I do not own Naruto, If did Madara wouldn't act so brain dead
Talk now – normal talk
What now – normal thoughts
Speak – biju, higher being talk
Listen – biju, higher being thoughts
Chapter 4 : Unwanted Return
When Naruto woke up he found himself in a hospital room, the smell of anesthetics assaulted his nose, Naruto blinked several times, his eyelids felt heavy to him, he looked around and he could see that he was the only one in the room, he saw that he was hooked up to several medical devices.
Slowly he started to move around in the bed, his body ached all over, he remembered how Yukimura had told him that he would be gone for two weeks while in the realm and that his muscles would atrophy from the inactivity, but that he would use his power to minimize the damage done and aid in his recovery.
Gently Naruto began to move around trying to get used to his body once more, a moment later his felt a cooling sensation spread through out his body, he heard a voice that seemed to be from far away. Relax. Naruto let out a breath, his body felt better now, he hoped someone would come soon.
It wasn't long before a person came into the room to check up on him, a doctor by his clothing, the man was plump, had short black hair, square black rimmed glasses adorned his triangle shaped face, his cheeks were red. He must have run over here, so they either monitored me closely with the devices or have people in the room.
The man smiled, and wiped his hand against his forehead. "Ah young Uzumaki-san" the man began in a pleasant tone, "you are awake, my name is Ryo Bakura."
Naruto's smiled, his face took an air of innocence, curiosity and a slight tinge of fear. "Yes, what happened Bakura-san? Where am I? Why I are all these" he motioned towards the medical devices around him, "tied to me?"
A small brief look of panic crossed the man's face. "I think the Hokage will want to answer all of your questions."
So he may be under orders not to talk to me, interesting, I wonder what story they made up to cover up the attack. Naruto tilted his head curiosity engraved on his face. "Who's that?"
A shocked look crossed the man's face. "You don't know who the Hokage is?"
"No, should I?" Naruto replied in a cheerful tone of voice.
"Uzumaki-san he's the village leader, the most respected person in the village as well" the man stopped to catch his breath "why even told me that he knew you personally."
Naruto blinked at man, outwardly betraying nothing, the lessons from Yukimura and Sayaka were etched into him now, and after studying to read people the doctor appeared like on open book to him, the last six months had been more nightmare than dream, constant drills and exercises, but as he could see now it had paid off, while he has nowhere near as good as Yukimura or Sayaka, he was at least a beginner and more skilled then other people.
The doctor's face gave him away, the man respected the Hokage, actually admired him, but there was also a fear of him in the man, the doctor was a loyal supporter of the Hokage, he could tell that much. He needed to play his cards right, he shrugged his shoulders. "Can't say I've heard of the Hagane."
"Hokage, Uzumaki-san." Ryo countered.
"Hokaze? He replied looking towards the doctor.
"Hokage!" Ryo placed a bit more force behind the word.
"Kazekage?" Naruto asked innocently.
"How did you" the doctor shook his head "never mind"
"Ano, can I have some food? I'm hungry." He asked in a meek tone of voice, lowering his head and slumping his shoulders.
Ryo looked at him strangely for a moment. "I…um yes of course, I'll have the nurses bring you something right away."
"Really?" Naruto stared at the man wide eyed. "You will?" He rubbed his stomach. "I thought that maybe I had missed food time and would have to wait until tomorrow."
"Why would you ever think such a thing?" Ryo asked incredulously.
"Isn't that how things are done?" Naruto asked in a surprised tone.
"No" the doctor shook his head "how can you think such a thing?"
"It's what they said at the orphanage."
A look of sadness crossed the man's face. "I umm, they have their own way of doing things there, but we do things differently here Uzumaki-san."
"Then can I stay here? Or visit? Please." He asked in a pleading tone.
Naruto could see the myriad of emotions that crossed the man's face. "You should speak to the Hokage he's…. ". At that moment the door opened and both Naruto and Ryo turned towards the door where they both recognized the Sandaime Hokage dressed in his red and white robes.
Naruto looked at man, he knew that he had to be careful around the man, he could see how hard the man's face was, although he had a kind smile, Naruto could see the steel underneath, it reminded him of how Sayaka's face had been on several occasions during their training. Yukimura always seemed more like ice, his words reverberated through his head, play the fool, using your young age as a tool, make them feel smarter. Naruto smiled and waved at the Hokage. "Hey you're the old man with the funny hat, you here to eat too?"
The Hokage laughed at bit and offered him a grandfatherly kind smile, Ryo looked horrified at Naruto.
"Uzumaki-san this is the Hokage, you can't speak to him like that!" the man's tone was shaken.
Naruto looked wide-eyed at the Sandaime; he tried to lift one of his hands to point at the man but failed. "Wow no way, you're the Hokage old man!"
The Hokage nodded. "Yes I am Naruto-kun."
"Then what were you doing at the orphanage."
The Sandaime took a few steps and got closer to Naruto. "As Hokage it is my duty to protect and guide this village and it's people, and I rather enjoy spending time with children and looking after the next generation of the village, especially who I think have great potential such as yourself, why did you think I visited the orphanage?"
"I just thought you were and old man that liked the visit children at the orphanage, I thought those funny clothes were all you had, you know, that you lived in them, you only came by wearing them, I thought you were just as worse of as us, but stayed in a place for old people like you," Naruto managed with great effort to lift his hand and began to pick his nose, "or on the streets."
Naruto noticed Ryo's horrified expression grew larger and the man started to turn pale, if the Hokage had agents in the room they would probably be starring at him wide eyed now, he had just called the Hokage an old man, implied he was poor, thought he lived in a retirement home, and was possibly a hobo.
The Hokage let out another laugh, "Well things are a bit different then that Naruto-kun, now I'm afraid I have to ask you this, do you remember how you got here?" a small look of sadness and worry seemed to have taken over the man's face, the lines on his face only looked more visible now, like ditches that been dried up in the hot summer.
Naruto smiled. "No" he lowered his head a bit "did I do something bad?"
Relief overtook the Sandaime's face. "No, why would you think that?"
Naruto lowered his head even more and grabbed his bed sheets trying to cover himself more with them; he spoke in an eerily sad tone. "The caretakers say I that do bad things and that I need to get punished for them."
A veritable wave of emotions passed over the Sandaime's face. "No, Naruto-kun nothing of the sorts, you were injured in an accident, and have been here for a while, I was quite worried about you."
"You were?" Naruto asked in a shocked tone of voice looking up at the Hokage with disbelieving eyes, he could see several emotions on the man's face, sadness and sorrow appeared to be there but with someone like the Hokage he could not be too sure of it.
"Of course" the Hokage neared Naruto and made a move to ruffle his hair, but Naruto flinched and tried to move his hands in a defensive way. "I'm not going to hurt you Naruto-kun."
"Really?" Naruto asked hopefully.
"Of course not" the Sandaime told him in a stern tone of voice. "I would never do that, now Ryo-san will look to see if you have recovered from your injury, don't worry he won't hurt you either alright?"
"You promise?"
"Yes I do Naruto-kun." The Sandaime told him in a warm tone of voice.
Naruto nodded and Ryo began to examine him.
Naruto looked down at his plate with food that a nurse had brought now long ago, the check up had gone well according to the doctor and during it another man had arrived, the man had blond hair reaching his shoulders, which he wore spiky on top and let it flow freely on his back, he had green pupil less eyes and strong facial features, he wore what Naruto assumed to be the a shinobi flak jacket over a grey outfit.
Another doctor that would check him up as well, the Sandaime had told him, he asked Naruto to close his eyes for a moment and breath slowly. When Naruto recovered the second man had left the room and the Sandaime and doctor were preparing to leave the room as well, the Sandaime told Naruto to eat his food and to relax, that he was just stepping out for a short moment and would return swiftly.
After the door closed Naruto heard a small voice whispering to him to press his hand against the bed, after doing so he could feel something flowing from it, like water dripping out of a drainpipe, he sensed another person in the room near the door, hidden in the shadows, the energy pushed past that until it got to the door and Naruto could hear parts of the conversation, with his free hand he began to eat, making a face like the food was the first he had ever tasted in his life, it didn't compare to what Yukimura would make but it was at least better then what the orphanage had, he began eating with gusto, it was after all better then nothing. Naruto slowly started to hear words from beyond the door, the first sounded like the doctor.
"Recovery….quickly…..out in a….days….medical…."
"….good….continue…..keep me…..date"
Naruto could feel more energy being poured out and the voices suddenly became much clearer.
"Well?"
It has to be the Hokage.
"His mind is stable" the other man "though some memories have been lost, he has repressed the memory of the attack and I've added more to help ensure that the memory stays blocked."
The Sandaime let out a sigh "Perhaps that is for the best."
"I've helped things along where I could Hokage-sama."
"Good" there was a small pause "and of your other task?"
"It is still asleep."
"Dismissed."
As soon as the other person left Naruto felt the energy dissipating, and removed his hand, the Hokage stepped back into the room, the warm grandfatherly smile never leaving his face.
"Ah Naruto-kun it appears that you will be able to leave this place in a few days."
Naruto made a good attempt to look upset. "Why? I get food here!"
A small flicker of sadness passed over the man's face. "Didn't you get food at the orphanage? And what about your friends there, don't you want to see them?" his voice was filled with concern.
Naruto looked down at this plate and kept his face away from the Hokage. "They didn't give as much as the others, and I don't have any friends, no wants to play with me there, the caretakers said it was only natural that nobody would want anything to do with me."
The Sandaime began in a warm tone "Well those people are gone now; it's alright to return there."
Naruto looked up to him wide eyed. "All of them are gone? What happened?"
"They decided to leave our beloved village." A hint of sadness could be heard mixed with the words, but it sounded like the man was upset that they left the village and not about the departure itself.
"All of the caretakers left?" Naruto asked incredulously. Did he kill them or actually allow them to leave?
"Well not all of them but…."
"So the mean people could still be there." Naruto looked to close in on himself.
A quick look passed across the Sandaime's face. "Well there is something else we could do."
"There is?" he asked hopefully.
"I could get you a place just for yourself" The Sandaime answered in the same warm tone of voice as before, though now it appeared a bit more calculated.
"Really old man, you would do that for me?"
"Yes I would Naruto-kun" he placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
Naruto for his part was surprised at how close the Sandaime had gotten to him. He moved slowly but steadily, I didn't even flinch when he touched me, he's good at getting past people's defenses, I shouldn't be too surprised. "You're the best old man." Naruto moved and embraced the Sandaime in a hug as much as his body allowed him. Best to let him think he's made good progress.
The next few days flew rather fast as Ryo returned and continued to help Naruto recover, apparently using chakra could help restore his muscles even faster, it also seemed that the doctor had been doing it even before he woke up to make sure the muscle atrophy wouldn't cause too much damage. The Sandaime came by a few more times to check up on him and after three days when Naruto was released from the hospital with a clean bill of health the Sandaime took him to his new home.
Naruto stared at his new home, this is…. a dump, he heard Sayaka's voice; it has possibilities, Yukimura's voice countered. For a small child it's actually rather good. Naruto smiled briefly, hearing their voices again felt great to him.
Naruto looked around his new home; it was a one-bedroom apartment on the top floor of a building that looked sort of like a tiered cake gone wrong. It was made up of two main rooms, the bedroom and the kitchen/dining area, plus a small hallway and bathroom, it totaled up to be about 400 square feet total.
The apartment had a wooden floor, the walls were green colored, but they also had wooden planks on them, for some reason. To his left there was a small wooden drawer, next to it was the heater, right next to the heater was a one person sized bed with white sheets, and a medium size wooden box was at the foot of the bed.
A bit farther away was a rather large old wardrobe, next to it was a table and two wooden chairs, a large window with blue curtains was in front of the table, a cabinet was on the left side near the hallway with a small electric stove on it. In the hallway leading to the bathroom was a grey fridge with an old wooden kitchen cabinet filled with pots, plates and some silverware, no sharp knifes, well that's logical, there were also some hand towels in it.
Naruto quickly ran around the apartment wide eyed, looking everywhere before returning to the Sandaime, smiling at him. "This is huge! It even has a bathroom! This place is awesome! Thanks old man!"
"It's quite alright Naruto-kun." The Sandaime waved a hand in front of him dismissively. "I'll have someone come over to help teach you a few things later."
"Thanks old man, but" Naruto's tone became down cast and he lowered his head "why do all of this just for me?"
The grandfatherly smile never left the Sandaime's face. "Well it's my duty to help all of the villagers Naruto-kun, and I think you have great potential."
"You do?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes I do Naruto-kun." That warm tone of voice seemed so kind to Naruto, if it was real then the Sandaime was a fool not having better control over his troops but if it wasn't then the Hokage was a master at faking his emotions, something he was more inclined to believe.
"Old man, do you know why people look at me like they do?" he asked lowering his head again.
A small tinge of sadness entered the man's voice. "No I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I don't."
"Oh". Naruto responded keeping his head down.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure that if you strive for it you will be able to get them to acknowledge you and prove to them just what a good boy you are."
Naruto kept his head down and closed his eyes as he bit his lip, prove to them? He wanted to tell him that he shouldn't have anything to prove but he kept his mouth shut, he managed to get his own emotions under control and asked in a voice that bordered on crying. "Really old man?" He still didn't look him in the face afraid that the Sandaime would see the anger in his eyes.
"I'm sure of it." The Sandaime replied in a warm tone. "Now why don't I show you how some of the things in your new home function?"
"Yes please!" Naruto wiped a hand over his eyes, but averted his gaze from the Sandaime.
For the next two hours the Hokage showed Naruto how the electric stove functioned, he talked about the fridge, how he shouldn't leave the door open, about the shower, things that Naruto unknown to him already knew.
During this time Naruto smiled and looked star eyed at everything, appearing to hang on the Hokage's every word. When the Hokage left, he promised that he would return again from time to time and that Naruto could come and visit him, shortly another person came and continued what the Hokage began.
The person, Tetsu Sasaki, had a professional and cold attitude; Naruto acted friendly toward the man but the man simply rebuked any attempt Naruto made for friendship. He did his job and nothing more or less, he didn't appear to hate him or to care too much; he simply did what he was told, nothing more or less. Tetsu would return a few more times and with Naruto showing that he was able to retain everything he was taught appeared pleased and would report it to the Hokage. It was nighttime when Tetsu left, before leaving the man helped Naruto to make dinner, after Naruto washed his plate, and entered the bathroom he heard a voice that he missed.
Naruto as soon as you are done, go to bed directly, then place one of your hands on the room walls.
Naruto smiled and did as he was told, after washing up quickly he went straight to bed, as soon as he placed his hand on the wall he could feel the same sensation as before, it now felt like warm water flowing through him and slowly spreading throw out the room.
Well, well, well, Yukimura's voice had a curious tone to it, it appears that there are a few surprises here after all, it looks like you have someone watching you from the shadows Naruto, and there are some seals in the room as well. Be careful, we'll meet again at the end of the week. What? Yes. I'll tell him, Sayaka sends her love, just endure a bit more Naruto.
The next few days passed far too slowly for Naruto's taste, Tetsu returned a few more times to make sure Naruto remembered and used everything he had been taught. To pass the time Naruto walked around Konoha, the people's glares seemed to surround and follow him wherever he went, he walked through some of the parks in Konoha, remembering the walks with Sayaka and Yukimura, he couldn't help but smile and think about happier times, at least the parks around Konoha were nice even with autumn arriving.
He felt bad about having his routine being broken up, he couldn't read anything, nor could he practice anything fighting style. The food he had was easy to cook, just heat it up and it was ready, the Sandaime had told him that he would get an allowance to help him buy things and live, at least the food he had was in large quantities, he missed however the fruits and vegetables that accompanied his usual meals.
The Sandaime had bought him clothes as well, and were placed in his wardrobe, there were a few of them and looked to cover all of the seasons. He spotted a few places in the parks, where he could try and plant his own fruits and vegetables later on, his own luck seemed to shine as he found some fruits that Yukimura had told him and had eaten in the parks. At night before going to bed he would often look out the window towards the stars, the view was better than he expected.
His new home, the small apartment was on the top floor of a building that looked sort of like a tiered cake gone wrong, the building was a pink nuance that had lost some of its color with the passage of time and because of the rain. There were three different tiers each with its own top; each top in turn was covered in red wood tiles that looked to have had more tiles added to them over the years, large thick cables could be seen sprawled on them, in some places the cables looked patched up, all around he could see them being tied with rope to the wooden tiles.
The second and third tiers had just below them green wooden tiles around the walls they were patched up in several places with small metal plates. What confused him greatly were the metal pipes emerging from the second tier's walls, their purpose wasn't clear to him and it disgusted him if they were actually drainage pipes that would spill their contents on the lower roof tiles and people down below, a thought crossed him mind that perhaps they were placed there for esthetic reasons.
The building had stairs to get to the first and second floors, but not the third one where he lived for that one needed to take the metal stairs that seemed steady enough but one look at them and someone could tell that they had withstood the passage of many years, too many perhaps to still be used.
At the end of week when he went to bed Naruto felt a small pull and then an embrace enveloping him, even in his sleepy state he knew who it was, he didn't struggle against it, he let himself be guided by it, he just felt happy that he was going back to where he considered was his real home.
Snow Country
Yue Kakuyoku moved forward, one hand rose to shield her face from the relentless cold winds that seemed to howl at them as they continued on their path, she raised her other hand and made a quick sign, a motion for her team to stop and rest.
As her team rested she checked her supplies again, she could feel it in her gut that something was going to happen, her hands went to her pouches, with kunais, explosive tags and shurikens, Yue gently placed a hand over the hilt of her sword. She was short, petite some had said; she had light skin and violet-colored eyes, black hair with several strands of hair always hanging between her eyes. She wore a hooded black cloak and black shinobi armor with parts of it white around the neck, hands, stomach and feet, she also had a badge around her uniform's left sleeve that reached her upper arm which was meant to show her rank within her shinobi village, her hiate was just above her badge.
Yue looked around herself, the forest felt eerie and looked dark, she couldn't put the feeling into words, but the place had always felt strange to her, they were close to the dragon's wall and the endless White Sea, far to close for her taste. Her dear old nan had told her stories about the ancient times, when the creatures from beyond the White Sea had attacked the world of men, of the war that was fought to drive them back and how the dragon's wall was used to keep the creatures locked away, how an order fought against the creatures and patrolled the wall.
She had dreamt of the dragon's wall, of a great wall of fire, of even greater pillars of fire rising from the fire stones, sadly all she found when she reached that place were just a few large bumps in the snow, when she looked closer she found simple large grey stones with some distance between them, she expected the fire stones to be some sort of red, in the end it was just another childhood dream that died when she got older.
Even before the ninja system arouse in the world, Snow country had an old order that patrolled the country who's purpose had supposedly been to fight against the old enemy and later to patrol the dragon's wall after it's creation, sadly the order had waned over the years, their deeds seen as myth, the order got desperate and ended up recruiting prisoners from various jails, with the rise of the ninjas the order went even farther into decline until it disappeared entirely, the ninja system had been the final nail in it's coffin.
Many of Yue's fellow countrymen claimed their country was one of the largest countries in the known world, while it was true that the country was large, sadly that was where things ended, the amount of land where people could live was small compared to its overall size and then there was the White Sea and the land beyond it that were deemed uninhabitable. The harsh weather made life difficult for the people of Snow but it had also given them a sense of pride, of being able to withstand such conditions to live and still prosper, it had been the cold weather that drove Kumo out when it invaded her country, not its armies.
The cold was both their greatest ally and their worst enemy, people talked about how snow was the great enemy, and about how the icy winds would freeze the blood in people, but the real enemy was the cold, it slowly sneaked up on someone and at first the person felt a shiver and their teeth would chatter, a person would stomp their feet to feel warm dreaming of a nice warm fire. But they didn't know the truth about the cold, it burned and nothing burned like the cold, but only for a few moments, then it got inside of you and started to slowly fill you up, and after a time you didn't have the strength to fight it, it was easier to just sit down and go to sleep.
People often spoke about how you don't feel any pain towards the end, first you feel weak and drowsy, and then everything started to slowly fade, and then it's like sinking into a warm sea. She shook her head, every child in Snow learned how important it was to stay warm, the cold was constant and relentless, one simply had to adapt to its wims or perish.
Yue looked at her badge for a moment, her ninja village was not a large one, they didn't have a kage, they had a council of five shinobi, their strongest, but even their strongest jounin barely reached high B and low A class, her sensei Kaien Shiba was the only one to be close to A class, she couldn't help but smile thinking about him, the man had aided her greatly in the beginning.
Yue took out a golden pendant from a pocket of her armor and opened it reveling two pictures in it, one with her friends and sensei at a bar and the second with her little sister, she had found the small girl on the streets during a mission and had adopted the little bundle of joy, she had started teaching her what she could, as the little tike wanted to be just like her. Yue closed the pendant and placed it back into her pocket, she looked back to her team eyeing each person up.
The first she looked at was Shoji Izumi, a large man, almost twice Yue's height and just over four times her weight; the man claimed that he was just plump and that it represented a sign of his good living and wealth. He had black hair, and wore the standard armor with a modified large purple collar; the man had a smug superior look on his face, like he was better then the rest of the people. He was indeed the son of a noble family, why he had joined the shinobi force was unknown to Yue, the man had let himself go after a few years of active duty and now had problems keeping up with the rest of the team. However even with his less the desirable qualities he was exceedingly loyal to the country and their village and had shown himself to be deceptively sharp in combat enough to catch his opponents' off-guard.
Yue's eyes shifted to Ganju Shiba, a tall muscular man with chin-length black hair and a partially missing left eyebrow. He wore a green scarf, bandanna and pair of goggles alongside his armor; he was her sensei's cousin. Next was Takahiro Hirano who appeared to be a mild-featured man with brown scholarly hair enhanced by square glasses, along with soft brown eyes. The man was polite, soft-spoken, casual and uncaring, he always attempted to draw out a conversation and make small talk, which often infuriated those he was talking to, the man had always unnerved her some reason, Yue could never place the exact reason, the man was a good swordsmen and skilled with illusions, even considered a rising start in their ranks.
The fourth person was Hidetomo Kajōmaru, a bespectacled man of average height with medium length, light-colored hair which was largely combed back, except for a few strands which framed either sides of his face, three earrings hanged from each of his ears, and bands encircled his wrists. The fifth and last person was Koji Minamoto who had dark hair and a short goatee; he wore a customized version of the standard armor, wearing a thin white headband and white straps around his shoulders, which were tied in a circle at his back.
Yue returned to her team, she felt that the wind had lessened in its intensity, a good thing; we can reach the dragon's wall and then begin our return trip after the investigation.
"It's time to move." She barked towards her team.
The men nodded and the team began its trip once more, Ganju stayed on her right, Takahiro on her left, Shoji directly behind her, Hidetomo and Koji each stayed a bit behind Shoji one on his left and one on his right, it wasn't long before Ganju approached her.
"We should start back," Ganju urged as the woods began to grow ever dark around them, the eerie felling intesifying. "Whatever people the reports mentioned are dead by now, and whatever tracks were left have been covered by now."
"Perhaps, but even so it is our duty to investigate", she paused for a moment "do the dead frighten you?" Yue asked with just the hint of a smile, her sensei had told her that Ganju had been terrified of the stories involing the old enemy, the creatures beyond the White Sea. Ganju did not rise to the bait.
Yue sighed it's not that she didn't agree with him, crossing the White Sea was almost impossible, one could walk on some parts of it as it was solid while at other parts it was soft which brought a quick death for the person who sank in the snow, it required tedious trial and error. There were stories of people managing to traverse it but those were just stories and never had any proof, there seemed to be no way to reach the lands beyond the White Sea from the South or West of the country as people attempting to do so ended up dieing in a rock slide like Gardener's End in the South or became trapped and had to resort to cannabalism such as Ruri Asano's failed expedition.
The only safe way to traverse it seemed to be the use chakra and walk on it similar to water walking, but no one had the reserve for such a feat, a few fools had tried it and were now somewhere below frozen in the White Sea. So when the reports of people being seen around the dragon's wall reached them they assumed it was people passing through or someone insane enough to attempt to cross the sea, suicide there had occurred before. Still whispers of people beyond the White Sea arriving began to spread and in order to quell them several teams had been dispatched around the dragon's wall to investigate.
"Dead is dead," Ganju told her. "People from across the White Sea, bah" he told her in a mocking tone, "probably just some fools that are seeking their death there."
"Are they dead though?" Yue asked softly. "What proof do we have?"
"How could anyone ever cross that bloody damn thing, it can't be done, not in the summer and especially not now when winter nears" Ganju told her said. "All that we'll find are some corpses if we're lucky, or a sign showing where they sank in the sea."
Yue glanced at the sky with interest with Ganju following her, dark clouds seem to fill the sky slowly rolling in from the White Sea, she bit her lip, they were a few hours away from the dragon's wall and it would take a few hours to investigate, if the weather turned bad they would have to create a shelter and spend the night at the wall, the only good news for her was that the old stones were useful in protecting against the cold when used in the contruction of the shelter.
"Are you afraid of the dark, Ganju?" Takahiro asked, Ganju didn't respond, choosing to keep his mouth shut. Yue could see the tightness around Ganju's mouth, the barely suppressed anger in his eyes under the thick black hood of his cloak, Ganju wasn't particularly fond of Takahiro either and trying to swap lines with the man had often left him looking like a fool. And yet it was more than that. Under the wounded pride, Yue could sense something else in him. She could taste it; a nervous tension that came perilous close to fear. She shared his unease, and looking at Takahiro even he seemed to be tense for some reason, Yue briefly touched the hilt of her sword once more.
She had been on this route before, the first time she had been sent on it, she had been excited and terrified, all the old stories had come rushing back, by the time she had arrived at the wall she was shaking like a leaf and her nerves were a wreck from the journey through the forest. She had laughed about it afterward and made sure to scare the rookies she took on the trip later on.
Yue considered herself a veteran of traveling this road by now, and the endless dark wilderness of the forest had no more terrors for her even if the eerie feeling never fully went away, she had believed the forest nothing new for her. That was until today, something was different today, there was an edge to the darkness of the forest, every shadow seemed to have eyes and were watching them, Yue had felt as though something was watching her team intensly, something cold born of the old legends, carefuly sizing them up, waiting like a wild beast to pounce at the right moment upon them, Ganju felt is as well.
They had been on the road for many days now and each day had been worse than the day that had come before it. Today though seemed to be the worst of them all. A cold wind was blowing out of the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things, it felt like the White Sea was trying to push them back, warning them of some dark nightmare that would descend upon them with their only choice being to return and pray. Yue wanted to turn back as well, but that meant lying to her sensei and dissapointing him, something that she wouldn't do.
"Cousin would understand" Ganju told her. "Those people are surely dead, besides we have a hard road back, look at those clouds, I don't like this weather. How long has it been since we've had weather like this?" Yue didn't say anything it was true, the weather this year had been far worse, colder for some reason. "We'll be lucky if it just snows, maybe a snow storm, do you want to get caught in an ice storm?" Yue ignored him again, she had been caught in both of those two and neither was a pretty thing, the thought of an ice storm sent a chill down her spine, even if their ice abilities relied on ice, dealing with such a storm was a nightmare.
Yue first spoke in a quiet tone, "we both know he would be disapointed in us if we didn't see this through to the end", she raised her voice for the the others to hear her, "our honor and pride as a shinobi of this country is at stake, be it a snow storm or an ice storm we will push forward and accomplish our mission."
"Well said captain!" Takahiro gave her a smile. "If the captain has no fear or hesitation then you should follow her example"
Ganju growled "It's not fear damn you it's... "
"Well perhaps you would like to discuss the species of trees around these parts to help keep your mind occupied"
"I don't want to talk about the bloody damn trees." A cold wind blew towards them. "There's something wrong here, can't you feel it?" Ganju asked.
"We know, everyone here realizes this, however constantly talking about it doesn't help, and your talk only helps to further increase the already swelling tension within our little group Ganju-kun."
Yue nodded her head towards Takahiro. "Ganju, he's right, calm down."
The group didn't speak anymore as they advanced, until in the distance Yue spotted people, as she looked closer her eyes widened at who she saw not far away both her and Ganju speed up to reach those people, Yue never noticed Takahiro slowly gripping his sword.
"Megumi-san." Yue greated.
"Yue-san, I've told you before that you can refer to me as simply Megumi."
"Hai...Megumi-san." Yue couldn't help but smile at see the woman, Megumi Shiba, her sensei's wife, a young looking woman with long dark hair that she kept tied up with a strand hanging down on each side, she always had a warm smile on her face. She was glad she could have someone else she trusted at her side.
Yue looked over the others that accompanied her sensei's wife and that she recognized, Rikū had light colored hair that was tied back into a long, braided ponytail, he had small eyebrows and was of medium height. Sho Hayami had purple eyes, long, wavy, blond hair and a perpetually bored expression. Rei Igarashi, wore her hair down with a bang completely covering her left eye, the bang that covered her left eye was dyed a grey while the rest of her hair retained its natural black color. She wore white eyeliner that brought out her ocean blue eyes.
Yasushi Ōhama height wasn't something to be noticed when looking at him, the man had fiery red hair which spiked in the back, chocolate brown eyes; the man had a small horizontal scar on his right cheek. The last person of the group was Harunobu Ogidō who was of average height and weight for his age, he had brown eyes and hair that was a dark forest green, several bangs framed his face, they all wore the standard armor.
"I have to ask what are you doing here Megumi-san?" The rest of Yue's team arrived and formed ranks behind her.
"Well we finished our patrol and came to aid you with yours; we have a few extra supplies that could come in handy."
Her warm tone made her feel so safe like being wrapped in a warm blanket. Yue smiled at her. Ganju had a goofy smile on his face, but managed to keep his mouth shut.
Takahiro gave Megumi a casual salute and smile. "That's quite nice of you Shiba-san, making your way through the forest and hoping to meet up with us with no certainties of where the team would be, and considering how long it would take to reach your destination and then make your way towards us, our team could have reached our destination by now as well."
Yue looked at Takahiro. What is he playing at? Megumi-san just came to aid us and. Her thoughts stopped when she thought about it, it was strange though, Megumi's team had managed to reach the wall rather quickly and then she made her way towards a possible destination of her team unknowing of where they would be, for some reason the team also traveled through the forest rather then near the wall. Yue brushed those thoughts aside she couldn't think such thoughts, Megumi was probably just worried about her and decided to come lend a hand that was the type of person she was.
Megumi responded with a smile of her own. "The path was better for us and we made great time, seeing the conditions I decided to make take the team towards you, the more people the better the chances of survival in case of a rough storm, we don't leave our comrades stranded I thought you understood that Takahiro-san." The last few words seemed to carry both sadness and reprimand in them.
Yue relaxed that was just the answer she had hoped for, it did make sense to her.
"Well that is so nice of you Megumi-san" Takahiro began in a warm tone of voice and with a smile on his face.
"Takahiro enough! She came to aid us and that's good enough for me" Yue turned towards Megumi, "how do you want to handle things."
"This is still your patrol and team Yue-san, we will cover your back if you desire."
"Excellent, Izumu will take the rear guard with Igarashi and Ogidō, Megumi-san, Rikū and Hayami the middle, Takahiro and Ganju in front with me, Kajōmaru and Minamoto behind the two." The team began to make its way forward once more; it wasn't long before Ganju started talking with Megumi.
"Did your team find anything on the patrol nee-chan?"
"Nothing of interest", Megumi shook her head "mostly likely the person who saw someone near the wall was mistaken, his mind probably played tricks on him."
"See, we don't really need to go there either, it's surely nothing."
"Ganju-kun you know we have a mission to accomplish, even if it's nothing it is our duty to investigate."
Yue smiled seeing Megumi agree with her, she was aware that she emulated Megumi to a degree.
Takahiro spoke next. "Megumi-san I hope you would be as kind as to help satiate a few of my curiosities."
"Oi oi don't bother nee-chan."
"It's alright Ganju-kun, if I can I will Takahiro-san."
"My thanks; you are as kind as always Megumi-san"
"It simply my way of being Takahiro-san, I don't consider it anything special."
"Such modesty."
Are these two trying to out compliment each other?
"Now I noticed that Rikū-san doesn't have his sword with him."
"Yes that's correct."
"Odd considering I saw him leave with it, did something occur on your uninteresting trip?"
Yue's eyebrows furrowed, what is he doing? She noticed that Rikū tensed. What's going on?
"Rikū-kun lost his blade while training, he was supposed to simply stay on watch duty but decided to train during it, I personally believe losing the blade was some sort of punishment for not doing his duty properly."
"An interesting view Megumi-san, religious perhaps?"
Megumi shook her head. "Nothing of the sort I just believe people get what they deserve."
The way Megumi spoke the last few words seemed wrong for some reason to Yue, they seemed to hold malice in them, something that she had never heard from the woman before, Yue decided to brush it aside.
"Oh? and the sword sheath?"
"I told him to discard it."
Yue looked puzzled. Why would she do that?
"Odd, why would you do such a thing Megumi-san? Losing the blade was bad enough."
"This way the loss was complete, dereliction of duty is nothing to be treated lightly."
"Of course, how right you are Megumi-san, my next curiosity is why Ogidō-san limping?"
Yue looked behind her, as the continued moving she noticed that Ogidō seemed to favor one side more than the other. Why didn't I notice that before?
"Oh, that, he stumbled on some branches buried in the snow, it's nothing serious."
"That's good I would hate to think that you would drag the poor man here if he was wounded."
"Perish the thought Takahiro-san."
"Well then one last question then Megumi-san, where are Ryūnosuke Yuki and Shinobu Eishima? I know that they were part of your patrol team."
"I sent them back, so they can give our report and tell the village of our choice to join up with your team."
"Oh, so you sent two people back, what about what you said about the more people the better during a storm? That we don't leave our comrades behind, why send just those two back when there are chances for a storm, it doesn't sound too good for them."
Ganju's face took an angry look. "What are you accusing Megumi-chan of you bastard?"
"It's alright, like I mentioned earlier we finished our mission rather quickly and I sent those two back immediately, the dark clouds were not yet rolling in from the White Sea, with speed they wouldn't be caught in any possible storm, however for those who had not yet reached the wall and began their return journey it would have been a lot more difficult."
"Yeah see Takahiro, nee-chan had her reasons."
"I see, thank for satisfying my curiosity Megumi-san, I am quite grateful."
"Anytime Takahiro-san."
During all this time Yue's stomach churned something didn't add up, her instincts were telling her that things weren't right, even as a part of her tried to ignore it, telling herself that Megumi-san wouldn't lie about such things.
A heavy wind blew towards her and Yue felt the attack coming from behind her more then anything, her instincts flaring, she managed to duck and dodge the kunais then threw herself back to put some distance between herself and whoever threw the kunais, the sound of metal on metal and of flesh being slashed quickly filled the air.
The wind she realized mostly likely saved her life, a quick look revealed Takahiro a few feet away from her sword drawn standing against Kajōmaru and Hayami, he looked like he had been nicked in his left shoulder, Ganju had a kunai stuck in his back right arm, Minamoto was standing a few feet in front of him.
Yue gazed incredulously at who had thrown the kunais, Megumi and Rikū still had their hands outstretched from the kunais they threw. Yue's face was etched with disbelief; her voice was filled with shock and a hint of panic. "Megumi-san why?" She barely stammered the next words. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like Yue-chan? I'm cleaning ranks." She told her as if it was the most normal thing in the world, that war smile still on her face.
"So it is treason after all." Takahiro stated in a serious tone of voice.
"I assure you Takahiro-san I'm quite loyal to the new regime."
"What?" Yue asked. When she heard the words new regime things seemed to click into place, like a dam that had ruptured, small things that she had noticed began to make sense.
Takahiro gave her an apologetic smile. "Well I must offer my apologies captain-san, I thought this mission was just to kill me, but now I see that it is to kill several of us."
"Oh, so you figured that out Takahiro-san."
"Of course, Megumi-san, I have been hearing such interesting things as of late, it wasn't that hard to piece together. I believed that these mission were just to cover up the elimination of certain shinobi that weren't like minded, I was surprised when I saw you and your team, so many people just for me, either you believed I was a greater threat or someone else in this team needed to be eliminated as well. The small inconsistencies with your team such as the missing members of your team, who are dead, Rikū-san's missing blade, lost in the battle I would say, and Ogidō-san injury resulted from our dear fallen comrades that managed to put up a fight."
Megumi shook her head. "A shame, you could have been useful to us, if only you could have seen things our way it would have never come to this."
Takahiro's normal smile returned to his face, only this time it a hint of mockery to it. "I think we both know that's lie Megumi-san."
"True, we would have killed you even if you had joined us, but you would have lived a bit longer and you wouldn't have died out here in the middle of nowhere." She motioned around herself.
Ganju looked at the scene between the two with open mouth and wide eyes. "Nee-chan how could you?"
"Its Doto isn't it" Yue stated.
"Correct Yue-chan, Doto and Nadare are the future of this country; we must simply eliminate those who would oppose the new rule."
"What of sensei?" Yue asked tightening her fists.
"Oh don't worry I have" the next words were spoken in a more sensual tone "special plans for him."
Yue gritted her teeth and got into a fighting stance. "Do you really think he won't come looking for us? That he won't realize what is going on here, with other shinobi going missing!"
"Let him look for you all he wants, it doesn't matter Yue-chan." Megumi responded in a careless tone of voice.
"Did you and Raido set these missions up just to kill those who wouldn't join you?"
"No, believe it or not, we wanted to do something about you people but we were still planning when the missions came in, imagine our surprise when we saw them, the gods sent us a boon Yue-chan, even they are on our side." Megumi raised her hands towards the sky at the last words.
"Why do this yourself?"
"Because I want to be the one that kill's you Yue-chan."
"What?" Yue asked taking a small step back.
"Do you think I don't know Yue-chan?!" Megumi began in an agitated tone of voice. "Do you think I don't see how you look at my husband? I know you love him, that you want him!" she shouted the last part.
Takahiro chuckled. "Well, well, it appears that there is trouble in paradise."
Izumi huffed out loud, "Hey do you know whose son I am?"
"Yeah the son of former noble family" Ogidō answered.
"Yeah, that's right I'm… wait, what do you mean former?"
"Well see," Ogidō began in a lazy tone of voice "some people are just too loyal to the old daimyo and well we can't have those people running around, so we need to make them disappear during the chaos of the takeover."
"You bastards!" Izumi slammed both his hands on the ground shaking the earth and blowing the snow away, with the earth frozen little could be done with it. Both Igarashi and Ogidō leaped away from him.
Megumi looked back with an annoyed expression on her face. "Must I do everything myself?" She drew her blade and leaped towards Izumi. "Keep her busy she's mine to kill." She yelled towards Rikū who nodded and rushed towards Yue.
Izumi managed to draw his sword and stopped a sword swipe from Megumi, using his strength he threw her back where Megumi hit the snow covered earth, Izumi turned to his right and managed to stop Ogidō's blade, while holding his own blade with his left hand he delivered a fierce right hook to Ogidō's face where a crunch was heard, the man smashed head first into a tree where another crunching sound was heard.
For a brief moment Izumi believed that he was gaining the advantage, he turned to deal with the other attacker, too late though as Igarashi made a low sword sweep at his knees and slashed him there bringing him down on all fours. Megumi having managed to get back up quickly slashed his hands, now Izumi felt the cold wind coming into contact with his warm blood. Megumi laughed a bit, "Don't worry you'll meet your family on the other side soon enough." Izumi gritted his teeth and prepared to try and leap at the woman, before he could do anything he felt something cold on his neck, Igarashi quickly cut Izumi's jugular vein and then proceeded to stab him in the neck with the same kunai.
Megumi looked at him uncaringly "So dyeing like a gutted pig, why am I not surprised?" She looked at Igarashi "check on him," she said motioning towards Ogidō "then join one of the other fights." Izumi watched as both Megumi and Igarashi left, he felt cold as his warm blood and his life spilled out of his body, the snow around him had now taken a red hue, as he felt death slowly claiming him he prayed his family would survive somehow.
Yue jumped back after a kunai battle with Rikū, she had to live no matter what to warn the others about the betrayal, she flashed through the necessary hands and released her attack creating many dragonflies, made of ice that quickly flew towards Rikū, while the man was attempting to counter her attacks she threw two kunai with explosive tags to either side of his head, Rikū had a triumphant look on his face after he dealt with her jutsu, one that quickly turned to horror when he noticed the kunais with explosive tags, he let out a small gasp as the tags exploded with a resounding boom that echoed through out the forest, bits and pieces of Rikū's head were scattered all around, small pieces of his brain could be seen on the snow, only a stump remained where his head had once been.
Yue looked around her, Ganju was on even ground with his opponent even wounded and Takahiro had managed to slice of Kajōmaru's head and was now dealing with Hayami. Good we can win this after all, I can still warn sensei. Yue looked onwards seeing her sensei wife approaching her, Igarashi was heading towards Takahiro and she could see in the distance Izumi and Ogidō's on the ground. Damn it.
She let out a small breath and quickly pulled out her sword moving a few feet back to have more space for the battle to come, now she would have to fight her hardest battle yet, with a person she had admired, and that now was a traitor, her sensei's words about steeling her heart returned to her, she waited for the now traitor to make her move. None of people fighting noticed the pale forms that roomed through the forest around them.
Ganju managed to remove the kunai from his arm and was now holding his own against his opponent, Minamoto attempted a quick sword swipe, rather then dodge Ganju blocked the blade with a kunai, he smiled, Minamoto must have believed that Ganju's right arm was too wounded to still be used, Ganju disappointed him as through gritted teeth he delivered a hard bloodied fist to Minamoto's chest.
Minamoto staggered back as he lost his breath, it was all the time Ganju needed as he delivered a hard boot stomp to Minamoto's right knee that brought the man down. Falling on his left knee Minamoto let go of his blade and Ganju grabbed the man's head and delivered a vicious knee strike to the man's chin, quickly using the kunai in his left hand he shoved it into Minamoto's face just below the ear and let his opponent fall down on his backside. Ganju quickly grabbed the man's sword and stabbed him through his left eye bringing his full weight on the sword, feeling as the blade sliced through Minamoto's flesh and bone than meeting the frozen ground.
He got up and looked at the body of his fallen enemy, it wasn't pretty, fights often weren't, but it was over, he looked over and saw his former nee-chan battling his cousin's student, they seemed to be even, he had no idea what he would tell his cousin about her actions, farther away he could see Takahiro battling Igarashi and Hayami, as much as he didn't like the man he wasn't going to let the man face off against those two alone, he would help deal with those two then help Yue deal with the last traitor. Ganju never saw the icicle shard that came from the woods to his left, it hit him in his left temple managing to reach his brain, he only managed to take the first step he had intended before he fell into the snow, blood pooling from him.
Yue's wait was short lived as she and Megumi quickly began to clash using their swords, the noise from the clashes quickly echoed through out the forest, both combatants tried to slash each other and both failed as they countered each other's blows. Both of them tightened their grips on their swords and charged each other again, Megumi brought her sword down in a powerful horizontal slash and Yue managed to block it with a vertical slash of her own, the force of the two blows sent a small shockwave through out the forest near them.
Yue backed away and using her free hand formed the necessary hand signs and sent out her attack creating many ice dragonflies that flew forward towards Megumi who stabbing her sword in the ground to her left flashed through her own hand signs and created a large wall of snow in front of her that blocked the attack. Yue stabbed her sword into the ground and threw several kunais with explosive tags towards the right and left of the new snow wall, sending a few above it and towards it as well.
The defense of the wall was good but it was not perfect, a hard or drilling impact technique could puncture the wall and since the technique only guarded against frontal attacks, the enemy could easily attack from the side or even from above as she now did. Yue's eyes widened when she noticed several more snow walls arise from behind the first wall that managed to defend against her attack, with another one coming straight at her, damn it I didn't know she could do that!
Yue quickly went through a few hand signs and created a wall of her own to defend herself, the two forces slammed into each other and broke apart, Yue barely had time to grab her sword before she was forced to block a sword swipe from in front of her delivered by Megumi who had charged through the snow. Yue cursed, she needed to gain the advantage against her opponent, a thought crossed her mind and she smiled, it was a low blow but it would do the trick.
"Megumi-san I want you to know that I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what Yue-chan? Lusting after my husband?"
"No, I'm sorry that you are right."
"I knew it! You little…"
Yue could tell that Megumi was now hysterical; she only needed a small push now. "But what I'm not sorry about is the night I spent with sensei, wrapped in his strong arms laying on his chiseled chest; I will never regret how he moaned my name."
"You little fucking bitch!" Megumi charged in an enraged state which gave her far more strength but it also showed an opening in her form, an opening that Yue took advantage off, after managing to dodge a sword slash from Megumi, Yue got passed her defenses and made a move to take her head off, Megumi managed to keep her head on her shoulders but the blade sliced into her face spreading open her right cheek, from her lips to her ear showing her teeth. Both combatants were momentarily shocked of the injury but Yue recovered first and attempted to end the battle only for Megumi to jump back to gain more space, Yue still managed to land a small blow on Megumi that sent to woman farther back.
After Megumi hit the ground she scampered away from Yue clutching her face and cursing. Yue began to advance towards Megumi when something caught her attention or rather the lack of something, Ganju!, she looked around and couldn't see him, her eyes widened when she noticed his body in the a red puddle on the ground, a brief look towards Takahiro revealed that the man was down on the ground with a sword sticking out of his stomach and a few feet away only Igarashi was still standing.
Yue cursed herself for not dealing with Megumi faster, perhaps then more would have lived, her hand was going towards her kunais, when her instincts flared up once more, she made a motion to dodge something that was coming from behind her, she let out a small breath as something cold pierced her right shoulder and she fell face first onto the ground, her lips breaking as they met the frozen earth.
Yue cast a quick glance to her right shoulder where it was revealed that she had an ice shard imbedded in it, she painfully managed to get back up and looked around the battlefield, shadows had emerged from the darkness of the woods, they were tall, gaunt and hard as old bones, their flesh seemed to change color as it slowly changed from pale as milk to a blue that Yue could swear was from the heart of ice, their armor seemed to change color as they moved as well; for some it was white as new-fallen snow, others a light blue, a few black as shadow, but all seemed to be marked with many spots with the deep grey-green color of the trees.
Igarashi stood petrified as one of the creatures neared her, Yue attempted to warn her but the words wouldn't leave her mouth as if they were afraid to leave the safety of her throat. The creature slid forward on silent feet, it had a longsword like none other that Yue had ever seen, and she knew there was no metal in that blade. The blade seemed thin, it was almost translucent, the blade all but vanished when seen edge-on, she could all but feel the sharpness of the blade and it's icy touch.
The creature raised the blade in front of Igarashi and then swiftly brought it down in a vertical slash, the blade all but vanished for a few moments, when the creature brought the blade back to it's side it had a red tint to it.
Yue wasn't sure what the creature had done, could it have missed? However a few moments later Yue got her answer, a small bit of blood began to spill from Igarashi's forehead and mouth, Igarashi began to move her hand to touch her forehead, her hand never got there as blood began to spill from her chest and her body split into two having been eviscerated by the creature. Steam seemed to rise from Igarashi's body as her warm blood came into contact with the cold air, the creature near the corpse hissed and took a step back.
Another one of those creatures moved towards Megumi blade drawn, who grabbed her blade with both hands exposing her injury to the cold, showing her torn flesh, teeth and dripping blood. Megumi looked at the creature before she stabbed her sword in the ground next to her and flashing through hand signs to send a wall of snow towards the creature who stood still. The wall of snow hit the creature head on, but it was like the ocean waves hitting the rocky shore, it broke apart with not even a scratch on the creature. Of course not that thing is made of ice!
Yue saw how Megumi grabbed her own sword and charged the creature who's pale sword came shivering through the air, when the blades met, there was no sound of metal on metal; only a thin sound from the edge of hearing, Yue couldn't place the exact sound. Megumi kept trying to slash the creature swinging her sword only for the creature to counter each blow. Megumi took a step back, then unleashed another flurry of slashes desperately trying to land a blow, Yue could see more and more openings in her form, she knew Megumi's end was near.
All around them the creatures stood patient, faceless, silent, the shifting patterns of their delicate armor making them all but invisible in the wood. Yet they made no move to interfere.
Time and time again the swords met, Yue felt frozen she wanted to charge in and aid Megumi with the creature and yet she stood still, she was afraid she realised that the creatures would all attack if she interfiered. Whenever the blades clashed Yue all but felt that sound in her bones, a wisper of something sinister, slithering it's way towards her.
Yue could see that Megumi was panting heavely from the effort, her breath steaming, the fight before and her injury only worsend things for her. Again Megumi tried to slash the creature but overextended herself and with a quick move the creature's pale sword bit through Megumi's armor and cut off her right arm off just bellow the elbow. Megumi let out an agonizing cry and blood poured from her wound and steamed in the cold, Megumi quickly clutched her stump.
The creature said something in a language that Yue did not understand; it's voice was like the cracking of ice on a winter lake, it advanced towards Megumi who appeared paralyzed before the thing and looked to have accepted her inevitable fate. The creature neared Megumi until it stood in front of her and raised one of it's clawed hands with jagged like fingers, a gust of wind blew and everything seemed silent before the creature shoved it's hand into Megumi's stomach, Megumi let out a small cry, a few moments later the creature ripped out its hand from her stomach and dragged Megumi's intestines with it spilling them on the frozen ground. Megumi desperately tried to cover the hole in her stomach and fell to her knees, the creature let out a shriek and Megumi looked up towards it where she saw the clawed hand descendent upon her again.
The creatures arm pierced Megumi's chest with a sickening crack, the sound of bones being broken and flesh being torn filled the air once more, the creature seemed to pump something within Megumi's body as she turned a deathly pale with the veins in her face becoming a visible white, a few moments later the creature removed its hand and Megumi's broken body fell limply to the ground.
Yue had watched petrified as everything unfolded and now she realised it was her turn, as the creatures slowly turned towards her, one of them began advancing in her direction with its blade drawn. Yue used her left hand and clutched her sword, her thoughts flew to the old tales, how she had been terrified of meeting one of these creatures during her first trip to the wall.
She didn't know how she would deal with these creatures, she couldn't overpower them physically, her techniques was hampered by her injury and she couldn't taunt these creatures, Yue gritted her teeth, at the very least she intended to take one of these creatures with her and make this battle cost them. "Let's dance!" Yue shouted.
She leaped forward and began to battle the creature, sword slash after slash followed, Yue tried every sword stance her sensei had taught her and at every point she found her blows being parried, she tried to slash the creature's legs, arms, chest, even took the advice from crazy old man Yagimi, when in doubt go for the eyes!. Nothing seemed to work against the creature who parried each blow, worse she could see her sword, the same sword who's forging had been done with precious metal that had cost her dearly, that she had taken great care of slowly being chipped away, with every clash of the swords, her own blade lost a piece of itself.
Yue charged forward again the creature's parry had gotten lazy, she just need one chance, that came when the creature's parry came a moment too late, Yue managed a sword slash upon the creature's chest, the noise made from when her sword meet the creatures icy flesh sounded like ice breaking mixed with nailes being dragged on a chalkboard. The creatures anguished howls sounded through out the forest and Yue knew that with the pain was mixed a howl of utter shock. A large cut could be seen on the creatures chest with a white substance slowly dripping from it. A cut! "So you do bleed! You're not immortal!" Yue suddenly felt a fire ignite within herself.
The creature brought it's sword towards Yue who began to dodge as best as she could, her sensei's word sounding in her head. It doesn't matter if the enemy is taller or stronger they can still die, just find a weak point and strike, it they don't have one then make one yourself, draw the battle out make them feel superior then when they lower their guard strike hard.
One sword blow Yue couldn't dodge properly and brought her blade to parry it when the blades touched her's shattered, a silent scream that echoed through the forest night left Yue's mouth, she had less then half of her blade left.
Her opponents blade was emmbeded in the ground from force of the earlier blow, she didn't hesitate Yue threw what was left of her sword in the air above her, then as quickly as she could flashed through a short series of handsigns, chances are at this range it is going to hurt me as well, for a moment Yue looked into the creature's eyes; they were blue, a deeper and bluer than any human eyes, a blue that burned like ice, a moment later she unleashed her attack, a fire jutsu, the Phoenix Sage Fire Technique that created a volley of small fireballs, which were sent flying in an unpredictable manner assaulting her enemy, with the close range all the attacks hit the creature head on eliciting another round of howls from the creature, she was hit with the a small aftershock wave of the attack but she didn't care.
Grabbing her falling sword Yue lunged and stabbed the creature in its chest that now appeared to be melting and caved in at some parts, if her blade had a few more centimeters she would have managed to stab the creature in the face. The creature seemed ready to fall on her and its head was a few centimeters away from her; Yue knew she couldn't let the occasion slip by. Yue grabbed a kunai from her pouch and prayed that its metal could cut through the enemy, the gods she reckoned, were fickle tonight as the kunai shattered when it made contact with the creature's cheek.
She quickly used the back side and hit the creature in the face making contact with its nose, a mistake she realized too late as when her hand made contact with the creature's face her hand felt as if her blood had turned to ice. Trying to get away as quickly as she could Yue used a strategy that she had used in the past, it was common for her, nothing special, she used her enemy's body to jump of to put some distance between the two, it was her last mistake.
As soon as Yue's feet made contact with the creature's stomach Yue felt like she had been plunged into the coldest river, through gritted teeth Yue managed to throw herself away from the enemy, with the loss of feeling in her legs Yue couldn't land as she planned and she quickly found herself hitting the ground, the ice shard embedded in her shoulder plunging through her body and emerging from her chest, she coughed blood as pain filled her senses.
Yue struggled to open her eyes, painfully and with effort she managed to fully open them and looked on as the creatures now surrounded her, she noticed the one she had fought with still had her sword embedded in its chest, a white substance dripping from her sword slash, its chest looked caved in with the same substance pouring from its other wounds, the creature looked on its last leg as well. Something to remember me by. Yue's last thoughts were of her beloved sister, little Fubuki with her bubble gum pink hair and her spring green eyes, of her sensei and friends, she could only feel pity for them, they were unaware of this threat, the old legends were true, the ice ones had returned and now her country would fall to them, she heard a small shriek before the ice one's clawed hands descendent upon her and began to tear into her body.
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Old A.N :
Chapter 4
Finally some fight scenes! Critique on the fight scenes is wanted and appreciated. Not sure how well they turned out, I was hoping for some more bang. Well it's another brick laid down, hopefully one day I can write that great fight scene for Flash Goddess.
If you know from where I got the inspiration for the last part and could spot the similarities, congratulation you have great taste, that also means that you are part of the club that's hoping and praying the man can get the last books out before he drops dead from old age or a heart attack.
So apparently even with no new chapter, after posting the SOPA message, Flash Goddess got more reviews than all my other fics combined….. sigh, of course it did, not sure why I'm surprised at this point.