The Rogue's Love

Chapter Seventeen: Battle Royal

The Rogue’s Love

Chapter Seventeen: Battle Royal

“You sure you want to do this?” Sasori sighed, his posture tense beside me. The older male’s eyes silently raked over the rest of the competition, no longer seeing them as comrades, but threats. The tension and excitement only grew as seconds ticked by, the rowdy bunch eager to fight. So typical of them.

“Of course,” I replied coolly. Keeping my emotions in check was the key if I were actually going to prove that I could do this. Otherwise, I’d be forever known as Deidara’s pet. More so Sasori’s, now, but the blonde never seemed to notice that minor detail.

Pein stood in the middle of our circle, his purple ringed eyes staring back at us. I didn’t know why the Akatsuki did things like this. But, then again, whenever did their motives make sense? Although, this was a good way to keep tabs on the members strengths, I doubted they would actually be taking this seriously.

The authority that surrounded the orange haired leader was a bit intimidating, to say the least. Even the more outgoing of the organization treated him with the utmost respect. It was kind of eerie, the power he effortlessly held over everyone else here.

“Seeing how Raikou will be joining our little escapade, I’ve decided to not partake this time around. However, see to it you try NOT to kill her, keeping in mind that she is far weaker than any of us here.” his gaze fell upon Sasori, carefully watching him, “It would seem as if some of our teammates wouldn’t take it too kindly if you did.” If the puppet master wasn’t tense before, he sure as hell was now.

“The rules remain the same. Forfeits are not allowed,” Damn. “fair fighting is to be issued, no tricks.” And, I thought all seemed hopeless, before. “One is to be eliminated after being rendered completely helpless, and can no longer continue to fight. Refrain from killing one another, and try to stay away from fatal blows. It’s be rather bothersome if I had to replace any of you. Good luck.” Pein jumped into a tree a few feet off, leaving us to stare at the other competing contenders.

“What do we do, now?” I whispered, my sense heightening. Everyone was waiting rather patiently, not a sign of emotion showing on their all too blank faces.

“We wait,” Deidara spoke, his bubbly personality seeming to dissipate, leaving behind a calm demeanor. I had to say, I kind of liked this side of him, better. And, to think I thought they weren’t going to take this seriously.

Sasori took a step closer to me, staring at the lot of them. “Stay close to me, and you might actually survive through this.” I rolled my eyes, taking a step back.

“I can take care of myself. Thanks.”

“N--”

“Go,” Pein’s calm voice spoke in volumes, totally cutting off Sasori--thankfully. The others had been ready, quickly engaging into battle. Whereas, I stood there dumbstruck, completely unsure of myself. Should I attack someone?

I wasn’t really expecting anyone to approach me, considering I was the weakest link, surely not being a threat to anyone else. That’s why you could only imagine my surprise when it was Deidara who came after me. Well, I guess I was the easiest. Therefore, making it easy to take me out.

My mouth made a little ‘o’ shape as I watched Deidara prepare for his jutsu. Did he always have little mouths on his hands? Well, this was awkward. My curiosity grew as I watched little clay spiders crawl towards me. Can you believe that I was actually dense enough to pick one up?

The blonde set it off, causing the little things to explode around me. I hissed out in pain, nursing my newly injured hand to my chest. Great. Not even five minutes into this damned brawl, and I’ve already gotten hurt. Way to prove yourself a worthy ninja, Raikou. It was going to hard trying to do any sort of jutsu with only one hand.

I bit my bottom lip, keeping my self from looking at the wound. If I looked, the pain would most likely only double from realization. As I moved my hand to make simple hand signs, my teeth sunk deeper into my lip, causing a thin trickle of blood to steadily move down my chin. Well, that’s disgusting.

I murmured under my breath, bringing my wind dragon to life. Granted, it probably wasn’t the best to start off with, but it was one of the simpler jutsus I had in my possessions. And, one of the best. Having a wind chakra nature did have its benefits, though. One of those being that the jutsu cast wasn’t easily distinguished from the surrounding air, making it hard to dodge in time.

I easily maneuvered the wind beast with my uninjured hand, cradling the other back to my chest. Guiding the dragon towards Deidara, I didn’t notice the small creatures that were gathering at my feet, slightly bigger than the blonde’s last creations.

Just as my jutsu rushed into his chest, Deidara yelled, “Katsu!” causing more explosions, only this time, on my right leg. I couldn’t help but scream as I felt my skin light afire, the pain much more severe this time around.

“Ow, ow, fuck, ow.” I whined, falling to the ground. And, I thought my blistering hand was hurting. Upon examination, I had found that this time, it had actually burned away a layer of skin. Which, was rather gruesome to look at. The charred skin giving off a faint smell of burning flesh, almost making me gag.

“You okay?” Sasori asked, his dirty face appearing beside me. I frowned, his hair slightly more disheveled than usual. I sighed, trying to stand up. It was only in the early stages of the fight. There was no time for sitting around.

“Fine. Don’t worry about me.” I hissed through clenched teeth, the burn on my leg turning out to be multiple burns, making it rather difficult to stand. Sasori grabbed my elbow, helping to support most of my weight.

“Doesn’t seem like it,” I ignored him, scanning the area for Deidara. The jutsu may not have seriously maimed him, but it should have at least held some sort of impact on him. I sighed. Deidara’s clock had been slightly ripped, revealing his flat stomach, which only held a thin cut from where my attack had hit.

The blonde didn’t even seemed fazed by my attack, going into his pouch for more clay. I huffed, pulling my arm away from Sasori, supporting my weight with my left leg. As long as he didn’t get both of my legs, I was fine. Meaning, I needed to be way more careful.

Sasori simply took a step back. Too bad he didn’t exactly leave me to my own fight. I noticed then, that when I tried to make more hand signs, my hands wouldn’t even twitch, leaving me absolutely defenseless.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I hissed, craning my neck to glare at the most bothersome puppet master. His hand was raised to carefully monitor my movement, bending my will to his own. Was this considered cheating? Oh, how I hoped it was. Getting us both kicked out of this little competition seemed like a wonderful idea.

Sasori ignored my petty attempts of struggling, his fingers lightly twitching as he unsheathed my dagger from the brace on my upper thigh. How he knew it was there was beyond me.  I was pretty certain I haven’t even worn it around him, before. Then again, this was Sasori we’re talking about. I suspired, completely giving up on the idea of defying the man’s wishes. It would seem as if once Sasori got something in his head, there was no way of stopping him.

I noticed that as I had fully submitted control over my body to him, my movements became more fluid. Graceful, even. I felt that as long as I had the red head working with me, and not against, we’d actually have a chance of winning. The war? No. But, this battle with Deidara was already ours for the taking.

Deidara’s lips pulled down at the ends, his stance becoming more defensive. It was as if he knew. And, before he even had a chance to prepare for his next attack, I felt my body lunge forward--bearing the dagger.

My hand plunged forward, aiming for Deidara’s abdomen; aiming to sink the lethal blade far into his insides. But, just as I had suspected, he latched onto my arm; holding it with a grip so fierce, I was surprised that he didn’t break my wrist.

Only, he didn’t let go like I had expected him to. His bright blue eyes burned into mine, almost making me flinch back from the intensity of his gaze. I wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but the look on his face told me he was unhappy. Uncertain. Like, he was hesitant to hurt me.

“Deidara!” Sasori called, “Just fucking do it already!” Deidara rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, Rai-chan,” he whispered, punching me in the stomach. I gasped, the pain bringing my eyes to a close. “Fuck you,” I muttered before completely going out cold.

!~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*!


Yeah, the last paragraph is crap. Anyways, HUZZAH. I HAVE UPLOADED. Be proud :3 Anyways, looks like my plan to have this finished was a complete f a I l. LEAP this week D; (For those who don’t know, it’s the big test at the end of the year that deems us Louisianans passing or failing) Like…fuck. |: Anywho, comment and vote ♥

Happy Readings~!

Sorry for the mistakes…I was really freaking tired…like always.