Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the Gushikan Clan
Chapter 8~ Freak
Thankfully the first day of travel went by quickly enough, despite the immense amount of stress I personally had from watching for sandstorms. I guess I can't say I'm not afraid of anything anymore.
The next day however, dad woke up tense. He got me up super early again, which caused me to immediately panic.
The last time he woke me up early I almost died.
He quickly apologized and just told me he wanted to get out of the Land of Wind as soon as possible. "Why? Are you afraid of sandstorms too?" I whispered. He did an airy laugh and shook his head. "No, I just have a bad feeling. As an Anbu you have to learn to follow your instincts after all."
We began walking in the direction of Konoha, the air was dry and there was a light breeze.
"I've gotten so much more of a tan." I said, pulling up my short sleeve to show the difference. Dad nodded, "Our family is naturally tan, but we also can get pretty dark if we stay out in Suna for too long. My father had to go on a long mission in Suna when I was young and when he came back he was so dark people hardly recognized him." I giggled.
We eventually began to run and midday we crossed over into the Land of Fire. But I noticed it didn't seem to calm dad. If anything he was even more twitchy.
"Takara" he said suddenly, making me give him my attention. "Do you remember your moms rules for escape?" I nodded. "Yes, the ones she developed while running from the Land of Waves." He nodded back at me.
"And do you remember what she told you to do if things go south here?" I nodded again. 'Why is he being so vague?'
Then I heard it.
A branch break, and not one near us. We were being followed.
Dad notice I realized what was going on and reached into his pouch and gave me a kunai. "Don't be a hero, and try to stay hidden." He mumbled before stopping. I landed next to him. We stood staring at each other but we're listening to our surroundings.
We heard sound of something being thrown, the woosh from the slicing of air.
Dad gripped my shoulder and threw me off the tree branch. Away from the fight that was commencing. I managed an only slightly painful landing roll and ran off, away from the sounds of the fight.
I began to look around for a good place to hide and managed to find one quickly.
A tall tree with its roots exposed, in-between the giant roots was a hole under the tree. I hoped for the best and dove right into the hole.
It was a little small, damp, and dark but I was hidden from view completely. I had my kunai gripped tightly in hand but my heart pounded normally.
Surprisingly I really was not afraid. I believed dad would keep me safe and that there was no reason to be worried. Until the enemy landed only feet from the tree.
"Shit! Where did that little girl go?! What if she went for help?"
The assailants were all wearing the same black mask and looked mostly similar in shape. They were young too. Maybe 18 or 19. There were four of them standing there in a square, one of them had his back turned to me.
"Don't worry about it, we already secured the victory. The old man went down way fast, especially for being an Anbu." One man laughed.
I almost laughed too.
This is definitely a trick to try and draw me out. There is no way these kids actually killed MY dad. One of the strongest ninjas in Konoha, no the Land of Fire in general.
"Ya, it really was not that hard after we got this sword away from him. What a piece of trash, it doesn't even look like he's ever used it."
I paused and pulled myself up to the opening of the hole to get a better look. Although I wish I hadn't. I slapped a hand over my mouth to stop the gasp that had crawled up my throat.
He was holding Yang.
The pure sword!
It's blade was exposed, the pure, stainless metal that had aided my families survival for the past five generations of Gushikans, not even counting myself! No way dad would ever let a scum touch the pure sword! The sword he polished every night and never let blood sit on it for longer than an hour for fear it'd stain it's beauty. Heck I was not even allowed to touch it's blade until a year ago.
My eyes drifted to the ninja holding Yang, he was covered in fresh blood. The blood was also resting on the blade of Yang. I twitched.
'These men are defiling the pure sword that my family has cared for.' I was angry. And not only that but they were making the claim that they killed my dad!
Ridiculous!
"The fool had it coming, I loved the look in his eyes when he realized I stabbed him with his own sword!"
My stomach flip flopped and I felt sick. Could it be true? Is it even possible? No no no no no no no no no no no! Impossible! I couldn't listen to him anymore as I pushed myself deeper into the hole.
'I have to get out of here!' My moms face flashed in my eyes.
'The rules for escape. Number one, darkness is your friend.' I groaned, it was a little past midday but the sun was very bright, no darkness.
'Number two, stay in a place with multiple exits and lots of space.' ... I'm in a hole! There's only one way out, I can't even dig myself out at this point! The multiple roots would hold me back.
'Number three, genjustu or our kekki genkai is a blessing.' Yes a blessing I haven't inherited yet and I have no chakra for anyway.
'Number four, if there is no way out, make a way out, even if you have to fight a path clear' I sighed, that's the last real option. I have to fight my way out and try to escape to Konoha.
I gripped my kunai tightly and pulled myself to the opening again, they were still chatting.
Then it hit me.
'If these guys actually killed my dad, they do have Yang after all, then how do I escape.' I began to shiver, my dads image in my head.
'No, no way, dad is not dead, hurt maybe, but not dead. I have to find and save him. He may not had wanted me to be a hero today but I can't stay in this hole forever' The shivering disappeared.
I took a deep breath and stared at the man closest to me. 'If I stab him somewhere critical, then maybe his friends will forget me and try to save him. My accuracy sucks so I'll have to stab him and not just throw it. I'll miss if I do that.'
I pulled myself out of the hole and crouched behind the man. The others hadn't noticed me yet. My heart rate was normal and I felt disturbing calm. I pushed upward and pierced my kunai into his lower back, where I thought his kidney might be located.
And then he poofed.
He disappeared.
I stumbled forward and fell on the ground.
'A clone?!' I screamed in my head.
A moment later one of the men latched onto my wrist and slammed my hand into a tree, knocking the kunai from it, and he wrapped his other hand around my throat.
"Got you, you little shit" he laughed.
I grunted and tried to fight his grip but I was held in a way so that I was not facing him.
With my one free hand I reached for my throat and tried to pry his hand off, but it wouldn't budge.
He lifted me off the ground so that my head was just below his chin.
It was getting hard to breathe and I felt my eyes bulge out a little. I stopped moving in hopes it would buy my body more time to use the oxygen already in me.
"Hey old man! We got your kid! Why don't you show yourself. Or I'll kill her."
I was happy dad was alive but my head hurt too much for me to show it.
He appeared in front of us moments later. He was two yards away and held Yin in a tight grip, his knuckles white. He didn't make eye contact with me or even say anything, he just simply looked over the situation.
His eyes scanned me briefly for injuries. He himself was fine. Not a single cut on him.
"Do what we say and I won't kill her." The man holding me said. He sounded cocky and I bet he was smiling too.
But dad's eyes turned dark and his forehead creased. His stone face turned angry. He was so streamed he couldn't talk.
Instead he pulled Yin back into a throwing position and launched it at my capture. It brushed past me, barely snagging my clothes, and plunged into the mans only exposed chest, the far right side of it.
The part not covered by me, the human shield.
It probably burst his lung.
A beat later the sword flung out of the man and into dads hand. There was invisible wire connected to the end apparently.
It was weird, it was like the body needs a second to actually realize it was hurt.
And then a massive amount of blood shot out of the mans chest and covered the back of me.
I was drenched in blood.
And as if in a last, I hate you, the man threw up pure blood on the back of my head. I felt the slick warm goop slide down my neck and behind my ears.
He finally dropped me and then immediately fell on top of me, furthering my disgust.
One of the mans comrades screamed and ran away.
The other one, the one holding Yang, stood frozen.
I quickly pulled myself out from under the dead man and stood up on my feet.
And then immediately cursed.
Yang was being pressed against my jugular.
The man held Yang tightly against me with one hand and the other was clamped on my shoulder to keep me from running.
Dad tensed and so did I.
"Don't even try what you did before, if you do I'll slit her throat as I die!" He screamed. "Put the sword on the ground!"
My dad then slowly set Yin on the ground and then stood up to his normal height.
His eyes found mine. They traced to the sword and then back to me again.
'What is he trying to tell... Oh... This man has never held a sword in his entire life!' I thought in shock.
He actually had the dull edge of the sword against me. It was so tight against me that if it was the correct side then I'd already be dead.
I couldn't help it. I let out an airy "ha".
"What the hell are you laughing about! Your already spilling blood you shit!" The man screamed.
'I am?' I thought, 'Oh, he thinks the previous mans blood must be some of mine. It is in the right place, when I bent forward it ran that way.'
The man was breathing heavily and was muttering incomprehensible things under his breath. 'He must be crazy.'
I found dads eyes again. He looked worried. His face then stiffened.
"Takara, duck!" He yelled before crashing to the ground and covering his head.
Not afraid of being cut anymore I dived forward, the metal was still painfully blunt but I won't die.
I must have startled the man that I actually pressed into the sword because he, in a stroke of pure luck, dropped the sword.
I tumbled face first into the ground. Seconds later a shirikan flew at a downward angle, missed where dads head used to be and where the top of my head was and sunk into the mans stomach.
He coughed blood, splattering me, and staggered around before stupidity pulling out the shirikan. He then passed out, bleeding out on the ground.
"Oh my god! I hit Kyo!" The man screamed. He had been the one who ran away only minutes ago. He jumped from the tree he was hidden in and landed at the base of it. Not too far from dad. He pulled out a sword clumsily and prepared to attack.
Dad acted quickly and only with his fist, punched him so hard in the nose, he flew back and cracked his head into the tree. Making a crunching sound and dying instantly. A stream of blood dripped from his ear and broken nose.
Dad then turned on his heels and walked towards me, stopping, he carefully took Yang out of my hands... I haven't even realized I picked it up. I must have done so when the last ninja appeared.
He pulled out a hanky, and then proceeded to carefully clean all of the blood off it and then sheathed it.
He looked down at the only survivor, still passed out. He stomped his hand with his boot. The man woke up and yelled out in pain.
"Who do you work for?"
He man scoffed. "I'm not telling you anything."
My dad scoffed back and pulled a kunai out. He gently pressed it to the mans inner thigh. The man paled.
"We are missing ninja from the Village Hidden in Sand."
"Why did you attack us?"
"We wanted to kill an Anbu, and you were there. We just wanted to prove ourselves."
"To whom." My dad grunted.
"No one you know!" He yelled. Dad cut through the cloth and broke the skin a little and a tiny bit of blood spilled.
"Orochimaru! He said we couldn't follow him unless we killed an Anbu!"
"How did you know I was an Anbu?"
"We heard you say it to your daughter!"
Dads eyes narrowed. "Why did you try to kill my daughter?"
"You killed Ichigo so fast! We wanted some leverage!"
My dad hummed satisfied. " I think that's enough, thank you."
He pulled the kunai away, twirled it in his hand and stabbed the man deeply into the chest. The man died almost instantly.
Dad stood back up and walked back over to Yin and put the dirty sword back into its sheath.
Finally he turned to me and walked over to me. He put a hand on my blood soaked shoulder. "Are you alright?" I was kinda surprised at the question.
"Yea, I'm fine." I was more surprised at my answer. I truly felt fine. I was not hurt, and my dad was not hurt. I was fine. But that in itself means I'm not fine. I just watched three people die by my fathers hand in front of me and kind of on top of me. But my heart rate was normal and I was not freaked out. Something must actually be wrong with me. Dad didn't look surprised though.
"After you went off to hide, the man called Ichigo attack me with a sword. It only took me a moment to kill him, his body dropped from the trees and one of his friends caught it. The one originally covered in blood that is. The same guy then went after me and managed to take Yang out of the sheath when one of his clones distracted me.
Then he and his comrades disappeared. I don't know how they found you but I did see you attack. If that hadn't been a clone, he would be dead. I'm very proud of you Takara. And I realize that you were just following the fourth rule of escape and you weren't being rash like some might think. I believe you did the right thing. Good job."
I couldn't help but smile at dads praise. I was so happy!
"Takara, why don't you change into slightly clean clothes, although I don't have any spare water to wash out the blood. You're just going to have to wait until we get home to wash it all off good." I nodded and proceeded to go behind a tree and dress in dirty clothes, my emergency set of clothes were now forever stained red.
We walked only for a short while before having to set up camp. "With that delay, we will officially be two days late, the sandstorm and the attack." He sighed. "Hopefully no one will tell your mother." I shuttered at the thought.
The next day was uneventful and stiff.
My curls had gobs of dried blood in them and according to dad it looked like my "Head is split open and your curly red brain is falling out." It made my skin crawl.
Not to mention my skin on my back and some on my arms was staining red.
Gross.
The (hopefully) final day of the trip went by rather quickly. We moved at a rapid speed and eventually arrived at Konoha around 11 in the morning. We walked through the gates exhausted and were met by Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane, the gate guards for Konoha.
They didn't notice us at first, they were a little occupied reading the papers of a couple merchants. However a minute or two later Izumo looked up from his papers.
"Holy shit! Kotetsu tell the hospital to prep for a brain injury!" He body flickered next to me and grabbed my shoulders.
"Don't worry Takara-chan, your going to be ok!" He was slightly shaking me.
Kotetsu stood from his chair so fast it fell over and turned to run to the hospital.
"Will the two of you stop being so dramatic." My dad gruffly called out.
"Dramatic?" Kotetsu yelled "I know Gushikans are tough but come on!" I cracked a smile.
"Guys, come on! I'm fine! This is not my blood." They both slowly look down at me. Izumo's hands dropped from my shoulders and he wiped them on his pants. Kotetsu walked over and stood next to Izumo. "What happened?" They said at the same time in shock.
"We were ambushed by some missing ninja, all four of them are dead now but two of them had the gal to touch Takara. So I ended them, unfortunately they had been holding her so she got splattered a bit."
Izumo scoffed. "A bit? She looks like a homicide victim! Anyway, you might want to let her head home and clean up. Only one of you needs to see the Hokage to wrap up the mission."
"Ya" Kotetsu started, "Besides, your friends will be scared if they see you like that. Speaking of friends, you better watch out for Naruto, he's come by everyday for the past three days. We wouldn't want to scare the kid."
Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
"Takara!" Naruto yelled in the distance.
Dad stepped in between us.
"Mr. Gushikan? Move! I wanna see Takara!"
He grunted displeased, "That's not a good idea right now. Takara is a little dirty from our mission."
"I don't care about that! I was worried sick! I deserve to see her! Believe it!"
Dad actually didn't really stop him and let him run around him, to face me.
Naruto gasped out loud and clapped a hand over his mouth. "What the hell happened?" He yelled after gathering his bearings.
I just smiled at him as I ran my hand through my crusty hair. "Not much really. We were attacked but neither of us were hurt. And dad protected me by killing the bad guys. I just happened to be too close. Oops."
Naruto stared at me. "Oh" was all he managed to get out. He just continued to stare at me in a dead silence.
"Uh, well Naruto I should go take a bath and get into some clean clothes." I smiled and waved goodbye to his stunned figure, and slowly walked away.
Dad nodded at me and walked to the main building.
I made it home with a small amount of people seeing me thankfully.
I immediately took a hot bath and managed to clean the blood off me.
The bath water was a disgusting light red afterward.
Unfortunately for me, the blood had set on my back and a little on my arms so I was a little stained red. Hopefully it will fade before mom gets home. My face and neck weren't stained though.
It was then I realized the blunt side of Yang must have hurt me more than I thought. I had a thick black line going across my throat. A very very gross painful bruise.
'Ouch that looks worse than it is! I didn't even feel it then. I musta had a lot of adrenaline going through me.'
Not only that but I had deep scratches on the back of my right hand from when the ninja grab my hand and slammed it against a tree to make me release my kunai. I also had a few deep cuts in my left forearm from trying to break my fall a few times. My face had some scratches on my cheeks and forehead from slamming into the ground twice. And, my knees were torn up.
'Okay maybe I'm not as uninjured as I thought.'
I took some medical wrapping tape and wrapped my right hand, left forearm, knees, and neck like I had see my parents do so often.
Then I stuck bandages on the worse scratches on my face: One on my left cheek and one on my forehead.
I looked in the mirror and giggled. 'I look like a partial mummy.'
I had just dressed in my black training clothes when there was a pounding at my door.
I jumped down the stairs and looked out the peep hole. "Sorry! I'm not home right now!" I yelled out.
"What? Just open the door Takara." I fake groaned and opened the door and moved aside so Sasuke could come in.
"What are you doing here? I'm kinda busy! I have a date with a large helping of not protein bars. Literally any food that is not a protein bar."
He rolled his eyes and then paused observing my bandages. "What happened to you on that mission? I thought it was just a delivery."
"It was." I sighed "On our way back we were ambushed and I was taken hostage a grand total of twice." I hostility kicked the couch. "Pisses me off so much."
"What happened to the attackers?" I waved my hand at him in a disinterested way. "Dad killed all four. They were just missing ninja."
His eyes got big. "You watched them die? How do you feel? It can be a shock watching people die the first time."
There's that question again. It was really bothering me that I felt nothing. "I'm fine, no biggie. Anyway, why are you here?" He quirked an eyebrow at me.
"Your two days late. There were rumors going around you were killed. Naruto had been sitting at the gates like a kicked puppy. I was curious." I groaned.
"Well obviously I'm alive. Anyway, I'm not really in the mood to discuss the mission right now. Can you go?" He scowled at me and turned to walk away.
"By the way my mom will be back in two weeks. If that's who you were really worried about." He turned red.
"Shut up! I was here about you!"
Then he dashed out the door.
'What a weirdo.' I started to the kitchen when dad appeared. "Come on, you need to be checked out by the hospital."
"Why?! I'm fine." I pouted he shrugged and slung me over his shoulder.
"But, but food! Dad I need food!"
"Nope you need a blood test." Then he walked out the door with me pounding my fists on his back.
After the required testing(since I was not a real ninja and was under aged) dad disappeared, my guess is to write the mission report in silence. I began to make my way home with only one thing on my mind.
Food, glorious food. Food that was not in the shape of bars and tasted like dirt. I'm talking chicken, miso, spices, wild ri-
"Takara?" I froze and turned around to stare at Naruto.
"Hey Naruto, what's up?" He walked over to me and glance me over.
"Not hurt huh?" he looked surprisingly angry for Naruto.
I laughed nervously and scratched my head. "Ya, after my bath I realized I was a little bit more hurt then I previously thought. But I did just go to the hospital, they said for a first mission I am in tip top shape. Except for one thing that is."
Naruto looked startle, "What's that?"
I smiled at him and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I'm so hungry right now I might actually eat you if you don't move out of the way and let me go home to eat." I smiled and tilted my head.
Naruto paled and then brightened up. "Lets go to Ichiraku!" I laughed "Now that's something I can get behind!"
Naruto and I sat at the counter downing our ramen, I was at three bowls and going strong. It had been a rough four days in terms of food.
"So do you want to talk about what happened?" Naruto mumbled staring at his food.
"There isn't anything to talk about. I told you what happened."
Naruto sighed and put his chopsticks down and turned to me. "Am I your best friend?" I froze and dropped my chopsticks, I turned to him and grabbed his hands. "Of course you are! Don't even question it!"
He stared me down. "Then out of everyone, you should know I know you best. So what's wrong?" My eyes drift away from his and I groaned. "Ok,ok" I looked at him with the most serious expression I could muster.
"Naruto, I was the hostage twice, and I know that if I had any chakra ability at all then I would not had gotten into so much trouble. It's frustrating, it feels like I'm making no progress at all from training! You know, I saved a boy in Suna, but to do it I used a tiny amount of chakra, the next thing I knew I passed out! At this rate, will I really be a ninja..." I covered my face with my hands, I wasn't crying but I just didn't need Naruto to see my sad face.
"Takara your amazing." I looked up from my hands and stared into Narutos twinkling eyes. "Takara, you may have been captured but I bet you weren't a burden, in fact maybe you getting captured is the best thing. So your dad knew where you were." That was a stretch, but... I guess they did reveal their location when they found me...
"Not only that but you survived an attack from genuine ninjas despite not having chakra to use and not being a ninja yet! That's unbelievably strong! If you were able to outsmart and out survive older and more experienced ninjas now, Imagine what you'll be in the future!" A smile cracked across my face and a sense of pride welt up in me.
"Takara you saved a boy? You risked your own health without a second thought I bet! You swooped in there despite knowing the consequences, for someone you don't even know! If that's not a ninja, no if that's not a Gushikan then I don't know who is!" A blush broke across my face in embarrassment.
I launched off my seat and hugged Naruto. "Thank you Naruto, I needed that!" I let go and smiled widely, and he smiled back. I glanced at the time. "Well I best go back home. Dads probably back by now. See you tomorrow Naruto!" We fist bumped and I threw my money to the ramen guy and started to run home.
I eventually slowed to a walk and then stopped.
"That's all fine and dandy Naruto. I guess I do act like a ninja." I said aloud to myself. I glanced up at the moon.
"But at what cost? Why didn't I have empathy when I watched Dad kill those men? What's wrong with me? Am I a freak?" I tilted my head and scratched it. Then I began to walk home again.
"Ya I probably am."
Author Note:
Hey, I warned you it might be a little late so there. Just be happy I'm uploading it today and not tomorrow. Anyway I should be back to my regular rhythm of pushing out pictures on deviantART and chapters here every Friday or Saturday.
I hope you guys liked this chapter and ya, woah me, there were some level one cuss words in there. I'm so scandalous. Also, BLOOD so much BLOOD.
As always, I'd love to hear from you guys, whether its here or deviantART. So please review, or don't, I don't wanna force you guys.
Again, I also accept requests for drawings. And if you guys want to try to draw Takara too I'm good with that, Just give me credit as the creator of her. OR I'LL HAVE TO FIND YOU AND most likely report you.
Have a nice day!
~ToL