F A M I L I A R : B O O K T W O

Dehydration

Shivers ran up my bare arms, stirring me from my sleep. Pulling the covers up over my shoulders, I turned over to face the sleeping form to my left. I reached out and brushed the hair off his forehead softly, watching his silent breath escape his slightly parted lips. I traced his fang marking lightly with my thumb, soaking in his features barely lit by the moonlight.

As if sensing my thoughts, Kiba opened his eyes. His tired gaze met mine and sent a new set of shivers down my arms. He smiled at me sleepily and leaned forward, closing the space between us. His lips were warm, a welcoming temperature change compared to the cold night air. We kissed until my head was spinning, and when we pulled away he leaned his forehead against mine.

"Wake up, Asuna," he whispered, barely audible.

"Hmm?" I questioned, still in awe of his kiss.

"Wake up, Asuna! Wake up, wake up!"

My eyes shot open as my head lolled to-and-fro. Someone had me by the arms, shaking me senseless. In one motion, I shifted and broke free of their grasp with my right arm, grabbed the person by their hair, and threw them off of me into the far wall causing a giant CRASH sound and a cloud of dust. I quickly stood up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

It was just a dream.

Feeling my heart start to sting from the realization, I mentally locked it away in its iron box to make the emotions go away. Life was easier without emotions now.

As the dust settled, I began remembering where I was. I was in a room completely made of stone, with one bed and one nightstand and a barred door to the far left. The Hidden Stone Village dungeons.

The girl that I threw against the wall was already standing with her arms crossed, staring daggers at me with a smirk on her face.

"Didn't seriously think that was going to do me in, did you?" She asked with a smug attitude. It was Kurotsuchi, the Tsuchikage's granddaughter. She held out chains in front of her and said, "Come on, its time for your training."

Since my arrival to Iwa six months ago, Kurotsuchi was placed in charge of monitoring me, which I did not appreciate at all. She was to accompany me wherever I went, and always placed chakra constricting chains around my wrists whenever I needed to go from one place to another. Even though they feared my escape, the Tsuchikage was insistent that I continue training and working on my 'talents' as he put it. He wanted his 'secret weapon' to be in top shape at all times, so he had a hidden training ground constructed where I could practice without causing attention. But this decision of his has actually ended up working in my favor.

I rolled my eyes and held out my permanently scarred wrists for Kurotsuchi to shackle me. I didn't say anything after she purposefully placed them on too tight, and followed her out of the dark room. I guess, I really didn't say much of anything anymore. There was no need for niceties with these foul people, so I never spoke unless it was necessary.

As we made our way to the training grounds, I made sure to look over our route one more time. The grounds that the old geezer built for me were, of course, outside. You see, the Tsuchikage clearly isn't that bright, because they should have been placing a blind fold over my eyes while transporting me. Sure, maybe the Yuna are not known for their smarts, but I'm definitely not stupid. The 6 hours a day I had allotted for training were long enough to both practice and plot my escape. Plus, I've had six months to study the grounds and the exact route we take to get there. It was only a matter of time until I came up with a plan, and I was going to execute that plan perfectly.

I am getting out of here tonight, no matter what.

Once we arrived at the field, Kurotsuchi removed my chains. She always hung back by the tunnel entrance that we take to get out here, and today was no exception. Satisfied with the fact that I could count on her to be a creature of habit, I smirked to myself and made my way to the sparring dummies next to the tree line in the back. I decided to focus all of my energy on taijutsu today, something that is a bit out of the ordinary for me. However, after formulating my plan a couple weeks ago, I started working taijutsu into my training regimen to not cause suspicion. Because in order for my plan to work, I had to work up a sweat, and this was the fastest way to do so. 

About two or three hours went by before I started feeling the effects I was waiting for. I was practicing the force of my kicks on one of the dummies and suddenly my vision started to blur. I smiled for an instant before I let my face fall cold again. With every kick, my vision blurred more. My head started to feel fuzzy and I could feel my heart beat racing in my chest. The rate of my breathing increased until I was hyperventilating. I kicked the dummy one more time, and the backlash made me stumble and fall backwards.

Dehydration.

Kurotsuchi clearly saw the event because I could hear her running over to me. I clutched my sides and rolled closer to the tree line.

"What happened? Are you okay?" She asked as she came to a halt next to me. I could feel myself slipping in an out of consciousness, but I had to hold on for a few more minutes.

"M-medic," I whisper through dry lips. "I n-need medical--" I cut myself off, wheezing and hyperventilating more.

"O-okay, okay! Stay here! Don't move!" She said in a shocked tone. She turned on her heel and ran back into the tunnel.

As I heard her footsteps fade, I smirked to myself. 

She's such an idiot, don't they know nature energy allow me to heal?

I knew I only had a few moments, so I rolled over again until I was right at the tree line. I funneled just enough energy into my lungs to keep me conscious as I grabbed a hand full of dirt and grass from the base of a tree. Quickly, I stuffed as much as I could into my pockets without it being obvious and rolled back. I could hear running footsteps approaching in the distance, so I let the energy out of my lungs. My eyes were burning now, and I felt like my heart was in my throat.

Someone bent over me, but I couldn't quite make out who it was. I could feel my consciousness slipping as my vision faded. I closed my eyes, gave in, and everything went black.