Chapter 5: From D to A Part III

Chapter 5: From D to A Part III

“Ahhh!” Kai was still being crushed by the bear hug the bandaged monster was giving him. At the same time, Kabura had already lost its transformation and laid on the ground, hopefully unconscious.

“She needs to stop this.” Sui ran forward only to fall as her legs gave out. I quickly moved to catch her and had her lean on me.

“Hey, you ok?” I felt her body tremble against mine and her Byakugan was no longer active.

“No…hah… I lost a lot more from those injections than I thought.” Sui said with ragged breaths.

“But I feel fine.”

“Yeah… I wonder why?” Sui glared at me, but her eyes twinkled. “Putting all the work on your girlfriend. Despicable.”

“Ha-ha, sorry about that,” I said, scratching my cheek. “I had no clue that happened.” Which was true; I had no clue that I put all the burden on her. If anything, I thought I was giving it my all.

“But we really need to stop her.” Sui said, reminding me of the current situation.

“Yeah, we do. She’s our dysfunctional teammate, after all.” I stared at Tayuya, who laughed at Kai’s struggles. Dysfunctional was an understatement. I looked at all the destruction she caused. Bringing down two ANBU with relative ease, even though they seemed new, was impressive. I needed her.

“Tayuya! Stop this! The mission was over a long time ago. I don’t know where you learned this, but these are allied shinobi. Ok!” I just said the first thing that came to mind. I was sure I didn’t need to explain this to someone who was a part of the village… then again, I was recently told the same thing.

“Speaking from experience?” Sui said with a weak laugh.

“Just like I always do.” I really am a piece of shit, huh.

“Allied Shinobi? You weaklings can’t even be considered cannon fodder. I’m just taking out the trash.” She blew into her flute where no sound came out, but the armored summoned monster came barreling towards us.

Damn it! I couldn’t use both my hands while holding onto Sui. I prepared to jump back, but Sui got out from under me. Her hands glowed blue, and her Byakugan had reactivated. She dashed forward and stopped in a battle stance.

“Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms!” Sui ducked under the monster’s lung and struck at its stomach, stopping its charge. She followed up with another blow to its chest, then another and another. Her palms continued to slam into the monster, breaking its armor. Piece by piece, chips of iron flicked off it. Her strikes never let up; she even sped up, and I couldn’t even keep track of her hands.

This was the gentle fist technique on full display. Something that apparently only the main branch could learn. Sui had done so as a side branch thanks to her Sharingan. It was beautiful. The way she moved, sort of like a dance as she swerved around the monster and hit every chakra point with pinpoint accuracy. A feat I couldn’t accomplish in my wildest dreams because it was only thanks to her Byakugan she could even see the chakra points. That right there was the real Sui Hyūga, the ninja I admired.

She finished off the monster with an uppercut to the jaw, making the creature fall on its back defeated. “That’s… all… I had…”

Sui fell forward, and I already knew what to do. I would never let her fall, just like she would never let me down. I had already done my wind Jutsu and caught her.

“You finally got your bridal style.” She said with one eye open.

“Yeah, but I was supposed to be the badass, not you.”

“You snooze, you lose…” She closed her eyes asleep from over chakra exertion. Leaving me against the demon who caused this all.

“Wow, I didn’t think she had it in her to take care of a middle-grade Doki.” Tayuya looked actually impressed, considering everything she said were half-assed comments. Her giving praise was a feat in itself. “Too bad she wasted chakra saving the lives of worthless garbage.”

“Hey, Bitch.” I laid Sui on the ground gently, unsnapping the pouches on my pants. Inside were an array of kunai and paper tags.

“What? Is that the maggot who can’t even beat a baby Doki talking? Piss off—” A kunai flew past her cheek. Sadly she used her flute to deflect it. Seven more filled the sky. With ease, Tayuya knocked each one away with her flute. “Ninja tools? Seriously are you that weak? No wonder you can’t even dispel a simple Genjutsu—”

An explosion erupted from the kunai. I had planted some explosive paper tags on them, which detonate after a set of time. The place was clouded in a grey smoke. I felt my index finger twitch. The wire attached to it came from the kunai I had thrown earlier. It signaled that Tayuya had already moved from the area and dodged the explosion. Good.

I snapped my fingers back. I felt all of the wired kunai reel towards me, but there should be— They all stopped getting stuck into something hard to pull out of.

“Was that your grand plan? Paper bombs? What are we, preschoolers?” Tayuya said, unscathed, standing on the opposite side of where my kunai were stuck. “How shit can you be—” She stopped talking when she noticed my fingers counting down.

3…2…1… Checkmate.

Another explosion went off, and this time the wires from the kunai loosened from my fingers. The smoke cleared, and Kai laid on the ground safe, while the bandaged face monster was just arms and legs. That was her last summoned monster defeated. All that was left was her.

Blood dripped from her lip as she bit it in frustration, and I could only smile at her. But not the smile I reserved for friends but rather the one of a snake’s. The one I hated.

“Tell me my girlfriend wasted time again.” I twirled more kunai around my fingers. This time they had elemental tags on them. The world began to slow down, and it felt so cold. There wasn’t any warmth this time, just a chill to my bones. “Or are you scared of getting beat by trash?”

“Oh really now!” Tayuya threw off her cap, and her dark pink hair flowed down, covering her neck and back even more. Her eyes gleamed with blood lust. “I can’t wait to teach you a lesson. Trash!” She blew into her flute, and I finally heard a melody. It was sweet and harmonized well. Almost entrancingly so…

I opened my eyes, and I was above an empty lake bound to a cross. The world was blood-red, and it reminded me of that day. So this is her Genjutsu. I wonder what I’ll see.

“Hey trash, ready to take back what you said?” Tayuya appeared in front of me, a kunai in hand, but she looked different. She had these black marks on her face that crossed her body in the shape of zigzags.

“You look cute.” I said, making sure not to meet her gaze.

“Ohhh, so you’re all nice when you’re tied up.” She placed the dagger under my chin and lifted my head. The cold steel drew blood the whole way. I gritted my teeth, trying not to scream. “But that’s not what I asked.”

She pulled my face to meet her eyes. It was the first time I had a good look into them; they were a simple color, just plain brown. “Cute eyes.” I said, staring into my own reflection until I saw my Sharingan. A smile spread across my face.

“Oh, so you can tell jokes.” Tayuya brought the kunai to my eye. “You also have pretty eyes. Mind if I take them.”

I gripped onto her arm and pulled it away from my eye. While I continued to stare into hers.

“What the hell?” She said. I expected her to resist, but she didn’t. She just stared at me with those deep brown eyes. “How can you move?”

“You know Tayuya. I’m called the Joke of the Uchiha for a reason. Because I tell jokes that I believe are true.” My smile grew as the red world began to crumble around me. “Isn’t that funny.”

Her eyes widened, and she started laughing as the afternoon sun greeted me with orange light. I was back in the crater, yet I still had Tayuya’s arm in my hand. She dropped her kunai, and her tattoos began to recede back to a spot on the side of her neck.

“Cool hickey. I wonder who gave you that. An ex-boyfriend?” I said, staring at the tiny three black spiraling L’s on her neck. She moved her hair, and they disappeared from view.

“Keep staring at me with those eyes of yours, and you might find out. Joke of the Uchiha.” She pulled her hand back and hopped away, picking up her cap dusting it off.

Damn it, maybe I shouldn’t have told her that one. I got a little too caught up in the moment. “So… You feeling better? Got the tantrum out of your system?”

“Shut the hell up!” She fixed her cap and stared at me from afar. “Just because you’re not complete garbage. That doesn’t mean I’ve accepted you as a teammate.”

“Well, you better work on that. Because we have company.” I turned around as I felt his presence.