Enjoy ^^. This is a pretty good chapter, not as good as I wanted thought. =/ But it satisfies. Anyway, if I don't post the next chapter by tonight (which I probably won't lol) then it'll be up some time next week, as I won't be back here until Monday and I'm leaving early tomorrow.
Carefully placing his hand on the soft ground, trying not to disturb any of the snow while using this move of his that required the utmost concentration and stillness, Tenzu ran his chakra through his hand. The jutsu he was trying to pull, a very reliable tracking jutsu, was never so hard to pull off. Despite the large dome of earth that covered Tenzu from all sides, the hard snow still disturbed his concentration, and the pieces of hail that fell along with it didn?t help.
He couldn?t begin to describe how much he hated this place, especially for a jutsu such as this. The jutsu required him to place his hand on the earth and send vibrations throughout it, and once the jutsu was released, a radius of his own, pure chakra would blast out from all places and angles, telling him the exact location of everything within a very, very wide range. But the snow kept shifting under his usual steady hand, and he could hardly reach the earth.
The only part that he hated about this jutsu, despite it requiring so much concentration, was that it had a tendency to attract unwanted or unneeded attention. No matter who was there, be it a simple villager to a legendary ninja, they would always seem to be drawn to it, it would also alert whoever he was trying to find. They didn?t need to know where it was, it was just something about the radius that made their brain alarmed. When he was lost, and simply using the jutsu to find another Akatsuki member, he didn?t mind, but when he was searching for someone without them knowing, it was a nuisance.
After a few, futile tries, Tenzu finally released the jutsu, sending the radius out, through the dome and further, much further. His lips curled up into a cruel, but satisfied smirk and immediately started running, not wanting to walk any longer.
After all, he wouldn?t want to keep his prey waiting.
~
Riku was awoken by an abrupt sound accompanied by a chill so great that it felt as though it travelled through his spine and moved a few of his bones out of place. Instinctively he hopped up, as well as backwards, and grabbed Soul Eater, while at the same time moving into the type of stance that you?d expect from a wolf who could stand on two legs.
Moving back and forth as if he would pounce and kill the first person he saw, he started advancing towards the cave?s entrance, almost walking through the miniscule fire he had made in the sheer heat of the moment. He didn?t see anyone, but he sensed someone, or something coming. The figure drew near, and he finally saw it, the mere sight of the clouds made him snap.
He didn?t feel the emotion, his mind had escaped him long ago, he skipped the anger, and simply snapped.
~
Shinru felt the same, spine tingling radius that Riku did. And, much like Riku, he also sensed something. Foolishly, he walked deeper into the Lich?s Tundra, he wasn?t unaware, he knew better than anyone of the place?s reputation. But he was just drawn to the place like a magnet.
He walked towards where he saw it start as if he himself was now a lich.
~
?Well, I?ve finally got you. You drove me through some serious hell to find you ya know,? Tenzu said, with a hint of anger in his usually calm voice. ?But none of that matters now, I finally have you. So please, just save yourself the trouble and come with me.?
Riku simply snarled as a reply, still maintaining his wild stance.
?Have the years out here made you unable to speak? I guess the Academy doesn?t live up to its great reputation.?
Riku growled again, still not talking.
The truth was, he partially had lost his ability to speak. This was the first human he?d seen in years, and being who it was, or who he apparently was, he wasn?t exactly ready to talk again. Come to think of it, he had even struggled to find the word ?human.? It seemed a alien thing to him, something he hadn?t seen, nor considered himself, ever since the demise of his home, 6 years ago. At that moment he was amazed, for six years, he dealt with the weight of abandoning his home in its time of need, not that he could?ve done much, six years had it been since he spoke, and six years had it been since he considered himself humane, or even sane for that matter. Sanity seemed... overrated to him, as were all feelings and emotions and such.
Riku finally awoke from his thoughts, and started to speak first trying to think of the words he would say, and finally blurting them out in an awkward, but oddly fluent sentence, ?I?m not going anywhere with you guys.? It wasn?t much, but it was something.
?Look here kid,? Tenzu said, grabbing his nose between the knuckles of two of his slender fingers, ?My master... well boss, if you will, wants you for your powers, he doesn?t need you to fight for him or anything. When we have what we want from you, you?ll find yourself drowning in your own fresh blood.?
Riku suddenly felt a kunai on the back of his neck and when he turned slightly, he could see Tenzu behind him, talking in a whisper, ?So do you know what that means? I can break you, and destroy everything about you. As long as there?s an ounce of your chakra left, that?s all we need considering that, plenty of our members can replicate chakra with only a small sample of it. So if you don?t come with me, my boss won?t mind at all if a few bones are broken, so again, please, just come with me.?
At that time, Riku realized the one thing that made him glad about losing his emotions, fear was always such an irritant in the past, but now, it was nonexistent.
In one, quick motion, Riku jabbed the handle of his sword into Tenzu?s stomach and jumped forward, hence away from his opponent. Tenzu stood for a moment, clenching his stomach, and suddenly drop into a state of water.
The boy looked around, and suddenly froze in place. The water that he dropped into started to creep toward him. The water didn?t surprise him; he was just, drawn to it. He couldn?t resist staring. He felt his head drop to his right side, but he couldn?t pick it up, he couldn?t move, he couldn?t even drift his eyes anywhere else; he could only stare at the mesmerizing water. Out of the water grew a large, clawed hand, it wasn?t of water, there was fur surrounding it, and the claws were just what they were, claws. Not of an element, natural claws.
And while he was still trying to figure out what the claws were, he suddenly felt that he couldn?t breathe, and suddenly the real Tenzu who was standing behind him, couldn?t breathe either.
~
Shinru grasped Tenzu?s neck as if he was grasping onto life itself. Tenzu took a quick jab at him with his elbow and took two steps to move behind him.
?What have we here, could it be the Shinru the great??
Shinru?s eyes drifted to Riku, caught in genjutsu.
?So you?ve noticed my little friend here, don?t worry, the genjutsu won?t kill him. Maybe scar him for life...?
Shinru grabbed the special katana at his waist and took multiple stabs at Tenzu, all of them merely hit air and snow as Tenzu danced around the blade, and at the last strike he pushed his arm forward, an arm that was formerly concealed by the long sleeves of the robe, revealing a clawed, and furry hand, congruent to the one Riku had saw, or was seeing more appropriately, in his apparent genjutsu. The hand snapped out at the blade, grabbing the entire thing.
?Quite violent for one who apparently dreams of a world of peace don?t you think, I?ll be taking each and every one of your futile attempts at killing me when I decide how much suffering I want to put you through before I end your pathetic life.?
?You have no element of fear over me; you?re nothing but Akatsuki?s failed experiments, every one of you are just a band of freaks and misfits of civilization!?
?Is that what you call the world?? he questioned and laughed at the same time, ?Civilization? You call a place where disagreement leads to war civilization? Is that what you call a place where the skies are filled with the words of those who speak as though they know all, but are in truth completely unaware of what they speak of, just as you speak of Akatsuki? Is civilization a place where you are deprived of your rights merely because you refuse to comply to the orders of the so called kages? A place where reason is replaced with chaos and happiness with death!? If that is civilization, then I would rather stay a freak for the rest of my life then to join in your civilization!?
Shinru was struck deeply by the words, maybe this new Akatsuki did have a deeper meaning, and maybe there was some reason within those walls. But it wasn?t the time for contemplation. Shinru would have to do something quickly.
Taking another swipe at Tenzu, Shinru darted off towards Riku, picked him up, and started to run for his life.
Tenzu thought for a moment, he thought about giving chase, but it was obvious already where they were going, his job here was done, if Shinru awoke Riku from the genjutsu, he wouldn?t be able to fend both of them off, after all, they were both ice users, this was their natural habitat. And even if he could, getting the boy back to the base would be a pain. He had done his job, Riku was out of the Tundra, and a plan could now be made, one where they would both be kneeling before the master within seconds, and dead in seconds after that. Not only that, but he had personal reasons. Maybe Shinru would make something out of the boy, something worthy of being presented to his boss.
Something worthy, of joining Akatsuki.
Starting Anew
Carefully placing his hand on the soft ground, trying not to disturb any of the snow while using this move of his that required the utmost concentration and stillness, Tenzu ran his chakra through his hand. The jutsu he was trying to pull, a very reliable tracking jutsu, was never so hard to pull off. Despite the large dome of earth that covered Tenzu from all sides, the hard snow still disturbed his concentration, and the pieces of hail that fell along with it didn?t help.
He couldn?t begin to describe how much he hated this place, especially for a jutsu such as this. The jutsu required him to place his hand on the earth and send vibrations throughout it, and once the jutsu was released, a radius of his own, pure chakra would blast out from all places and angles, telling him the exact location of everything within a very, very wide range. But the snow kept shifting under his usual steady hand, and he could hardly reach the earth.
The only part that he hated about this jutsu, despite it requiring so much concentration, was that it had a tendency to attract unwanted or unneeded attention. No matter who was there, be it a simple villager to a legendary ninja, they would always seem to be drawn to it, it would also alert whoever he was trying to find. They didn?t need to know where it was, it was just something about the radius that made their brain alarmed. When he was lost, and simply using the jutsu to find another Akatsuki member, he didn?t mind, but when he was searching for someone without them knowing, it was a nuisance.
After a few, futile tries, Tenzu finally released the jutsu, sending the radius out, through the dome and further, much further. His lips curled up into a cruel, but satisfied smirk and immediately started running, not wanting to walk any longer.
After all, he wouldn?t want to keep his prey waiting.
~
Riku was awoken by an abrupt sound accompanied by a chill so great that it felt as though it travelled through his spine and moved a few of his bones out of place. Instinctively he hopped up, as well as backwards, and grabbed Soul Eater, while at the same time moving into the type of stance that you?d expect from a wolf who could stand on two legs.
Moving back and forth as if he would pounce and kill the first person he saw, he started advancing towards the cave?s entrance, almost walking through the miniscule fire he had made in the sheer heat of the moment. He didn?t see anyone, but he sensed someone, or something coming. The figure drew near, and he finally saw it, the mere sight of the clouds made him snap.
He didn?t feel the emotion, his mind had escaped him long ago, he skipped the anger, and simply snapped.
~
Shinru felt the same, spine tingling radius that Riku did. And, much like Riku, he also sensed something. Foolishly, he walked deeper into the Lich?s Tundra, he wasn?t unaware, he knew better than anyone of the place?s reputation. But he was just drawn to the place like a magnet.
He walked towards where he saw it start as if he himself was now a lich.
~
?Well, I?ve finally got you. You drove me through some serious hell to find you ya know,? Tenzu said, with a hint of anger in his usually calm voice. ?But none of that matters now, I finally have you. So please, just save yourself the trouble and come with me.?
Riku simply snarled as a reply, still maintaining his wild stance.
?Have the years out here made you unable to speak? I guess the Academy doesn?t live up to its great reputation.?
Riku growled again, still not talking.
The truth was, he partially had lost his ability to speak. This was the first human he?d seen in years, and being who it was, or who he apparently was, he wasn?t exactly ready to talk again. Come to think of it, he had even struggled to find the word ?human.? It seemed a alien thing to him, something he hadn?t seen, nor considered himself, ever since the demise of his home, 6 years ago. At that moment he was amazed, for six years, he dealt with the weight of abandoning his home in its time of need, not that he could?ve done much, six years had it been since he spoke, and six years had it been since he considered himself humane, or even sane for that matter. Sanity seemed... overrated to him, as were all feelings and emotions and such.
Riku finally awoke from his thoughts, and started to speak first trying to think of the words he would say, and finally blurting them out in an awkward, but oddly fluent sentence, ?I?m not going anywhere with you guys.? It wasn?t much, but it was something.
?Look here kid,? Tenzu said, grabbing his nose between the knuckles of two of his slender fingers, ?My master... well boss, if you will, wants you for your powers, he doesn?t need you to fight for him or anything. When we have what we want from you, you?ll find yourself drowning in your own fresh blood.?
Riku suddenly felt a kunai on the back of his neck and when he turned slightly, he could see Tenzu behind him, talking in a whisper, ?So do you know what that means? I can break you, and destroy everything about you. As long as there?s an ounce of your chakra left, that?s all we need considering that, plenty of our members can replicate chakra with only a small sample of it. So if you don?t come with me, my boss won?t mind at all if a few bones are broken, so again, please, just come with me.?
At that time, Riku realized the one thing that made him glad about losing his emotions, fear was always such an irritant in the past, but now, it was nonexistent.
In one, quick motion, Riku jabbed the handle of his sword into Tenzu?s stomach and jumped forward, hence away from his opponent. Tenzu stood for a moment, clenching his stomach, and suddenly drop into a state of water.
The boy looked around, and suddenly froze in place. The water that he dropped into started to creep toward him. The water didn?t surprise him; he was just, drawn to it. He couldn?t resist staring. He felt his head drop to his right side, but he couldn?t pick it up, he couldn?t move, he couldn?t even drift his eyes anywhere else; he could only stare at the mesmerizing water. Out of the water grew a large, clawed hand, it wasn?t of water, there was fur surrounding it, and the claws were just what they were, claws. Not of an element, natural claws.
And while he was still trying to figure out what the claws were, he suddenly felt that he couldn?t breathe, and suddenly the real Tenzu who was standing behind him, couldn?t breathe either.
~
Shinru grasped Tenzu?s neck as if he was grasping onto life itself. Tenzu took a quick jab at him with his elbow and took two steps to move behind him.
?What have we here, could it be the Shinru the great??
Shinru?s eyes drifted to Riku, caught in genjutsu.
?So you?ve noticed my little friend here, don?t worry, the genjutsu won?t kill him. Maybe scar him for life...?
Shinru grabbed the special katana at his waist and took multiple stabs at Tenzu, all of them merely hit air and snow as Tenzu danced around the blade, and at the last strike he pushed his arm forward, an arm that was formerly concealed by the long sleeves of the robe, revealing a clawed, and furry hand, congruent to the one Riku had saw, or was seeing more appropriately, in his apparent genjutsu. The hand snapped out at the blade, grabbing the entire thing.
?Quite violent for one who apparently dreams of a world of peace don?t you think, I?ll be taking each and every one of your futile attempts at killing me when I decide how much suffering I want to put you through before I end your pathetic life.?
?You have no element of fear over me; you?re nothing but Akatsuki?s failed experiments, every one of you are just a band of freaks and misfits of civilization!?
?Is that what you call the world?? he questioned and laughed at the same time, ?Civilization? You call a place where disagreement leads to war civilization? Is that what you call a place where the skies are filled with the words of those who speak as though they know all, but are in truth completely unaware of what they speak of, just as you speak of Akatsuki? Is civilization a place where you are deprived of your rights merely because you refuse to comply to the orders of the so called kages? A place where reason is replaced with chaos and happiness with death!? If that is civilization, then I would rather stay a freak for the rest of my life then to join in your civilization!?
Shinru was struck deeply by the words, maybe this new Akatsuki did have a deeper meaning, and maybe there was some reason within those walls. But it wasn?t the time for contemplation. Shinru would have to do something quickly.
Taking another swipe at Tenzu, Shinru darted off towards Riku, picked him up, and started to run for his life.
Tenzu thought for a moment, he thought about giving chase, but it was obvious already where they were going, his job here was done, if Shinru awoke Riku from the genjutsu, he wouldn?t be able to fend both of them off, after all, they were both ice users, this was their natural habitat. And even if he could, getting the boy back to the base would be a pain. He had done his job, Riku was out of the Tundra, and a plan could now be made, one where they would both be kneeling before the master within seconds, and dead in seconds after that. Not only that, but he had personal reasons. Maybe Shinru would make something out of the boy, something worthy of being presented to his boss.
Something worthy, of joining Akatsuki.
