21
Akari removes her arm and leg sleeves before letting them hit the bridge with a thud. Lightening her body with the lack of extra weight she wears meant to keep her movements hindered. To protect you, I will do what I can. I may be a bit rusty from not pushing myself to my limits for this long. But you will survive. She watches from the corner of her eye as Sasuke looks from her towards the dome and then back again just before he takes off running for the edge of the mirrors. Silently hoping she would figure out what he is doing. When Sasuke was officially not at her side anymore she raises her kunai counting to ten to give him enough time to reach the mirrors. "Some warriors accept defeat gracefully when they know they have lost. Others do not. So be it." Turning Akari looks to Sasuke as Haku appears in front of him. Damn it! Sasuke silently cusses as Akari throws her kunai past him and hits the mirror in front of him, attempting to draw Haku's eyes to her. "I am the opponent you wish to fight." She states for him as if she had just been talking about the weather.
Haku's eyes narrow upon Akari, watching as she once again moves for her teammate. This time her movements are far faster than they had been even after she had revealed that she somehow has the Sharingan like their teacher. As she grabs onto Sasuke she leaps out of the way of his next attack. When she lands, she lets go of her teammate. It is only now Haku realizes her appearance has changed a bit. Her arm and legs were now bare, free of the coverings that now lay forgotten on the ground. Weighted? Haku silently questions. I need to get this over quickly. Even now her eyes are tracking my every move. Haku notes, watching as he moves around the mirrors her eyes shift, following his every position. She is strong.
He moves through the ice throwing needles each time he changes mirrors. Watching as her eyes track him allowing her to dodge. Sasuke grunts in pain as Haku manages to distract Akari long enough that she couldn't protect him. More. He tells himself as he throws needles repeatedly covering every optional path she could take. The sound of a second kunai blocking his needles reaches his ears. Showing the one she had been protecting is now managing to block his weapons as well. "I almost seen it that time." He grunts causing Haku's eyes to narrow on him. "Akari, we have to get out!" He shouts achieving a sigh from her. "I know." She utters calmly in return. They separate from each other again as Haku first attacks Akari since she is the fastest ever before stopping Sasuke.
Taking the time to pull the needles from their legs the two of them stand and glance at each other. Before being forced to jump and dodge the barrages of needles now being aimed at both of them. Akari notices the difference in Sasuke's movements before he himself could. He wasn't only adjusting to the attack patterns but... His eyes are beginning to see. Parting ways again they try to run out of the dome knowing if only one of them can make it out then they could put an end to this jutsu. Haku appears before Akari just long enough to send a near-bone-crushing kick her way. With a smirk dancing along her features he watches her drop lower to the bridge and uses that instant to pivot her leg out meaning to knock his foot off of under him. This girl! He practically growls in his frustration as he uses his jutsu to move around her.
This time catching Akari in her ribs the moment she makes it to her feet so she wouldn't have time to dodge and counter this time. The direct strike sends her rolling against the ground literally knocking the air out of her, successfully drawing Sasuke's gaze as he gasps seeing her kicked back for the first time. I can't let her continue drawing his attacks! He silently snaps at himself as he turns and rushes to her side. His eyes catch a mere glimpse of movement pushing to drop his feet from under him sending himself into a slide. As he goes to skid past Akari, Sasuke latches onto her waist and pulls her with him just as a bundle of needles hit where she had landed. I saw it. For a split second but I saw it. He tells himself as they stop on the bridge. Akari was still fighting for breath as it felt like something was pressing down on one of her lungs and not allowing it to expand. With a twitch of her eye from catching movement both Sasuke and Akari push from the ground simultaneously, successfully dodging the next barrage of needles.
Sasuke's red gaze moves from Akari to glare toward Haku just as they both land. Akari's hand moves to her ribs as she fights to steady her breathing, settling for slow shallow breaths just to try and keep herself from passing out in the middle of battle. If she's honest with herself, this is the first time she's actually been wounded in a fight like this in this world and the last. It's easy to be cocky when you're always the strongest. But when you are dealt a blow that makes you wonder if you can even continue through the pain. It changes everything. Realizing she now has a newfound respect for Shisui's ability to push through losing his own eye she nearly sighs. I thought I didn't have anything else I could learn. I've been naive.
Sakura throws a kunai at the ice mirrors and Haku slips halfway out of them to catch it. Sasuke grunts in shock even as his eyes remain trained on their opponent. Hearing a faint whistling sound, Akari fights to ignore it even as her Sharingan disengages from the stress her body is in. Haku's mask is caught from the side by a shuriken knocking him out of the mirrors as a loud explosion echoes followed by the popping of firecrackers. Sasuke clicks his tongue in annoyance at how idiotic such a display is as he looks in Naruto's direction. "Number one hyperactive knucklehead ninja..." Haku says as he stands. "Naruto Uzumaki is here! Yeah, believe it!" The blond finally drops the pose with a laugh. "Now that I'm here everything will be alright!" Sasuke looks away from the display as he looks at Akari, taking in her current state before his gaze shifts around the mirrors silently trying to form a plan.
"Sasuke! Naruto! Akari! Take this guy out! You can do it!" Sakura cheers as she cups her hands around her mouth, filled with a newfound hope now that Naruto has joined them. "Don't Sakura, don't push them." Kakashi informs her causing her to grunt in confusion as she drops her hands to her sides and looks at him. "Even if they somehow found a way to overcome the mirror jutsu, they still couldn't defeat this ninja." He iterates for the genin as his eyes narrow on Zabuza who still had a smirk wrinkling the bandages around his mouth. "How can you be so sure?!" Sakura snaps at her sensei not understanding why he of all people doesn't have any faith in their teammates. "They have the desire to win but Naruto and Sasuke don't have the instinct to kill, and Akari... fights against it. That boy is a whole other breed from those three. He lives for pain, he thrives on it.
"Exactly, your village has become complacent, the trainees never learn the most important lesson of all. To kill the feelings in their own hearts. To crush an opponent mercilessly to destroy with no emotion or regret." Zabuza practically laughs from Kakashi finally realizing this. "But then Sensei, what are we going to do?! Please tell us!" Sakura calls out in fear as she looks toward the ice dome again. Kakashi diverts his gaze from Zabuza so he may too look at the ice mirrors. I could make a break to save them but then Zabuza would slay the bridge builder... If I use shadow clones he's just going to match them with water clones. I'd be wasting chakra. I have no choice but to believe in all of their abilities.
Sasuke clicks his tongue pulling Akari's onyx hues to him, with a single motion of his hand she nearly smirks as she gives him a nod to silently answer his unspoken question. A nod that Haku notices from where he stands outside of his mirrors. As he slips back into his dome the two suddenly leap away from each other, both completing the same hand signs simultaneously. Haku knew they hadn't spoken a word to each other and yet they were perfectly in sync. It is their eyes that are telling each other what to do in time with the other. Akari fights to take in as large of a breath as she can manage before exhaling her fire jutsu at the same time as Sasuke. Akari's already large fireball swallows Sasuke's fireball fortunately making hers larger.
Haku could feel his mirrors cracking and melting against the intense heat causing him to narrow his eyes on Akari. That's it! He snaps in his mind. There is no other choice. She has to go. With that thought, Haku decides against drawing this fight out any longer. He had originally planned to wear them down until they no longer had the will to fight. But if he kept this up with her in the battle. His ice would crumble from one more of her attacks. With the help of the fire blocking his movements, he throws three needles as the flames begin to die down followed by another barrage. He watches as they pass through the flames, expecting her to thwart his attempt like she has consistently done so far. However, all three hit their mark without her eyes so much as catching his movement. In a split second that seemed to pass as if it were an eternity in his eyes, he watches her onyx hues close ever before her body hits the ground in an unmoving heap. "Akari!" Sasuke's painfilled yell was the last thing to reach her ears.
Sasuke's eyes widen the moment he had seen her hit the ground. With chakra in his feet, he races to her side. "Akari!" His shout draws the attention of Kakashi, Sakura, Tazuna, and Zabuza. Naruto's eyes widen seeing what happened as he rushes into the ice dome to reach his teammates. Zabuza chuckles looking from the ice mirrors to Kakashi. "That's one down, Kakashi." He speaks driving Kakashi's fears home. With a pain in his chest, he narrows his eye on Zabuza as he reaches for his forehead protector to uncover his Sharingan. I have to finish this now!
"No more games, I need to stop this now!" Haku snaps looking at Sasuke, knowing even though he took down the one who could destroy his mirrors, Sasuke had awakened his own Sharingan in the process. "This time you'll stay down!" Sasuke raises up with Akari's head on his lap, throwing a kunai at the real image of him in the mirror as Naruto comes sliding in next to them. His bright blue eyes filled with tears. "Akari." He breathes picking up her limp arm that is already growing cold to his touch. Sasuke brushes his hand over her cheek before reaching over and carefully pulling the needles he could see from her starting with the ones at her neck.
"Is this your first time seeing a friend die in battle? This is what it means to be a ninja." Haku speaks mournfully as he watches the two boys. "Akari." Naruto whimpers again squeezing his eyes closed. He didn't know much about her. Actually, her silence unnerved him most of the time, and when she did talk it sounded like she believed she knew everything and that he was an idiot. But he could remember that when the stupid cat Tora was scratching the crap out of him when it tried to get out of his grip. Akari had saved him by taking the evil cat from him when no one else would. In the academy, when she was staring off at nothing as Iruka continued the long lectures, he was able to watch as she periodically sent glances his way. When everyone in the class would laugh at him or call him names she was the only one to shake her head as if she didn't like how they were treating him. During battle simulation class she always covered him and helped him back to his feet when he would trip. And she tried to guide him in a way that he could understand. She never snapped, yelled, or acted like he didn't belong. Just like on the day of orientation, she had been the only one to jump in ready to fight the entire group of girls who were ready to beat him up. When he heard her name called for his team he couldn't help but feel... happy. She was right and he was going to get the chance to know her.
With each needle, Sasuke pulls from her body a memory of their time together passes through his gaze. Nights when he would slip into her room and sneak into bed with her because he couldn't sleep when they were little. Her showing him how to play different games. Him chasing after her as they played ninja. How she would help him back to his feet whenever he would fall. Even growing up she was always ahead of him, shooting glances over her shoulder as a way to egg him forward. Images of their first day in the academy. When he had held her in the hospital to help her when the nurses weren't having any luck and when he had finally come out to eat and tried her cooking for the first time. Her lectures and her instructions. Each night she would hold him as he cried. Every time he grabbed her arm and pulled her after him. Every smirk she shot his way. Her constantly being at his side through everything.
"You bastard!" A sudden gust of wind blows Sasuke's hair around as Naruto glares up at Haku. Anger and pain taking him over. "I'm going to kill you!" His red chakra becomes so thick and condensed Sasuke could swear he could see it even with his Sharingan deactivated. Is this… really Naruto? Sasuke wonders wide-eyed as he watches his usually goofy teammate. His face morphing into something unrecognizable as his teeth enlarge jutting out his chin, his face wrinkling and almost... extending. A loud blood-chilling roar echoes around them as Haku's ice dome shatters. Pulling Sasuke out of his shock from Naruto's animalistic features as he closes his eyes to shield them from the sudden shards and holds himself over Akari. As if there was anything he could do to protect her now. The ice melts faster than it could impact against him causing it to feel more like ice-cold rain against his exposed skin.
Akari starts coming around to an eerie silence. Her body felt like a thousand-pound brick was pinning her down as her breathing came shallow and painful but, at least she could breathe. When she manages to twitch a finger, she focuses on her hand a bit more before it finally curls. Slowly she goes to open her eyes only to close them again from the sharp light that stung her retinas. After trying a couple more times she finally manages to open them completely. At first, everything was rather blurry but steadily the pale ceiling above her comes into clear view.
As she lay there she was a bit confused as to what happened at first. She had been in battle she knew this, and as she looked around she could tell she was now in their room at Tazuna's. The other three futons were empty and folded neatly. Akari raises her hand to her neck as the memories of the fight run through her mind. Her fingers graze the puncture wounds as she nearly frowns finding they were a bit smaller than she had expected. Deciding to sit up, Akari's movements stiffen from the sudden pain this decision causes her as her hand leaves her neck to cup her ribs. That's right, I took a direct kick by Haku. She realizes as she manages to sit up completely letting her mind linger on the fight. It was obvious to her that from the force of his kick he had given up holding back against her. As if he had accepted her strength.
"You're awake." Kakashi's voice permeates the room causing her to jump which was followed by a groan from the pain that had caused her. "Did we win?" She asks quietly once the pain in her ribs settles down to a dull roar. Kakashi steps further into the room and stops next to her bed, his right hand slipping into the pocket of his pants. "Yes, Zabuza, Haku, and Gato are dead."
"It seems I missed a lot." She utters out as she folds her hands in her lap. Kakashi watches her gaze fall to her hands. "Is Sasuke safe?" Akari asks after the room had fallen silent drawing Kakashi's dark eye to soften upon her. He had heard from Sasuke that she had promised to protect him, and it was her doing exactly that which lead her to take Haku's attacks in his stead. An act that if Akari is truly as emotionally inept as she claims, wouldn't have happened. "He's fine. Sasuke suffered from some scrapes and bruises but that was about it."
Akari gives him a nod before she grunts as she fights to get up. "Then if Gato is dead this mission has been completed. Per mission orders, we were supposed to head back to the Leaf." She states for him causing him to sigh and look toward the window. "No, the mission we were given was to get Tazuna to his destination and protect him while he finishes building the bridge. The bridge isn't done yet." Akari looks up at him a frown nearly tugging at the corners of her lips before she turns her head away. He is right and she knows this. Arguing with him would be unnecessary. Even with the threats eliminated, if the bridge hasn't been completed then their mission is still ongoing.
Kakashi looks back down at her before exhaling a sigh as he leans forward a bit and places a hand on her shoulder pulling her gaze back to him. "The bridge won't be completed for a few more days yet. You should rest up for the trip home." He speaks rather gently causing her to sigh as well. "I accept your reasoning." She points out before slowly laying back down on her futon. Rest and recovery are indeed important and with the danger being eliminated it is not like her team needs her help to protect the bridge builder. At the end of it all, she was the only one to fall in that battle. She had become too self-assured of her own strength and abilities and that is what lead to this. If I can fall in battle this easily, then I need to become stronger. If I can fall this easily then I need to stop holding back and re-hone my skills. Otherwise, everything I've worked for will be in vain.