"Our previous team failed to retrieve Sasuke from the Sound Ninja Four. I have selected you to apprehend them, you are the strongest ninja left. Good luck." Lady Tsunade said grimly.
Beside me stood Neji, Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Naruto, Kiba and Akimaru. We were the villages only hope at retreving Sasuke; not that he deserved it. We all nodded and exited the office. Neji and I were the last two to exit the room, lagging behind the group purposely. I turned to look up at him. "Do you think he deserves this?" I asked.
Neji shook his head. "Not in the least, but destiny has brought it upon us, so we must follow its course."
I chuckled softly to myself. "You make no sense sometimes." Neji mearly frowned and kept walking.
The gates opened before us to reveal a long winding path surrounded by thick trunked trees. The eight of us darted along the path, heading right into the dense forest. I was much faster than most of them, Kiba and Akimaru being the only ones able to keep up with me. Neji stayed behind with Shikamaru, talking softly as we jumped branches.
"That girl confuses me sometimes. How troublesome." Shikamaru stated flatly.
"I know what you mean. Sometimes I am concerned about her sanity." Neji replied.
I turned around, jumping backwards, and shot him a glare.
"How can she jump backwards?" Shikamaru asked.
"She confuses me too," he said softly. "I don't think you are insane, just a little misunderstood and misguided at times."
I shot him one last angry look and turned back again. We stopped a few miles later to come up with a plan. I payed Shikamaru no attention while he spoke. Nobody could tell me what I was supposed to do, I prefer to rely on instincts. They haven't let me down yet.
We began to move again. It didn't take us long to catch up with the Sound Ninja Four. They sat, huddled around the coffin with their backs against it. So unaware of us. Jirobo stood up and stared in our direction, then dashed off in a direction away from the group, they others doing the same. Tayuya took the coffin with her. So they were separating, huh. Fine by me. Chouji followed Jirobo, Kiba and Akimaru after Sakon and Ukon, Shikamaru and Naruto after Tayuya and Neji and I followed Kidomaru.
He lead us far away from the others, then stopped in the middle of no where. Neji landed in a tree in front of him, and me behind. "Two against one doesn't seem to fair." he said in a non -caring tone.
"Oh, I'm just here to protect Neji from death. Don't mind me." I said then jumped to join Neji. I leaned close to his ear and whispered a few words. "I'll merge with a tree somewhere, most likely the one his will be standing in." I jumped away.
I chose a tree about fifty feet from Kidomaru and began my handsigns. "I hope I get this right." I thought. I had only suceeded with this jutsu once. I opened my eyes and directed my palm towards the tree behind me. If I did the justsu correctly, it should pass right into it. Thud. "Damnit" I cursed. I began the hand signs again. 'Earth Style; Tree Jumper Jutsu.' My palm hit the tree again, this time passing through it. I grunted softly as I forced my way into the trunk.
"Awesome, I did it," I said aloud happily. "Now for the fun part."
From the inside of the tree, I could see everything going on outside. My jutsu made the trees translucent in my eyes and my eyes alone. I saw Neji execute a perfect Rotation. Three golden arrows were forced away by the wind. Now to find Kidomaru.
Kidomaru stood about fourty seven meters away from me, standing in a slight crouch on a branch, pulling another arrow from his throat. Now for the hard part. I concentrated on becoming one with the tree. I felt my body become light and weightless, as though I was the water circulating in the tree. I jumped up off the ground and placed my feet on the trunk behind me, then placed my hands on either side of my body so I was in a horizontal crouch, my head facing the tree infront of me. I gave a firm push off the tree and felt myself passing through the air, the world whipping by. There was a soft wooshing sound when I entered the next tree. I prepared my second jump the exact same way as before and jumped again. Within thirty seconds I was one with the tree Kidomaru was standing on.
"So, the Byakugan has a weekness, huh? That spot by his neck. You die now kid." Kidomaru said with a chuckle. I frowned.
"Time to play with spider-man." I said, knowing nobody would be able to hear me.
Kidomaru began the regurgitation of another of his arrows, this one with a spiral point at the end. I consentrated again at merging with the tree then lifted my arms to signify the branches. I shook my left arm, causing the branch Kidomaru was standing on to shake violently. The arrow nicked the inside of his throat. He cried out in pain, hands moving to his neck. I laughed and shook my entire body. The whole tree moved along with me, causing Kidomaru to fall off and hit the ground hard. He stood up and glared at the tree.
"You're doing this aren't you, girl." he said angrily. He picked up the arrow that he had dropped in the fall and loaded it into his bow, aiming it directly at my chest.
My eyes widened in fear. "Damnit." I cursed again.
I dove from the tree into the next one, but he saw my shadow move. "I've got you now!" he screamed.
I continued my movements in random patterns around the forest. Kidomaru watched me, obviously plotting when to attack. If I kept moving, he shouldn't be able to shoot me. Sudddenly, Kidomaru was gone and I was pinned to the ground. I struggled and flailed against his hold, but he wouldn't let go. He lifted me off the ground and tied me to the tree, my hands bound behind me.
Kidomaru backed away and moved to a tree farther away from me until he was out of my eyesight. I saw the glint of sunlight off an arrow that was loaded into his bow.
"So I die now," I thought to myself, bowing my head.
"No!" Neji cried as the arrow was released from the bow.
Neji's yell distracted Kidomaru slightly, throwing off the tragectory. It struck in an upward angle from my shoulder, directly above my heart. I cried out in pain, thrashing against the web. Neji rushed to my side and pulled on the thread, causing Kidomaru to fall fifty feet to the ground.
"Maya!" he cried, turning to inspect the wound. He made a move to remove the arrow and untie me, but I shook my head.
"Destiny placed me in this position, Neji. Changing its course would mess things up. Go. Kill Kidomaru for me." I said, feeling sticky blood run down my shoulder and from my mouth.
Neji heistated, but turned to face Kidomaru.
Another arrow was fired in my direction as Neji began to run towards Kidomaru. He turned to catch it, when a blur of black and yellow flashed by, the arrow disappearing with it.
And that was the last thing I could remember.
Three weeks had passed since that day. I was stuck in a coma the entire time. Neji had spent the entire time beside my bed after he was able to move again. He had suffered an arrow through the gut. I was fully healed and able to return to swimming again.
I arrived late that day. I came running around the corner into the open area where my river awaited me. I came to an abrupt stop and began to search for Neji. I saw his hair flick from behind the rock, so I moved to say hello. Instead of finding him preparing for a swim, he had Tenten pinned up against the rock, lips locked firmly.
I felt my eyes well up with tears. "You bastard!" I yelled.
Neji pulled away and turned to me. "I never loved you," he said in a cold tone, a smirk on his face. I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes.
And I ran.
I ran the whole way back to my house. My vision was blurred from the tears that were streaming down my face. Anyone will betray you. The more you trust, the more it will hurt when they do. Those words were spoken to me once, but I could not remember when. They were very true though. Nothing could match this ripping I felt in my heart.
I built up chakra and released it when I felt it ready, causing an explosion on my door. Splinters of wood flew in all directions, striking my arms as I ran through. Without realising, I had just performed my family's blood line trait, Chakra Explosion. The stairs below my feet creaked in protest as I ran up them, making a lot of noise as I went. I threw myself onto my bed and cried. I cried for a good hour.
After a while, my tears ran dry and I was forced into my anger phase. I threw my fists and my feet at anything within reach, creating a path of destruction as I went.
My fists began to bleed in large amounts, so I was forced to stop my rampage. I grabbed a paintbrush and began to work on writing my message to the world. I would never return to this village unless it involved destroying it.
I ran to the broken doorway and faced the wall opposite it. I wiped the blood from my left fist off on the paintbrush and began to write.
Dear World.
My pain and suffering is your fault. If I drop dead here on the spot,
it will be your fault. I am leaving the village, and do not expect me
to return.
Dear Neji
Your tore a large hole in my chest where my heart used to be.
This is entirely your fault. You will rue the day. Don't bother
searching for me, I'll be long gone by the time you are reading this.
Goodbye, cruel World.
-Maya
I tossed the paintbrush to the ground and ran back upstairs. I grabbed the few things that meant the world to me. My locket, my only memory of Stella. The earing for my left ear, given to me by Lady Tsunade. A bandana with my family crest on it, Stella gave it to meat an early age. After those were gathered, I grabbed my pack and stuffed them in, along with some food.
I wrote another letter, this one on a piece of paper for Stella alone. I pulled out a pen and began to write.
Stella
You know I love you, right? I appologise for this, but I have to leave.
I will send you notes as often as I can. They will come on a chickadee with a blue ribbon tied to its foot. Don't follow it. Please. I'll be fine,
just trust me. If I need your assistance, I'll send for you. Use the same bird, it knows my location at all times.
Love
Maya
And I left.
