Definately not my favorite chapter. :|
Sasuke stared at him for a moment. Ironically, his blood red eyes gave a stare as cold as ice, sending a chill through Riku, who Sasuke hadn?t even been looking at. Deirous, behind Sasuke, stood with a blank look on his face now, not sure what was going on or how to comprehend anything that just occurred. Meanwhile, the man on the other end of Sasuke?s stare looked back at him, his eyes holding nothing even remotely similar to the sharingan, but his unmoving stare seemed just as determined.
The man took his hand from Sasuke?s wrist, as Sasuke pulled his arm down, ?Chill out?? Sasuke questioned, ?They could?ve been a threat to the village.?
?Really, Sasuke? A threat?? the man countered quickly, ?Sasuke, they?re two boys, probably no older than 15, maybe 16, who you almost killed without breaking a sweat. Doesn?t seem like a threat to me.?
Riku turned towards the man next to him. He had short, brown hair that went down on his neck, but it didn?t hang down like Deirous?s, though it seemed fairly unkempt. The ruffled hair went down to his forehead and covered but a bit of his eyes. He stared towards Sasuke for a moment longer, his brown eyes not shaking in the slightest as he looked towards the intimidating man.
Sasuke, seeming to realize that the argument was already quickly lost, but not wanting to admit it, let out a puff of air and disappeared. The other man, who Riku had just realized couldn?t be older than Sasuke, making Riku mark him as around 19 or 20, looked down and shook his head with his eyes closed, ?That guy...? he said, then he stopped as he looked towards Riku.
He knelt down on one knee, ?You okay buddy?? he asked, a true amount of concern in his voice.
Riku looked at him for a moment; he almost laughed at how he so quickly switched from seeming like the most deadly man in the world, to the friendliest one, ?Yeah, I?m fine.?
Riku struggled up to his feet, as the man, taking Riku?s word for it, stood up next to him.
?So Konoha huh?? the guy asked.
~
The trio, Riku, Deirous, and Raiden, as the other man had introduced himself, walked through the forest. Deirous looked around cautiously, afraid that Raiden may be leading them into a trap, but Riku looked as relaxed as Raiden was. For some reason, this Raiden?s company was a comforting thing to Riku, rather than a threatening one, in Deirous?s case. This man, who actually had just escaped his teenage years at twenty years old, seemed so familiar to Riku. The name, the look, and the natural aura of strength and confidence that accompanied him, despite his naturally happy, maybe even eccentric, attitude, was all so familiar to Riku, but he didn?t know why. Little did Riku know, Raiden constantly looked towards Riku with a same sense of recognition, but he, too, failed to fully recognize the young man. Raiden walked with his hands interlocked behind his neck, leading them to his village, or that was what he said at least.
Deirous, still curious as to who this man was, pressed on with questions, ?So how long were you watching??
Raiden looked towards him, not bothering to turn his head or move his hands, but instead
just drifted his eyes towards the curious young ninja, ?Hm??
?You knew we were going to Konoha before we told you back there. So you must?ve heard us explain it to Sasuke. You had to have been there for pretty long to have heard that.?
Raiden looked back forwards, ?Decent observation, but the battle wasn?t as long as you?d apparently like to think, so there really wasn?t much of a gap between when you said you were going to Konoha, and when I intervened. And, if you must know, it?s kind of my job to keep up with Sasuke. He means well... sort of... but he?s dangerous.?
Riku took the chance to ask a question now, ?Yeah, why did he try to... ya know... kill us??
Raiden sighed, ?Sasuke... he?s been through a lot. He seems to think that in our village he?s found peace with himself, though I seriously doubt that,? Raiden explained, ?He?s afraid that just about anyone would break that peace that he believes he?s found, on account of...? Raiden?s voice trailed off, as if deciding not to continue, ?Nevermind. He?s been through enough to have a right to be afraid, but it doesn?t forgive his actions, let?s leave it at that.?
Riku and Deirous exchanged glances for a moment, and then they decided to dismiss that part of the conversation and keep walking. The three walked in silence for a moment, though Raiden began whistling not too soon after they stopped talking.
?Hey guys, look sharp,? Raiden said, breaking the silence as Deirous and Riku, only half-awake looked up onto the village.
The village was much larger than Riku had expected, due to it being very close to the border of the Fire Country and therefore far from the capital. It was built in a very large clearing in the forest, likely an unnatural clearing that had involved cutting down trees to build the village. The village, however, seemed to make up for the missing area of the forest. It had a rather small wall surrounding it, one that some of the houses farther within the city could be seen over, likely due to them making use of the surrounding trees for protection. In the middle of the tree, he could see a large tree, several times bigger than almost all, and if there was an exception, Riku had yet to see it, of the trees in the forest. Around the trees were large areas, concealed within the leaves to make them look like simple branches at first glance. Now that Riku had looked around, he noticed several other platforms on the trees surrounding the village, likely within ninja posted on them to, but it all blended in perfectly to resemble simple branches.
Raiden led them into the village, casually putting up a hand as one of the sentries, perched atop the wall, nodded towards him, and then looked curiously towards Riku and Deirous.
The village seemed simple enough, but not in the sense of it being like the ?slums? of the Fire Country. As soon as they walked in, there were three roads that split from the main road that they had been walking along. One of them went straight, further to the center of the village, while the other two went right and left, both skimming the perimeter of the area. As they walked in, Riku noticed that the place was hardly crowded enough for the size of it, and the houses had quite some space in between them, gradually becoming taller as they went deeper into the city, until they began to near giant houses the size of the surrounding trees.
Raiden walked into one of the large buildings, apparently his house.
?Well, home sweet home I guess,? he said, gesturing for Riku and Deirous to walk in.
Riku, glad for just the simple gift of shelter, walked in gleefully, though Deirous hesitantly walked through the door, being sure that one foot was solidly on the ground before picking up the other.
Raiden walked through to a decently sized room with chairs scattered around the room, and gestured for the other two to sit. Riku looked around and considered the picture on Raiden?s table as he sat. It was him and another person, a girl. She looked fairly younger than Raiden did in that picture. She seemed around 12 at most in the picture, and Raiden couldn?t have been older than 16 at the time that the picture was taken.
Raiden followed Riku?s eyes to the picture, ?My sister,? he clarified.
Riku nodded, ?Is she here with you??
?Yeah,? Raiden said, leaning back in his chair so that it titled back to lean against the wall, ?So... why are you guys going to Konoha??
?That?s a bit more than you need to know,? Deirous answered, seeing that Riku was about to tell this man, who Deirous still considered a complete stranger, everything about them.
Raiden laughed and nodded, scratching his head, ?Fair enough.?
Riku looked back to the picture again, more waves of recognition coming over him from both faces in the picture.
?You guys can stay here until you get yourselves together if you want,? Raiden said, allowing his chair to fall and land back on all four legs as he stood up, ?But you?ll have to come with me for now.?
Alarms went off in Deirous?s head, ?Why??
?Well, a distrusting fellow like you should understand that I wouldn?t let total strangers stay in my house when I?m gone.?
Deirous flushed, suddenly seeing that it was only logical, ?Oh... ok then.?
~
Riku, Raiden, and Deirous walked through the town until Raiden, leading the way, finally stopped in front of a large dojo. It wasn?t large as in tall, like most of the buildings surrounding it, but it was extremely wide, taking up enough space that 6 or 7 houses could fit in. Raiden walked in, nodding to several of the people inside. It started as a very long hallway, and then another large opening led outside, somewhat anyway. The area had a small wall around it, about the height of the dojo itself, but was open at the top.
The practice field had been simply a large, grassy plain with several trees scattered around it, most of them outlining the perimeter of the area. There were training dummies lined in a circle, and in the center stood a young girl.
She seemed to be about Riku?s age, sixteen, a year younger at most. Riku immediately recognized her as an older version of Raiden?s sister from the picture. She brown hair that went straight down, a little farther than her shoulders, though none of it actually touched her shoulders, just ran over her ears, down her neck, and a bit on her back. She was a decent height, maybe a half-a-head shorter than Riku. Undeniably, Riku thought, she was beautiful. In one hand she held a sword, longer than Soul Eater and instead of curving like a scimitar; it went straight out like a proper sword. In her other hand was a short dagger.
It took Riku a moment to notice that these dummies weren?t just normal mannequins, they were moving. They were all made of wood, and built to resemble a man. Riku looked over to the side and noticed an older man, maybe in his 40s, sitting down with his hands in a seal. Riku assumed that he must be a wood user, more than a little surprised considering that he had yet to see one, and had heard that only one was alive?Yamato. Well, besides Fumio. But with the experiments he heard were going on in Akatsuki, this was much more surprising. The man was controlling the dummies.
They began closing in on the girl as her grip tightened. One of the wooden dummies dashed towards her quickly, balling up its fist and going for a punch towards her face. She quickly spun to the right and forward, dodging the punch and slicing the dummy with her dagger as she passed. Meanwhile, her other arm shot out, stabbing another mannequin that had been just within the range of the sword.
Riku watched with a degree of amazement as she gracefully spun around, dagger and sword working in perfect harmony, countering every attack perfectly, and countering every counter the dummy had to offer. Soon enough, all of the wood clones lay limply on the ground while she stood, for a moment in a fighting stance, and when she finally noticed Raiden watching her, smiled and walked over to him.
?You?re getting better,? Raiden said, returning the smile, ?Though you?re still pretty bad.?
?Thanks,? she said, her eyes narrowed towards him and an obvious sarcasm in her voice.
Then she looked towards Riku and Deirous, mainly Riku, ?Who?re they?? Her voice was melodious, slightly high-pitched, but not so much that it sounded like a whine.
Raiden looked back, ?Guests.?
The girl looked towards her brother curiously for a moment, obviously suspicious of the two characters, but shrugged, deciding to believe that her brother was capable of deciding whether they would try anything or not, ?Hi,? she said.
?Hey...? Riku replied. He still felt a large amount of recognition as he looked from her, to Raiden, and then back to her. There was something...
Then it hit him. His blue eyes widened as he looked at her, finally putting two and two together, ?Reina!??
Recognition
Sasuke stared at him for a moment. Ironically, his blood red eyes gave a stare as cold as ice, sending a chill through Riku, who Sasuke hadn?t even been looking at. Deirous, behind Sasuke, stood with a blank look on his face now, not sure what was going on or how to comprehend anything that just occurred. Meanwhile, the man on the other end of Sasuke?s stare looked back at him, his eyes holding nothing even remotely similar to the sharingan, but his unmoving stare seemed just as determined.
The man took his hand from Sasuke?s wrist, as Sasuke pulled his arm down, ?Chill out?? Sasuke questioned, ?They could?ve been a threat to the village.?
?Really, Sasuke? A threat?? the man countered quickly, ?Sasuke, they?re two boys, probably no older than 15, maybe 16, who you almost killed without breaking a sweat. Doesn?t seem like a threat to me.?
Riku turned towards the man next to him. He had short, brown hair that went down on his neck, but it didn?t hang down like Deirous?s, though it seemed fairly unkempt. The ruffled hair went down to his forehead and covered but a bit of his eyes. He stared towards Sasuke for a moment longer, his brown eyes not shaking in the slightest as he looked towards the intimidating man.
Sasuke, seeming to realize that the argument was already quickly lost, but not wanting to admit it, let out a puff of air and disappeared. The other man, who Riku had just realized couldn?t be older than Sasuke, making Riku mark him as around 19 or 20, looked down and shook his head with his eyes closed, ?That guy...? he said, then he stopped as he looked towards Riku.
He knelt down on one knee, ?You okay buddy?? he asked, a true amount of concern in his voice.
Riku looked at him for a moment; he almost laughed at how he so quickly switched from seeming like the most deadly man in the world, to the friendliest one, ?Yeah, I?m fine.?
Riku struggled up to his feet, as the man, taking Riku?s word for it, stood up next to him.
?So Konoha huh?? the guy asked.
~
The trio, Riku, Deirous, and Raiden, as the other man had introduced himself, walked through the forest. Deirous looked around cautiously, afraid that Raiden may be leading them into a trap, but Riku looked as relaxed as Raiden was. For some reason, this Raiden?s company was a comforting thing to Riku, rather than a threatening one, in Deirous?s case. This man, who actually had just escaped his teenage years at twenty years old, seemed so familiar to Riku. The name, the look, and the natural aura of strength and confidence that accompanied him, despite his naturally happy, maybe even eccentric, attitude, was all so familiar to Riku, but he didn?t know why. Little did Riku know, Raiden constantly looked towards Riku with a same sense of recognition, but he, too, failed to fully recognize the young man. Raiden walked with his hands interlocked behind his neck, leading them to his village, or that was what he said at least.
Deirous, still curious as to who this man was, pressed on with questions, ?So how long were you watching??
Raiden looked towards him, not bothering to turn his head or move his hands, but instead
just drifted his eyes towards the curious young ninja, ?Hm??
?You knew we were going to Konoha before we told you back there. So you must?ve heard us explain it to Sasuke. You had to have been there for pretty long to have heard that.?
Raiden looked back forwards, ?Decent observation, but the battle wasn?t as long as you?d apparently like to think, so there really wasn?t much of a gap between when you said you were going to Konoha, and when I intervened. And, if you must know, it?s kind of my job to keep up with Sasuke. He means well... sort of... but he?s dangerous.?
Riku took the chance to ask a question now, ?Yeah, why did he try to... ya know... kill us??
Raiden sighed, ?Sasuke... he?s been through a lot. He seems to think that in our village he?s found peace with himself, though I seriously doubt that,? Raiden explained, ?He?s afraid that just about anyone would break that peace that he believes he?s found, on account of...? Raiden?s voice trailed off, as if deciding not to continue, ?Nevermind. He?s been through enough to have a right to be afraid, but it doesn?t forgive his actions, let?s leave it at that.?
Riku and Deirous exchanged glances for a moment, and then they decided to dismiss that part of the conversation and keep walking. The three walked in silence for a moment, though Raiden began whistling not too soon after they stopped talking.
?Hey guys, look sharp,? Raiden said, breaking the silence as Deirous and Riku, only half-awake looked up onto the village.
The village was much larger than Riku had expected, due to it being very close to the border of the Fire Country and therefore far from the capital. It was built in a very large clearing in the forest, likely an unnatural clearing that had involved cutting down trees to build the village. The village, however, seemed to make up for the missing area of the forest. It had a rather small wall surrounding it, one that some of the houses farther within the city could be seen over, likely due to them making use of the surrounding trees for protection. In the middle of the tree, he could see a large tree, several times bigger than almost all, and if there was an exception, Riku had yet to see it, of the trees in the forest. Around the trees were large areas, concealed within the leaves to make them look like simple branches at first glance. Now that Riku had looked around, he noticed several other platforms on the trees surrounding the village, likely within ninja posted on them to, but it all blended in perfectly to resemble simple branches.
Raiden led them into the village, casually putting up a hand as one of the sentries, perched atop the wall, nodded towards him, and then looked curiously towards Riku and Deirous.
The village seemed simple enough, but not in the sense of it being like the ?slums? of the Fire Country. As soon as they walked in, there were three roads that split from the main road that they had been walking along. One of them went straight, further to the center of the village, while the other two went right and left, both skimming the perimeter of the area. As they walked in, Riku noticed that the place was hardly crowded enough for the size of it, and the houses had quite some space in between them, gradually becoming taller as they went deeper into the city, until they began to near giant houses the size of the surrounding trees.
Raiden walked into one of the large buildings, apparently his house.
?Well, home sweet home I guess,? he said, gesturing for Riku and Deirous to walk in.
Riku, glad for just the simple gift of shelter, walked in gleefully, though Deirous hesitantly walked through the door, being sure that one foot was solidly on the ground before picking up the other.
Raiden walked through to a decently sized room with chairs scattered around the room, and gestured for the other two to sit. Riku looked around and considered the picture on Raiden?s table as he sat. It was him and another person, a girl. She looked fairly younger than Raiden did in that picture. She seemed around 12 at most in the picture, and Raiden couldn?t have been older than 16 at the time that the picture was taken.
Raiden followed Riku?s eyes to the picture, ?My sister,? he clarified.
Riku nodded, ?Is she here with you??
?Yeah,? Raiden said, leaning back in his chair so that it titled back to lean against the wall, ?So... why are you guys going to Konoha??
?That?s a bit more than you need to know,? Deirous answered, seeing that Riku was about to tell this man, who Deirous still considered a complete stranger, everything about them.
Raiden laughed and nodded, scratching his head, ?Fair enough.?
Riku looked back to the picture again, more waves of recognition coming over him from both faces in the picture.
?You guys can stay here until you get yourselves together if you want,? Raiden said, allowing his chair to fall and land back on all four legs as he stood up, ?But you?ll have to come with me for now.?
Alarms went off in Deirous?s head, ?Why??
?Well, a distrusting fellow like you should understand that I wouldn?t let total strangers stay in my house when I?m gone.?
Deirous flushed, suddenly seeing that it was only logical, ?Oh... ok then.?
~
Riku, Raiden, and Deirous walked through the town until Raiden, leading the way, finally stopped in front of a large dojo. It wasn?t large as in tall, like most of the buildings surrounding it, but it was extremely wide, taking up enough space that 6 or 7 houses could fit in. Raiden walked in, nodding to several of the people inside. It started as a very long hallway, and then another large opening led outside, somewhat anyway. The area had a small wall around it, about the height of the dojo itself, but was open at the top.
The practice field had been simply a large, grassy plain with several trees scattered around it, most of them outlining the perimeter of the area. There were training dummies lined in a circle, and in the center stood a young girl.
She seemed to be about Riku?s age, sixteen, a year younger at most. Riku immediately recognized her as an older version of Raiden?s sister from the picture. She brown hair that went straight down, a little farther than her shoulders, though none of it actually touched her shoulders, just ran over her ears, down her neck, and a bit on her back. She was a decent height, maybe a half-a-head shorter than Riku. Undeniably, Riku thought, she was beautiful. In one hand she held a sword, longer than Soul Eater and instead of curving like a scimitar; it went straight out like a proper sword. In her other hand was a short dagger.
It took Riku a moment to notice that these dummies weren?t just normal mannequins, they were moving. They were all made of wood, and built to resemble a man. Riku looked over to the side and noticed an older man, maybe in his 40s, sitting down with his hands in a seal. Riku assumed that he must be a wood user, more than a little surprised considering that he had yet to see one, and had heard that only one was alive?Yamato. Well, besides Fumio. But with the experiments he heard were going on in Akatsuki, this was much more surprising. The man was controlling the dummies.
They began closing in on the girl as her grip tightened. One of the wooden dummies dashed towards her quickly, balling up its fist and going for a punch towards her face. She quickly spun to the right and forward, dodging the punch and slicing the dummy with her dagger as she passed. Meanwhile, her other arm shot out, stabbing another mannequin that had been just within the range of the sword.
Riku watched with a degree of amazement as she gracefully spun around, dagger and sword working in perfect harmony, countering every attack perfectly, and countering every counter the dummy had to offer. Soon enough, all of the wood clones lay limply on the ground while she stood, for a moment in a fighting stance, and when she finally noticed Raiden watching her, smiled and walked over to him.
?You?re getting better,? Raiden said, returning the smile, ?Though you?re still pretty bad.?
?Thanks,? she said, her eyes narrowed towards him and an obvious sarcasm in her voice.
Then she looked towards Riku and Deirous, mainly Riku, ?Who?re they?? Her voice was melodious, slightly high-pitched, but not so much that it sounded like a whine.
Raiden looked back, ?Guests.?
The girl looked towards her brother curiously for a moment, obviously suspicious of the two characters, but shrugged, deciding to believe that her brother was capable of deciding whether they would try anything or not, ?Hi,? she said.
?Hey...? Riku replied. He still felt a large amount of recognition as he looked from her, to Raiden, and then back to her. There was something...
Then it hit him. His blue eyes widened as he looked at her, finally putting two and two together, ?Reina!??
