Chapter Five: Puppets and Blood.
Jerking in sudden pain, Harry woke up; hands scrabbling at his scar. The pain faded and his hands searched for his glasses, jamming them onto his nose. He looked around, disoriented by the room.
For a second he had thought he was back in Hogwarts suffering from another one of his nightmares. But no, he was sharing an apartment with a boy he’d known for a week in a world that was not his own. Not even a guest, so much as under guard he thought with a twinge of bitterness when his eye caught his empty wand hostler.
Harry swung his feet out of the bed and moved to get up when he was hit by another wave of pain. So intense was the pain that he stumbled to his knees. He bit his lip trying to make no sound but a whimper escaped. This was really bad.
He gave up all effort to keep from waking Naruto when the blinding pain radiating from his scar tripled. His screams ripped from his throat abrasively and he doubled over fingers digging into the skin of his forehead.
Strange red eyes glaring at him.
Green twisting round black and red.
Deranged, high-pitched laughter.
A woman’s hand curling round a blackened piece of wood.
“You dare to defy ME?!” he screamed.
A green flash of light, screaming, and a deadly smile.
With a heaving gasp Harry came to, lying in a pool of his own vomit, limbs shaking uncontrollably. As he tried to push himself up his arms gave out and he nearly fell face first into the mess when hands steadied him.
“You okay?” It was Naruto who helped him stand, “Should we go to the hospital?”
“No,” his voice was raspy, “It happens sometimes, though that was a little more violent then usual.” He chuckled bitterly.
“Want to talk about it?” Naruto helped Harry into the bathroom, ignoring the other boys blush as he methodically stripped him of his clothes and started the shower.
“No, it’s okay.” was Harry’s reply. Naruto eyed him skeptically before asking if he’d be able to stand in the shower.
“Yeah, I’m steady now.” Harry replied as he got into the shower, the blonde gathered the dirty clothes and left him to his own devices. Under the heat of the water Harry sunk into thought. Apparently even being worlds away did not prevent Voldemort’s emotions to hit him at the worst moments.
And of course he didn’t want to tell Naruto about it. He really didn’t want his new acquaintances, people who might become friends, to know that he shared his psyche with a murderous, power-hungry, monster. They didn’t really trust him as it was.
As well some part of him, a part that he thrust deep down, was so desolate. Would he ever be able to really escape Voldemort?
Naruto frowned to himself as he watched the sun peak over the horizon from where he stood on the roof. He made a note to tell Tsunade-sama about the incident later.
OO
”Ginny’s breath came in short painful gasps as she stumbled over the sand dune, running full out. How had they been found? They had been two days away from their pursuers, when the masked men had come out of no where chasing them across the desert. There was no way to escape now.
And us without our wands! She swore mentally, having no extra breath to do so out loud. From the corner of her eye she saw Hermione stumble and fall and she tried to turn to fast, feet slipping in the sand as she too fell to the ground.
Silver glints of metal flew towards Hermione and Ginny watched in horror as her brother Ron jumped in front of Hermione arms spread wide to protect her as best as he could.
“RON!” Hermione screamed, when a wave of sand whirled up from ground, nimbly catching the metal blades in what looked like fists. Magic? Someone was doing magic! Neville? Luna? Or maybe Harry?
She looked around desperately only seeing to figures on top on the large sand dune behind her. They didn’t have wands though. An eep from Hermione brought her attention back to front and her eyes widened at the sight of the sand as it rose in waves attacking the masked men that had been chasing them. Most of them were instantly buried under several tons of sand. Three managed to dodge the sand and began to run full tilt towards them, two towards Hermione and Ron, one towards her.
Ginny caught her breath. How could they protect themselves. These were warriors trained to kill. Without their wands they were helpless. Much to her shame, Ginny found her mind had completely frozen. The man in front of her drew back a spiked fist aiming at her head. She stared and the metal that glinted in the sun as if hypnotized.
His fist descended and struck a wooden puppet.
Huh?
“Really now, you didn’t even try to dodge. Wake up Girl.” The voice directly behind her snapped Ginny out of the trance. The strange puppet hung between her and the now motionless masked man, without any strings.
Magic?
She spun around to see a strange man dressed all in black, towering over her. She had to crane her neck to see his face. He wore a cat-eared hat that hid all but his pale face, a face that looked more demonic then the masks worn by her pursuers. Reddish-purple tribal markings emphasized a scowling glare. His eyes held no emotion.
But he wasn’t carrying a wand. In fact his fingers were each bent at unnatural angles. When they twitched she heard a sound in front of her and she whirled around to see the puppet in front of her attacking the masked-man.
It wove in and around, knifes popping out from the joints, cutting the man whenever he failed to dodge. Over where Hermione and Ron were she noticed another puppet, this one much larger and lizard like, protecting them. Was this man controlling the puppets, she wondered as she glanced at his rapidly dancing fingers.
With a sudden jerking motion the man in front of her fell to his knees, covered with thousands of tiny cuts. He collapsed, the grinning red mask giving the motionless man a ghastly look.
Ginny ignored the thought in her head that the man was dead and focussed on her brother and Hermione. The masked man with long black hair, twisted in the air slipping past the lizard puppet. He tossed a ball at Hermione and Ron. Ginny watched the little snitch-like ball arch through the air before it exploded in front of them sending them flying backwards. They didn’t move.
“Ron! Hermione!” She moved to get up when her feet were swept out from under her. Spitting sand out of her mouth she grunted when a booted foot forced her to the ground.
“Don’t get in the way Girl.” growled the boy above her, while keeping her firmly pinned to the ground. “Gaara and I have got this covered.”
Gaara? And then she noticed the younger man with red hair so deep it put hers to shame. He held one hand out in front of him and sand was curling around the man that had thrown the bomb.
A scream forced her attention back to the third and last man. His mask had fallen off revealing an almost boy-like face distorted by surprise as he dodged an attack from the lizard puppet and fell into the open barrel chest of a third puppet. The chest slid shut trapping the man as he bashed his fists on the wood.
The sound of metal on wood drew her confused gaze to the puppet that had been defending her. It came apart at the joints, each limb becoming a blade. They hovered in the air for a split second before descending with a speed that sliced air, stabbing the barrel puppet from every angle.
Ginny’s vision greyed when she saw the blood oozing out of the cracks in the wood. Words, voices, something was happening but she couldn’t look away from the blood.
“Where is he? Where is your hideout?” a monotonous voice, a dead voice.
“Kill me, I will never tell.” a muffled voice.
Ginny slowly turned her head from the bloody puppets to see who the voices belonged to. The red haired man had been questioning the man trapped by sand. The man trapped by sand refused to answer.
“Then die.” was the soft reply as he flicked his wrist up and the sand-encased man rose several feet in the air. Sand covered his face. “Sabaku Kyuu!” the guttural voice ripped from the red haired man as he clenched his fist and the sand ball imploded, red mist spraying out in jets. Blood. Dead.
Someone was screaming. Ginny only realized it was her when she started to hurl what little food she had in her. Sure she had seen death before but this... this was...
Gloved hands roughly grabbed her wrists as she was flipped over, thankfully away from the bile, and pinned to the ground again. The boy dressed all in black knelt over her keeping her hands locked together with one hand. The other now held a glinting knife to her jugular.
“I am going to ask you some questions, and depending on how you answer them you and your friends may live.” The voice was cold and uncaring however the mention of her friends had calmed her down like nothing else could. These guys may have saved them, but they were killers.
“First off who are you three.” It wasn’t phrased as a question so much as an order one she wasn’t allowed to disobey. She took a deep breath and cleared her mind of panic.
“I am Ginny, that is my brother Ron and our friend Hermione.” The boy rolled the names over his lips as if tasting them. Ginny focussed on his mouth to keep from glancing in his savage eyes.
“Why was the Oni gang chasing you.”
“They had ambushed our camp three days ago, we managed to escape. We were trying to figure out a way to rescue our other friends when they caught up to us and gave chase.”
“So you now where their encampment is.”
“Yeah.” She tried to crane her neck and see if Hermione and Ron were alright but a sting on her neck made her revise that decision.
“Tell us where it is.” Suddenly Ginny felt another part of her take control. This was the part that she kept hidden normally, the part she had developed after Tom Riddle’s diary. It was her cunning, demanding side. A very Slytherin side to her personality.
“I will not tell you.” She ignored the pressure of the knife. “I will take you there however and in return you will do something for me.”
He lifted an eyebrow and grinned wickedly at her before leaning over, “And what is that, Little Girl?” He breathed next t her ear, sending a chill down her spine.
“You will help us save our other friends.”
He suddenly got up taking his hands and pulling her up, “Deal.” he said as he handed her a handkerchief. She began to wipe away the left over vomit off her face.
“Out of curiosity,” he remarked as she finished, “was that the first death you’ve seen?"
OoO
Ginny was flying. The branches were whipping past her face at a speed that made them little else but blurs.
After the deal had been made the puppet master had introduced himself as Kankuro and his brother as Gaara. Ginny nearly had a heart attack when Gaara’s sand had started to cover Hermione and Ron but instead of burying them it formed a solid dome. Gaara had assured her that yes they were okay, yes they’d be able to breath, but no they would not be able to get out until he got back.
Kankuro had then crouched down in front of her and told her to climb on. She had blushed, telling him she could very well run on her own two feet. He had snorted and replied simply with, “Not at the speed we run.” Which had only made her blush more. Gaara had formed some sort of sand birds that flew off in several directions and they took off.
And that was how Ginny had found herself flying through the forest at a breakneck speed. I am going to die. Was her thought as she ducked her head lower to keep it from being taken off. Of course this only brought her into closer contact with Kankuro, her face pressed right into the curve between his neck and shoulder. He smelled of wood shavings and spices and...
Ginny Molly Weasley you stop that right now! It had to be the sleep depravation, as well as the lingering affects of shock.
After travelling for an hour or so (what had been a day for them on foot) she saw what she needed to see, “There.” She said, trying not to shout in Kankuro’s ear. “That white tree over there, the dead one. The camp is about a day’s walk from there.”
With a twisting leap Kankuro landed next to the white tree. He put her down as Gaara landed beside them. Gaara immediately began forming more sand birds that flew off in separate directions.
“Tell us what your friends look like and we’ll make sure they’re okay.” Kankuro said, turning to face her.
Goddamn men and their bloody god forsaken machoism! Harry did the same thing! “You mean you want me to wait here, like a good little girl. Unaware of what is going on. Unaware if everyone is okay... much less alive. Unaware of how long you will even take?
“You will only be in the way...”
“Bugger you!” He looked surprised by her venom, though he didn’t seem to understand the curse. “I will go to help my friends and I’ll stay out of your way. I am not some helpless little flower!” At least not with my wand and that reminds me... “And besides, there is something else I need to take back from those scum.” His eyes narrowed but he allowed her to get back on his back.
After barely fifteen minutes they stopped again.
“The clearing is over there. Be silent, don’t get noticed, and don’t do anything until the fight starts. We will not worry about saving you if you get caught, not until our objective has been met.”
“Fine,” and with that they were gone. They simply vanished. Ginny breathed in deeply then began to weave her way through the trees, getting closer to the clearing. She came up behind a tent and silently inched her way around it. Years of sneaking around her own home and Hogwarts had come in handy.
When she peered around the tent though she had to bite her lip hard to hold back a scream. Her hand flew to her mouth as blood began to well up around her teeth. Tears leaked out.
In the center of the clearing surrounded by tents was a table set up almost like an alter. Five wands lay evenly spaced on top, three brooms and a sword were propped up against the table and a large back pack was sitting in front of it. A very evident trap.
It wasn’t this that had made her nearly scream though. It was Neville and Luna strapped up on wooden poles, beaten unconscious.
O_O
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Chapter notes: Disclaimer: I own nothing, I am a broke student, do not sue me, it would gain you nothing but my eternal hate.
Chapter end notes: Haha, I love cliff hangers. Love reading them and writing them. You guys are lucky that I'm posting all six chapters at once.