushed them messily. A single yellow rimmed red eye swivelled madly in its broken jagged face looking it seemed at both everything and nothing at once.
Within the few seconds I'd been watching almost every 'Raider' or Guard near the Daemon had been crushed, eaten or taken by the surrounding darkness, that is except for two. One an imposing grey haired figure in glistening white armour with a billowing scarf holding a massive blade aloft in the air, the other a dark figure in dark armour with mismatched fangs one straight and dull and the other lightly curved and gleaming brightly.
I could suddenly smell it, the death and the blood and the horror. I could taste it too and feel it creeping over my skin, cold, wet and chucky as if the broken bones and bloody organs had suddenly been dumped over me…revulsion and horror took over my conscious thoughts.
"Hini!" I heard Hanabi call as I fell away from the window with a painful crash as something jammed its way roughly into my left kidney, I began to dry retch harshly as Hanabi pulled me into her arms in a comforting embrace.
"Look at me Hini!" She commanded, I did and it done little good as all I could still see were bodies and blood and monsters.
"No look!" she growled and I did, activating my power and staring into my sister as I began to hyperventilate. I began to relax as I bore witness to my sisters energies for what was actually the first time, bold determination glimmered shaded with a soft hesitance her strongest characteristic of almost gentle pig-headedness. And something else seemed to warm me, her protective strength and whatever power she'd discovered to shield herself from the horror stretched out to me and soothed both my revulsion and terror as best it could.
"See we're fine, it's alright, I'm here." She cooed and whispered to me and I felt embarrassed at myself recalling when she had been the one in this position needing the comforting. It was as if I'd been frozen once I entered Naru castle and despite its horrors shielded from the outer world, all the while Hanabi had continued to grow and now she appeared the elder and I the young innocent one.
Or at least I thought so until I realised her eyes were also prickled with tears.
"So what's our next move?" my sister asked still seeming shaken from earlier, she'd managed to fall into a fitful sleep for the rest of our journey as I kept watch of the ever dwindling squad we had on guard.
Sasuke proved his cold hearted efficiency as he allowed Saints to be pulled in the darkness and devoured stepping in only to prevent the occasional Guard members potential death. I wondered if he acted to save the Guards as he knew they were good men in comparison to the Saints or Kakashi's men or if he only acted to retain the Guard Captains confidence.
Somehow the experienced Raider managed to lead them into another monstrous Daemon ambush and in a moment that both chilled and excited me a large Daemon broke through the soldiers and made to assault the caravan.
Kakashi proved his reputation a very well deserved one.
Before the creature could connect with us a golden rune flashed in part over the window and a spire of solid earth broke from the ground and pierced through the Daemon impaling it high in the dark night air.
I had heard from Sasuke of the obscure practise among Mages of etching defence spells into inanimate objects, cards or plates anything easy to carry. It allowed a Mage to act quickly but came with certain restrictions, for one the small scale the spells had to be on, a fire ball akin to the ones I could throw using Chaos magic would require a Mage to use an object at least the size of my small shield. Kakashi however had made use instead of the panes of wood that made up the construction of the caravan allowing him a powerful mobile defence.
"I'm going to try and get the door open, otherwise we're stuck waiting on the Uchiha." I answered moving to examine the ancient lock on the cell door. We were now locked in the highest portion of the jail ruin, I guessed the only reason we hadn't been kept in the caravan was to allow Kakashi to recreate his defence spells…he hadn't seen us being moved though, I had to wonder knowing Kakashi's character if he knew exactly whom he was transporting.
I grabbed the lock in my right hand and with severe discomfort I set my hand ablaze feeling a burn dance its way up my arm about one fifth of the way to my limit. After a couple of moments the lock now blazed bright red…this would be the point where I used the hilt of my sword on the lock, except of its obvious absence.
I cringed and eyed my boots…they wouldn't offer the best protection and I didn't want to risk impairing my ability to travel by burning my foot badly. I finally hammered the lock with my forearm just below the elbow joint, it burned and hurt like an unholy bitch and I swore loudly twice, the first time after I struck the lock and the second after I noticed the lock hadn't broken but only warped. I glared at it and struck the lock a second time breaking it off with another violent curse.
I returned to Hinata rinsing my arm and getting my sister to assist in the bandaging. When I'd made my play to be captured Sasuke had intervened taking my weapons and armour but leaving my utility belt with my alchemic water canister, my rations and first aid equipment.
"He should be here soon, once Kakashi takes his eyes off him." I spoke more to myself than to my sister but she nodded anyway. We could have begun moving ourselves after all I still had four shots left in my right arm but I thought it better to wait here for my companion.
Sasuke didn't disappoint as he arrived loaded with lots of goodies within twenty minutes, I guessed the Guard Captain was now pretty busy consolidating his depleted forces. I couldn't honestly express how thankful I was to once more possess my long sword, shield and the rest of my charms. Sasuke removed himself to change as we did likewise Hinata eying her new armour like was foreign contraption she didn't quite understand.
The armour was lighter than the Raiding type, it had to be given how unsuited the heavier iron would be to the southern environment. We had bracers of steel and boots reinforced in strategic place, the torso portion was a combination of both chainmail and iron and the rest was simple studded leather- there were quite a few portions of uncovered and unprotected skin I knew were required for ventilation and which would be invaluable once we reached the sweltering heat of the south.
It felt nice in a way, I was lighter and could move far swifter though the greater risks did play on my mind.
"Here." I offered freeing my knife and its holster from my belt and attaching it to Hinata's instead, I didn't consider the obvious fact that a knife would be useless against a Daemon and hoped that instead she would understand its true purpose in self-defence and not force me to say it aloud.
"Ready?" I heard Sasuke's whispered voice call to us. I took a deep breath and offered Hinata a reassuring smile that I knew didn't quite reach my eyes.
"I'm ready."
Okay that's chapter 21 up and finished. Sorry for the lateness of the upload but I haven't had internet access for a while now…hence the three story updates at once!
Anyway please do let me know your opinions of the story thus far…pretty please, reviews at like crack to me and I needs my fix you know.
R&R