Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Never Again
As we run the cries of terror quickly become more and more desperate. Akio continues to lead, darting around the fleeing citizens like how he moves and dodges during sparring practice at the academy. The spikes of his dark red hair flap as we run against a breeze that feels like gusts of winds because of the speed we are going at. My own black hair flies behind me like a tail of a kite as I struggle to keep up with Akio. It would be a lot harder to keep up with him if he was not holding my hand. He always has been the more agile out of the two of us.
In the couple of minutes that we have been running I get used to the sounds of smashing, crumbling buildings, and exclamations of pain. But they are never close to us. The sound always comes from some other part of the village. So when the loudest collision so far occurs, a billowing cloud of dust encircles us and all of the nearby people seconds later. It takes every ounce of willpower not to stop in my tracks and turn around. We have to keep going. I have to keep running. Just like that day months ago. The day I had to run from everything that I had lost.
Akio seems to feel the same temptation that I do. Even though his feet never pause, he stops leading us around and pass civilians in favor to just run straight so he can look over his shoulder. Brown-sugar colored eyes find my black ones before they move away to peer behind my left shoulder. The moment they do Akio pales and he slows down. I have to quickly adjust my speed to keep myself from running into him. Slowly, afraid of what is behind me, I turn my head. Unsettled clouds of dust and debris block a lot of my vision, but I am still able to make out the sight of the unplanned demolishing of buildings. The tea shop we were standing in front of only moments ago now lays in a crushed mess of ruins. Faster than I had turned around I face forward again to see that Akio has also straightened. I squeeze his hand and he starts to run quicker, more rapidly than we were going before we looked behind us.
I do not remember exactly when I noticed the first blazes of fire licking the sides of buildings. It seems like they all just started at once. The first building I saw on fire is a grocery store, and then every other building I see carries the burden of flames. Flumes of smoke start to mix in with the billows of dust. All around us the adults start to wheeze and cough. Luckily Akio and I are small enough that the worst of it goes right over our heads. The worse I feel is a tightening in my chest, and I start to breathe harder. Somewhere to the right I hear someone, probably a chunin, yell out "Keep going!"
We sprint around a running young mother, sheltering her toddler against her chest as we come up to a turn. If we turn right we will only have three more streets to get through before we get to the evacuation shelters. There is no one directly in front of us now. All of the civilians that we started fleeing with are behind us, and all of the ones in front of us are coming from different areas when the attack started. Akio uses this time to look over his shoulder again. But his interest is no longer in the activity occurring behind us. His shoulders rise and fall with each breath, but he keeps his feet moving, pulling me along with him. "Ya okay?" He asked.
I nod my head, starting to feel the strain of our running. "Thanks to your fast thinking". I said between breaths, referring to him pulling us towards the evacuation shelters the moment he suspected something was not right.
Akio looks forward again. Just in time to witness a close by fabric store exploding in a reverberating boom. Rumble comes cascading down in great heaps. The ground shakes at the sudden force, causing Akio and me to lose our balance. Akio starts to stumble forward, though he quickly catches himself. But I do not help matters as I collide face first into his back sending the both us down onto the street. Akio gasps out in surprise, as we are forced to let go of each other's hands. He lands with a thump, flat on his stomach, having been unable to catch himself with his hands. I fall right on top of him, my nose pressing against his spine. I push away from him to give him room so he can get back up as dust covers us. Coughing, I raise a shuddering arm to my nose and mouth. "Are you okay?" I asked, watching as Akio pushes up to his knees, his arms shaking. He never gets to answer as a scream behind us distracts him. Our heads snap up just in time to see some of the dust clear enough to make out the figure of an orange haired person with tuffs of hairs tied in a knot on top of her head. Is it a her? I cannot tell.
Akio leaps to his feet as my eyes travel down from the figure's face to the rest of her body. From neck to ankles the person is covered in a cloak, a black cloak with red clouds. An image of the two scary men that destroyed my family flashes before my eyes. It is the same cloak! Every single muscle in my body restricts out of tension as I feel the sudden comfort of Akio grasping my left hand. "Manami, Come on!" He yelled, trying to pull me to my feet, but I cannot move. The memory to the scary man that kind of looked like my father knocking father to the ground claims all of my attention. It is the same cloak. The tension in my muscles loosen enough that my knees start to tremble, allowing Akio to pull me up, but he cannot get me moving. The figure starts to move towards us. Akio's pulling becomes more frantic. But all I see is the replay of father's body sailing through the kitchen window. All around the village civilians are crying in fright and pain, and are yelling for help. But all I hear is the shattering of glass and the screams of brother and mother over and over again. "Manami!" Akio yells again, his voice desperate as the figure gets closer and closer, reaching out an arm for us. I can make out her eyes now. They are this weird purple color with many black rings in them. "Manami!" Akio yells once again, still pulling on my hand. I blink once out of necessity and the moment I open them again I see the back of a chunin vest.
The change in sights is enough to break me from my memories as reality come sweeping in. A feeling of great power and a craving for blood fills my senses. It can only be the figure with the cloak that is emitting so much killing intent. I stumble backwards; Akio's grip on my hand is the only thing that keeps me from falling completely. "Get out of here you kids!" The chunin calls to us, never looking away from the intruder. "Now!" He yells fiercely, just as Akio finally manages to pull me away. We head left, as the shortest direction to shelters is no longer available. I can feel my heart rapidly beating in my chest. It will serve as a constant reminder that I am still alive and not stuck in the past with my deceased family.
As we run, I start to notice the itchy feeling that comes with sweating, but I choose to ignore it. Instead I notice that the street we are on is void of civilians. They must have turned in the opposite direction, going back the way they came, the moment that the fabric shop had been destroyed. We may not be able to see them anymore, but we cannot escape their yelps of fright. Akio keeps leading for another couple of feet before ducking into an alleyway, dragging me with him. He lets go of my hand turning to face me. "What was that?" He demanded eyes wide open as he hunches over his knees, breathing heavily. "What made ya freeze like that?"
Panting deeply, I close my eyes trying to compose myself before answering, "That person, the invader". I paused to breathe, leaning my back against the cool brick wall of the alley. "Is wearing the same cloak that the men who killed my family were wearing", I said choking on the last words as little beads of water start to drip from the corners of my eyes. "Why are they here?" I hysterically ask myself more than him. My whole body tremors as I force myself to focus on Akio. He is staring at me, his face grim and pale under all the grime of dust and ash from all of the destruction. It makes me wonder what I must look like right now. His brown eyes are glistening, not crying yet, but getting there. A sudden wave of gratitude for his companionship washes over me and I reach out, gripping the front of his camouflaged shirt with both of my shaking hands. I move myself closer to him and conceal my tears on his left shoulder. What would I do without him?
Akio wraps his arm around me an instant later. His hold is tough, and tight, and I can feel him quivering. Through it I get a sense that he is just as appreciative to not being alone as I am. From all around us I hear more explosions as the obliteration of our home continues. We stay still for a minute or two, giving our bodies a brief period to rest. Akio is the first to move. He drops his arm and steps back. "We need to keep moving". He said, glancing out into the empty street. "Manami", he spoke again, his voice sounding a lot smaller than it usually does. "Please, stay with me". I stare at him, thinking it strange to see him so scared. I quickly nod before grabbing his hand. Never again. Never again can I lose someone else.
This time no one leads. Both of us run shoulder to shoulder towards the monument. My right hand is holding on to his left one. Our hold on each other is the only form of security we have right now. Everything from sight to sound starts to blur together as all I can focus on is our fear and reaching the safety of the shelters. We get to the next street and keep going straight. As we run we see fewer and fewer buildings and more and more rubble. We see and hear no civilians but we do see a few shinobi running to join in the battle to save our village. All of them yell at us to get to the shelters, but they are in to high of demand elsewhere to stop and help us. I guess as long as we can run on our own we are not in much need of assistance.
At a cross road, there are three different directions we can go. Akio starts to move to turn right, knowing the way to the evacuation shelters better than I. But before we can one of the giant centipedes comes scurrying down the path we want to turn on. We dig our heels into the ground and skid to a halt to avoid getting in its way. Taken back by the mere size of this thing, we gape at it. It would take a lot of bug spray to kill this thing. For a moment I think it will scurry past us, but when its middle is in the center of the cross road it stops, raises its upper body, and swivels to where it is looming over us. It fixates its eyes on us. The centipede has the same purple, black ringed eyes as that figure from before. Time seems to stand still as the centipede glares at us and Akio and I watch it. We are not important, nor are we powerful. After all we are just academy students. Why is it wasting its time on us? If they are attacking the village should it not be going after the shinobi that stand a chance of defeating it?
With a high pitch screeching noise it dives in our direction. Acting on pure instinct I tug Akio's hand and start running back the way we came. Pushing chakra into my feet to go as fast as I can, hoping that Akio will do the same. Every few steps I look over my shoulder to see the Centipede behind us, and advancing. Its purpose becomes clear. It is not supposed to take down the shinobi of the leaf village; it is supposed to destroy everything it sees. I hear Akio gasp before his hand slips out of mine, followed by a thump and a cry of pain. Instantly I turn around to see the ever looming centipede and my best friend, now a crumpled heap on the ground clutching his left ankle. "Akio!" I yell, as if that would be enough to get him back on his feet.
His head snaps up at me, and I see two tracks of tears running from red eyes down his cheeks, the only part of his face that is clean. "Run Mamani! Get to the shelters!" He yells back.
"Not without you!" I said, taking the one step back towards him. I grab is right upper arm and start pulling him up to his feet. But the moment he puts weight on his left foot he cries out and collapses once more.
"I hurt my ankle. I can't run. Ya gotta get out of here!" He pleads with me, casting a look over his shoulder at the centipede that is only a couple feet away.
I drop his arm and take a step back. I am not leaving him. I promised that I would stay with him. Barely thinking, my hands fly together, forming hand signs. I am not losing anyone else close to me.
"What are ya doing?" Akio yells. "Forget about me! Run!"
Never again. I thought as the familiar feeling of burning chakra starts to build up in my throat. Never again will I lose someone I love! With a deep breath I lean backwards, arching my back. Before taking aim at the eyes of the approaching centipede that is only two feet behind Akio. "Manami!" He yells one last time as a great conflagration erupts from my mouth. In a red scorching fury it makes contact with the centipede's eyes just in time. Immediately it stops and screeches. It rears up and shakes its head trying to shake off the pain of being burned. Without thinking I reach for Akio and grab his right arm again. With both hands I start pulling. I will drag him all the way to the shelters if I have to. I am not losing him. Not like brother. Not like mother, and not like father. We make it about two feet under my effort but I am panting too much and am too weak to get us very far. The katon jutsu took up a lot of my chakra and a lot of strength. Pretty soon I will be too tired to move, but I have to try. Never again, I repeated in my head. Never again. With the centipede still screeching and Akio hollering out in pain I try to drag him again. I hear movement behind me, but before I can turn around two arms wrap around Akio and I, scooping us up before leaping away, using the still standing walls as leverage before reaching the roof of an undestroyed building, away from the centipede, but not as far as I would like to be. The person holding us kneels down, but keeps both of us pinned to him. Trying not to hit the injure Akio I lash out, flailing my limbs in the hopes to break free from whoever holds us prisoner. This could only be an invader.
The arms quickly tighten. "Manami", an older voice grunts out that quickly stills my resistance. Straining my neck I look up to see the pineapple shaped head of Shikamaru. At once I am flooded with relief. Someone else is here. A shinobi who can help us. Shikamaru is smart. He can fix this. My chest starts to heave before the first sob sounds soon followed by many more, as a great burden of responsibility is taken from my shoulders. As I freely cry Shikamaru pulls me closer so that my head can rest on his chest. "Troublesome", he mutters but not with is usual emotion of annoyance. Instead his voice is soft; almost sounding a bit relieved himself. "Are you okay?" He asked Akio.
Akio sniffs a couple of times before I hear him say, "I think I twisted my ankle". There is a pause of contemplation before Akio adds in downtrodden tone, "we were tryin' to get to the shelters but we couldn't make it".
Shikamaru shifts slightly causing me to look up from his chest to see him securing Akio closer to him as well. "You both did good", he said, keeping his eyes on the centipede off in the distance that seems to slowly be regaining itself. "I didn't think I could get to you in time when I saw the centipede. Good call using that jutsu Manami. It bought you time", Shikamaru said in the same soft tone. But I do not respond, in favor of pressing my head against Shikamaru's chest instead, drawing in all the comfort that I can. Suddenly the centipede disappears in a puff of smoke, and I feel Shikamaru tense. A moment passes in silence. Shikamaru must be taking in his surroundings as he plans what he needs to do. "Let's get you two to safety". He said after a moment; releasing us for a second so he can get a better hold on us. But right before he does a flash of bright light blinds all three of us. Instead of picking us up Shikamaru jumps on top of us with his arms on either side, pressing Akio and I against the roof as much as he can. Akio screams due to the added pressure on his injured ankle. The brightness makes me shut my eyes. The entire village shakes. And everything, including the already destroyed constructions crumbles. I wiggle my left hand under Shikamaru to his other side where Akio is and miraculously find his hand. I latch on to it at once. Akio squeezes mine in return as we listen to the grunts of the chunin shielding us. Probably do to the amount of force he is using to keep us all together as the building that we rest on is destroyed along with all the rest of the village. And all I can think is, never again.