"Thinking"
"Talking"
"Impactful word"
Location: Exodus Cluster - Utopia System - Eden Prime
Time: Late Afternoon
Akane huffed in annoyance.
The female Uchiha's perception of time was violated. She didn't know by how much, though she stopped counting after the tenth kilometre. The heat of the sun made it difficult to move not to mention breathe, and Akane was convinced that if she squeezed her clothes about right now; she would get a bucket full of sweat. Nothing unexpected there when she wore an all-black outfit.
Perfect leg workout.
Her legs weighted more than a ton by the way she walked with the heavy load and she lost the feeling of her shoulder about half an hour ago. At least she had enough chakra to activate her Byakugan.
Having clear x-ray vision was one of the great pros of having the Byakugan, among other things of course. Coming from a much more deluded bloodline, she and her twin weren't born with it as any other pure-blooded Hyūga would.
Howbeit Akane wasn't even sure if Shirone had inherited the genes from their mother. Genetics wasn't a topic Akane was overly familiar with, having learned just a small portion of it in biology lessons. Despite that, the probably last Uchiha knew that no traces of the Byakugan emerged in Shirone throughout their time together, at least from what she apperceived of her twin's progress.
"Nothing within ten kilometres..." she grumbled to herself as always because of the lack of company. Another act to question her sanity. She shook her head to repel such unnecessary thoughts to better concentrate on keeping her balance.
The sun was steadily disappearing. The clear blue heaven was replaced by a stellate night sky with some gauze clouds lazily passing by. The beautiful change was destroyed by an audible growl. She didn't tense cause she knew exactly where the sound came from; her stomach. There was no way to stop the loud curse from escaping her lips.
"Now I will have to hurry twice as much. Can't survive too long without food or water."
The thought passed through her mind, nonchalantly forcing her legs to increase the pace. She was already enjoying the idea of having blisters all over her feet.
Location: Exodus Cluster - Utopia System - Eden Prime - Prothean dig site
Dr Warren POV
Dr Warren was more than excited, though she hid it behind a mask of professionalism. Two days had passed since she and other archaeologists or scientists began to research the Prothean Beacon discovered by a research team. Upon discovering the beacon, they sent word to System Alliance to debate with the Citadel Council for further precaution, since humans were part of the galactic community too; a young member in particular.
Until the Council had made the decision what to do next with the beacon, the doctor in cooperation with the scientific team sent by the System Alliance will continue to research it; as their job suggest. The doctor was currently at camp, to be precise in a shed, with her assistant Dr Manuel, who was a genius and a madman altogether. Nothing to fuss about, she had worse assistants during her years.
Another day meant another shift. She followed through with her usual morning routine. She always began her shift a bit earlier than her colleagues to have some alone time while doing her job as an archaeologist. Working in a group can have up and downs sometimes. She wasn't expecting anything unusual today except her normal shift.
However nostalgic it seemed, she had been proven otherwise as soon as her green-coloured eyes caught sight of two figures lying on the ground near the beacon.
"Aa-" Warren had to bite her tongue not to cry out loud to avoid panic, though she ran over to them. At first glance, she thought both dead but corrected herself right after she saw a minor rise of one's chest.
"This one is still breathing." A short sigh of relief escaped her lips. That small hint of life prompted the doc into calling the small medical team at their camp.
"Here is Dr Warren, requesting all medical support at the dig site immediately! This is an emergency, I repeat, this is an emergency!" She all but shouted through the comm of her omni-tool, trying to provide at least some first aid until the medical team got here.
Location: Exodus Cluster - Utopia System - Eden Prime - Prothean dig side
Akane woke up to that sound; this one sound that declared war on her kind. The one sound that sounded like a shriek of the damned, like a promise of death, a sound she would never be able to forget; the battle cry of a Reaper. Her most basic survival instincts signalled her to move from the incoming danger.
Her upper body moved as if programmed, quickly examining her surroundings. She was clad in a white hospital gown and held within a small room with modern devices. She felt the life support attached to her body and an oxygen mask on her face, so she assumed she was in a hospital, though that was just secondary thought.
"I need to find my gear."
She looked around in hopes to find it somewhere in the room, relieved beyond comprehension that they were folded on the nearby chair, even her weapons were still in place; something she was pleasantly surprised at. The shouting of people forced her thoughts back on the enemy ahead or what else was waiting for her outside.
Grabbing her gear and suiting up into a freshly cleaned outfit, she wanted to slam the door open only to be bested by it, landing with a loud curse on the ground.
"First reminder of the day: never charge at a door like a battering ram. Noted. Loud and clear."
She quickly recovered and got back up on her feet, realising that it couldn't be opened by normal means like any casual door.
Good thing she wasn't anyone ordinary for a long time. A corner of her lips quirked up as she moulded her chakra into her foot in order to kick the mechanical door down in one shot. The loud noise from breaking the door probably alarmed all enemies around, but Akane had her chokutō ready in her hands.
Most of the fatigue was gone, though her chakra reserves were by far not full, forcing her to minimize the use of jutsu in this fight and by that, compromising her effectiveness in battle. She decided it was a wise choice to activate both of her Byakugan since they didn't require much chakra and were great in case of close combat.
To her surprise, the first thing she hadn't found was a reaper destroyer looming over her, but instead, a capital ship of theirs docking somewhere near a spaceport.
"So these fuckers survived." Akane snapped in anger, visibly not content with the situation she awoke in.
"So Shirone's sacrifice was for nothing?"
She clenched her teeth. No! She won't allow them to corrupt even that. Never again. She calmed herself down, needing to cool her head and act rationally.
Fighting spirit is necessary but keep it inside. A shinobi becomes truly effective when he is able to control his on-battle presence. To do that, he mustn't show any kind of emotion or the slightest hint of hesitation.
One of the many things Haruko taught her when he had been her teacher... and lover.
It often served as a reminder for their time together but also an anchor during battle.
She didn't have enough chakra to preserve her armoured Susanoo in order to bring down the ship, so it would be pure suicide to even try to attack it now. She would get her revenge, but not today, not while she wasn't at full strength. Besides, there were innocent people or other beings dying all around. She would rather focus on saving them from the attack.
She activated her Byakugan to look around gather some information about the ongoing battle. Three soldiers jumped down a spacecraft not so long ago, though one was shot down by some type of drone. Perhaps they were her best shot right now.
However, as she ran towards her destination, she forgot that even despite her near-completely silent movements, the few Ryū no ha positioned nearby sensed her approach and activated. The metal spikes came down with the impaled humans— no Kara —releasing them from the device to attack Akane. She had a lot of experience fighting them; they used to mock them as 'taihō shiryō', even though it didn't have the desired effect since they are nothing more than mindless creatures prone to aggressive behaviour.
The Reapers used the kara (a.k.a taihō shiryō) either as cannon fodder (as the nickname suggests) or as a means for their vast numbers to overwhelm the enemy through sheer numbers since shinobi usually operated in small groups of three to four people. But that was a cause for worry only if they were at least hundreds of them. Individually, they posed no real threat. Even though this version of the kara was subtly different, Akane had no trouble dealing with them via a few clean strikes with her lightning-enhanced chokutō.
If you don't know the weak point of an opponent, aim for the head... that always works.
Another teaching taught by her teachers at the alliance.
With the foes holding her back gone, she activated her Raiton: Chakura Mōdo to make up for the lost time. One last soldier was left, judging by the appearance, a woman. She was running in the exact direction the newly arrived soldiers came from, easing the worry in Akane a bit while she continued to close the distance in big strides. When she arrived at the spot, she immediately ran towards the machines that were trying to impale an unlucky man.
"Not on my watch, you bastards!"
She wasn't the type to be verbal during combat, but it felt oddly satisfying to quarter them into pieces in mere seconds with the chokutō. The man looked like he had a heart attack, but the Uchiha managed to calm him down with a friendly gesture. Akane helped him get off that damned device and patted his shoulder before he ran to safety, noting that she had no knowledge of the language with which he had spoken to her.
Her heroic act was totally destroyed when the same woman, who in the meantime already met up with the other two, ganged up on her. Their guns were aimed at her; she knew how fast it took for a bullet to reach her, that was why she chose not to step out of her chakra mode because without it, she wouldn't be able to react quickly enough to dodge.
At least not at such a close distance.
One of the newly arrived soldiers, a woman wearing a black combat suit with an N7 insignia, said something sounded like a question in a language foreign to the Anbu's ears.
"Oh boy... this will be amusing. I can't understand a word from what she just said," she thought as she responded to the woman in her own language just to appease.
When her reply was met by questioning glances that the soldiers threw at each other, the Uchiha quickly concluded that the language barrier went in both directions.
Words dictionary:
Kara 殻= Husks
Taihō shiryō 大砲飼料 = Cannon fodder
Susanoo 須佐能乎 - Is a gigantic, humanoid avatar made of the user's chakra which surrounds them and fights on their behalf. It is the strongest ability available to those who have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan in both eyes.
Chokutō 直刀 / Straight Sword - Is a straight, one-edged Japanese sword that was produced prior to the 9th century. Its basic style is likely derived from similar swords of ancient China. Chokutō were used on foot for stabbing or slashing and were worn hung from the waist.
Ryū no ha 龍の歯 = Dragon's teeth
Author's note: I was honestly surprised that so many favoured my story and just wanted to inform you of some things to avoid possible misunderstandings in the near future.
#1. I know that Kishimoto (the creator of Naruto) stated in the third databook that if a Sharingan user and a Byakugan user were to mate, their offspring would have one Byakugan and one Sharingan, but I think that it would be possible only if both parents (especially the Hyuga) were from the main branch, however, as I mentioned in chapter two, Akane nor Shirone manifested her Byakugan from birth, so their only option was to manifest it through training or feeling a strong emotion like Himawari did it in Boruto, but she couldn't access it ever since initial use, so her eyes turned back normal (and she is a direct descendant from the princess of the Hyuga, so her bloodline is only slightly polluted). That's where I contemplated that it is possible to deactivate Byakugan completely, so I've given this ability to Akane. And honestly, the Byakugan is totally useless (It's still cool, I agree and respect the users and techniques really; no hate; don't want to underrate it) in a galactic community where you have such advanced technology that makes up for it and basically is specialized in close combat (Gentle Fist, beside the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Wall Palm) and nobody has chakra across the whole galaxy so this fighting style is inefficient. Though for the biotics, I have special plans for them. So comment me if that theory is okay with you or if I've made a mistake somewhere.
#2. While I had plans with whom to pair Akane with (like a certain prothean), I am open to suggestions and the same goes for Jane Shepard so feel free to share with me your thoughts.