Advocated Wars

Chapter Twenty-Two

                                                                                                                     XXII

“I really am sorry, Champion,” Souta mumbled, running his fingernails along the exposed skin of his bicep. His cheeks, if it were possible, were somehow an even darker shade of red than before. He grimaced. “I guess this scroll is kind of important.” I huffed, drawing out my weapons.

“It’s one thing to lose it—it’s another thing to then use us for protection. Either that, or you really are dense.”

He nodded. “I’ll admit, it was a little of both.”

I shook my head, running my free hand through the still wet curls that lay atop my shoulder. They were damp enough to just annoy me, sticking to my skin in a way that distracted me. “Calix,” I called. “I need you to take Mai ahead. Surge, stay.” Both boys looked behind them.

“Something wrong?” I grabbed Souta by his ear, pulling him alongside me.

“Yeah, actually,” I shot the taller boy a pointed look. “This idiot here has people trailing him. It’s not exactly any of our business, and I should leave him here to die—“

“Hey!”

“—but I won’t. Just keep Mai safe, okay?” Calix nodded, disappearing with the anxiety-stricken girl. In a way, I felt bad, having said all of that stuff in front of her. I shouldn’t have said all of that stuff in front of her. But, we had little time to react. And, if I wanted things to go over smoothly, I had to risk the comfort of Mai for her safety.

“Surge, I’m counting on you to watch Souta’s back. I would like it if he didn’t die before this is over.” Surge nodded, standing closer to the frigid boy. His face, I noticed, was still an off-color, bruises blooming from beneath his skin. And, for the first time in a long time, I was actually proud that Surge screwed up the way he did. As of now, I held now sympathy for Souta Kimura.

I counted down the seconds until the others appeared, counting their locations. If I were correct, there were only two—neither very good at tracking. Not me, me anyways.

It was two against three, and having full faith in not only Surge, but my own ability, I didn’t see this as too big of a deal. However, I didn’t fully know the extent to their abilities, or any, for that matter. And, with this thought, apprehension washed over my body, making me slightly nervous.

I put my weapons back in my pouch, waiting.

The first attacked Souta, hitting him full on with a kunai—one Surge didn’t react to in time. Luckily for both of them, however (for Surge because I would give him hell for it, later), it nicked just his arm. “Souta, are you okay?” He nodded, and I turned my attention away from him, back to the approaching shinobi.

As I guessed, there were two, both rather tall men who dwarfed even Surge. I cursed, making quick hand signs to activate my Kasai. It was a rather simple jutsu, but had been in no way easy to master. It relied heavily on the ability to control chakra, forming flame-like blades around my hands. The more chakra I fed into my hands, the stronger it was. The harder to control.

It was hell to teach to Calix.

I did my best to diverge their attention away from the two boys behind me, attacking both at once. However, the one on the right, who had a seemingly nasty burn scar along the right side of his face, grabbed the arm I had swung at him, keeping me from pursuing his teammate as he went have Souta.

I struggled only for a moment, using my feet to disengage myself from his grasp. I planted the sole firmly into his stomach, trying not to let the crunch of his ribs bother me. Along with the jutsu powered blades that were formerly my hands, I had the tendency to weave chakra through my physical attacks, as well. Not as strong as say Tsunade or Sakura’s, but it got the job done.

The man only let himself feel the pain for a moment, quickly recovering to form his own jutsu—something water based that threw off my balance, dousing out the blades as well.

I heard Souta scream behind me. “Oh no,” the man laughed, pulling me up by the hair. “You’re not going anywhere.” His grip tightened as he pulled me back up from the ground, allowing me to watch as the second man approached our tag-along, Surge knocked unconscious just a few feet away. I struggled.

“What do you want with him?” I hissed. “Look at him—he’s useless.”

“That’s hardly any way to talk about your teammate.”

“Does it look like we’re teammates?” I hissed back. “He’s worth less to me than the dirt beneath your feet.”

The man chuckled. “Funny. I don’t ever remember wanting to defend the dirt beneath my feet.”

“No,” I agreed, taking his distraction to my advantage. He barely had time to take in another breath when I buried a kunai deep within his chest. “But my moral standings seem to be just a bit higher than yours.”

I didn’t stay to watch him crumple to the ground. I couldn’t stand the excruciating last breaths that would leave his mouth in all due time. And, even if I were sadistic enough to even want to, I didn’t have the time. Souta was seconds away from death, and my teammate was unconscious.

I didn’t think twice before activating my Kasai, again, thrusting my hand through the man’s chest.

Souta’s face went pale.

*

“I really am sorry, Champion.” Souta apologized again, sitting on an old tree stump as Calix worked to get the poison out of his system; which, I assume, was injected into him from the first kunai. Surge’s head was resting on my shoulder, and Mai’s in my lap. We were only taking a thirty minute break, and in the due time, I would let Mai sleep. She of all people needed it.

“You delayed our mission,” I said. “You’ve put our lives at risk.”

“I didn’t know what else to do.”

“You’re a ninja, Souta,” I continued. “Learn to fight your own fucking battles.” Mai twitched in her sleep, but thankfully, she didn’t wake up.

Surge yawned in my ear. “Now I have a headache.”

“Shut up, Surge, he barely hit you. If anyone should have a headache, it’s me.”

“Aww,” Surge teased, “Did the poor baby get her pretty blonde hair pulled?” Calix chuckled.

“There’s no sense in arguing over it, now. What’s done is done.” I pushed Surge off of me, regardless. “At any rate, Souta, you should be fine now. Champion, do you want me to heal you?”

“It’s fine,” I mumbled, glaring at the orange-haired boy. “My problem is not one you can fix.”

Souta shifted in his seat, but didn’t say anything else. We were still in the same place we were ten minutes ago, when those shinobi attacked. And it made me sick. I, for one, didn’t like to even break someone’s bone. But to kill them was in a whole other ballpark. It made me feel as if I had done something taboo.

If it hadn’t have been for the fact of Mai, I would have kept Calix with me. He would have found a way out of killing the men—he always had a solution. I didn’t trust Surge to be able to protect Mai on his own, however.

Above all else, Mai was still safe, and I guessed that’s all that matters.

Regrettably, I did have to wake her up, however. I somehow miscounted, earlier, and was soon face to face with another shinobi. My kunai rested against his throat at the tip, enough pressure behind it that, if the boy were to even breathe too deeply, he’d cut himself open.

I didn’t miss, however, the lack of fear in his eyes, as he steadily stared back at me.

“And who,” I asked, “are you?”

!~*~*~*!

screaming because I suck at fight scenes oh my god. like. wHY. also it's been three months and i??? how did that happen??? (Julie this is for you. Sorry it took me like two days to get it here from when I originally promised but wALLAH. It here.)