Shadow of the Night

Chapter 12

Hey kiddo, you might want to wake up now. Your friend just knocked you out.

I flinched and one of my eyes flickered open. Where am I... Oh shit! Asaki! Both eyes now wide open, I looked up to see the side of Kakashi's neck and jaw. He's carrying me. Again.

I lifted one finger and ran it up his arm, finally coming to poke his masked cheek. He glanced down at me in surprise.

"Stop, we have to go help Asaki. She's my best friend, I need to save her." I whispered this quietly, but I knew he heard.

Sighing, Kakashi came to a halt. "I don't like the idea of her being on her own anyways." He turned around swiftly, and started jumping from branch to branch, practically flying back to Asaki. He didn't set me down, and I was glad. His warm torso gave me comfort, and I unconsciously snuggled into him, trying my best to not think about what might happen to my surrogate sister.

Asaki's POV

As soon as my friends were gone, I turned back to the clearing. The rustling around me was silenced, but I knew they were there. I counted about 25 of them, and it's safe to assume they all had curse marks activated to the second level. At least Kakashi had escaped with Hikari. I could still remember my first meeting with her...

*flashback

Training with Orochimaru wasn't fun. It was hard. I had been taken by him when I was six, a newly appointed genin, out on my first mission. I was seven now, and much stronger. Chunin level for sure.

I was getting restless. I hadn't seen anyone but the creepy snake lord in a year, and I wanted a partner. Today was the day I would be introduced to her.

My chamber's door opened, and I was lead into an open commons room. There stood Orochimaru and a young woman, a bit older than I. Maybe 12, with long hair that looked almost plum colored in the dim lighting. She was quite short for someone about five years older than I, about the same height as me.

Her hazel eyes regarded me somewhat coldly as I walked forward. "Hello. I'm your new partner, Shizuka Hikari."

I swallowed. Even her tone was icy. "Uchiha Asaki. Nice to meet you."

*two months later

After training as a team, Hikari and I joined the Akatsuki. Her initial coldness melted away as soon as we were alone, and I knew it was an act for Orochimaru.

Entering the secret hideout, the silence slightly unnerved me. None of the members said anything, except for Konan, who coolly guided us to our room. Sasori watched us leave with calculating eyes, and Orochimaru seemed uninterested in how his subordinates acclimated to their new environment.

Six years later, a surprise arrived for us. Itachi. My cousin came with the burden of his duty, I could tell. It took six weeks of questioning to tell me why he massacred our clan. After I swore to never tell anyone his secret, I learned of his mission, Sasuke, and of Itachi's crushing pain. I think it was a comfort having me there for him, someone who understood his actions. He was a year older than I, and had suffered much more. I didn't tell Hikari.

*end of flashback

I readied myself, waiting for an outward attack. Before that happened, I felt some kind of jutsu whipping towards me. Dodging it easily, I turned my attention to the bush it came from.

Unfortunately, the jutsu I had just dodged simply boomeranged back and caught me. It felt as though strings were suspending me from the canopy. My feet dangled about a foot from the forest floor.

People stepped from the trees, most half transformed. One, who looked like the leader, stood right in front of me. He leered at me. "So, this is the Uchiha. A bit of a pushover don't you think?" His words were met with snickers from his team, and I just gritted my teeth, staring defiantly back into his eyes.

"Rokuro. How... nice to see you again. I trust all your broken fingers are healed from our last encounter?"

Rokuro grinned nastily at me, then smacked me hard across the face. I gasped, spiting blood onto the ground (and of course a bit on Rokuro's boots).

Fingers crept to my sleeve, and I attempted to jerk away. Suddenly my sleeve was ripped off at the shoulder, exposing my arm, and the swirling seal marking on my forearm, to the clearing.

"I'm not sure how this seal works, so what do you say? I think we should take the whole arm back with us!"

I paled as his intent was made clear. A sword pressed into the flesh of my upper arm. Fuck.

Hikari's POV

I don't know how long I was out, but it took far too long to get back to Asaki. Kakashi ran faster that I could, even while he was carrying me.

I saw a familiar tree, and knew we were close to where we left her. Searching for chakra signals, I found Saki surrounded by 26 of Orochimaru's pets. This is bad.

I tapped Kakashi's bicep. My request made clear, he set me down and we looked into the clearing. What I saw made my blood run cold.

Asaki was hanging, nearly unconscious, from chakra similar to puppet strings. Her entire left side was covered in blood, and the viscous substance still oozed from her arm.

Or at least, where her arm used to be.

I covered my mouth in horror, that quickly turned to rage. How dare they maim my sister?! That's right sweetheart! Quiet Yuro I'm ranting at the moment.

Kakashi and I looked at each other, and nodded. We were going in there, and we were going to save our best friend.

Together, we leaped down into the clearing. Orochimaru's subordinates looked surprised, but it quickly turned to glee.

"We got the vessel and the scroll! I can't believe this luck."

"No," Asaki groaned. "Why are you here?! Kari, you need to run, leave me here!"

A sharp fist sank into her stomach, and she hung limply, coughing. My stomach turned ice cold and hard as steel. Kakashi caught my eye, and together, we jumped on the mutants.

*AN
Hehe cliffhanger
Hope you liked it, comment and vote if you did :)
-Hanna