A/N: Well after a week off and a TBG put out, I'm glad to be back and writing a full chapter for one of my mains. This little arc is actually going to be done within this chapter or the next. Hope you guys are ready to enjoy.
Denji considered himself a somewhat unflappable person. He was able to take certain shocking moments easily, more so than others at least. While Yukio chastised him at various points in time about lying to himself, Denji still held on to the belief that he was able to take any information without being like people in books or movies where they had to hold on to something or sit down to register information. He was just better than them at it.
However, despite this stability that would make even the most humble architects jealous, Denji found himself gripping the balcony railing as hard as he could to remind his brain that he was in the real world as he dealt with this revelation that the girl before him had let him know. When he met her she had shiny black hair and beautiful blue eyes. Her name was Tomoko and she was so kind to him, she laughed at his jokes, and she helped him out several times.
Now she had dark green hair with green eyes and she said her name was Anri Nomura. Denji didn't know much about her now but what he did know was that she was on a bounty paper that Aika had shown them. She was a serial killer, taken down by Gaara, the Kazekage. She had the rare ability to use acid and had escaped her prison, killing the guards and staff that were near her. She'd gone on the run and was now standing before Denji, her face a mix of desperation and sadness.
"I…" Denji swallowed roughly, his throat dry. He was speechless. He didn't know how to react, how he should react, how to even think about how to react. A serial killer was standing in front of him, a serial killer! The kind of person he hunted for a living. The kind of people he held in disdain.
"Denji." Tomo- Anri said, her voice gentle and slow, as one would speak to a person who was dealing with such a revelation.
"Uh…." Denji was only able to utter that as he kept trying to keep up with what the girl in front of him had said.
"Denji are you okay?" she asked, not moving. Denji was glad for that. If she moved forward then he'd likely bolt. Alert Aika or something. But Anri was standing there, tense and looking around. Denji noticed she was almost shaking.
"I…" Denji swallowed again in an attempt to get his voice to work. "I-I-I-I don't… know." He finally uttered, his voice gravelly from his throat being dry. He tried clearing his throat but it was still dry.
"That's…. that's okay." Anri sighed as she bit her lip. She looked around before her green gaze was put back onto Denji. "I understand if you want to tell Aika and all that just… no. Asking you for a head start is selfish enough already." Anri inhaled and then exhaled.
"You're a killer." Denji suddenly said, the one thing in his head that managed to pop out and it was that. He didn't even sound afraid, it was almost just a matter of fact statement. Anri looked at him, concern on her face.
"Yeah. I am." She sighed and scratched her wrist apprehensively. "I've killed a lot. For various reasons I mean… my father was…" Anri suddenly looked away. She sighed before she looked back to Denji apprehensively. "My father was abusive, but not really to my family, mostly to me. Not out of malice, really. He just found out I could use the acid and wanted to train me. He was a shinobi of the Hidden Sand village and thought that I could be used in the military and he tried to teach me about it without him even having the ability. My mother did but she never told him she did. Said it was a recessive family trait because she didn't want my father to use her. His training was really bad, he hit me when I wouldn't get things right or he'd scream at me. My mother kept fighting with him about it before they had another kid and my father was really wanting it to be another acid user. My little sister was born and after she turned five and I was eight, she also showed signs and my father was elated." Anri swallowed, her eyes shining in the moon light with the threat of tears. "He began keeping her from me and my mother and he basically raised her as a warrior. By the time I was twelve she was his personal acid fighter while I trained on my own. My mother said she could help I wouldn't let her. She didn't want anything to do with that side of the family anyway, I wasn't going to let her force herself to stomach it. So I trained for years, just becoming less and less of a normal person. I stopped caring about things. My father, sister, friends, everything. Then, when I was thirteen my father and my sister began interacting with us but now my father wanted to train me more and my mother as well. He wanted us to join the ranks and aid the Hidden Sand since the Kazekage made a deal with someone. He said we could take down the Hidden Leaf Village and raise the Hidden Sand to the top. My mother said no and wanted him gone, but to leave my sister with her. My father said no and he grabbed her. She tried to fight back be he broke her arm and I just reacted. I spat acid at my father and I basically cut his hand off. Suddenly my sister attacked me and my mother tried fighting my father, using what little acid abilities she could. My sister was better than me, she managed to overpower me quickly and was about to kill me in the ensuing fight. Then my dad, who was over powered by my mother since he lost a hand, ordered my sister to kill her. I thought she wouldn't, that she'd show a shred of humanity." Anri looked away, trying to blink away tears as they began flowing from her eyes. "She pinned my mother against a wall and poured acid down her throat. We-we were immune to our own but not another's acid. So my mother died in front of me and I…. I snapped. I tackled my sister from behind and… and… I just melted her." Anri's body began shuddering with sobs. "Then I saw my father running and I chased him and… I went berserk. I kept killing whomever was in front of me just so I could get to him. When I finally did I had killed my way to the Kazekage mansion where…. I was taken down." Anri stopped talking as she slowly fell to her knees, her body wracked with sobs. She was holding herself as she cried, her shoulders heaving with each sob as she feebly attempted to control it.
"Anri…" Denji whispered, wondering what he should do. This girl just told him her life story and was broken down in front of him. What would he do? Go to Aika and show her this sobbing wreck of a girl and say take her to the station?
"I-I-I… she sobbed before him. She looked so… broken, sitting there in front of him as she had just poured her life story out to him. Denji wanted to say something but he couldn't. What could he say to that? So instead of speaking, his body did something else. He crouched down and caught her in a tight embrace. She didn't respond with anything else aside from just more sobbing. She didn't even move but Denji just held her tight. He sat there, in an uncomfortable position, holding her close as she cried into his shoulder and made it wet. He didn't care, he let her.
"Anri." He said after several minutes, getting into a more comfortable position, sitting beside her. The girl looked to him, her green eyes red from crying. Denji thought for a second and wondered what he would be able to do about it, some way to comfort her. "Listen" he began, sighing "I'm not gonna say this isn't a shock to me. Like, a huge one." He cracked the fingers on his free hand by bending them against his leg. "I mean I was really falling for you and then you tell me that you're this serial killer girl. This acid using serial killer or something." He sighed again, wondering what he should say. Yukio was better at this, consoling people. He knew the right things to say. "So I'm just gonna say that I honestly… honestly…" Denji couldn't find what he wanted to say. Part of him wanted to turn her in as she did kill many people. But then his humane side kicked in and saw her reasoning behind it. "I… I just don't know." He finally said, admitting it. "I don't know how I should feel about this. Part of me wants to turn you in for what you did and the other part of me wants to just bring you into the folds of the group and hide you there while this village just forgets about you. I just don't know what I should do that's right. I mean Aika tells me to follow my gut generally and my gut says what my heart's saying: it wants you to stay. I don't know what I should do or what I want to do. Sort of. I'm just afraid if we approach Aika with this she'd just turn you in immediately. I mean Yukio's a practical guy so he might be on our side but Arine follows Aika pretty well. So… I don't know." Denji sighed and shook his head. "This is just such a huge shock to my system, really. I'm still having to think of you as… not Tomoko. You're Anri." He said stiffly. "I don't know how you feel about it or how you want to go about it but I'm not gonna be much help in the planning since I'm not much of a planner. That's Yukio. But I can try to help you however I can. I mean I kind of know what you went through with your family and that's probably affecting me too, now that I think about it." Denji sighed through his nose, staring at the ground. He didn't want to think about that yet his mind wandered there.
"How so?" he heard Anri's voice, now so quiet and small, ask him. Denji grimaced.
"Thing is…" he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed some sort of stability to continue on with telling Anri this. It was the critical moment in his childhood, an event that happened four years ago and it still hurt to think about.
"What?" Anri asked, gripping his arm. Denji swallowed, his throat not dry any more. But now his eyes were stinging at the threat of tears. Funny that, Anri just sobbed her life story at him and now Denji was going to complete it to her.
"It's a really bad. Something that I still have issues dealing with." Denji smirked. "Maybe I should see a psychiatrist or something."
"What happened?" Anri asked. Denji took a deep breath and sighed before telling her.
4 Years Ago
"You just don't get it!" Denji yelled at his mother and father as they had scolded him once more over his thieving habits. "I'm trying to help us!"
"Denji! Stealing isn't going to help us at all! Becoming a criminal is no way to become a better person!" his mother retorted.
"But we need the money!" Denji yelled back. "Where else are we going to get it!? Jobs are taking too long!"
"Working hard takes time." Hajime reasoned sternly. "The harder you work, the more rewards you get in the future."
"But that takes too long!" Denji cried. "We need the money now, who cares where it comes from!?" his parents weren't listening. Denji was helping them! How could they not see it? They needed the money even more now with Kyoshi being sick. Kaguya was in school now but she was already slipping because she was worried about her older sister. Denji was too so he kept stealing more recklessly. He wanted to help her and they couldn't afford much medicine. "What happens if Kyoshi dies because of-" Denji never finished as his mother slapped him full across the face. When he looked to her, his mother's eyes were shining yet her expression was firm.
"Don't you ever say such things, Denji. Ever." She scolded firmly as Denji's young mind was still trying to accept what had just happened. "Don't you dare say my children will die because of the money we don't have. You're still alive, Kaguya is still alive, and Kyoshi is still alive and I'll be damned if I'm going to let any of you die."
"But…" Denji tried speaking, still recoiling from the slap. "But the doctor said-"
"I know full well what the doctor said." Minatsuki scolded her son as her eyes began stinging. "We'll find a way, but it isn't going to be from stealing. No son of mine is going to become a common, petty criminal while his sister is sick!" Her voice was lowered but her tone was harsh and cutting. "In no way will my only son become a disgrace to this family in the vain hope that being a thief will in some way help." She took a shuddering breath before driving her point home. "What do you think Kaguya would say if she knew about this?"
"Mom…" Denji tried to argue but instead he felt angry. Angry and ashamed. Angry that his mother had pulled this card. Ashamed because it was true. He gritted his teeth and glared at his mother. "Well maybe if you would let me help, we could have Kyoshi better now!" he yelled and his mother recoiled visibly. "Maybe if you let me help we could be out of this garbage house!" he backed up and turned, heading to the door.
"Denji!" his mother rose and went after him. He turned and yelled his final point.
"Go on! Let her die! I hope she does so that you learn what I mean!" he yelled, running out the door and into the street. He kept running along the road until he couldn't run anymore, passing by people and buildings as he ran as hard as he could, wanting to get away from that house and his parents and his siblings. He just wanted to be alone. So he ran until he came to a shop that he liked and he ran around it, through an alleyway and into the area behind it. Here he had a good hiding spot from the policing shinobi, at least he thought. It was a small hide-away under a fence that lead to a small little hut that a child could sit in for a while with some books and stuff. Denji went under the fence and climbed inside the small hut. It was wooden and had various holes in the roof and sides but it was a place he could be alone without anyone noticing him.
He sat there, in his hut, for a few hours. He brooded over what his parents said to him, about how he should go straight simply because it wasn't the honest thing to do. His sister was sick for crying out loud! Denji closed the book he was reading as he had finished it for the fifth time and looked outside. It was grey skies, threatening to rain. Maybe he should go back. He was already feeling bad about what he said to his parents, about them letting Kyoshi die. He just wanted to make his point but… did he have to say that? If only they had just went along with his thieving.
"I just want to help." He sullenly tried to reason with himself as he left the hut and crawled under the fence. Once he was really outside he marveled at how dark it had gotten. The grey sky was really heavy above the village as Denji began walking. However once he exited the alleyway and made his way in front of the store, the earth shook with a massive shockwave as a tower of fire and smoke rose up in the distance. People began running and screaming around him, running from the direction of the blast as Shinobi made their way towards it. Denji stood there, wondering what happened when he overheard one of the shinobi talking to a comrade.
"Bomb went off in the lower district!" he heard. Lower district? That's where… no! Denji began running back towards his house as fast as he could, his sides burning as he ran. He had to make sure they were all right. He had to make sure, he had to make sure. He had to reassure himself that his family was fine. Nothing was wrong. Nothing was wrong. Nothing was wrong… Denji reached the crest of the hill that lead down to the lower district where he lived. Normally people would be milling about, talking, gossiping and shopping around the area.
Now it looked like a battleground. Many buildings were shattered as if someone had just come around and kicked them down like tiny doll houses. Black smoke rose up from houses and stores all around the lower district as people ran around trying to find wounded family members and such. Denji heard screaming all around him from various angles. He ran down the hill as fast as he could. He had to make sure his house was all right. He had to. It wasn't a very long trip and his house was tucked away so maybe…
Denji reached the area his house was in and saw that most of them were demolished, shattered from stable buildings to pieces of wooden shrapnel. He hoped beyond hope that his house had survived, he hoped that his family was still… he reached his house though it was beyond being called a house. It was in shambles, not even the walls were standing.
"Mom!?" he yelled above the chaos. "MOM!" he stood there, staring morbidly at his burning house. "DAD! KAGYUA! KYOSHI!" he was hyperventilating now, he ran at the burning wreckage, ignoring the heat despite how much it hurt. He didn't have to search long. Trapped with a wooden beam through his torso, Hajime was on the ground, his face scorched along with the rest of his body. Denji turned and saw… Kaguya. Her body was burned incredibly badly and blood had been spilled under her and was still coming. Denji ran over to what was once Kyoshi and his room where he saw Kyoshi and Minatsuki's bodies lying there, scorched and burned. His mother's body was over Kyoshi's, as if in a protective gesture.
"Mom!" Denji cried as he began running over to them before he was grabbed by someone.
"Kid, what're you doing!?" the man yelled as he leapt from the burning wreckage, taking Denji with him. Denji was set down on the ground as the shinobi examined him. "What were you doing in there?"
"My-my-my mom! My dad! Sisters!" Denji cried, tears springing to his eyes as the shinobi's mouth was drawn into a straight line.
"Okay, just calm down I'll get you a medic." He said, before turning and going off in search of one. Denji's eyes never left the burning wreckage that was once his home, his childhood home, gone. His family, gone.
"I didn't…. I said…" Denji sat there, the weight of his last words to his mother hitting him hard, just like she did. Tears flowed freely from his eyes as he wished that he could've said something nice. He should've said he loved her. Instead he said he wished his sister would die so they could join on his mental level.
"Hey!" a woman dropped down in front of him, wearing a white uniform. "Son, what's your name?" she asked urgently.
"I… I should've…" Denji uttered.
"Please, kid, what's your name." the woman asked him urgently.
"D-D-…. Denji." He finally uttered.
"Denji, okay. It's going to be all right." She said, repeating the phrase but Denji knew at that point that it was far from the truth. He wasn't going to be okay.
Denji sat there as he finished his story, tears at the corners of is eyes. Anri looked at him from his left, hand over her mouth.
"Denji…" she muttered, unable to really say anything.
"Yeah. Last words to my mother." He muttered. "Not 'I love you' or anything. 'I hope my sister dies.' Yeah." Denji spat bitterly at himself. He didn't cry, however. His eye brimmed but none fell. He sighed. This had been happening for the past three years. After the first while he had stopped crying. He wondered if anything was actually wrong with him. The tears would arrive but none would fall.
"Seems both of our lives were shit then." Anri smiled without humour. Tears fell from her still but they had lessened. She slid her hand into his and Denji accepted it. They squeezed their hands together as Anri sighed, tears dripping from her face.
"Yeah. Worst part is my life was shit because of me." Denji sighed. "I fought with my parents, I said horrible things to them, I stole, I just disregarded everything they said. I've felt horrible about it for 4 years." Denji sighed deeply. "Ever since then, I really haven't been able to even cry."
"That's a shame." Anri sighed. "I'd like to help you feel better." She looked to him. Denji chuckled.
"I hope that means a hug and a kiss." He joked, causing Anri to laugh. No loudly or a lot. But a bit.
"Don't worry. Though it's been a bit since I've experienced real emotions like this. A long time." Anri's smile widened slightly. "So I might come on strong with a hug and a kiss."
"Well." Denji sighed, wrapping and arm around her. "Maybe it's best I start that stuff." He said, turning her and planting a kiss on her forehead before wrapping her in his arms. Anri was still for a minute as she registered what just happened before her arms slowly began wrapping around Denji.
"That's the first time someone's done that for me in a long time." She whispered into Denji's chest.
"That's all right. Someone had to start." He said, holding her close. "I just wanted you to feel it at least from me."
"Feel what?" she asked, knowing the answer.
"Just some genuine affection." He answered, his heart beating hard. He didn't want to admit it, at least not yet.
"It's more than that." Anri whispered, pulling away a bit, enough to look into his eyes. Denji looked down at her green eyes. "Isn't it?" she asked.
"Uh…" Denji swallowed, his throat suddenly dry again. He didn't know what he should say despite the fact that Anri probably knew it.
"It was like that with me when I was Tomoko right?" Anri asked. Denji looked away and nodded lightly. "So you…"
"Yeah." Denji sighed.
"Well I won't make it too difficult for you." Anri said. "We'll figure something out."
"I hope so, Anri. I hope so." Denji said, hoping they could figure something out.
"You so did." Karako laughed as Yukio felt his face burn red.
"I didn't, and even if I did, it was completely and utterly your fault." Yukio retorted, looking away from her.
"So? You touched-"
"Enough!" Yukio retorted, embarrassed. The reason he was embarrassed was due to their recent late night bout. After hiding things under his covers, Yukio and Karako engaged in their usual fight when, near the end, Karako got Yukio into a full body hold and he, desperately, tried to escape it by frantically pushing her off. However Yukio's hands went were he didn't expect them. One went between Karako's legs and the other went to a distance above that. Her reaction to that lea to her letting him go and Yukio took advantage of the lag and pounced on Karako and meant to win but found himself pinning Karako's arms to the ground and straddling her. Karako's startled face along with Yukio's confusion stopped him from taking the win. Karako wound up winning again after she got over her confusion and she had been mercilessly teasing Yukio over it on the way back to the hotel.
"Oh come on!" Karako rolled her eyes and grinned. "You were enjoying it. You wished it lasted longer." She didn't seem fazed now. If anything she was the one who wished it had gone on longer.
"You're the one who wished that." Yukio countered, his pale face now crimson. They passed by a dark building as Karako remained silent after that accusation. Yukio wondered if she would finally- slam! Karako was on him with lightning fast reflexes, pinning him against the wall by his arms. She leaned her face in close to Yukio's own. Yukio channeled his chakra immediately, ready to combat Karako if she became hostile.
"You know something Yukio?" she asked, her voice low and menacing. Yukio lowered his chin, ready to react. "You're real smart." Karako complemented him.
"What do you think flattery is going to do here?" Yukio asked, his voice even and low.
"Soften you up of course. But that's not my end goal." Karako grinned.
"Then what is." Yukio asked.
"This." Karako suddenly leaned in and pressed her lips to his roughly. Yukio suddenly felt his mind go blank as he didn't know what he should do. Then Karako pulled away with a grin on her lips. "Not expecting that, eh?" she asked.
"Um." Yukio felt his face return to its previous crimson tone. Karako laughed and let him go, laughing at him.
"That brain of yours can't handle much can it?" Karako joked as Yukio tried to figure out who he was and what just happened. It came back to him momentarily but he hadn't recovered fully, really.
"I'm… what?" he asked her and Karako just shook her head, still laughing.
"Holy…" she breathed. "Just…" she took a second to catch her breath. "Dude, you're pretty dense at times."
"I'm sorry I've never had a girl randomly kiss me." Yukio countered, brushing his jacket off. Karako smirked.
"Well I guess I should be angry you didn't return it or that you're so miffed about it but you're that kind of guy so I'll let it slide." She smiled. "I'll let you get back to your place. I'll see you tomorrow night?" she asked.
"Yeah. For a bit though, since I'm likely leaving after that." Yukio sighed.
"All right. See you!" Karako left him, in her midriff exposing tank top and loose sweat pants. Yukio wondered what was wrong with him. A girls kisses you, common courtesy is to return the favour. Though was it because something was holding him back? The sheer surprise perhaps?
"Who knows you rude idiot." Yukio scolded himself aloud as he turned to head back to the hotel. It wasn't long, a couple more minutes. When he reached the front entrance, however, he saw people out on the balcony, just around the corner. He wasn't going to pay it much mind but he saw silver hair. Denji? Yukio crept along the side of the building, hoping Denji didn't catch him. He turned the corner, poking his head out, when he saw Denji was leaning against the railing with someone who had… green hair.
What in the name of- Yukio began thinking when he overheard them.
"Well I won't make it too difficult for you. We'll figure something out." A girls voice said. He recognised that voice. Tomoko.
"I hope so Anri. I hope so." Denji said. Anri? Anri Nomura? But… what was she… unless… Tomoko! Yukio quickly retreated around the building and into it, heading up to his and Denji's shared room and getting under his covers quickly. He had to come up with a plan. If Anri was in their midst and her bounty info said she was a sociopath. Sociopaths were manipulative. If she had been in their group for the past few days… She'd be there to manipulate someone, the weakest mentally, which could arguably be Arine. However when it came to girls, Denji was the weakest. So he'd be the obvious choice. And he asked her. Asked her. Based on a bet from Aika. Yukio was suddenly aware of how carless the whole team had gotten. He had to alert Aika before it was too late. Last thing he needed was to have his friends die because he got careless. All right when Denji was in and asleep, he would alert Aika. She would make the best decision.
It was later that night, closer to morning, when Denji heard the light knock. He hadn't been sleeping well, or at all, when he quietly rose up to answer it. He slid the door open to show a tired but stern Aika.
"Aika?" he asked aloud and his teacher jerked her head over to the right. She wanted to talk. Denji walked out, slid the door closed, and followed his teacher outside to the balcony. Only when they were outside and the door was closed, did Aika speak.
"So, I've noticed a few things recently." She said, ambiguously.
"Oh?" Denji wondered. "What?"
"Well for one thing, ever since Tomoko joined up you've been quite chipper. In fact, one could almost say elated." She set her mouth in a line and Denji shrugged.
"So? Is there anything wrong with that?" he asked, challenging Aika, who usually had evidence.
"Well for starters you've been better at your working. I mean even during the Kurata gig where you and Arine only had to chase the guy. You did well. He said he saw a woman and a brute." Aika smiled.
"Uh, well…" Denji chuckled and scratched his neck. Why was she doing this?
"And then Tomoko said you were really good during your solo gig." Aika went on. "And, surprisingly, you've paid more attention to me. That's the biggest milestone by far." Aika's smile began slipping sideways and Denji began smelling a rat.
"What is this about?" he asked, frowning. Aika's smile slipped to become completely horizontal.
"It's about you know who." She said simply.
"Tomoko?" Denji asked. Aika simply stared at him.
"Anri." She said sternly. Denji's heart seized up.
"Aika-"
"No Denji, listen." Aika held a hand up. "You don't seem to understand that that girl is a threat. Not only to society, but to us. She's infiltrated out group and we have the element of surprise. We need to turn her in."
"Aika, you don't understand she's not like that." Denji tried but Aika shook her head.
"Denji, we need to turn her in. She's a sociopathic killer. We'll take the money and leave. You aren't supposed to get attached. I'm not taking any other opinions from you." Aika retorted firmly. Denji stared at her, his anger rising. Anri wasn't like that… and yet… no. He wasn't going to let it happen.
"Aika she's, not like that." Denji countered, gritting his teeth. Aika returned the angry glare with a withering gaze of contempt.
"Denji I'm not hearing it." Aika said firmly. "I'm not going to live with a killer who could betray us at the drop of a hat in my midst." Aika stood upright and crossed her arms. "I didn't save your lives that night to lose you to some demented girl with acid abilities." She said, driving her point home. Denji visibly recoiled from that remark. It smarted because it rang with truth. Denji realised that Aika was similar to Yukio: she had taken on these charges and Denji bringing in this girl, Anri, was threatening that. Albeit it was partly Aika's fault but… that must've been it, another reason for her attitude. She must blame herself now for not figuring it out until now. But still…
"Fine." Denji spat, pushing past Aika back into the hotel, opening the door. However before he entered he turned back and said "Aika… just… don't hurt her." He then entered and went back into bed, hoping he could stop them so that Anri could escape. He hoped she could. He'd do whatever he could to make sure that she escaped.
Aika waited outside for just a few minutes until she felt Denji would be asleep. She didn't like the thought of doing this but it was necessary. She wasn't much of a Genjutsu user and detested the art somewhat. She never cared for mind games, preferring to be more direct. She had more than a few spats with some of her fellow genin who were Genjutsu users, like Kurenai. Kurenai was generally cool and collected but Aika had a couple spats with her before the war. Aika was roundly defeated by her but it's hard to cut mind games with a sword.
So in response she trained her mind to resist Genjutsu and even appealed to Kurenai to learn some basic ones because she felt they could come in hand. Now Aika knew basic hallucinations and, her favourite, looping people into a dreamlike state. Aika enjoyed doing that simply because it kept them out of what she was doing. The person would wake up but they would see a dream state. Aika could customise this to be whatever she wanted, sometimes. Those better at Genjutsu had more control and another factor was what the person was like. It was easier when they had a fixed goal in their head at the time.
Denji had a fixed goal in his head now: stopping Aika. She didn't believe his leaving the balcony bit for a second and knew that, in his anger, he would attempt to stop them. He was blinded by this girl, for one reason or another. Whether he was genuinely deceived by her wiles or he was genuinely had feelings for her. It didn't matter. Anri Nomura was a threat to Aika and her students and Aika was going to put a stop to it, any way she could. She had a plan, and she was going to enact it once Denji fell asleep.
"Not long now." Aika said, her eyelids heavy. She was tired and wanted to sleep. But there were things she had to do.
Anri was waiting outside with Yukio and Arine for Aika and Denji. They were taking their time. Anri had donned her Tomoko disguise again but it felt… loose now. Unkempt. Maybe it was revealing herself to Denji the previous night, either way, something was off. Anri couldn't pin point it but the day had a sort of… air of finality about it. Something was going to end today, Anri was sure of it. What she couldn't tell, and was afraid of, a feeling she hadn't felt in a long time, was what was ending. It felt… grim.
"She's taking her sweet time." Yukio commented, checking his nails idly. "I mean her and Denji don't take this long to get up and get going."
"Possible he's just not waking up." Arine observed. "I mean some days he's incredibly hard to wake up."
"Probably." Yukio sighed, looking to Anri and raising an eyebrow. "Maybe you should go up there." He said, smiling. "He'd wake up for you."
"You think?" she asked, before noticing Yuki's wry smile. He was joking. Oh.
"Don't." Arine sighed, dark circles under her eyes. Spending time in her company, Arine was prone to silent night terrors, Anri called them. Arine would thrash about but not make a sound. Anri watched her wake up from the terrors, lay there still as she tried to purge the thoughts from her mind, before she went back to sleep. Then the cycle would begin as Arine would thrash about again after a few minutes. Anri would fall asleep by this point so she was unaware as to if the terrors eased throughout the night or if Arine would just fall into dreamless sleep. "I'm not in the mood." Arine glared at Yukio, who shrugged.
"Fine." He said just as the door opened to show Aika walking out, alone. Denji was nowhere to be seen, which worried Anri.
"Hey." Was Aika's short greeting to the three of them. Obviously, they were confused as to what was going on.
"Where's Denji?" Yukio asked finally, breaking the awkward silence.
"He's still asleep." Aika informed them. "I decided to let him sleep still."
"You're kidding." Yukio's tone was irritated to say the least. "Why can't we get a day off?"
"He wasn't feeling well." Aika revealed. "He'll be bedridden for the day but he should be ready tomorrow. That sound good?" she asked, challenging her students and Anri to go against her. They didn't. They accepted this and Aika nodded. "Good. Now I've got a plan for today and it's pretty simple. We look and search for information regarding our bounty, Anri Nomura. Ask around, she's a big issue so someone's bound to know something. Accept all rumours and take them at least semi-seriously. No matter how outrageous. People are more willing to divulge information so be patient and accepting." She turned to her white haired student. "That especially means you." She said pointedly. Yukio rolled his golden eyes in irritation.
"I can be patient Aika." He sighed with a teenagers relentless irritation with parental figures.
"I should hope so." She replied, turning to Arine. "And you, stay calm. I don't want to hear of a girl wielding a spear going berserk in the marketplace."
"Yeah." Was Arine's only response and Aika accepted it, turning to Anri.
"Tomoko, just look around, I'm sure you're capable."
"Of course." Anri responded, ignoring the fact that she was the best source of information.
"That's good. Anyway, let's move out." Aika ordered.
"Denji." He heard. Denji opened his eyes and sat up… and found himself in weird place. Around him was an incredibly large patch of white flowers. He had been resting in them for some reason. Above him the sky was a dark blue colour with giant, puffy clouds slowly moving from one side of the sky to the other. In the middle of it all was in impossibly large full moon, which almost seemed to be closer than it should be. Behind him was an ornate looking building on a rise. Denji noticed a path in front of him that lead to a gate down a short way. Perhaps it lead to the building.
"What in the…?" he muttered, standing up slowly, his legs feeling very weird. Like some sort of jelly. When he stood, they shook incomprehensibly, as if he were walking for the first time in years. He looked ahead and took a step. A mistake, as he immediately began falling as his legs gave out from under him. He was stopped mid fall, however, by someone grabbing him out of nowhere.
"Don't walk, you're not well." He heard.
"Who…" Denji spoke, his mind felt weird now as well. As if it wasn't really letting him speak. He looked to his left where the person caught him and saw…
"It's me." She said, her green eyes shining in the moon light. She helped him sit back down, slowly. He accepted it and sat back down, with her sitting down next to him.
"Where…" he was finding it hard to speak. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Where am I?" he asked, his mind oddly muddled.
"Silly, you're here with me." She answered.
"Okay." Denji said, accepting it, finding it hard to think much. "Who are you?" he asked, turning to her. Her green eyes stood out so much, the rest kind of blended together.
"It's me." She said. "Anri."
"So what's the story?" Yukio asked Aika. Arine was standing there too as they let Anri wander around.
"Well what's going to happen, Yukio, is that we're going to let Anri whittle herself down over Denji since I prevented any of you from seeing him." Aika explained.
"So what is wrong with him?" Arine asked sullenly.
"I put him under a minor Genjutsu, he'll be awake yet see everything in a dream sate. It'll occupy him until we're done turning Anri in. We can deal with him later." Aika said firmly.
"It's not the best way, lying to him." Yukio observed. "I've read cases where citizens of a town were lied to by the leaders and wound up rebelling quite violently." He eyed Aika. "We should expect a similar response once things are wrapped up. If you intend on saying that we turned her in."
"No." Aika countered. "To us, she left without a trace and we have no idea why. Maybe she got scared, maybe she let us live mercifully. Either way, all he'll know is that she's gone and we can't find her."
"He'll keep trying." Arine contributed.
"We'll prevent it then." Aika said. "Load him with missions, whatever. We're not going to let him find this girl again."
"All right." Yukio went along with it. "But if he goes berserk when he finds out, you're dealing with it."
"I'll deal with it, don't worry." Aika revealed menacingly. Yukio shrugged. This could get out of hand quite easily. He would have to prevent as much collateral damage as possible. It would be tough but he could manage, he was sure.
Hours Later
Anri was sitting on a bench in an empty park, wondering what had ailed Denji and why Aika had prevented them from seeing him. Aika had said to meet in this small park. It was secluded from most of the village and Anri remembered it well from her childhood when she ran here to avoid her family and train her skills occasionally. The middle of it was a massive vase-fountain of sorts, filled with plants instead of water. The planners said it was a bit more environmental and it saved water. Anri never cared, it was around the time she stopped caring that it was made. Around the fountain were four curved benches that were as beige as the sand, and around that was just a vast area where people milled about and it was surrounded by a small grove of trees. Though now it was empty, in fact it was generally empty. It's why Anri enjoyed it, what little she did those years ago. Especially around this time of day: sunset. Something about the lighting Anri always enjoyed, it gave the whole area this sort of finality about it, as if this was where a group of friends would meet for the last time before heading out in various directions.
It held a saddening tone to it as well, and that got to Anri sometimes. Occasionally she cried here when things at home got heavy, which was whenever her father was home. He kept ranting about the plan to use them for the plan to invade the Leaf and then it fell through, the invasion she heard. It was after the whole thing fell through when her father went at them, she flubbed that when she broke down. In fact a year after. Her father had been brooding but she wanted to get the information out to Denji as fast as she could and flubbed. She'd have to amend that with him when she got the chance, if Aika let them visit him. It was why she chose the park, Denji was apparently contagious or something. However he was fine last night. Something was feeling awfully fishy in Anri's opinion. Aika seemed like she was hiding something, but Denji wouldn't tell them about her. Anri had heard the end of his story, where he'd lost his family in a bombing, and felt he wouldn't reveal her secret.
But something just didn't feel right.
"So…" Denji began but Anri shushed him with a finger against his lips.
"Just rest. It's for the best, you're not well." She said, the concern in her voice ringing through his very being.
"Not well?" Denji asked, not grasping the concept. His mind felt so… muffled. Like he could hear his thoughts through a wall and only had the capacity to say things in questions. Well questions were all he had to say, really. But Anri wasn't answering him, not directly. She kept wanting him to lay down and rest. It was a nice field they were in, the flowers and light breeze were perfect, and the building behind them added to the overall atmosphere of it. Something didn't feel right about all this, however.
"Yes, not well. You're sick." She said, her voice urgent but calm at the same time. It was odd.
"Sick? Why?" Denji frowned. It was frustrating, having his thoughts trapped within his brain.
"You just are." Anri said, trying to push him down onto the bed of flowers. "Now rest."
"Rest?" he asked, resisting her push. He had enough consciousness to do that. He didn't want to rest, he knew that much. He wanted to go find Anri… but she was right here.
"Yes, Denji my love." Anri said, her voice soothing. "Rest. You need to rest." She said, slowly, drawing out each syllable. Her love? She loved him.
"When did you say that?" he asked, the longest sentence he was able to speak.
"I'm sorry?" Anri tilted her head and Denji slowly turned his to look at her.
"When did you say you loved me?" he asked, the fogginess of his brain lifting a bit. "I don't remember…" the fogginess came back in force and Anri shook her head in sadness.
"How could you forget?" she asked, her voice laced with just a bit of sadness. "It was on the balcony, when we told our life stories."
"Life stories?" he asked, the memory coming to him. "What was mine?" he asked her, a rudimentary test.
"Well you lived with your mother and father and sisters and you were the apple of your parents eye." Anri smiled softly. "They loved you so much, you could practically do no wrong."
"Do no wrong…" Denji repeated, not sure of what it was that bothered him about that. He kept his head down, frowning as he tried to comprehend what was wrong around him, and slid his gaze over to Anri. Something definitely wasn't right here, there was a small spike at the base of his skull and it was slowly growing, getting hotter.
He had to figure out what was wrong.
Aika walked out of the trees, spotting Anri on the bench facing the sunset, due west. She seemed lost in thought over something. Aika had to admire the transformation. It was seamless and yet simplistic. Change the hair, eyes, fill out a bit and you've got it. It would've worked had Aika not been informed by Yukio hurriedly about the problem. And now she sat there, a lot of money sitting on a bench but it was more than that. She was a threat to the group, one Yukio was severely worried about.
"Tomoko!" Aika called as she approached the girl, her voice jarring her into reality from her thoughts.
"Aika." She said neutrally. Aika quickly flicked a gaze around. If she was right, Yukio and Arine were hidden away and wouldn't come out until Aika gave the verbal signal, Anri's real name.
"You see Yukio or Arine?" she asked simply enough, hoping she hadn't. Anri shook her head. Good.
"I'm worried about Denji." She said, going back to looking west. Aika simply stood her ground.
"Don't worry, he'll be all right. If anything he'll be up by the morning and we'll likely be leaving anyway. I asked around and heard this girl skipped town, headed towards the Land of Fire. If it's true we might as well head on our merry way towards there though if she skips that then we'll abandon it." Aika sighed. "However the Land of Fire is huge so it'll be like searching for a needle in a haystack the size of the Hidden Sand village."
"Well perhaps she stayed in the village?" Anri proposed, giving herself up practically. "I mean who would expect the criminal to remain in the hottest location, in the legal sense." She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. Aika nodded.
"Possible, but we don't have the man power to watch both here and the Land of Fire at the same time so we're gonna have to bet on the Land of Fire in order to capture her." Aika began slowly pacing a small line. "I mean if we leave her here, we leave her here but if we can catch her in the Land of Fire then we'd have a chance since we'd be ahead of her by a good margin." Aika was putting some decent thought into sounding sincere.
"Well…" Anri sighed. "I'm out of ideas. Not much she could do aside from travel between here and the Land of Fire."
"I suppose you're right." Aika lamented and took a step forward. "Perhaps we should leave tomorrow then."
"If that works." Anri shrugged.
"Oh I'm sure it will work. It'll work very well, Anri." Aika said, dropping the act. Anri stiffened visibly, turning her head to face Aika, who had her sword on her back.
"What are you-" Anri began before Aika stopped her.
"You're Anri Nomura. I'm here to take you in to the bounty station and you'll end up back in the custody of the Hidden Sand." Aika said, reaching back and grabbing the handle of her sword. Anri slowly began backing up from Aika, her disguise beginning to fail, patches of green hair appearing among the black. Behind her, Aika spotted Yukio standing there, the verbal code having summoned him. Arine was walking in from the east, her spear held aloft, ready for combat. Anri would've backed right into Yukio, if he hadn't stepped on a small branch. Whether this was intentional or not, Aika wasn't sure. He could've gotten her from behind and stunned her. However, Anri turned, losing her disguise entirely. Her green hair shimmered in the sunlight and her green eyes were wide as she realised she was surrounded.
"Got lucky with the branch there." Yukio said, his face neutral, his mouth a thin line.
"But you're not so lucky any more, girl." Arine growled maliciously, twirling her spear in deadly circles. Aika pulled her blade as Anri realised she was stuck in a terrible situation.
"So I can do no wrong?" Denji asked after a while, surprising Anri as she lay against him.
"Exactly." She said, smiling up at him. "I remember you said your parents held you in the highest regard. You did nothing to disappoint them, even… even in the end." Anri sighed a sigh laced with sadness and Denji felt that spike in his mind grow a bit more and it began growing incredibly hot. This was wrong. This was so, so wrong.
"What was the last thing I said to them?" he asked suddenly, his mind clearing a bit. It was as if the hot spike was burning off the fog in his mind a bit. "I know I told you." He said, his voice a bit urgent. Then he heard something in the distance. He looked over to the gate and saw someone swathed in black slamming at it, though the sound was somewhat muffled.
"Oh I remember perfectly." Anri sighed, her eyes now closed. "It was when we were under the stars on the hotel balcony last night."
"Yeah. But can you answer the question?" Denji asked, the spike beginning to burn incredibly in his head. He wanted to know Anri's answer. He had to confirm something.
"Well I mean your whole story was so touching, but that last bit was so-"
"What was the last thing I said to them!?" Denji shouted loudly, his voice echoing throughout the small area. Anri didn't even jump. She was stalling for time, he was seeing now. She swallowed before smiling and sighing before she finally said
"You said 'I love you both.' To them." She said, content with her smile. She suddenly felt a hand grip her throat in an incredible vice grip, choking her. Anri's eyes flung open and she slowly, jerkily turned her head to Denji, who felt the hot spike burn away the fog in his head, for the most part.
"You're not Anri." He growled, his blue eyes filled with rage. "Who are you?" he tightened his grip as the girl gasped for air. He wasn't going to let her go until she said who she was. Then he got his answer. Her form began to flicker, her hair flickering from green to purple, her eyes going from green to purple, and her whole form going from a fourteen year old girl to that of a much older woman. Denji gritted his teeth and tightened his grip. "Aika." He growled through his gnashed teeth.
The woman simply glared at him as her throat was crushed in his hand. Her face was turning purple and then blue as she had no air to go on. Then she let out one last, tiny gasp of air before going limp. Denji stood, rage filling his heart. He remembered the person slamming at the gate and ran over to it, finding it was locked. However, reaching into his pocket, Denji found a key and inserted, turning the lock. He pulled it off and opened the gate to-
"GAH!" Denji inhaled deeply as he was suddenly standing in the middle of the hotel room, his breathing heavy, he was covered in sweat. His mind was clear but some things were coming to him more slowly. Genjutsu, Aika had put a Genjutsu on him. But why? Why would she keep him from- Anri! Denji searched around and found his jacket, his scrolls still in the pockets. He slid it on with his sandals, and rushed out of the door, intending to find them all before it was too late.
"Pretty good disguise." Yukio admitted to Anri as she looked from each of the three of them. She was obviously confused and startled and hurt. "Had us fooled for a bit."
"How did you know?" she turned on him, her expression desperate. Whether it was from being caught or to find a way out, Yukio didn't know which. He didn't care much.
"Well, see, that's the issue." Yukio sighed, feigning some slight distress. "It was pretty late last night when we were called to the balcony, the four of us. Myself, Arine, Aika, and Denji. We were wondering what it was about when…" Yukio sighed once more, drawing it out. Anri's face was becoming more and more taught as she worried.
"How?" she practically pleaded. This wasn't like a sociopath. Then again she could be acting.
"It was Denji who told us." Yukio revealed. While outside his face was neutral, inside he took a small bit of satisfaction at Anri's face. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped somewhat.
"No." she said, her voice almost but a whisper. "No he wouldn't…"
"See he was pretty hurt when he told us. I mean he almost broke down on the balcony." Yukio said, adding more details to the lie. "I mean how would you feel if the person you had feelings for suddenly pulled the rug from under your feet and revealed they were this horrible kind of person? You'd feel betrayed too. You'd feel hurt, embarrassed, idiotic." Yukio frowned. "I'd hate to be in that position, especially if that person was revealed to be a serial killer." Yukio glared at Anri as Arine and Aika kept their positions. It was Yukio's job to keep her distracted while Arine and Aika moved in to position to grab her in one simple motion.
"But…" Anri began breathing more heavily. "Why… he… he told me about how his family died. He said he'd help me." She muttered before jerking her head up and facing Yukio, desperation filling her face and expression. "Where is he then? Why isn't he here?"
"I don't know." Yukio shrugged. "Maybe he's still feeling a bit of residual guilt. Maybe he just didn't want to see it, I wouldn't know. He just said he didn't want to be there. Maybe he's still grieving over such a betrayal." Yukio gave Anri a glare. "I'm sure you're feeling that, or are you?"
"I…. I…." Anri put a hand against her face as she tried to process this information. Arine and Aika were almost in position. Aika had her blade out and ready, Arine had her spear aimed at Anri's chest. Yukio had his left hand over his left spear, ready for the unexpected.
"Perhaps it's time you gave yourself up." Yukio suggested, his hand gripping his spear. Something was off about her now. She was still, standing there, hand on face, head lowered, as if she was still processing this information. She didn't respond. Then, suddenly, she jerked her head up. Her eyes had changed. Now they didn't hold any sadness, any anger, nothing. They were like cold chips of green glass now.
"You know what." She said, neutrally. "That's fine. Now I know why I stopped caring in the first place." She pulled her hand to her side and Yukio could see her jaw was working a bit. Arine suddenly shouted
"Yukio! Watch out!" Yukio was a step ahead of her, jumping back as far as he could as Anri shot a burst of acid at him, the green liquid arcing and landing at where he was standing, turning the bit of ground into a bubbling, acrid mess. He flicked his spear out, pulling his right one as well. Arine leapt on her as Aika lit her sword. Anri turned incredibly fast and fired another gob of acid at Arine, who managed to twist on her heel and somewhat fall to avoid the acid that sailed over her. Aika leapt over her student and swung her sword at the acid user, who dodged it expertly, working her jaw. Yukio shot forward, electrifying his spears as he moved, swinging his right one into Anri's side, giving her quite the zap on her abdomen. She jerked from it, stopping her next spit of acid as Aika was going to slash the girl with her blade. However, Anri recovered faster than Yukio or Aika anticipated and lashed out at Aika with a kick to the stomach that landed squarely, knocking Aika off course and into the ground. As she did this she turned to Yukio and spat a gob of acid at him, forcing Yukio to sidestep away from it. However he wasn't fast enough and the acid caught on his left spear, melting it right through. Yukio dropped it quick-smart, the pieces hitting the ground and melting into nothing but slag.
Could be worse. He thought quickly. She could've hit me. One spear gone is just a spear gone. He turned to Anri who was working her jaw again as Arine was coming in from the side, her spear glinting crimson in the sunlight. Anri whipped her head to the side and spat acid at Arine once more, allowing Yukio another window. He ducked in as Arine narrowly avoided the acrid slime and tried buzzing her again with his spear. Anri was all too aware of this now and reached out, faster than Yukio had anticipated, gripping his wrist and opening her mouth wide to drain the acid in it. Yukio charged his arm with electricity and forced Anri's grip to let him free as he pulled away, but the acid caught on this spear as well, melting it as Yukio dropped it to the ground, letting it dissolve along with its twin. Both gone. This isn't turning out how I'd like. He thought to himself as Aika stabbed at Anri, who arched her body to the side to avoid the searing hot blade. Yukio backed up and thought this through.
She's adept at dodging attacks, almost as much as me. We need to keep the pressure up on her, like Karako did to me. Perhaps I should try my recent prototype. He looked to his hands, now empty of weapons, at least physical ones. However, he'd created a prototype Jutsu that could work to his advantage, but it required to be in close. Oh well. It's how I operate. He lamented, making the hand signs as Anri, Arine, and Aika were dancing a deadly dance with fire, acid, and Arine's spear flying in every direction. For all intents and purposes, those two were putting a lot of pressure on Anri but she was dodging their attacks as if they were slowly telegraphed.
It was incredible to watch, aside from his friend and his teacher in great danger. He gripped his right wrist in his left, channelling his chakra until the Lightning Blade appeared in his right hand, a bright display of electricity. He'd gotten so adept at it he barely needed many hand signs to create the jutsu in the first place. He then took his left hand and put it just over the crackling lightning jutsu and channelled his chakra to transfer just a spark…
Crack! He heard as it caught, lighting both of his hands with electricity. Excellent. Yukio stood and ran up at Anri, watching for an opening. Arine did a low sweep with her spear as Aika was doing an overhead downward slash. A good strategy to be sure, but Yukio was already seeing the flaws. Anri only needed to lift her legs, nothing else, to avoid the spear swing. It was a quick up and down with the legs, in fact she could just do one leg than the other. To avoid the overhead swing, she needed a slight change of position to the right or left.
Anri almost did it perfectly. She retracted both of her legs up just before Anri's spear swung beneath her and had them on the ground just as Aika's sword was moving down before she moved her left foot in a semi-circle and allowing Aika to slice the air in front of her, the sword sparking against the stone ground. Yukio took his chance. He focused on Anri and swung his right arm, catching her by surprise. She managed to duck it but wasn't expecting the second Lightning Blade that came from below and rolled back, landing on her feet and rose as Yukio thrust his right arm forward, focusing.
Focus! He yelled at himself internally. Imagine the chakra in a spiral. A spiral with a point and you should create it. Yukio focused the chakra, the small bolts of lightning beginning to cooperate, beginning to spin in a spiral formation as he thrust forward. Come on! He urged the lightning. Obey! He didn't force it but focused as much as he could. Anri dodged by simply stepping back a couple steps. Focus! Yukio shouted in his mind, foregoing subtlety. Spiral! Suddenly, with a crackling, the lightning in his hand shot forward, shocking Anri, who tried to step back fast enough. The tip hit the centre of her torso but didn't pierce it. She stared at Yukio's now lightning jutsu in his right hand. He straightened, the lightning enveloping most of his right forearm and extending thinly past his elbow. Focusing, his left hand cooperated to do the same thing and now in both hands, he had drills.
"Lightning Drills." Yukio revealed, popping his neck. "Prototype, but it should work." He crouched and charged, thrusting one at Anri, who sidestepped, as he swung the other around. While they were piercing weapons, his drills were made of electricity. Simply touching them would hurt a lot. Anri went low, becoming a ball and rolling away from the drills as Yukio felt sweat roll down his head. Focusing that chakra took a lot out of him, he had to work more on these. Arine came in from the left, her spear levelled at Anri, ready to impale her. Aika was hanging back on Yukio's right, looking for an opening. Yukio rushed forward, thrusting his right drill at Anri as she rolled to his right. Aika ran in, already in the motion of a precise slash with her flaming sword. Anri finished rolling and shot up, pulling a kunai as she did, managing to block Aika's sword strike, the blade sliding off the knife and away from Anri as Arine swung her spear in a long, horizontal arc. Yukio shot one of his drills forward, with them now having Anri trapped in-
"No!" she hissed as she let out a massive arc of acid around her immediate person, which Yukio and Arine and Aika were in. All three of them backed right up to avoid the acid as Anri let it drip from her mouth, the acid doing nothing to her. Yukio crouched, breathing heavily. The Lightning Drills, especially both of them, were taking too much. He let the left one fizzle out and lessened the overall size of the right one. He felt a weight off of his body but the right one was still active and draining him. He had, at most, a couple minutes before he had to let it fizzle out so he could regain chakra. He ran forward, charging Anri solo. A brutish and ineffective strategy but he wanted to make use of what was left of his drill. He thrust it forward, forcing Anri away from her little acid circle. Yukio kept the pressure on, slashing and thrusting at her with the drill, forcing her back. Anri still held the kunai in her right hand as she tried to aim her acid at him, but Yukio got into his little zone. He pushed Anri back towards the fountain, slashing and thrusting with the drill as he felt sweat fall off of him. He was inexperienced, he needed more practice. However things were working out in his favour as Anri didn't realise she had backed into the fountain. Yukio readied what he thought was the final thrust, feeling the world turn into slow motion he began to thrust forward just as he heard something to his left that threw him off completely.
"STOP!"
Denji was running through the village, wondering if he could spot them like this. He ran as fast as he could his chest heaving and his sides burning. He hadn't seen them or even heard a trace of them. He was in the marketplace now and was desperate. So he began asking around. He had little luck, no one had really seen them. He used Anri's description in her Tomoko disguise and found no leads whatsoever. However he eventually did, with a man who saw her some time ago, maybe an hour.
"Yeah, Black hair, blue eyes? Pretty young thing." The man, who was above fifty years of age. Roughly, Denji didn't care.
"Where'd she go?" he asked, his breathing ragged.
"Oh, over towards that old park." The man pointed. "No one really goes there but she headed over there for some reason."
"Thank you so much." Denji said, dropping some bills on the man's table as payment, running off without buying anything. He bolted towards the direction that the old man pointed to and hoped he would be able to stop them. Aika would want Anri to be feeling secure before she pulled the rug out. Then she'd have Yukio and Arine ambush from behind, probably. They'd used that strategy many times. Denji found a small dirt path and took it, hoping it lead him to the park. As he ran, he heard the faint sounds of… combat. "No." he muttered as he forced himself to go faster, adrenaline pushing him forward as he ran along the path, breaking any branches that had the unfortunate luck to be in his way. As he ran, the sounds got louder and louder until finally, they quieted down for a second just as Denji broke through the trees to find Anri, her disguise gone, backed up against a large, dry fountain. Yukio was in front of her, his expression vicious as he cocked back an arm covered in lightning. Denji's heart seized up and he went with the first thing that entered his head: stop them. So he yelled out
"STOP!" his voice carrying across the park. Aika and Arine turned their heads in surprise. Yukio only shifted his eyes in surprise, but that was all he needed. Anri, who was focused on the person in front of her and only him, reached out with lightning quick reflexes, grabbing Yukio by the collar with her left hand and, with her right hand, stabbing him with the kunai once, twice, three times. Her expression was vicious as Yukio's lightning faded, his expression pained and surprised as Anri pulled the knife and kicked the boy several feet from her. He landed on the ground with a hard thud, blood beginning to pour from the wound, surrounding him.
"DAMNIT!" Aika yelled as she immediately ran over to Yukio, sliding down beside him and applying first aid.
"You bitch!" Arine screamed as she charged Anri, her spear ready to impale the girl through and through, painfully. Arine ran up and swung her spear in a hard downward arc, the blade sparking along the ground as Anri kicked her away, the spear falling to the ground. Denji had been standing there, stunned at what she did. What was wrong with her?
"ANRI!" he shouted, running to her. She turned and her expression darkened immensely. She bared her teeth and opened her mouth wide, firing a stream of acid at him, forcing Denji to dodge it with a roll. Why was she so enraged?
"YOU!" she screamed, baring her teeth at him, acid filling her mouth again, the green liquid spilling from her teeth, over her lips, and down to the ground where it burned away. She unleashed a large glob of acid and Denji simply sidestepped and got closer.
"Anri, what are you doing!" Denji yelled. "What happened!?"
"You did." She hissed, working her jaw and firing a more concentrated stream.
"What are you-" Denji was stopped as Arine charged Anri once more, her spear glinting in the sunlight. She tried swiping, but Anri was faster, throwing a kunai at her, hitting Arine's thigh, sending her sprawling, her spear landing some distance away.
"You told them!" Anri screamed, her eyes full of hatred. "You told them everything and let them try to kill me!" Denji felt his heart skip a beat.
"I never told them anything!" he protested. "I swear! I went to bed and Aika put me under a Genjutsu! They must've found out somehow, I don't know!" Denji saw her expression and kept trying. "Anri, please! I wouldn't tell them! Trust me!" he pleaded as hard as he could, trying to sound genuine because he was. Something happened and he was made to blame. Anri seemed to consider this as she didn't attack him right away.
"Then how did they find out?" she asked, her voice rough. Denji could see her eyes were brimming. She was about to cry.
"I…" Denji panted, unable to give an answer. He didn't have one. "I just…"
"How Denji?" Anri asked him, her teeth gritted tighter together.
"I don't…" Denji tried to think. What happened? How?
"HOW!?" Anri screamed.
"I don't know!" Denji yelled back. "I don't know, all I know is I woke up in a Genjutsu and was like that all day because of Aika. She didn't want me here!" Denji pleaded. He hoped he got through to her on some level. Anri glared at him, her eyes shining in the light. They truly were beautiful. Anri kept her mouth closed and Denji stepped forward slowly, wanting to be closer, to hopefully help her. "Please Anri, you have to trust me. You can get away, we can meet later. Just trust me." Anri stared at him as he said that, he was now within a few feet of her. Then, heartbreakingly, she shook her head.
"I can't." then she spat a small gob of acid at him. Denji's reflexes kicked in… just too late. He turned his body but by the time he was in the motion, the acid, aimed for his head, hit his left eye and a bit back as it passed by. Denji screamed as pain lit up the left half of his head. He gripped it as the pain was intense enough to prevent him from standing for a second. He fell to his knees and then forward and to the right, landing on his right arm as he screamed in pain. His right eye was blinded from the pain but quickly began seeing again. What he saw was a blur, Anri turning and running from the area before he heard Aika running beside him. Aika. He had to stop her. He saw something bright sail over him and more brightness envelope the area. Aika had somehow made a wall of fire to stop Anri.
"You're not going anywhere!" she yelled and Denji knew he had to do something. With his right eye vision returning, adrenaline blocking out some of the pain in his left eye. He saw Anri was stopped with Aika beginning to run at her. Denji quickly reached out and managed to grab her ankle as hard as he could tripping his teacher up and breaking her concentration, the fire wall dying out quickly. Anri turned and saw him, having stopped his teacher. He looked at her. She looked confused and hurt and exhausted. So Denji said the one thing he could.
"RUN!" he yelled as loud as he could. Anri was still so he did it again. "RUN!" This time it took, and Anri ran from the area as fast as she could and Aika pulled her foot from Denji's hand as his grip loosened. He looked up and saw she was going to do something but then they heard yelling and Aika had to do other things. She ran off and Denji finally let what just happened to him take effect, and he blacked out.
One Day Later
Denji looked through the window to Yukio's room. The doctors had managed to patch him up, but he'd lost a lot of blood. He lay there, eyes closed, as the machines kept an eye on his vital signs. He was as pale as ever, more so perhaps. Arine was in the room with him, in a chair. The knife nearly hit a vital artery in her thigh but it had missed. Barely. They patched her leg up easily, though the scar would remain. Denji had a bandage over his head and left eye. Anri's acid burn wasn't as bad as it could've been, mostly hitting the eye and skin faintly. But it was enough. They managed to heal a decent amount of it, even partial sight. However, they mentioned, he would likely never be able to use that eye efficiently again. Denji saw his faint reflection in the window, the white bandage over his head made him look like something. He wasn't sure, he was too focused on Yukio. Arine was sitting there, watching him sleep. The doctors said he was going to make it but he had nearly bitten the dust. Denji didn't know how to take that. Beside him, someone approached.
"Still asleep?" Aika asked, her voice curt.
"Yeah." Denji said, his voice hoarse and dry. He hadn't had a drink in a while.
"Doctors say he'll wake up soon." Aika said. Denji looked at her with his free eye, noting her black hair and green eyes. A disguise. She turned to him. "Come, we have things to discuss." And turned and walked, Denji followed silently, knowing what was coming. They went into Denji's room, which had a small balcony attached to it as it was a light care room, not intensive like Yukio's. They spoke outside, standing across from one another. Aika let her disguise fall, showing her purple hair and eyes. They were silent for a minute, Denji unable to speak. Or he didn't want to.
"I guess I'll start." Aika began. "What happened?" Denji looked at her. He was silent for a minute before he answered.
"I was in your Genjutsu and I beat it." He answered simply. Aika frowned.
"How?" she asked.
"You got your information wrong. The last thing I said to my parents was that I wished my sister would die so they could know how I was feeling." Denji glared at her with his eye. "They may have loved me but I was a thief, they didn't like that. I did plenty of wrong."
"Okay. So why did you stop us?" Aika asked.
"Because she was going to change." Denji replied quickly. "If you'd listened-"
"If you'd listened" Aika interrupted him "she'd be in custody, Yukio would be fine, and you would've thought she'd just run off."
"Oh so that was it?" Denji spat. "Lie to me and hope I go with it?"
"Yes. It was for the best." Aika admitted. Denji glared at her.
"How could you?" Denji asked fiercely. Aika responded just as fiercely.
"I did because my students were in jeopardy!" she hissed "Now she's on the loose, she might come back to find us."
"She won't, she doesn't know where our house is." Denji retorted. "I didn't tell her that. I only told her about my family."
"How can I trust you?" Aika forced the question at Denji.
"How can I trust you?" Denji spat at her. "How can I trust someone unwilling to listen to the fact that some people can change? Willing to deceive her students so that she can sleep with a free conscience." He growled.
"I haven't had a free conscience in decades." Aika spat back. "Besides, had you not intervened, we would be fine."
"Had you not gotten in it, we would've been even more fine." Denji growled. "Anri wanted to run, and I was going to let her. We would've met up later! Now she thinks I betrayed her because of your lies." Denji bared his teeth at his teacher. "Now because of you Yukio's been injured, so has Arine…" Denji's breathing sped up. He felt the tears in his right eye build up. But nothing would fall. "All just because you got paranoid. What even happened?" Denji asked.
"Yukio saw you two the other night." Aika admitted. "He came to me and we planned. We didn't want to risk you being manipulated." Her tone softened just slightly. "We had your best interests at heart."
"My best interests were to have everyone end up uninjured and free." Denji spat at her. The tears were clouding his vision. "Now everything's… everything's gone bad. Anri wants me dead, Yukio's injured, Arine probably despises me." Hot tears began pouring down his face. "I just wanted what would workout best for everyone." He sobbed. "I just… I just…" he began crying hard. Tears fell from his face to the floor and his body felt so weary now. He felt so exhausted at everything. It hit him all at once and he broke down. He almost fell to his knees but someone caught him. Aika. She held him close and he cried into her shoulder. He should've hither, wanted her gone. At this point, however, he just needed someone there.
"Oh Denji." He heard Aika whisper. She sighed deeply as she held him, letting him sob as everything from his family to now was unleashed. He wrapped his arms around Aika, holding her close. He didn't want to let her go now, he needed her there. As he sobbed, he heard Aika utter three words after several long minutes. They didn't lessen the tears, but they were said.
"I'm so sorry."
"You sure you're okay?" Denji turned to Yukio, who was walking slowly. It had been several days and they were allowed out. They immediately headed for home and were now walking through the Land of Fire. Aika guessed they were roughly a day away from home.
"Yeah." Denji said, his voice rough. He had thrashed it out with the group a couple nights ago. Things were said and things were apologised for. Some things were forgiven. Some. Yukio was particularly guilty, having acted so rashly.
"Okay." He said, becoming silent again. Denji hated it, the silence between them. He was walking slowly so he didn't open any wounds again.
"How're you then?" Denji asked.
"Could be better." Yukio sighed, holding a hand to his side. "This is going to hurt for a while."
"Yeah." Denji smiled a bit. The white bandage on his head was now replaced with a tight silver cloth that was as if someone put a ring over his head and eye. It still hurt and the skin around it, while better, was scarred. The eye itself was milky white. Vision was very blurry but still unusable.
"Listen, Denji…" Yukio began but Denji held a hand up.
"Never mind. It's in the past now." Denji decided to forgive Yukio. After all, he understood the rationale. He just didn't like the outcome. That and he didn't want to hate his best friend for life.
"No, not that." Yukio nodded towards Aika and Arine, who were far ahead of them. "We should catch up." Denji smiled.
"Sure, I'll give you a hand." He let Yukio drape an arm over his shoulder and together, the both of them moved forward, hoping to catch up to the two women.
Anri Nomura sat there, several nights after that fight. She had thought of what Denji said to her, about how he didn't reveal the information. She still wasn't sure, she didn't know what to think. Nothing added up. She had possibly killed one of his friends and if anything, he would likely come after her. She had to run, keep ahead of them if they were coming after her.
"Did you do it?" she asked Denji for the millionth time. There was no answer for he wasn't there. Anri wanted to hate him but then the images of him holding her hand, helping her out, confessing his darkest secret to her popped up and she couldn't. She didn't know what to do. "Did you?" she asked again, her eyes brimming with tears. She held her head in her hands and cried once more, wishing he was there to stop her tears.
A/N: Longest chapter in the history of not only AS but this profile. Also the most emotional I've gotten. But this concludes this arc, I hope you guys enjoyed.