A Rare Wish

Fighting the Good FIght

I walked through the tall grass, wanting to get away from the quiet chatter of my friends and only hear the quiet chatter of the grass and trees dancing to the tune the wind chose to play. All I could see was knee length grass now, my companions, my friends, blocked by trees. The wind rushed through it, making it all bend and it tickled my legs and feet.

I closed my eyes and took deep breathes. Where was I from? Who was my family? Do they know I can’t remember them? Are they looking for me? Do they even care? All these questions and more keep running through my head daily and right now was no exception. The main one, though, was ‘Who am I?’. That was the main question I don’t think I could ever answer.

I let out an agitated sigh. Kusagakure was close within our grasp, probably a few more hours. We had to take a good amount of breaks because of the horse needing them to rest from hauling so much luggage. I glanced back when I heard Kaede squealing with laughter. A smile pulled onto my face until it turned into a shriek. Akari was beside me in a second as we ran as quickly as we could, angled downwards and our arms trailing behind our backs.

We skidded to a stop to see Kaede whimpering as tears streamed from her eyes. Or I assumed since she was sniffling. We stood behind four men, two of them holding Haruko and Kaede. Haruko was slumped over and passed out, but I couldn’t be sure if she was injured. I flicked my eyes to Etsuo and he was looking around in panic, pausing at things, myself included. His eyes begged me and that was enough for me. I glanced at Akari and pointed to the two who had hostages.

“Now, how about you guys hand over all of your money,” said one without a hostage.

I didn’t wait for anything, nodded my head to Akari, and sprang at the one who held Kaede, being entirely silent. I slid my arm around his neck and pulled him into a sharp chokehold. He was startled and let out a gasp. I slammed my foot into the back of his leg and used his struggle and surprise to pull Kaede away and behind me where she clung to the back of my tank top.

I glanced at Akari to see her guy down and her picking up Haruko quickly and jumping back. I let the now unconscious man slide to the ground, crouched down and pulled Kaede on my back, and jumped back how Akari had. “I’ll take them and keep them safe,” Akari told me.

“Alright. Are you sure?”

“I am not someone who thinks that it’s okay to just hurt others, I feel more protective. I think you are a mix of violence and protectiveness. Have fun,” she said, a smile on her lips and determination in her eyes. I stared for a second before nodding. Ryuzo was standing protectively in front of Chizu, Masako, and Michiko. I could see Masako on the ground, blood around her, and Chizu and Michiko trying to staunch the bleeding. I took a deep breath before looking at Ryuzo.

“I’ll deal with it,” I called seriously. “Etsuo stay with him,” I ordered.

“Okay,” he said, voice rough. He had been scared for Kaede too.

“Oh, you’ll take care of us, will you?” the one who spoke earlier said.

I pulled on a cocky smirk and tilted my head. “Well, no, I’m going to beat you up so much you’d wish you were dead,” I told him coldly. “I take ‘caring for someone’ in a different way than you, I’m sure.”

“Bitch!” said the second one.

“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be included to,” I told him in a demeaning voice with a sadistic grin.

“Let’s get her,” the second one said.

“Go right ahead,” the first one snapped. “Because I want her dead.”

“Sorry, only my wishes get to come true,” I shrugged sarcastically apologetic.

“Get her!” the first one shouted, charging at me. A few others came out of the trees and surrounded me. I took a deep breath and popped my neck. They all glared at me, six sets of eyes watching me. Before they blinked again, I slammed my foot into the face nearest me and watched him slam into a tree, head first, and crumple to the ground without a sound.