Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Pieces of Our Past ❯ Chapter 2: Lizo ( Chapter 2 )

(A/N) P-Dark (dratted nickname that is) here. Crystalazer wrote this incredible chapter, and I… did absolutely nothing. Except post this story up. Anyways… we don't own Naruto or any canon characters, but we do own any and all OC characters in this fic.

Chapter 2: Lizo

 

“We graduated today!” Twelve-year-olds Lizo and Ghiki bounded out into the fresh sunlight, metal plates bearing the symbol of Rain wrapped tightly around their foreheads.

 

“We're ninjas now!” Ghiki punched the air. “We're going to be the best ninjas ever!” Lizo nodded eagerly and looked around at all the other graduates and their parents.

 

Nearby, he spotted Enrai, his father's old teammate and a close family friend. “Enrai-sempai!” he exclaimed and waved, hopping up and down excitedly. “Over here!”

 

The blonde-haired woman looked over and her body stiffened a little as she recognized the young boy. Smiling, she approached the pair. “Ohayo Lizo-kun, Ghiki-kun; I see you graduated today. Congratulations,” she beamed.

 

“Enrai-sempai, do you know where my parents are?” asked Lizo, and he though he saw Enrai's smile flicker for a minute, but it was so brief that he couldn't make sure. She looked over to Ghiki.

 

“Ghiki, I saw your brother a few minutes ago; why don't you go find him? I have to talk to Lizo about something.” She suggested, and Ghiki ran off into the crowd without hesitation.

 

Lizo studied the ANBU's face, which wasn't smiling anymore. “Enrai-sempai, is something the matter?”

 

“Lizo…” Enrai lowered herself to the genin's level and placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him squarely in the eyes. “This morning, while you were at the graduation, something happened.” She took a deep breath and Lizo heard an audible gulp. “Six ANBU units were sent to your residence this morning…but we were too late. Your parents; the rest of your family as well…they were--”

 

She stopped. The color was drained from the boy's face; his gray eyes, a trait of his father's, were wide with disbelief.

 

“How…when…why…” He struggled to get words out, but all that came were stutters.

 

“I'll take you home.” She said quietly, and he nodded dumbly as he followed Enrai out of the throng of happy graduates, oblivious to the tragedy that had just struck.

 

He came, at last, to his own home.

 

“I'll wait outside.” Enrai placed a hand on his shoulder briefly before stepping back.

 

Gently, he pulled aside the curtain.

 

There was blood splattered everywhere…and everything was in shambles. There were massive holes in the wall and the furniture was broken and cracked. The blood, curdled and deep red, dripped from the ceiling…onto three figures lying on what remained of the rug. Numbly, Lizo walked towards them, each step falling like a stone and echoing through his ears.

 

The first figure was lying on his stomach. Lizo flipped him over to reveal a kunai lodged deep in his gut. The face was unfamiliar, gaunt and pale. The eyes were rolled up to reveal only the whites and his mouth was slightly open as blood ran out in a thin stream.

 

Lizo looked up from the body and his gaze drew towards the two other bodies, lying side by side. “No…” he whispered, and crept over. His mother's face was turned towards him, her eyes closed and her face arranged in a peacefully regretful expression. There were various weapons impaled in her normally flawless skin and her usually crisp, sky-blue robe was stained with blood. He could not tell whose blood it was.

 

The last figure was leaning against the wall, dark long hair overshadowing his face. It could have only been one person. Anzo's throat had been slit and the blood was already crusting over. His lips were slightly upturned, as if smiling in satisfaction. Lizo could only assume that he had killed his attacker before dying himself.

 

Lizo couldn't cry; you needed tears to cry. He stared at his father's figure, limp and bruised. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to wake up from the horrible nightmare, but he couldn't. “It's just a dream…” he whispered feverishly to himself, “It's…just a…” his voice broke and he looked up. The bodies were still there.

 

“You promised.” He murmured to his father's body. “You promised you'd teach me ninjutsu, didn't you?”

 

A new thought broke through his mind. Who had killed them? Why? The only answer he had…he went back to the gaunt corpse who had been sent to kill his parents. The forehead protector was strewn a few feet away. Turning it over, he traced the symbol with his fingertips.

 

Lizo stood up and the plate slipped from his fingers, dropping with a loud clank.

 

Suddenly, he heard a scream that chilled him to his bones. Abruptly, it stopped, and an eerie silence followed. Abandoning the house, he ran past a stunned Enrai and towards the direction where the scream had come from. Stopping and skidding in front of the house from whence it came, he practically flew through the door.

 

“Ghiki…” The blond-haired boy was dead, speared clean through by the quarter blade of a Fuma Shuriken through his neck, which seemed to have been broken first, and was pinned to the west wall. The blood ran down his chest and the shiny new forehead protector he had received that morning was now the color of red rust. His eyes, once blue-brown and bright, were now dull and un-moving. This was too much. His mother…his father…his best friend…all murdered. Whirling around, he ran.

 

Lizo ran past the row of homes that housed the dead, turned a sharp corner in the main street, and kept running. His breath was haggard, his heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest, and he couldn't see straight, but still, he forced himself to keep running.

 

--

 

He was jolted out of his dream by two hands seizing his shoulders and shaking him roughly.

 

“Lizo!” He felt a sting on one side of his face, then the other. “Lizo! Wake up, Lizo!”

 

“Hey, I'm up, stop slapping me silly, why don't you?” Lizo pushed the person off him and rubbed one cheek. Squinting, he could make out the outline of Amaya bending over him and looking worried. “I'm fine, really! You don't need to half-strangle me every time I try to get some sleep, you know.”

 

“Well, it's not my fault that you go into convulsions every time you have that same dream.” She retorted. “We're Jounin now, nineteen, and no where to go but up. Let go of the past already, will you? It's been seven years.”

 

Lizo smiled at the thought. “Yes, seven years.” He agreed with a sigh, “Remember all the times you got kidnapped and I had to save you?” he snickered and was rewarded with a reproachful look from Amaya.

 

“Well, remember all the times you tried to do some heroic deed and ended up with your ass on the ground?” Amaya laughed.

 

“No, but I do remember you trying to perform Grand Fireball no Jutsu and all you could come up with was a little cloud of thin smoke. Ah, the good old times.” Lizo leaned back against the bedpost.

 

“And Hirana-sensei…he's with Xin-sama and they have…a ten-year-old son?”

 

“Irakinu, he graduated today with flying colors; inherited all of Hirana-sensei's talent,” Nodded Lizo. His mind went back to the dream. “I wonder how Ghiki would have turned out if they hadn't killed him.”

 

“Don't dwell on the past, Lizo!” commanded Amaya defensively. “Now you go to bed, and no more dreams! You have work to do tomorrow. Good night,” she stood up and whisked herself out of the room. Lizo rolled his eyes after her and lay back down, but he couldn't sleep. Instead, his mind wandered back to his first C-rank mission.

 

--

 

(End Chapter 2)

 

Amaya struck me as the kind of girl who likes to be the leader; know what I mean? So I stuck her in the end. Anyway, there's killing, blood, and death aplenty, so that should make a nice 2nd chapter. A tad of angst did its job well, no. This chapter didn't take me too long, but I like it. ~Annie

 

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(End Chapter 2) 

(A/N) That was a good chapter, huh? ^-^ Read and review! Flamers will be burned at the stake and flames will be sprayed with a water gun.