...
She let out a choked laugh, feeling the black flames lick her arms. A trail of red marked her skin where the flame had come in contact with her skin. She couldn't feel the fire, her arms already numb from excessive chakra burns from attempting the body-flicker jutsu while surrounded by Amaterasu.
The black inferno didn't burn the oxygen to keep itself alive. It fed on her chakra, her essence, her being to keep itself aflame - she willingly gave it so it left her physical shell alone. However, once she was trapped within, it was reluctant to let her go. Her body-flicker jutsu was stopped just as she left, trapped in-between.
As unpleasant as the situation was, she couldn't help but be thankful that she was alone in the darkness, as in out of the crossfire where she could quite possibly die. She let out a mirthless laugh.
Amaterasu was a concentrated fire, undiluted and pure. Most of the energy needed to make light was converted to heat instead. Her eyes strained in the unnatural darkness, unable to pinpoint any source of light beyond the ring of black fire, red spinning in her eyes almost desperately.
She could feel the pulsing chakra just beyond the thin layer of darkness, moving against it in ripples. The intense battle beyond was a fierce clash between two high powers, Senju and Uchiha, their chakras colliding, reverberating in the unnatural darkness. Even shielded from it, cloaked in the darkness, she knew it to be impressive if the massive collisions of chakra were any indicator.
She shied away suddenly when Amaterasu loomed at something in the darkness, and she shrunk against the more passive side of the flames. She could feel the agitated twitches of Amaterasu, sparks flying against the night, the ashen puffs just a shade lighter than the heavy, inky darkness.
"Who's there?" She whispered, her voice hoarse. Amaterasu reared, attempting to swallow her up or obscure her vision. But she had already seen what Amaterasu had desperately tried to hide.
There were holes appearing, ripping the dark sheet, like torn fabric. There were many, but all of them sported some kind of scene from night. Seeing one where the night was glowing spectacularly from the reflections of a full moon, she lunged, clawing through the flames, desperately trying to reach the other side. The alluring light, she found, was but a reflection on a still surface.
Water, she realized.
Struggling against the binds Amaterasu had become, she twisted and moved against the restraints with a frantic edge. She ignored the acrid smell of Amaterasu flaring angrily, alive with a new-found passion fueled from the need of keeping its power supply near, and she wrenched out of the relentless grip, her wrist snapping as Amaterasu refused to let go.
Her attempt to escape made her endure the pain, when she was unable to brush it away; her arms flared with life, making her flinch as she was used to the numbness.
Her muscles began to complain as she began sprinting toward the opening, unwilling to move so quickly after standing in one position for so long; already the window was beginning to fade. Clenching her jaw, knowing she would regret it later if she didn't, she pushed against the surprisingly firm dark ground and jumped headfirst into the open.
The rush of water against her burning skin was more than welcoming and she wanted more of the balm-like water. Shaking droplets of water out of her hair, she plunged into the cold water again. Shedding her heavy armor, down to her shirt and pants, while keeping her broken wrist as still as possible at her side was difficult and she cracked a smile despite what the smallest movements did to her wrist.
Feeling lighter now, she floated to the top, drifting on the surface of the water, watching the moon overhead. Against her better judgment, she turned on her sharingan to commit the scene to memory.
She paused.
She craned her head slowly; something told her she was being watched by...
She moved to dodge a projectile; a kunai, she thought as the familiar weapon skim by centimeters in front of her face. Eyes widening in surprise, she whirled to dodge another kunai, only to face a masked, armed person; each froze, assessing the other. She assumed he was a ninja and eyed him warily - could it be a rogue? - only to crouch, muscles tensed and ready to flee or to fight, as another three joined him at the edge of the lake.
She clutched her broken wrist to her chest, her ponytail hung over her shoulder somehow very reassuring in its familiarity. She flicked her gaze from each of the masked ninjas - they were all dressed the same, although their masked varied - before settling on the one in the middle who still hadn't moved since throwing the knives.
The leader, most likely.
Her sharingan whirred as she pressed chakra into them, refusing to acknowledge the stinging in favor of the current issue. She watched with a vague interest as they all tensed, their hands flying to the pouches strapped to their thighs. She saw them take out kunai knives, putting the knives in front of them in one smooth motion.
Strange, she thought. That would not prove to be a good defense. But she didn't relax her shoulders, assuming they knew what they were doing with the flimsy knife and refrained from attacking. Her fingers itched to grip the familiar hilt of her sword. She regretted leaving it behind.
Chakra flared, and she leaned back to balance on her heels, the water not even rippling at her movement. She watched patiently as they moved to surround her, evenly spaced between each person. Reinforcements were coming and it seemed that they were going to subdue her until they arrived... or something along the lines of that. She wriggled her toes experimentally and swallowed a smile when they focused their intense stares on her.
She stood, careful to keep her stance and body language neutral, uncomfortably aware that her clothes were wet and clinging, and opened her mouth to talk.
"I don't want to fight," she murmured truthfully, surprised to hear her own fatigue showing in her voice. She wasn't in any condition to fight.
She kept eye contact, turning her sharingan off to appease their suspicions if only a little bit. She raised one hand in the air, palm faced toward him and raised an eyebrow. She looked at her other hand clutched to her chest when he motioned to it with a wave of his hand.
"Broken wrist," she supplied wryly.
He stepped towards her, stepping on the water cautiously. Ripples flowed out, reaching her feet.
"Taichou!" The female of the group admonished the man - so he was the captain. The captain silenced her with a look and turned back to the Uchiha. Standing in the middle of the lake, wet, and blinking at the swift exchange, she stood silently, awaiting his scrutiny.
She could feel the suspicion rolling off of the ninja in waves. She stared back impassively, already reaching her limit. The initial adrenaline rush was wearing off and her body wanted to shut down. For once, she didn't mind and succumbed to the easing darkness.
They didn't seem like they would hurt her, they seemed afraid of her. She snorted softly, surprising the approaching ninja, but she wasn't paying attention, her mind blanking out quickly, falling forward...
But, she thought, not without good reason.
She could have killed them with all the openings they gave her. Their flimsy kunai wouldn't have helped them at all.
She fell forward, her control on her chakra slipping as her momentum dragged her down. She came in contact with the water again, the slap of the cold water unable to bring her about her senses this time.
She was a prisoner now, there would be no doubt about that, but all those details she would worry about when she was healed and had a more sensible head on her shoulders...
She never felt so alone in her life.
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Story notes: Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter notes: Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Note:
Rating may be subject to change.
...
Hmmm... Well, I'm not very good at writing these kinds of things, so please bear with me as I write.
Chapter end notes: ...
This was tedious - I want to jump ahead to all the good stuff, but this part's important to the rest of the story. So I'm going to just have to stick to it...
Anyway, I just love the idea of the Senju-Uchiha alliance, then BAM!! formation of Konoha. EPIC. (HINT: It's pretty important to the story...)