Cursed Saint

17 - Had Enough

I really thought I had used this title before.... Apparently not... and I was gonna edit before posting... but felt like reading too much... Oh. Also since I tend to use Konoha and Suna, Forest shall be changed to Mori.

*~*~*~

In all the chaos that ensued upon the arrival of the back-up, it hadn't been hard for Yuumai to slip away. It also proved easy to sneak into the defensive line of bandits as they were either engrossed with what was occurring or saw no threat in Yuumai's arrival. The hard part was finding Aiko in the large mass of bodies.

Grumbling her annoyance, Yuumai shouldered through. Mori wasn't exactly the largest of villages. It shouldn't take her too long to find her sister so they could run. There was no way she wanted to leave their fate to a bunch of random ninja. Even the Konoha bunch were just there for their sensei. That was their goal. Not her and her sister.

Even as Yuumai repeated this to herself, she saw Ryu as he charged in to save a complete stranger against multiple bandits. Even Chouji had made sure she escaped at the risk of his own capture.

Yuumai redoubled her efforts to shove her way through the crowd.

"Aiko!" Yuumai began to call after a couple minutes of fruitless searching. People were just too stubborn to kindly move their butts out of her way.

A weight lifted from her shoulders when she heard a familiar voice yell back, "Yuumai?"

Following the sound of the voice, it only took a few more moments before she finally found her sister. Yuumai was drawn into a hug as soon as she was in Aiko's reach. Heaving a sigh of relief, Yuumai awkwardly hugged Aiko back. Physical contact had never been her strong suite.

Yuumai frowned as she pulled away. "Okay, and now we have to get out of here." She began to walk toward the far end of the village, grasping Aiko's wrist to drag her along. Which is why it irritated her when Aiko didn't budge.

Aiko was shaking her head, lips pursed, when Yuumai turned around. "We can't just leave everyone, Yuumai."

After another vain tug, Yuumai sighed and dropped Aiko's arm. When she wanted to be, Aiko was annoyingly stubborn. There was nothing Yuumai could do about it except follow her lead when Aiko set her mind on something. It was a trait both sister's shared, but in this case, Aiko won.

Mostly because Yuumai couldn't throw Aiko over her shoulder and make a run for it.

"What do you suggest we do the-"

Before Yuumai could finish, a loud boom resonated throughout the village. A few people shrieked as everyone moved to cover their ears. The ground beneath them shook slightly, sending a handful of bodies to the ground.

That didn't stop Yuumai from darting toward the source of the sound. As the noise dwindled, she could faintly hear Aiko following. At least that's who Yuumai figured the villagers were grumbling at since it wasn't her. Her smaller figure made it easier to weave through the disgruntled figures now that she knew where she was headed.

What she saw when she reached the edge of the crowd made her stomach drop.

Shikamaru and one of the new arrivals were on the ground new Ryu. The Shira Forest Bandit's leader, Daichi, was crouched in front of Ryu with a firm grip on his chin. The adult new arrival was being held by Asuma while Senshi simply stood there for some reason.

Even if she couldn't quite understand the exchange between Ryu and Daichi, she did notice the moment Ryu's pale eyes slid open. His eyes widened in recognition, but it was the revolted one Yuumai had been hoping for.