Chapter 33
I eye my prey from my perch in the tree.
His soft curly brown hair blows gently in the wind as he slowly walks through the forest. His kind features give him a youthful appearance. A spark of childlike mischievousness resides in his brown eyes.
'He looks easy.'
"Don't underestimate your target, Ilaya."
I nod.
'I know that! Even though I no longer have any of my memories I still know my training. I'm not stupid Amaya.'
I shake my head and jump down from the tree, landing in front of the lone ninja.
"Utau! What are you doing here?" the stranger yells loudly.
"I know no one by that name.” I say harshly.
"What? Are you ok, Utau?" he asks, shaking his head in confusion.
“I do not know you or this Utau you speak of, stranger. But what I do know is that you are about to die. "
"Have you lost your mind? I'm Nikkou, you don't remember me?" Nikkou says as he backs slowly away from my approaching figure.
I hesitate. The name is unfamiliar but something seems off.
'Could this be a former acquaintance from my forgotten past?'
"Do not be ridiculous, Ilaya! You would never befriend such a low life. Hurry up and finish him so you can complete your mission."
I nod and smirk.
“You are right, Amaya. As always. He deserves to die.” I say aloud.
"Who is Amaya?...wait, what?" Nikkou stutters as what I said registers in his mind.
I grin darkly.
"I said it’s time for you to die."
"You wouldn't."
"I would." I say as I pull out a kunai.
His eyes widen as he realizes my intent.
"What happened to you, Utau?"
"I thought I already told you. I don't know any Utau's." I say impatiently. "Enough talk. Say you’re goodbye’s because you won’t get a chance later."
I leap forward and slash at his belly. He jumps backward at the last second and pulls out a kunai of his own.
His face darkens, making his face appear older and wiser.
I run at him and aim a kick at his face. He ducks and grabs my ankle.
"I don't know what happened to you but I will not let you keep shutting me out."
I yell angrily and tear my foot out of his grasp.
I whip around and slash at his neck with the kunai.
He blocks the kunai with his own and forces it back.
I use the force of his push to lower myself to the ground and kick at his legs.
He jumps and flips backwards.
I frown and throw the kunai at him. He moves to the side to avoid the kunai. He miscalculates which results in having strands of his hair being chopped off.
I pull out multiple shuriken and throw them at him.
He ducks and does a cartwheel to the right.
"Utau! I don't want to fight you!" He yells.
"But I do!" I shout gleefully. "And it's Ilaya, not Utau. I already told you, I don't know this Utau person!"
Nikkou shakes his head before jumping into the foliage of the nearby trees.
"I won't fight you!" his retreating voice calls.
"Coward!" I scream.
"Let him go! You have a mission to complete!" Amaya reprimands.
I hang my head.
'Of course. Forgive me.' I mutter in my head.
Images rush by. Unfamiliar images of a girl and her life.
There are happy images of her and what looks to be a friend out in a meadow. Violet lilies decorate the landscape.
There are images of painful beatings brought on by the girl’s father. Her cries echo long after the haunting images fade. The strange thing about the images are that the girl keeps on standing up again and again even after her father has beaten her within an inch of death.
There are other images of the girl’s family. They seem cold and distant. The mothers face is blurred, hiding her expression. The father has unfeeling eyes while the girl’s face is blank but her body tells a different story. Her shoulders are tensed and her fists balled. It’s obvious her façade is nothing but just that- a really good Poker Face.
More images flash by. These are of the girl when she is older. Her Poker Face becomes better and her body stops giving her away.
In some of the later images there are clouded figures. By their postures it’s easy to tell they are good friends with the Poker Face girl. In several of the images the girl’s Poker Face is cracked, her strong emotions showing through. In those images her friends are always present.
As the images flash by little droplets of a crimson liquid slowly fall to stain the memories. The later in life it becomes the bigger the drops become. Soon the cerise liquid is spilling down and covering the images.
In a flash the red is gone. In its place is blackness. Soon red splatters across the blackness. ‘my blood.’ I whisper into the blackness.
Suddenly a bright flash fills my vision.
I awake to find myself comfortably sitting in a tree, my body shaking from the dream.
I wipe the beads of sweat that had gathered on my face away and jump down from the tree.
I reach a hand up to tuck my hair behind my ear but find something is already there.
I pull a violet lily from behind my ear. I stare at it with my mouth agape. It is the same kind that was in the meadow in my dream. The petals are still lush with life and the stem a healthy green.
I shake my head and tuck the flower into my ninja pouch, dismissing it as a coincidence.
The sun is shining down through the green roof of the trees, making the light dance wherever it lands.
Birds are singing their tune while the soft breeze whistles along.
Peace reigns over the forest for the moment, a rare thing when I am around.
I shake my head. Ever since Amaya erased my memories I have had a few moments where it’s like I still remember everything but then it’s gone, like it was never even there.
I break camp and continue on my way through the forest.
After a while of walking I come across a group of ninja. They are walking through the forest like I was and talking among themselves.
I leap up into a branch and crouch low. Soon they are close enough for me to understand what they are saying.
“It took me by surprise as well. Who would have thought that she would be that person?” The leader says.
“I never really liked her. Something was off.” The ninja on the outskirts of the conversation chimes in.
“I don’t know about you guys but she was nice to me. I liked her. Even when the accusations came out I didn’t want to believe them. It wasn’t until the Akastuki took her that I realized who she was.” The tall one speaks.
“Utau was just one really good liar. You shouldn’t let it get to you. She fooled us all.” The last ninja says.
I tense. There was that name again. Utau, who is she?
“Come on. We are going to be late. You know how the captain gets when we are late.”
“Yeah, you’d think Kakashi would loosen up for once. People are sometimes late for good reasons.”
The group laughs before moving on.
I wait until I am sure they are gone before standing up to my full height.
I clench my fist.
“I will find out who this Utau person is. Even if it’s the last thing I do. Nobody gets away with stealing my face.” I swear, remembering my encounter with the man named Nikkou.
I flip my hood up before indiscernibly joining the group approaching the front gates of Konaha.
The guards wave at the group, not noticing the extra addition.
As soon as I am well within Konaha I ditch the group and make my way through the village to the records library.
Again I use my talents to sneak in undetected. I am not taking any chances with Utau’s name pinned on my face. Who knows what she has done to soil my reputation. If only I can remember what my reputation was.
I immediately start digging through the files, searching for the one on Utau. After frustrating hours of fruitless searching I hear voices. I duck behind a cabinet and hold my breath.
The voices get louder until they are at the door. I hear the scraping of the knob turning and shut my eyes.
“I will just be a minute. I have to lock this file up.” One of the voices says as he comes into the room
“I’ll wait.” Calls the other voice from the hallway.
I peek over the side at the owner of the voice.
He has blonde hair and blue eyes and strange whiskers on his cheeks. He is tall enough to reach up to the only locked cabinet in the room to tuck the file he is holding safely in. I am close enough to see the name on the file. Utau Himura.
‘Found you.’
The man locks the cabinet then leaves the room.
I quickly leave my hiding place and run to the cabinet. I close my eyes and concentrate. I raise my hand and soon feel warmth spreading from my shoulder down to my fingertips. I open my eyes to find the lock melted. I smile. I discovered I had the Kekkei Genkai when I was training. It is my only clue to my past and my identity. Whenever I use it a shining golden dragon tattoo appears behind my left shoulder.
I rip the doors open and snatch the file out. I tuck it away from sight and make my escape from the room.
I make my way to a crowded bar full of drunks.
I slide into the only secluded booth in the place and open the file. With every word my stomach tightens.
This file describes some of the images that have been haunting my dreams of late.
‘So this is Utau.’ I think to myself.
I continue skimming the file, stopping when I read something on a possible Kekkei Genkai. My eyes widen at the words. My hand flies to my left shoulder.
I stand up quickly, toss a few coins onto the table and run out of the crowded bar, leaving the file in plain sight tossed on the table.
I continue running until I am far away from Konaha’s gates.
I lean against a tree and try to calm my breathing.
‘Utau is me. I’m Utau Himura! How could I be so blind?’ I scold myself.
All those images are memories trying to break past whatever spell Amaya placed on me. The question now is why and how do I reverse it?
I lean my head against the tree and prepare for a long night.
***Authors Note***
Here is another chapter!
Funny how my inspiration comes back just as I become too busy to write…
I am going to try to update as much as I can before school starts which is next week I think. Once school does start my updates will slow down…or speed up. Depends on whether I am actually doing school like I am supposed to or writing. :) Inspiration usually does hit whenever I am studying, which is probably why I can never get any real studying done…
Anyway I will try to update agaiheart’s content! It really does help get the inspiration going whenever n soon!
Vote and comment to your I read a comment of yours.
Anyway, Ja!