Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ Liability ❯ Whiplash ( Chapter 4 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Animefreak_11 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.17.2015 | Pages: 9 | Words: 5.0K | Visits: 236 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 06.17.2015 | Pages: 9 | Words: 5.0K | Visits: 236 | Status: Work In Progress
Things are getting messy!
I'll leave my tumblr here, just in case you want to take a guess where this is headed, have suggestions, better tags (because I'm honestly not great at them, you might've noticed), or anything, really.
Enjoy! :D
– – – – – – – – Chapter 4: Whiplash
As the bird climbed higher still, Maemi kept her eyes determinedly shut. Once the bird leveled off, she realized she'd been nearly hugging Sai's back and awkwardly tried to keep her distance. Her grip slackened somewhat so as to hide her trembling. Even though the sun was out, wearing a dress didn't help. Determinedly, she looked straight ahead, though she could mostly see the back of Sai's head. She took a few calming breaths until she felt she had her emotions under control. After a few more minutes, she cleared her throat. Sai said nothing. “... Can I ask you something?” She tried to see the side of his face.
“What is it?”
“If I'm a hindrance... why didn't you just let me get killed?” The question hung in the air for a brief moment. “I mean, I don't even know you and you saved me and-- treated me and... Back there, if I were you, I would have left without me,” she continued talking, as if it was helping her sort it out.
Sai contemplated the question for a while. “I'm not sure. I'm only following orders.” He let her glimpse his smile.
“... I see...” she answered softly, unsure whether to feel disappointed or not. “Then-- you were ordered to pull me from the river?”
“... No. Not directly, anyway. I suppose I was the closest one, that's all,” he replied nonchalantly.
Maemi nodded once. With a cringe, she withdrew her left hand from his shoulder. Her arm still hurt. Now that she paid attention, her whole body was still sore and her feet still bore the cuts from the climb. Her head was the exception, she supposed she had Sakura to thank for that. “Well... thanks anyway... you know, for saving my life.” Sai glanced behind him and gave her another one of his smiles.
– – – – As planned, the others had planted fake trails behind them and erased theirs before taking a detour to Konoha. They moved swiftly and silently, everyone on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. They had to assume that Yorikane had gone for backup yesterday, leaving the rest of his men to die. He was a troublesome fellow with a vendetta against Konoha, especially Kakashi. The idea that he was somewhere between them and Konoha was irksome, but likely.
Kakashi, like the others, wore a guarded expression, though his thoughts strayed from the potential danger. He was more concerned about the sudden pain in his body, especially his left arm ever since he touched that look-alike doll. He had a weird feeling about it all, a gut instinct telling him the girl and her doll were bad news. He could, however, hardly sit by and watch her get killed, especially considering how vulnerable she was. Trying not to get too discouraged, he held back a sigh.
All of a sudden, Yamato yelled, “Kakashi!” Snapped out of his thoughts, the Copy Ninja flipped out of the way as the kunai embedded itself in a tree, detonating instantly. Landing on a lower branch, parallel to his last position, he glanced at the direction from which the kunai came. The surroundings had grown quiet, as if all the animals had either gone still or fled the area.
Shikamaru, perched behind Kakashi, tsked dispassionately. Above Shikamaru, Yamato stood at the ready while Sakura and Naruto, now in front, scanned their surroundings. Out of the trees a couple meters away emerged a dozen of ninja, Yorikane in their lead. The rogue ninja wore a satisfied smirk, “Got yourselves some reinforcements, hmm?”
The Konoha group said nothing as Sakura gestured at Naruto to be quiet. “Hmm, that's strange... Your pet isn't with you?” he mocked, referring of course to the weird lying girl from yesterday. “Thought that perhaps she wasn't safe on the ground?”
The group frowned. How could he possibly know? Yorikane shouldn't know Sai's abilities!
“Unfortunately for you, I'm a step ahead this time, Kakashi.” Before they could regroup or grasp the meaning of his words, Yorikane and his comrades attacked, throwing kunai and conjuring jutsu ahead.
– – – – Sai and Maemi had been flying in silence for a while. Sai wasn't the talkative type and Maemi, who could be talkative, didn't want to start asking questions. Besides, she was still grasping the concept of flying on an ink bird in a foreign world she knew someone from the realworld had made up. Yet here she was. Meaning that “magic”did work, either by bringing her in the midst of a manga world, or somehow that this world existed parallel to the only world she was familiar with. Just thinking about all the implications was enough to make her dizzy. It's probably bestto stop thinking about it...
Her somewhat healed wound throbbed in pain yet again, as if she'd been exerting it. Regardless, she wasn't a fan. As if it would help in any way, she grabbed her arm with her right hand and squeezed tightly, clenching her jaw. Sai, who noticed her letting go, slightly turned towards her. “Something wrong?”
Maemi opened her mouth to answer when he suddenly narrowed his eyes and the bird dipped sideways, nearly at a 90 degree angle. With a cut off scream, she scrambled to grab onto him, holding on for dear life, especially when she made the mistake to glance sideways and realized she could see the trees as if from a glass floor. “Hold on,” advised a frowning Sai, albeit a bit late. The bird abruptly shot up, gaining speed rather rapidly.
Heart pounding and limbs shaking, Maemi tightened her grip around her own forearms, barely realizing her arms were wound around Sai's chest. She was pretty sure she'd die of fright if she were to fall off. Until then, she hadn't seen what caused these escape maneuvers, for if they were anything else, she'd kill her savior ten times over. Just as they were about to enter a cloud, no doubt for cover, something fast streaked straight up and grazed the bird's left flank. Somewhat destabilized, it flew up until they were safely hovering in a cloud.
Dripping wet, Maemi tried calming her breathing. Slowly, she loosened thehold on her wrists and felt blood flow back to her tingly hands. She was, however, still too shaken to ask what the bloody hell they were fleeing from, not that she'd be able to comprehend the answer. Sai stoically remained in his position, as if he were about to dash forward. Before she could take another breath, something glinting out of the corner of her eyes cut through the cloud, bringing with it a snapping gust of wind.
The bird was thrown sideways, along with its riders, in a spiraling descent towards the forest. As Sai tried his best to stabilize the bird, he felt the arms around him vanish. He jerked his head around and grabbed Maemi's disappearing wrist from under the bird before she fell in a mortal plunge. He didn't have to hear her scream, one glance at her terror-stricken face was enough. She'd grabbed onto his hand with both of hers, clutching as tightly as she could all the while trying not to move and definitely not looking down. Although having her body dangling freely was probably the last life experience she'd ever want.
Sai gripped her wrist as tightly as he could but had to keep moving, being a sitting duck was like taunting death considering the attack used was faster than them. The bird flapped its wings and turned around, trying to put some distance between them and their attacker, but in an instant the effort was rendered futile. The air itself seemed cut in half, and in the brief moment where time seemed suspended, Sai felt the wrist slipping from his grasp both due to the leftover moisture and being yanked in two different directions. Whatever attack this jutsu was, it had been aimed carefully.
Maemi felt herself slipping, and redoubled her efforts to hang on, but in vain. A moment later, she was grabbing air. Air whipped around her noisily, her eyes still fixed on the bird, her arms reaching for unattainable safety. At the same time, Sai – holding on with one hand – quickly took out a scroll, opened it with his mouth, then grabbed a brush and quickly began drawing. Maemi really wanted to scream her lungs out, but couldn't. Her mind was blank, her insides petrified.
Eyes filled with tears from the streaming wind, she didn't notice the smaller shape appearing before diving under her. The small bird opened its wings and the sudden change in pressure made it rise quickly until Maemi fell on its back. Astounded and still speechless, she quickly grabbed the bird's neck tightly seeing as she definitely didn't want a repeat of this horrible experience. Meters above her, Sai watched his smaller creation catch her. Somewhat relieved, he pulled the scroll out of his mouth. However, the distraction left him wide open to an attack, which the enemy fully intended to exploit.
Before he could dodge, the same blade of wind cut through his bird, inches from Sai's midriff, before dissipating into a shimmer of chakra. The scroll and brush flew out of his hands as the lopsided bird fought to keep afloat. Unfortunately, with nearly half of it gone, it quickly dissipated into ink as Sai succumbed to gravity. Unlike Maemi, he had a plan for when he neared the forest so as to avoid dying on impact, yet-- he didn't even get a chance to try it. As he neared Maemi's level, drawing her frightened eyes to him, he saw the enemy flying towards him, but a blow from the back surprised him. Frowning in pain, he glanced behind him and discerned moving air under this foe as well. They were both riding their jutsu.
Sai dropped below Maemi, getting closer to the grinning enemies. Before long, one jumped from his air wave and lunged at Sai, who drew his short sword and met the attack with a brief clashing of blades. Before he could retaliate, however, his opponent seemed to fly back to safety while the other attacked from below. Meanwhile, Maemi was watching a falling Sai shrink. Still clutching the bird's neck tightly, she regained her voice at the sight of the attackers diving and merging onto Sai with unreasonable speed. She couldn't see details of what happened, but she did see Sai's sword fall out of his hand and the way his body fell unrestrained. She was too high for her scream to reach him and too far to see the blood from his wounds.
Very soon, however, it became clear he was unconscious because the bird to which she was desperately clutching soon dissolved beneath her. And once again, Maemi found herself diving through the air without any safety nets. Sai's body had just brushed past the trees and disappeared beneath the canopy of branches. Tears from the constant wind and the fact that her death was imminent flew up her temples, her insides squirming uncomfortably until they turned to stone again. Her voice was stuck in her throat, frozen. Her body was very hard to control against the wind pressure and she felt herself being pushed here and there as she neared the forest.
All of a sudden, she could only see green. Greengreengreen! She snapped her eyes shut and held her breath for the imminent pain. Her body jolted and everything went black.
– – – – The battles had dispersed here and there, the group from Konoha being outnumbered two to one. Sakura's punch fractured the earth and felled trees, yet her opponents kept dodging and stayed out of range, all the same, they didn't dare get closer. Shikamaru managed to bind one opponent into his Shadow Imitation Technique and used him to attack his comrade. Yamato was countering wind attacks with his wooden techniques but had some trouble getting through to his adversaries who constantly drove back his attacks. Kakashi, in a moment of respite, summoned his nin-dogs, who scattered after brief instructions. Naruto was, as usual, surrounded by many shadow clones and attacking en masse.
Yorikane charged Kakashi again, still grinning. “Don't be toodistracted, I'm sure we found them by now.” He obviously relished having the upper hand. Kakashi frowned briefly and finally removed his forehead protector from his face, revealing his sharingan. “Don't think that will help you win this time,” shot Yorikane, already disappearing in a gust of wind.
Kakashi kept on his guard, his sharingan following his foe's movements. However, his heart suddenly leaped in his throat and fear invaded his system. Disoriented at this foreign feeling, he clumsily dodged Yorikane's oncoming attack and retreated a bit further than necessary. A thought came to mind, but it was so absurd that he nearly brushed it off. Yet, Yorikane's earlier words floated back in his mind. Could Sai have been attacked? Even if that were true, where did this fear come from? His left arm throbbed, as if echoing a shadowy thought, leaving his suspicions growing unrelentingly.
If his arm was injured again after being healed by Sakura, then he was somehow sharing or experiencing whatever the girl from another world was feeling. In this case, extreme fear. A nearby rustle snapped him back to his battle as Yorikane's comrade shot out of a bush brandishing a sword. Flipping out of the way, Kakashi's landing was thrown off balance when what felt like a giant punch hit his midriff, making him slide off the branch he'd aimed for and catch himself lower than anticipated. Yorikane gave him no time to reposition himself and attacked, his fist punching a wall of wind forward.
The battles dragged on, one side refusing to lose and the other refusing to run.
– – – – Maemi was flying through the air, an exhilarating thrill, until-- wait, no, she was falling! Falling until she could see nothing but the approaching trees. She took a deep breath and smiled sleepily. What a horrible dream, and so long too! She'd never had such a vivid dream before, especially that last terrifying moment. She tried to remember what falling dreams were supposed to indicate, but she couldn't think of anything at all. Oh well, I can just look it up once I get out of bed.With that thought, she rolled on her side and cringed as she opened her eyes.
It was dark, even with the fire glowing in the middle of the-- room? Frowning, Maemi tried sitting up, only to feel pain shooting from her ribs to her hips, as if she had a giant bruise over her midriff. She muttered an “ow--” while pushing through the pain to sit up completely. She meant to brush her hair back when she noticed the metal cuff around her right wrist. How she hadn't noticed it before she didn't know, but she stared at it as if it was an alien weapon. Becoming slightly frantic, she took a long sweeping look around and concluded she was in some sort of cave, which was presently deserted.
Her eyes widened when she saw Sai a few meters away from her, cuffed against the wall and unable to move. She was about to call him when she noticed his wounds and the large amount of blood on his clothes. He also seemed paler than before. She crawled forward on her hands and knees until her right shoulder felt like it was going to be ripped from her body, but she still couldn't reach him. Voices made her jump and she inched backwards until her back met the cold wall.
“Well look who's awake,” boomed a low baritone voice. A rough looking man advanced towards her imposingly. He had black unkempt hair and a similar face – he clearly hadn't shaved in a while. His clothes were mainly dark gray, but they looked somewhat old and a bit ragged. It seemed like everyone in this world had a pouch and a holster on them, and he was no exception: he wore one on his belt and the other around his leg. He crouched in front of Maemi and grinned broadly, even more so when he noticed her staring at his scars. “Ugly aren't they?” he chuckled. Maemi stopped herself short from nodding and instead opted for a poker face.
“Sotan,” called another voice.
The rough man simply looked over his shoulder, “What?”
“Don't play with the prisoner.”
Maemi couldn't see him very well mainly because he was standing too far and away from the light. She could faintly see his hair giving off a reddish glow, but she didn't have the luxury to worry about hair color. He seemed to have authority, meaning he was some kind of boss, and he'd just called her a prisoner. She could have guessed as much, she was chained up after all, but the absurdity of the situation was beyond her wildest imagination.
The rough man scoffed and got up to settle by the fire instead, mumbling to himself about discrimination. Maemi stared at the six people filling the cave. She didn't know who they were, but five of them wore similar clothes to the first group she encountered, except the one called Sotan. The shine of their metal headband caught her eyes and she stared at one as much as she could. She could make out some sort of symbol on it, though its meaning was lost to her. She could only tell it oddly resembled a fat 'i.' Anxiously, she waited. She didn't know for what, but she tried getting a grip on herself. Being afraid would do nothing for her, and she could hardly get away. The fear would dim, yet it wouldn't disappear.
After a while of being ignored, she glanced at Sai out of the corner of her eyes. His breathing looked shallow, but at least he was alive. She wished she could get closer to him and wake him up, maybe he'd give her another smile. Even though it wouldn't exactly be reassuring, it would be somewhat comforting, but as it was, she felt so alone.
“Worried?” said a voice just above her.
Nearly jumping out of her skin, she glanced up and saw the man with reddish hair. He looked young and strong, but the exposed parts of his skin bore a few scars. Looking down again, she turned her head sideways, deciding not to answer. Regardless of her attitude, she knew she could be killed in a heartbeat, the fact that she was alive meant they had some use for her. At this very moment, her stomach decided it was a good time to demand food and began growling. Flushing bright red, she kept her stare on her hand, as if she'd never seen it before. “Hmph.” She didn't see the man's smirk as he walked away.
Her stomach continued growling for the next hour, making her want to crawl into a corner or hide in the wall. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't eaten since-- before the graduation ceremony, however long ago that was. She'd only had a cup of water since coming to this world, and one of her terrifying experiences would be enough to keep her hungry for a week. Resigned, she tucked her feet under her, leaned against the wall and kept one arm around her midriff, as if it would quiet her stomach. Her body was still sore for whatever reason, maybe crashing through the trees? No matter how much she tried to remember, how she was alive remained a mystery.
A voice shook her out of her thoughts again, “Here.” It was the same guy, and he was holding a bowl of steaming food. Maemi glanced at it briefly at first, then stared a bit longer, gauging whether to take it or not. “Just take it,” sighed the guy, as if already fed up with her. She washungry, and they wouldn't poison her, that wouldn't make any sense at all. Keeping a straight face, Maemi grabbed the bowl with both hands, knowing she'd probably drop it if she grabbed it with her left hand alone.
She resumed her position with her side facing her captors, as if not seeing them somehow made her situation better. The food smelled good, she'd only inhaled two breaths but she already felt like she was eating. Putting the bowl on her knees, she ate a couple of spoonfuls. Only then did she realize the man had gone again. It was getting really annoying not to be able to hear them coming and going. “Stupid ninja world,” she muttered, “Stupid plushie.” Her spoon clattered against the bowl, her eyes widening in realization. The plushie! Where had it gone!?
Sotan turned towards her when her spoon clattered. “Not to your taste?” he taunted with a grin. Maemi ignored him and picked up the spoon again, only to let it drop again with a grunt. Slowly, she looked at her abdomen from where sharp pain emanated. She felt herself shaking and distantly heard the bowl roll off her knees, spilling food on the floor, but all she cared about was knowing where this pain came from. It almost felt like she'd just been stabbed, but she couldn't be sure, she'd never been stabbed, after all. Her left hand gently probed her abdomen, which somehow became stained red.
Now gasping to breathe and cringing for doing so, she felt whatever strength she had flowing out of her. “Hey,” frowned Sotan, “she's acting weird.” The others dismissed him, until they heard her slump on the floor and saw her body twitching. The man with the reddish hair kneeled at her side, frowning at the sight of blood that wasn't there five minutes ago. He ripped the fabric above the wound to see a gushing stab wound.
I'll leave my tumblr here, just in case you want to take a guess where this is headed, have suggestions, better tags (because I'm honestly not great at them, you might've noticed), or anything, really.
Enjoy! :D
– – – – – – – – Chapter 4: Whiplash
As the bird climbed higher still, Maemi kept her eyes determinedly shut. Once the bird leveled off, she realized she'd been nearly hugging Sai's back and awkwardly tried to keep her distance. Her grip slackened somewhat so as to hide her trembling. Even though the sun was out, wearing a dress didn't help. Determinedly, she looked straight ahead, though she could mostly see the back of Sai's head. She took a few calming breaths until she felt she had her emotions under control. After a few more minutes, she cleared her throat. Sai said nothing. “... Can I ask you something?” She tried to see the side of his face.
“What is it?”
“If I'm a hindrance... why didn't you just let me get killed?” The question hung in the air for a brief moment. “I mean, I don't even know you and you saved me and-- treated me and... Back there, if I were you, I would have left without me,” she continued talking, as if it was helping her sort it out.
Sai contemplated the question for a while. “I'm not sure. I'm only following orders.” He let her glimpse his smile.
“... I see...” she answered softly, unsure whether to feel disappointed or not. “Then-- you were ordered to pull me from the river?”
“... No. Not directly, anyway. I suppose I was the closest one, that's all,” he replied nonchalantly.
Maemi nodded once. With a cringe, she withdrew her left hand from his shoulder. Her arm still hurt. Now that she paid attention, her whole body was still sore and her feet still bore the cuts from the climb. Her head was the exception, she supposed she had Sakura to thank for that. “Well... thanks anyway... you know, for saving my life.” Sai glanced behind him and gave her another one of his smiles.
– – – – As planned, the others had planted fake trails behind them and erased theirs before taking a detour to Konoha. They moved swiftly and silently, everyone on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. They had to assume that Yorikane had gone for backup yesterday, leaving the rest of his men to die. He was a troublesome fellow with a vendetta against Konoha, especially Kakashi. The idea that he was somewhere between them and Konoha was irksome, but likely.
Kakashi, like the others, wore a guarded expression, though his thoughts strayed from the potential danger. He was more concerned about the sudden pain in his body, especially his left arm ever since he touched that look-alike doll. He had a weird feeling about it all, a gut instinct telling him the girl and her doll were bad news. He could, however, hardly sit by and watch her get killed, especially considering how vulnerable she was. Trying not to get too discouraged, he held back a sigh.
All of a sudden, Yamato yelled, “Kakashi!” Snapped out of his thoughts, the Copy Ninja flipped out of the way as the kunai embedded itself in a tree, detonating instantly. Landing on a lower branch, parallel to his last position, he glanced at the direction from which the kunai came. The surroundings had grown quiet, as if all the animals had either gone still or fled the area.
Shikamaru, perched behind Kakashi, tsked dispassionately. Above Shikamaru, Yamato stood at the ready while Sakura and Naruto, now in front, scanned their surroundings. Out of the trees a couple meters away emerged a dozen of ninja, Yorikane in their lead. The rogue ninja wore a satisfied smirk, “Got yourselves some reinforcements, hmm?”
The Konoha group said nothing as Sakura gestured at Naruto to be quiet. “Hmm, that's strange... Your pet isn't with you?” he mocked, referring of course to the weird lying girl from yesterday. “Thought that perhaps she wasn't safe on the ground?”
The group frowned. How could he possibly know? Yorikane shouldn't know Sai's abilities!
“Unfortunately for you, I'm a step ahead this time, Kakashi.” Before they could regroup or grasp the meaning of his words, Yorikane and his comrades attacked, throwing kunai and conjuring jutsu ahead.
– – – – Sai and Maemi had been flying in silence for a while. Sai wasn't the talkative type and Maemi, who could be talkative, didn't want to start asking questions. Besides, she was still grasping the concept of flying on an ink bird in a foreign world she knew someone from the realworld had made up. Yet here she was. Meaning that “magic”did work, either by bringing her in the midst of a manga world, or somehow that this world existed parallel to the only world she was familiar with. Just thinking about all the implications was enough to make her dizzy. It's probably bestto stop thinking about it...
Her somewhat healed wound throbbed in pain yet again, as if she'd been exerting it. Regardless, she wasn't a fan. As if it would help in any way, she grabbed her arm with her right hand and squeezed tightly, clenching her jaw. Sai, who noticed her letting go, slightly turned towards her. “Something wrong?”
Maemi opened her mouth to answer when he suddenly narrowed his eyes and the bird dipped sideways, nearly at a 90 degree angle. With a cut off scream, she scrambled to grab onto him, holding on for dear life, especially when she made the mistake to glance sideways and realized she could see the trees as if from a glass floor. “Hold on,” advised a frowning Sai, albeit a bit late. The bird abruptly shot up, gaining speed rather rapidly.
Heart pounding and limbs shaking, Maemi tightened her grip around her own forearms, barely realizing her arms were wound around Sai's chest. She was pretty sure she'd die of fright if she were to fall off. Until then, she hadn't seen what caused these escape maneuvers, for if they were anything else, she'd kill her savior ten times over. Just as they were about to enter a cloud, no doubt for cover, something fast streaked straight up and grazed the bird's left flank. Somewhat destabilized, it flew up until they were safely hovering in a cloud.
Dripping wet, Maemi tried calming her breathing. Slowly, she loosened thehold on her wrists and felt blood flow back to her tingly hands. She was, however, still too shaken to ask what the bloody hell they were fleeing from, not that she'd be able to comprehend the answer. Sai stoically remained in his position, as if he were about to dash forward. Before she could take another breath, something glinting out of the corner of her eyes cut through the cloud, bringing with it a snapping gust of wind.
The bird was thrown sideways, along with its riders, in a spiraling descent towards the forest. As Sai tried his best to stabilize the bird, he felt the arms around him vanish. He jerked his head around and grabbed Maemi's disappearing wrist from under the bird before she fell in a mortal plunge. He didn't have to hear her scream, one glance at her terror-stricken face was enough. She'd grabbed onto his hand with both of hers, clutching as tightly as she could all the while trying not to move and definitely not looking down. Although having her body dangling freely was probably the last life experience she'd ever want.
Sai gripped her wrist as tightly as he could but had to keep moving, being a sitting duck was like taunting death considering the attack used was faster than them. The bird flapped its wings and turned around, trying to put some distance between them and their attacker, but in an instant the effort was rendered futile. The air itself seemed cut in half, and in the brief moment where time seemed suspended, Sai felt the wrist slipping from his grasp both due to the leftover moisture and being yanked in two different directions. Whatever attack this jutsu was, it had been aimed carefully.
Maemi felt herself slipping, and redoubled her efforts to hang on, but in vain. A moment later, she was grabbing air. Air whipped around her noisily, her eyes still fixed on the bird, her arms reaching for unattainable safety. At the same time, Sai – holding on with one hand – quickly took out a scroll, opened it with his mouth, then grabbed a brush and quickly began drawing. Maemi really wanted to scream her lungs out, but couldn't. Her mind was blank, her insides petrified.
Eyes filled with tears from the streaming wind, she didn't notice the smaller shape appearing before diving under her. The small bird opened its wings and the sudden change in pressure made it rise quickly until Maemi fell on its back. Astounded and still speechless, she quickly grabbed the bird's neck tightly seeing as she definitely didn't want a repeat of this horrible experience. Meters above her, Sai watched his smaller creation catch her. Somewhat relieved, he pulled the scroll out of his mouth. However, the distraction left him wide open to an attack, which the enemy fully intended to exploit.
Before he could dodge, the same blade of wind cut through his bird, inches from Sai's midriff, before dissipating into a shimmer of chakra. The scroll and brush flew out of his hands as the lopsided bird fought to keep afloat. Unfortunately, with nearly half of it gone, it quickly dissipated into ink as Sai succumbed to gravity. Unlike Maemi, he had a plan for when he neared the forest so as to avoid dying on impact, yet-- he didn't even get a chance to try it. As he neared Maemi's level, drawing her frightened eyes to him, he saw the enemy flying towards him, but a blow from the back surprised him. Frowning in pain, he glanced behind him and discerned moving air under this foe as well. They were both riding their jutsu.
Sai dropped below Maemi, getting closer to the grinning enemies. Before long, one jumped from his air wave and lunged at Sai, who drew his short sword and met the attack with a brief clashing of blades. Before he could retaliate, however, his opponent seemed to fly back to safety while the other attacked from below. Meanwhile, Maemi was watching a falling Sai shrink. Still clutching the bird's neck tightly, she regained her voice at the sight of the attackers diving and merging onto Sai with unreasonable speed. She couldn't see details of what happened, but she did see Sai's sword fall out of his hand and the way his body fell unrestrained. She was too high for her scream to reach him and too far to see the blood from his wounds.
Very soon, however, it became clear he was unconscious because the bird to which she was desperately clutching soon dissolved beneath her. And once again, Maemi found herself diving through the air without any safety nets. Sai's body had just brushed past the trees and disappeared beneath the canopy of branches. Tears from the constant wind and the fact that her death was imminent flew up her temples, her insides squirming uncomfortably until they turned to stone again. Her voice was stuck in her throat, frozen. Her body was very hard to control against the wind pressure and she felt herself being pushed here and there as she neared the forest.
All of a sudden, she could only see green. Greengreengreen! She snapped her eyes shut and held her breath for the imminent pain. Her body jolted and everything went black.
– – – – The battles had dispersed here and there, the group from Konoha being outnumbered two to one. Sakura's punch fractured the earth and felled trees, yet her opponents kept dodging and stayed out of range, all the same, they didn't dare get closer. Shikamaru managed to bind one opponent into his Shadow Imitation Technique and used him to attack his comrade. Yamato was countering wind attacks with his wooden techniques but had some trouble getting through to his adversaries who constantly drove back his attacks. Kakashi, in a moment of respite, summoned his nin-dogs, who scattered after brief instructions. Naruto was, as usual, surrounded by many shadow clones and attacking en masse.
Yorikane charged Kakashi again, still grinning. “Don't be toodistracted, I'm sure we found them by now.” He obviously relished having the upper hand. Kakashi frowned briefly and finally removed his forehead protector from his face, revealing his sharingan. “Don't think that will help you win this time,” shot Yorikane, already disappearing in a gust of wind.
Kakashi kept on his guard, his sharingan following his foe's movements. However, his heart suddenly leaped in his throat and fear invaded his system. Disoriented at this foreign feeling, he clumsily dodged Yorikane's oncoming attack and retreated a bit further than necessary. A thought came to mind, but it was so absurd that he nearly brushed it off. Yet, Yorikane's earlier words floated back in his mind. Could Sai have been attacked? Even if that were true, where did this fear come from? His left arm throbbed, as if echoing a shadowy thought, leaving his suspicions growing unrelentingly.
If his arm was injured again after being healed by Sakura, then he was somehow sharing or experiencing whatever the girl from another world was feeling. In this case, extreme fear. A nearby rustle snapped him back to his battle as Yorikane's comrade shot out of a bush brandishing a sword. Flipping out of the way, Kakashi's landing was thrown off balance when what felt like a giant punch hit his midriff, making him slide off the branch he'd aimed for and catch himself lower than anticipated. Yorikane gave him no time to reposition himself and attacked, his fist punching a wall of wind forward.
The battles dragged on, one side refusing to lose and the other refusing to run.
– – – – Maemi was flying through the air, an exhilarating thrill, until-- wait, no, she was falling! Falling until she could see nothing but the approaching trees. She took a deep breath and smiled sleepily. What a horrible dream, and so long too! She'd never had such a vivid dream before, especially that last terrifying moment. She tried to remember what falling dreams were supposed to indicate, but she couldn't think of anything at all. Oh well, I can just look it up once I get out of bed.With that thought, she rolled on her side and cringed as she opened her eyes.
It was dark, even with the fire glowing in the middle of the-- room? Frowning, Maemi tried sitting up, only to feel pain shooting from her ribs to her hips, as if she had a giant bruise over her midriff. She muttered an “ow--” while pushing through the pain to sit up completely. She meant to brush her hair back when she noticed the metal cuff around her right wrist. How she hadn't noticed it before she didn't know, but she stared at it as if it was an alien weapon. Becoming slightly frantic, she took a long sweeping look around and concluded she was in some sort of cave, which was presently deserted.
Her eyes widened when she saw Sai a few meters away from her, cuffed against the wall and unable to move. She was about to call him when she noticed his wounds and the large amount of blood on his clothes. He also seemed paler than before. She crawled forward on her hands and knees until her right shoulder felt like it was going to be ripped from her body, but she still couldn't reach him. Voices made her jump and she inched backwards until her back met the cold wall.
“Well look who's awake,” boomed a low baritone voice. A rough looking man advanced towards her imposingly. He had black unkempt hair and a similar face – he clearly hadn't shaved in a while. His clothes were mainly dark gray, but they looked somewhat old and a bit ragged. It seemed like everyone in this world had a pouch and a holster on them, and he was no exception: he wore one on his belt and the other around his leg. He crouched in front of Maemi and grinned broadly, even more so when he noticed her staring at his scars. “Ugly aren't they?” he chuckled. Maemi stopped herself short from nodding and instead opted for a poker face.
“Sotan,” called another voice.
The rough man simply looked over his shoulder, “What?”
“Don't play with the prisoner.”
Maemi couldn't see him very well mainly because he was standing too far and away from the light. She could faintly see his hair giving off a reddish glow, but she didn't have the luxury to worry about hair color. He seemed to have authority, meaning he was some kind of boss, and he'd just called her a prisoner. She could have guessed as much, she was chained up after all, but the absurdity of the situation was beyond her wildest imagination.
The rough man scoffed and got up to settle by the fire instead, mumbling to himself about discrimination. Maemi stared at the six people filling the cave. She didn't know who they were, but five of them wore similar clothes to the first group she encountered, except the one called Sotan. The shine of their metal headband caught her eyes and she stared at one as much as she could. She could make out some sort of symbol on it, though its meaning was lost to her. She could only tell it oddly resembled a fat 'i.' Anxiously, she waited. She didn't know for what, but she tried getting a grip on herself. Being afraid would do nothing for her, and she could hardly get away. The fear would dim, yet it wouldn't disappear.
After a while of being ignored, she glanced at Sai out of the corner of her eyes. His breathing looked shallow, but at least he was alive. She wished she could get closer to him and wake him up, maybe he'd give her another smile. Even though it wouldn't exactly be reassuring, it would be somewhat comforting, but as it was, she felt so alone.
“Worried?” said a voice just above her.
Nearly jumping out of her skin, she glanced up and saw the man with reddish hair. He looked young and strong, but the exposed parts of his skin bore a few scars. Looking down again, she turned her head sideways, deciding not to answer. Regardless of her attitude, she knew she could be killed in a heartbeat, the fact that she was alive meant they had some use for her. At this very moment, her stomach decided it was a good time to demand food and began growling. Flushing bright red, she kept her stare on her hand, as if she'd never seen it before. “Hmph.” She didn't see the man's smirk as he walked away.
Her stomach continued growling for the next hour, making her want to crawl into a corner or hide in the wall. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't eaten since-- before the graduation ceremony, however long ago that was. She'd only had a cup of water since coming to this world, and one of her terrifying experiences would be enough to keep her hungry for a week. Resigned, she tucked her feet under her, leaned against the wall and kept one arm around her midriff, as if it would quiet her stomach. Her body was still sore for whatever reason, maybe crashing through the trees? No matter how much she tried to remember, how she was alive remained a mystery.
A voice shook her out of her thoughts again, “Here.” It was the same guy, and he was holding a bowl of steaming food. Maemi glanced at it briefly at first, then stared a bit longer, gauging whether to take it or not. “Just take it,” sighed the guy, as if already fed up with her. She washungry, and they wouldn't poison her, that wouldn't make any sense at all. Keeping a straight face, Maemi grabbed the bowl with both hands, knowing she'd probably drop it if she grabbed it with her left hand alone.
She resumed her position with her side facing her captors, as if not seeing them somehow made her situation better. The food smelled good, she'd only inhaled two breaths but she already felt like she was eating. Putting the bowl on her knees, she ate a couple of spoonfuls. Only then did she realize the man had gone again. It was getting really annoying not to be able to hear them coming and going. “Stupid ninja world,” she muttered, “Stupid plushie.” Her spoon clattered against the bowl, her eyes widening in realization. The plushie! Where had it gone!?
Sotan turned towards her when her spoon clattered. “Not to your taste?” he taunted with a grin. Maemi ignored him and picked up the spoon again, only to let it drop again with a grunt. Slowly, she looked at her abdomen from where sharp pain emanated. She felt herself shaking and distantly heard the bowl roll off her knees, spilling food on the floor, but all she cared about was knowing where this pain came from. It almost felt like she'd just been stabbed, but she couldn't be sure, she'd never been stabbed, after all. Her left hand gently probed her abdomen, which somehow became stained red.
Now gasping to breathe and cringing for doing so, she felt whatever strength she had flowing out of her. “Hey,” frowned Sotan, “she's acting weird.” The others dismissed him, until they heard her slump on the floor and saw her body twitching. The man with the reddish hair kneeled at her side, frowning at the sight of blood that wasn't there five minutes ago. He ripped the fabric above the wound to see a gushing stab wound.