Within The Light

Safe Amongst the Noise

Ruri's POV

The battle betwen Sora and Moeru was intense. Short, but nothing short of powerful. Everyone had been enthralled by their quick and precise movements. There had been something about watching my teammate flourish. Pride, happiness. So many words I could use to express the feeling. Soon, I'd be the one being watched. A mere two competitors were left. Me and a ninja from the Hidden Mist Village.

Ruru of the Sand vs. Ena Abe

"Alright, Whiskers," Tadashi Sensei motivated as I kept my eyes glued to the screen. "It's your moment to own it. Use those fierce observation skills of yours. No more spacing out, alright? We're rooting for you."

"Mhmm," I nodded curtly, descending to the battlefield.

He asked Sora, "she's already spacing out isn't she?"

To which the boy replied, "when is she not these days?"

'Do you need help, Ruri?' Ren's voice reappear. Two minutes had barely gone by and his voice already started to bounce around my head.  I needed to get a hold of myself. Tadashi Sensei was right, no more spacing out. This had to be the end of all of this. If not for me, then atleast for my team. Atleast for Yoshi.

'You ignoring me now?' he proded. "I thought we already went over this.'

'Ten damn minutes,' I couldn't help, but snap. 'Just give me ten minutes.' I was unsure as to why I even bothered to retaliate. It was the same as arguing with oneself. Look at me, fighting with my own conscience. What the hell is going on with me?

Ena was peering over at me, sizing me up. She smirked smugly, "just a kid."

Everyone was watching. Sora, Tadashi Sensei, Shikadai. Not to mention Kankuro and Temari, who were probably dying to spill every detail to Gaara. Gaara. I wanted to make him proud aswell. I wanted my fa.. gaurdian to be proud of me.

'Don't do it to yourself,' Ren warned. Crushing my longing before it even got far.

"You may begin!" TenTen pronounced.

Ena wasted no time in carrying out a jutsu. Usually, people waited to make use of one. I stepped to the side as a long, thin stream of water shot at me, sticking to the wall behind me. The water was purple and I had no intentions on finding out what it was exactly.

'You could finish this in one single move,' Ren prompted. One single move? More like an unpredictable bomb. I wasn't going to do that by choice, not that I could. Either way trying to manipulate something I didn't know how to was downright irresponsible. The other times were involuntary atleast.

"You're a quiet brat, huh?" my opponent noted. "Not even a sound of surprise." I tried moving to the right. Another line of water shot from her, on the other side of me. "It's no use, kid. Every time you move, another stream will appear and most likely faster than what you can keep up with."

In that case, if I were to jump I'd only hit directly into one of those water strands. If I move forward, it would probably just go directly at me. I observed closer. They were attached to her arms. There had to be a quick way to get out of this. If it had no weakpoint, then I would create one.

'Why not just kill her now?'  Why did I imagine Ren to be so gory?

No time to understand that, I had to figure this out. I scanned her and the situation, trying to crack the puzzle in my brain. She thinks I'm young, stupid. I could use that against her.

Without too much thought, I jumped upwards. She laughed, "didn't you hear what I said? Are you really that stupid?"

I ducked down right on time, having to lean down a bit. A few small pieces of my hair were snapped right off at the very ends, floating through the air.