The Spaces In-Between

Roasted

Y/N was pissed as she felt the blade against her side.  The thick arm around her neck was unrelenting and the bastard actually made her drop her drink.  That was unforgivable.  She was remarkably not scared, just pissed off.  Whoever had grabbed her had foul breath as he had his lips close to her ear as he was speaking low to her, trying not to cause a scene.

"You're going to quietly come with me or I will slip this between your ribs," he threatened. "Don't even consider calling for help, Mrs. Hatake."

Y/N narrowed her eyes as she looked to see if there were more than him in the vicinity.  The villagers had not noticed what was happening as the man was trying to pull her back into the alley that ran parallel with the convenience store as discretely as possible.  If he had help, they were in there.  She would be damned if she docilely went with him.  She had worked in the criminal field long enough to know that abductors relied on fear to get their victims alone, where they could do whatever they wanted with them. 

"You picked the wrong woman, asshole," she responded as she focused inward, touching the chakra within herself.

"What are you-" he said in stunned surprise as he felt the chakra building inside of her.

Y/N weaved signs fast as blue fire started to surround her body, heating the blade up that he had against her skin as the blue fire spread.  He yelped as the fire leapt out and set the handle on fire, causing him to drop it.  He then screamed as his arm caught on fire.  While she was protected, he was not so lucky.  She spun as he flung her away, trying to put out the fire that had engulfed his arm.  She continued to weave signs, as if on their own volition, just as she had practiced all those times with Kakashi.

She could see three other men in the alley coming out.  They were weaving signs as well and she knew she only had a short period of time before they struck.  "Blue Fire Explosion!" she yelled as she completed the last sign.  The fire that was surrounding her erupted outward then upward, like a bomb had gone off.  Two of the men dove for cover but the one who had tried to grab her and the one closest to him caught the full brunt of the blast, that exploded with a roar.

One of the other two men came out of hiding, weaving signs.  A blast of water slammed into her, extinguishing the fire surrounding her, while throwing her back into the middle of the street.  She grunted as she hit the ground, then rolled as the last man came at her with snakes extending out of his robes.  She narrowly avoided one of the snapping fangs.

Pandemonium erupted on the streets as people scattered away from the battle that had suddenly broken out in the quiet neighborhood.  She cast fire balls at the snake man, then had to twist sharply as the other sent what looked like a dragon made of water after her.  Two against one was not fair in the least.  She became aware as she was dodging the attacks coming at her that the attacks were not meant to kill but rather to subdue.  They wanted her alive, for whatever reason, and she felt that gave her a bit of an advantage.

She narrowly avoided another round of snakes when a powerful wind suddenly sliced past her and slammed into the snake man.  He flew back and hit the brick wall at the mouth of the alley with enough force to leave an indention.  She turned her head and saw a young woman with blond hair pulled up into four pony tails standing with a huge fan.  A smirk was on her face as if she was not at all scared of facing the men.

"Looks like you could use a hand," the woman said while keeping her eyes on the men.

"Appreciate it," Y/N said while getting into a defensive stance.

 The men warily looked between the two of them before giving each other a look.  Y/N could tell they were going to run away and started weaving signs fast.  She cast her arm forward while yelling, "Fire Cage!"  The fire streaked out from her hands, sliding past them before forming a gate behind them and on either side of them.  The water user started making had signs but was not fast enough as a streak from above came down, purple lightning slicing downward.  The streak sliced off one of the hands, ending the signs with the man's loud howl of pain.