A/N: Once again, far too long. But I'm getting better. I think. Regardless, let's get back into the flow of things.
Witch? Yukio turned to his teacher, who now looked incredibly frustrated. Then he felt a pulsating feeling in his side and he gritted his teeth. His side hurt really bad. Aika just stared angrily at the Inuzuka man.
"What are you doing this for? What's so great about me using my sword?" Aika asked. Yukio wondered why she'd ask something if she was his subject.
Wait. He thought. Maybe it's to get info. He watched, gripping his side. It hurt.
"Come on!" the man bellowed. "You're the Witch of the Hidden Leaf, who wouldn't wanna see your skills?" he snapped his fingers and two men rushed them from either side. Aika drew her sword and it was so fast Yukio blinked and it was out. Aika had drawn her sword with her right hand, slashing it up above her head and letting it go for a split second before grabbing it again with her turned hand and bringing it in a downward slash to her left. The men, a mere metre from her each, stopped short, their expressions pained. Then on the right, a slash started from the man's heart and arced up his shoulder in a spray of blood. The man on her left had a slash arc from his shoulder to his heart in another spray. Both men fell with dull thuds and the Inuzuka man smiled.
"Aw YEAH!" he yelled out to the group. He, however, was the only one excited. His men now seemed scared. They all backed up one step from Aika as she sheathed her blade. Not a drop of blood was on it. He held it as before, by the sheath with a hand over the handle.
"Hardly the skills of a witch." Aika commented, but the Inuzuka man simply chuckled.
"Using a technique that barely anyone has truly mastered is something I'd call witch-like. Considering you've annihilated entire groups of bandits and that sword of yours has avoided blood like the plague."
"I've killed people with the steel of the blade. It's been stained with blood." Aika retorted.
"Ah, but that's not the point." The man smiled. "Using your chakra to extend the reach of your blade and making it sharp enough to cut through even other swords." He sneered as Aika gritted her teeth. "Even implementing your chakra nature into the technique, truly something witch-like." He started chuckling. "I've heard the rumours, Furude. A woman walks into a village on one side and walks out the other side with it burning in shambles behind her. People saying she never even slowed down her walk. A few slashes and everything's on fire, burning, until it's black and dead." The man stabbed his club into the ground. "Now THAT'S something that I, Kohta Inuzuka, want to face in battle!"
"I don't-" Aika started but Kohta cut her off.
"You're using a technique even the Hyuga have trouble with, and that's with their own hands." He raised his hand, his fingers ready to snap. "I wanna see more." He snapped and a couple men rushed Aika again, but they didn't look happy. One went in front of her and Aika drew her sword in one swipe as he was a couple metres away, to the right where the other goon had charged. While still moving her arm she let the sword go and caught it within a second, bite side up, as she swung it up before bringing it into the sheath again all in one swift motion. The men fell, the first one bisected through his waist. Kohta Inuzuka smiled with glee.
"Fantastic! FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!" he yelled as he grabbed his sword-club. "An extra metre of reach with your chakra means you can slide enemies to bits before they get in any range." He popped his neck. "I want to beat it!" he ran at Aika, who drew her sword and threw her sheath up in one motion. She put her index and middle fingers and thumb around her sword straight before drawing them along the blade, igniting it. Aika then swiped up, sending a fiery slash at Kohta, who held his sword-club up to block it. Aika quickly slashed down, sending another that Kohta blocked. Aika bit her lip as she saw her sheath hit the ground out of the corner of her eye. Now.
"Fire Style:" she held her sword before her, straight up, and concentrated. The flames along the blade intensified, growing hotter and wilder. Aika readied a horizontal swing. "Inferno Wave!" she sliced the air in front of her in a wide arc, sending a wave of flames at Kohta, who stopped and backed up from them as they lowered and sliced into the earth. A few men had been on the edges of that arc and were set alight, running around and screaming as flames now engulfed grass and trees. "Kids, come on!" Aika grabbed her sheath and put her blade away before darting through the confusion. The trio followed her as they ran through the growing smoke cloud, coughing.
"What was-" Arine started but Aika silenced her.
"No time! Just run!" she yelled. Yukio tried keeping up but his side… Aika turned and saw. "Damn kid!" she took a couple steps, grabbed his arm, and hefted the youth onto her back. "Let's go!" they bolted away from the smoke as fast as they could.
Through the woods they ran until the smell of smoke was gone and the sounds of a fire were nonexistent. Yukio didn't know where they were but Aika set him down at the foot of a tree as Denji and Arine were doubled over from exhaustion. Aika sat down hard, her breathing heavy. Yukio looked and saw that her brow had sweat on it and she seemed paler.
"Oh man." Denji wheezed. "That was too close." He sat down, as did Arine. Yukio let out a grunt as his side burned. Aika saw and got on his other side, lifting his shirt.
"You idiot." She sighed. She was greeted with a nice slash from his back to his front. "It's not deep but come on. You need to be more careful." Aika slid her back off and searched through it for bandages.
"Oh no." Arine realised.
"What?" Denji looked at her, confused.
"He took that for me." She looked at Yukio. His side burned with pain. "He took it when he helped me." Yukio let out a small laugh but then bit his lip due to the pain.
"It's no biggie." He replied, semi-reassuringly.
"It is when I need you kid." Aika found a small bottle and cloth. She got the cloth damp with the liquid and started rubbing Yukio's side. He let out a yell of pain but Aika kept wiping. "That should clean it up." His side felt like it was on fire now. With bee stings. Aika grabbed a bandage and wrapped it around his midsection a couple times, making sure that the wound was covered before tying it off and lowering his shirt. "You can't take wounds like that, especially if we're facing someone like… that." Aika finally leaned back on her hands and took in a deep breath. "At least we're away from that man." She commented.
"Yeah." Yukio grunted. It felt like Aika had used her fire on him. It was fading. Slowly. He took deep breaths, hoping that he could somehow cool himself down. But every time he took a breath and his chest expanded, his side refreshed the burning for a second.
Short breaths. Short. Breaths. He thought to himself. He could almost see that editor in his head, yelling at him. No wait, that wasn't the editor. That was his common sense. You don't jump at a person and take a knife slash. That weakens your team. That's stupid. Idiotic. That wasn't for Arine, not like he jumped in front of her and took it. He was an idiot and got too close, he wasn't thinking.
"Sorry." He let out as he held his side. Maybe that would quiet his common sense down a bit. It didn't. It still yelled at him about being stupid but at least his conscience managed to be heard too and it felt similar. But the apology was genuine so it gave him slack. Yukio sometimes wondered if he was crazy, thinking of his brain like this.
"Do it again, kid, and I'll be the one injuring you." Aika commented but sighed in relief. "At least you're okay." She said. His conscience calmed down. His common sense didn't but Yukio now blocked it out. He beat himself up enough. Perhaps it was time to say what was done is done.
"She's right dude." Denji said, a smile on his face. Oddly placed with the black eyes and bloody nose and lips. "Least you're alive and can still fight." Aika tossed Denji a cloth and he wiped his face. He cleared the blood but he still looked like he'd been in a bad fight.
Arine was better than the rest. But she held her spear with curiosity.
"What's wrong?" Aika asked, taking her canteen and chugging the water.
"My spear. It went through the guy." She explained. "I know I didn't throw that hard. It even took out a piece of his heart." Arine seemed to think the spear was the issue.
"Maybe you're stronger than you think." Denji tried explaining. "I mean, you can fell a man with a kick, maybe hucking a spear through a guy is within the realm of possibility." He chuckled as Arine looked at him.
"Well. It's possible you're right. If so then why haven't I done it before?" Arine frowned. "Something's up with this spear."
"I should hope not." Aika commented. "I bought you the damned thing. It better not be broken." She panted. Yukio had to wonder what was making her so tired, she was just fine earlier.
"Aika, is something wrong?" he asked with concern. Aika chugged some more water before answering.
"It's been a while since I've done that. I went overboard." Aika set her water down and rubbed her temples. "Gah, my head." Yukio looked to his friends, who seemed as surprised as him. Aika never said anything.
"So what is it you do exactly?" Denji asked. "I mean it's really cool but I didn't get it." Aika groaned and rubbed her head a bit more before looking up.
"Look, it's a tough technique." She answered. "I have to concentrate my chakra along my sword and make it sharp and precise. It takes an insane amount of chakra control and it hurts." Aika went back to rubbing her temples.
"How can it hurt?" Arine frowned. "I mean, it's just chakra." Aika sighed loudly.
"Look, kid, controlling your chakra like that is strenuous. I mean that's tough, I can't even do that… thing Minato could do. That's more than insane, it's damned near impossible." Aika groaned again. "Plus I was never the best at controlling my chakra when I was young so it took a long time to learn how to use my chakra with my sword, and it's not even chakra metal. Adding fire to that just piles on the headaches I get."
"Minato?" Denji wondered aloud.
"Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village. He's a hero. Saved the village, yada yada, that's all I heard. No details. But he and his teacher had a little move all to themselves." Aika finally looked up at them again, her eyes now bleary and her expression one of exhaustion. "They put a bunch of chakra into a spinning sphere. Raw chakra, no element. Minato never got around to implementing it. They called it…" Aika lowered her head and thought a moment. "Ra… Ras… Rasengan. Yeah that." Aika looked up again. "It took an incredible amount of chakra control. To the point that Minato and his teacher were the only ones who could really use it. Well…" Aika looked off to the distance.
Something's up with her. Yukio thought.
"Well what?" he asked, hoping it egged Aika into answering. However, that wasn't fated to be answered.
"Nothing." Aika said, standing slowly. "We should keep moving. The smoke will help cover our tracks but not for long. That dog of Kohta's is good, much like the rest of his clan's. At least we can walk." The trio stood slowly and followed Aika as she started out in a direction that she seemed to pick at random.
The last of the fires were being put out as Kohta's hound sniffed the area. The damned smoke was messing with their sense of smell. One of his guys that was still alive, Yo, was busy using his Water jutsu to put out the flames. Yo was a good guy, good fighter. Just needed some reminders about why he's with Kohta on occasion. Families have a use like that.
"Hey Yo! You done yet?" Kohta called. The man turned, skinny with long black hair and pale skin. His green eyes stood out. He was never happy but Kohta needed him for such an occasion as Aika Furude.
"Y-yeah. Just about." He replied before making more hand signs and dousing a remaining set of flames. "There. Done."
"Good. Now let's go see if we can find the witch. Burn her with the brats and call it a day. Another bit of filth off this earth." Kohta hefted his club-sword and started in the general direction that Aika had scurried off to. Yo quickly followed with Kohta's other underlings.
"Why kill her? I mean if she's that powerful…" Yo scratched the back of his head.
"She's a good fighter. I just wanna beat her, cut the bitch's head off, and burn the body. 's all part of my plan." Kohta smiled that wide grin of his.
"O-of course Kohta. Sir." Yo coughed out of nervousness. He hated this brute. Kohta knew. Kohta didn't care. Kohta just wanted the head of the witch. And to see her burn.
"Have we walked far enough?" Denji complained. He received a slug in the shoulder from Arine for his complaining.
"We're being chased by a crazy guy, show some concern." She chastised him. Denji rubbed his shoulder and grumbled about something or other. Yukio wasn't paying attention.
This guy wants to fight Aika but that can't possibly be his only concern. Yukio scratched his chin. After all, bounty hunters have gone missing in this area after the trap that was Tsukune Matsuda. There has to be something else here. Something I'm missing. Why does it look like he's targeting only bounty hunters? It's not adding up. Where's the reason?
"-kio!" Yukio looked up and saw Arine staring at him. "Yukio! We're talking to you."
"Oh- I- uh- what?" Yukio looked around at his friends.
"What do you think of all this?" huh? Arine looked at him. Yukio looked to Aika who had her back to them in a disinterested tone. He guesses Arine was asking his opinion.
"I dunno. It's like I'm missing something about this. I've been thinking of it." Yukio answered and Arine sighed.
"This is getting us nowhere. We need to do something."
"Not in this state, kid. Not until we can recover a bit. Maybe then we can ambush 'em, we aren't gonna do much good in combat with Kohta and that hound of his. Especially if I can't get a good grip on my chakra control." Aika commented pessimistically. "So basically we gotta run right now and maybe deal with this." Yukio frowned. Aika was being so… depressing now. She was giving up.
"Listen, Aika." Yukio started. But Aika cut him off.
"If you're gonna say anything, wait. Just wait. I'm not in the mood." Aika sighed and Yukio bit his lip. More people were obviously gonna fall for this trap and die to this guy. If he was right, then this Kohta had been nixing off bounty hunters for some odd reason, and Yukio was starting to think it was pure sport. Sick sport, but sport nonetheless. It made Yukio's stomach clench a bit. Maybe because it reminded him of what happened in the prisons. He'd heard bits and pieces through the bars, down the halls. It was always saddening to hear people cry over family missing them. His sister and his mother must have been grieving for years.
If it is sick sport, then I wanna kill the bastard. Yukio thought, malice filling his head fast. He clenched his fist. No, no, no. Don't get angry. That clouds your judgement. Just think. Just think. What could make him do this other than sick sport? Yukio let out a sigh through his nose. He wanted to see what was up with this man.
Then he heard it. The baying of a hound. Aika perked up and turned.
"He's on to us. Run." Aika ran at full speed, the trio following as fast as they could. The barking was far in the distance but it was enough. They had to run, and run fast. Yukio gritted his teeth and held his side. His knife wound was burned but he had to persevere. He had to run.
"Oh man this sucks." Denji complained and for once, they all agreed with him.
"Just… keep… running." Yukio panted. His breathing was laboured. "We gotta get away. At least for now." Yukio leapt over a medium sized rock and he felt a nice line of pain in his side. Damn, this was more of a nuisance than he thought. It was a setback. He was holding them back, damn it!
His common sense flared up again and yelled at full volume. He was stupid for taking the knife wound. He was stupid for jumping in without thinking it through. He was stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
No. Yukio's rationality moved in. It wasn't stupid, but it was a mistake. Just get over it, move on. What happened, happened. Don't dwell on it and just fucking run!
Yukio gritted his teeth and pushed ahead of Arine, his legs moving past max power. He wanted to go on, to live. He couldn't fall behind.
"Come on kids, just a bit more!" Aika said, she pointed to a path she spotted. "There! We can follow it and find a place to hide. Maybe a village or something!" Yukio saw it. It was a simple dirt path bit it was something. The group pushed forward with all their strength. Yukio suddenly had a stroke of an idea.
"Arine!" he called to her. She looked at him, the tension in her eyes visible. "Can you summon that mist again? It might help us."
"I can try." Arine closed her eyes and Yukio grabbed her hand to guide her. Yukio could see her concentrating hard as the air around them grew white with gathering mist.
"It's working!" Yukio smiled despite his burning side.
"Good thinking kid" Aika complimented "But let's get moving. We've gotta run and run fast!" The mist grew thicker and thicker as Arine's brow became moist with sweat. Her breathing was now more laboured. She was straining herself.
"Arine!" Yukio snapped his fingers and Arine's eyes opened. "Good job, now let's run." He let go of her hand and Arine kept pace. Denji looked around in amazement.
"That's awesome! Still wish I could do that." He lamented as they hit the path. It was flat, unlike the forest floor so easier to run on. They hung a sharp right and bolted down the path as fast as they could run. The baying of the dog got quieter as they ran, but that wasn't enough to slow them down.
Yukio felt his chest and throat burning with dryness. He needed water. Right now. He started coughing dryly, as did Arine. Denji was holding out more than them, which was good.
"Come on kids. Look!" Aika pointed to a gate that was open. "A town! We can rest up and hide!" Aika ran faster by just a bit, but it was enough that the trio got the energy for one last sprint. It hurt, it burned, it made Yukio's body ache in a way that it hadn't hurt since their time in the prisons. But he pushed himself and as they crossed the gate threshold, Aika stopped and doubled over, her breathing laboured and hard. Yukio fell to his hands and knees, his chest, throat, and mouth all burned. He fumbled for his canteen and managed to open it with shaking hands. He chugged the sweet, cool water as much as he could. It burned too but at least it was going to help. Arine and Denji both chugged water like it was their last precious drops.
A woman came over, a look of concern on her face was evident.
"Oh my! Are you four all right?" she knelt down to Yukio, who was coughing profusely. He choked on some water.
"Yeah…" Aika panted. "We…" the woman kneeled down as the civilian lowered herself to Aika. "Bandits." Aika let out finally. The woman held out a small pitcher of water and Aika chugged it down.
"Bandits?" the woman sounded worried.
"Yeah. Chased us. We managed to out run them. Is it possible we can…?" Aika waved her hand a bit. The woman nodded.
"Of course, I'll help you four to a little hotel here. It's not much but it should do." The woman's concern was touching. Yukio looked at her and didn't feel like she was lying. But his need for a rest was overriding his common sense. Aika managed to stand and the woman helped Arine. Denji came over and held his hand out to Yukio.
"Get up man, you look pathetic." He panted. Yukio smiled and gripped his friend's hand.
"Sure thing." He replied and stood with Denji's help. He'd always liked that about Denji: he was solid. Never one to waver. Yukio looked to his side and got a good glimpse of the woman. Her hair was long and black, well kept, and it framed a very pretty, yet pale, face that held warm brown eyes that radiated kindness. Body wise she was slender but had that motherly strength. The kind that, if she was your mother, you wouldn't want to anger her. She handled Arine gently but wasn't avoiding touching her. Yukio let out a small sigh of relief inside. But something was bothering him. He couldn't put his finger on it.
The village looked normal enough. The entrance had a path that went straight through, it seemed, with intersections at various points. As they walked, Yukio noticed that shops were generally on his left, while homes were on his right. The shopping half smelled of various things being cooked and made while the housing areas looked somewhat crowded but manageable. Towards the middle, a stadium-like structure stood tall, about a good two stories over any house here.
"That's our little stadium." The woman commented, noticing Yukio's gaze. "Children hold sports activities there and such. Occasionally some of the men get in there to settle a bet or issue. It keeps things civil." She smiled and Yukio felt a bit more bothered. What kind of village had an arena? "The hotel is in this area." The woman said as they turned right near the entrance. They circled around the arena and Yukio heard some idle shouts. Though he finally noticed his leg pain again and his mind was forced to contemplate that. Well, leg pain along with the rest of his body. The woman led them to a small one story building and opened the door. "Yoichi! Yoichi!" she called. From behind the desk in a reception area a young man came out.
"Yes, Shiro?" the young man had ruffled blonde hair and blue eyes. Like this woman, Shiro it seemed, he was slender but held that kind of underlying strength.
Is everyone here like that? Yukio asked himself before he closed his eyes. His legs and back really hurt.
"Could you please find a room for these people? They were chased here by bandits and need rest quickly. Yoichi smiled.
"Sure, no problem." He walked out from behind the desk, showing he was dressed sloppily in a simple t shirt and loose pants with sandals. Yukio didn't care at this point, he just wanted to lay down. Yoichi walked over to a sliding door and opened it before walking to a closet on the other side of the room and grabbing a couple mats. He went in and laid them down flat. "There, that should do it." He said after coming back out. Yukio, Denji, and Arine all shuffled into the room and promptly collapsed on a mat each.
"Will they be okay?" Shiro asked, her voice filled with concern. Aika nodded lightly her head still pounding.
"Yeah. Just need some rest." She rolled a shoulder and Shiro nodded.
"Of course. Yoichi will be here to help you with anything you need, isn't that right?" Shiro turned to the youth and he nodded.
"Oh yeah. Just call me." He smiled again and Aika nodded.
"Will do. Now, if you'll excuse me." She motioned to the room and Shiro backed away. Before closing the door, Aika turned back and said "Thanks for this, we'll find a way to pay you back."
"Oh no worries, rest up please." Shiro responded, very pleasantly. Aika nodded and slid the door closed, leaving her in a room with the trio who still groaned.
"Okay kids." She whispered as she heard the footsteps retreating. Aika reached into her bag and pulled out a small bottle. Simple pain killers but they'd help a lot. She managed to sit the trio up and pop a couple of the orange pills into each hand. "Drink those with water and sleep. Those'll help a lot. Then just rest up." Aika noticed she repeated the resting bit but she didn't care. She quickly popped a couple of the pills herself and drained them with water. The kids did the same and quickly fell back on the mats, falling asleep.
Aika sat down on her mat, feeling the exhaustion hit her hard. Her body hurt like never before. Well not since she was younger. Aika laid back and stretched out, letting her legs unwind. Her eyelids felt heavy from the pain killers and tiredness. She needed sleep as well. But she needed to make sure she… could wake up…. At… a moments… notice…
Aika's eyes closed and she drifted off into slumber, where she could avoid the pain of today's activities for a few hours.
Kohta and his gang plowed through the mist, his hound at the head, seemed confused. He felt the same, this mist appeared out of nowhere and it was messing with his senses. He found it hard to smell, hard to see in the thicker parts.
"Damn it!" he yelled. "Get out here Aika! We have unfinished business!" no response. Kohta growled, baring his teeth when he heard one of his guys yell
"I found somethin'!" Kohta perked up and walked over to his guy.
"What is it?" he asked, pushing the man out of his way. Kohta leaned down and saw they were on a dirt path. On that path were tracks that showed people had taken a sharp right into…
"What is it sir?" Yo asked, curious. Kohta stood and grinned wide. Then he started laughing. Yo swallowed. "Sir?" Kohta kept laughing, doubling over and holding his sides. It was a few minutes before the brute of a man stood straight, that toothy grin still on his rough face.
"Oh we got nothin' to worry about. They're right where we want 'em." Kohta leaned down and quickly wrote something on a piece of paper. He tucked it into his hound's collar and patted him on the head. "Go back to town and give them this. Take the back way too, and be quiet." Kohta held a finger to his lips and the hound nodded before bounding off. Kohta stood and smiled. "Ya know boys, I say we head over to the next town and you guys enjoy yourselves some company! Tonight we celebrate!" The men looked around at each other before cheering. Yo winced at the noise. He never liked loud noises.
"Why celebrate sir?" he hated saying that. Kohta raised an eyebrow.
"You don't know? They just walked right into my turf."
Yukio woke up in the middle of a room. He looked around and found it was his hotel room. The deep green of the room stood out in the dim light.
Dumbass! Yukio jumped at the voice. He turned and saw… himself standing over him. You idiot! Yukio frowned. He wasn't going to take this. Especially not from himself.
Shut up! What's your issue? He was 12, he could afford to be snarky with himself.
I'm your common sense, dumbass. The him replied. Oh. That made sense. This was the jerk who was yelling at him.
What? Yukio asked, irritated. More berating over the knife wound?
You don't listen! I've been trying to tell you but you couldn't listen! Yukio glared at his other self.
What? That nagging feeling? The other him raised his arms.
Finally! He gets something! Yukio sighed through his nose out of irritation.
Okay, then what is it? Yukio felt like he deserved an answer. Instead the other him just pinched the bridge of his nose.
What does this place remind you of? The other him asked. Think, where did you first go when you were just seven? Yukio thought a moment. And another moment, searching his memories for the answer. When he was seven? He went… to…
No. Yukio felt it. He felt stupid for not noticing.
Finally! No, no, no, no!
You don't mean- Yukio stopped mid-sentence, fear gripping his chest. His other self, his common sense, nodded. He remembered. The dead faces, the people milling about, that sick, sick experiment he saw when he was all alone with terrible eyes.
Yep. That prison-town. Now wake up and smell the ashes.
Kohta's hound made its way through a special hole in the back of the village, and crept through the alleys. It wound through the alleys until it came to a house that was bigger than the rest but not as big as the stadium. It walked in through another back door and into the house. There it ran up the steps and found the room it was looking for.
"Oh? Yasuhiro?" the woman who saw him kneeled down. Her face petite and pretty with warm brown eyes. She pulled the note from Yasuhiro's collar and read it aloud.
"People in the village… woman with three kids… Aika Furude, Witch of the Hidden Leaf. Let them into false sense for now, warn village, get stadium ready. Battle between me and her. Expect fun." Shiro smiled and sighed. "Well, well Yasuhiro, our Kohta's quite the scamp." She took the note and wrote another on her desk. She put it into Yasuhiro's collar. "Take that around town, get everyone's attention, then wait here for him, okay?" Yasuhiro nodded, turned, and left. Shiro sighed aloud. "And I thought they were such nice people." She sat down in her chair, back to a small sketch she was doing. "But what must be done must be done. Kohta will make it worth our while though." Shiro smiled and returned to sketching.
Yukio's eyes shot open. The room was dimly lit from the morning sun light. They'd slept all night? Then a flash caught his gaze and he looked. He was faced with a curved metal blade at the end of pole centimetres from his face. Holding the pole was a skinny man with thin arms and black hair with green eyes. The pole arm shook in his grasp and he seemed nervous. To his left was…
"Rise and shine kid. Wake up and smell the ashes." Kohta grinned that toothy grin before hitting Yukio in the face, sending him into unconsciousness once more.
Aika woke up with a small headache but overall better. But there was a rumbling noise that was irritating her. She opened her eyes and got a shock. She sat up quick smart, her breath taken away from her momentarily. She looked around and her heart raced. This wasn't the hotel. Where were the kids? Where was she? What happened to them?
"Rise and Shine cupcake." She heard a gruff voice saying. She turned and saw a brute wearing that brown tunic with a red fang mark on it. Oh no. Aika looked around and found she was in a room on top of a hay pile for a makeshift bed. Outside the room was the rumbling.
"What- I- what is this!?" Aika stood, shouting. The man shrugged his shoulders.
"Kohta's orders." He was indifferent.
"Kohta's orders? Kohta Inuzuka can go to whatever dark pit there is for-" Aika was grabbed from behind, one hand over her mouth, as she was picked up. She kicked and fought, hoping to do something. But it was useless. She was taken towards a door that emanated light. It opened and she was tossed through, onto a dirt floor. It was bright out. Her eyes took a second to adjust to the harsh light but what she saw horrified her.
People. People in the stands, cheering loudly, jeering her. Aika heard her name yelled out with malice. She stared at these people and realised something.
"I'm in this stadium." She whispered. Her eyes darted around, looking for the kids. She turned frantically as the audience laughed at her. She didn't care about them, where were-
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" a booming voice rolled over the crowd, silencing it. Aika turned and saw a special section in the stands that held two chairs one had a woman on it. The woman form before. Shiro. That bitch. She smiled at the crowd and waved while the second chair to her right was empty. However, its occupant was close by.
"I BROUGHT YOU HERE TODAY TO WITNESS THE FIGHT OF A LIFETIME!" Kohta Inuzuka raised his hands, making the crowds yell. It was surprisingly deafening for a small town such as this. "A ONE OF A KIND PRIZE FOLKS!" he held a hand out to Aika. "AIKA FURUDE! THE WITCH OF THE HIDDEN LEAF VILLAGE!" Aika stared at Kohta. Was he insane? What was he… no. No, no, no, no.
I'm a bloody idiot! Aika cursed herself. She'd been so stupid. She'd walked her and the kids right into a trap. This would likely cost them their lives.
"NOW GATHERED PEOPLE!" Kohta bellowed as he leapt down from his place and into the ring with Aika. "HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HER FACING YOUR ONE TRUE LEADER!?" he turned to face each person and they all cheered for him. They cried for blood. "OF COURSE!" he responded, pulling a sword form his back. He threw it at Aika, who caught it. It was hers. She looked up at Kohta, who hefted his club-sword. There was no escaping this. Kohta wasn't fooling around this time. He had an audience.
He wanted a fight to the death.
A/N: WOW. I finished this quite fast, I must say. I banged out several pages a night, truly the fastest I've worked in a long time. Hope you all enjoyed! Read, review, follow, favourite.