His Little Bird [A Naruto Fanfiction] [Shikamaru x OC]

[12] Flightless

AN: Ohaiyo! I'm back with another chapter. I'm currently watching Shippuden and just got to the part where Naruto (SPOILER AHEAD YOU'VE BEEN WARNED BUT WHY ARE YOU READING FICS IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS) meets his mom and I'm pretty much sobbing ;-;

This show is too much for my poor little feelings.

The song can be played right away, pretty much. Just another fight song - it's mostly the chorus that I feel resonates with this chapter but It fit so good in my head that I had to put it in. It's being put below as well as (theoretically) in the header since I can't see it when I look at the story on my end.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

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Poof. The man disappeared.

"A clone?!" Sen screeched, pulling up from her assault and returning to the air as quickly as she could. However, she wasn't fast enough to avoid the kunai that embedded itself in her wing. She let out a pained screech and nearly lost her ability to fly for a few moments. Her flight path was still slightly unsteady, but for the most part she managed to regain her balance in the air. 

'Go, Akai, what are we going to do?!' Sen said, panicking slightly. This man had managed to hold a clone that long after its destruction, and not only that but he had injured her and she still didn't know where the kunai had been thrown from because she had been in the air at the time. This guy was damn good, she'd been in denial about that before, and look where it got her. Nearly flightless, that's where. 

Suddenly, Ukon leapt into action. "Sen! I found him!" He cried out, his knuckles white with how tight he had his hand balled into a fist. "I'll knock him out of the tree with this!" Ukon grabbed his right wrist with his other hand and focused until he had chakra built up. Then, just as he smashed into the man, he grabbed onto his arm and called out, "Raiton! Hiraishin!" The jolt of electricity sent the man spasming to the ground, where he landed with a loud thud. 

"Hiroe!" Sen called, knowing this was the perfect moment for the Headhunter Jutsu. But Hiroe was already two steps ahead - and nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, a rumbling was heard from beneath the Earth and as Hiroe emerged with a speed Sen hadn't seen from him before, he yelled, "Doton! Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!" Quickly, he yanked the man beneath the surface of the earth so only his head was showing. Sen couldn't help but grin as she watched him pull this Jutsu off perfectly.

'It looks like he remembers that plan after all..' She mused to the two birds. 'Are you both ready?' The two raptors nodded and Sen screeched out, "Tatsumaki Supairaru!" The three began to weave in and out in a familiar pattern before Sen released her Twin Flight Jutsu and crashed into the man's head fist first while her birds pulled up from the attack. Their purpose this time had been purely a means of accelerating Sen's body so she could hit him hard. A jolt of pain ran up her arm as she felt the bones in her fingers and wrist crack. She knew at least three fingers and her wrist were broken, if not all five and her arm as well. Not to mention the muscles in her bicep were nearly shredded thanks to the kunai he had thrown at her earlier. She was beat to high hell, but they had survived.

Thankfully, when the clone had disappeared so had the water prison, and Eri Sensei was slowly struggling to her feet, attempting to cough up the last bits of water she'd inhaled accidentally. The woman turned to her students and smiled widely. "You did it."

"Barely." Ukon muttered, looking down at the man who was now either unconscious or dead - he wasn't sure which. His eyes then turned to Sen, who knelt with one knee on the ground, clutching her arm. It was bleeding heavily, and he was sure he could see a compound fracture in the arm. Blood streamed down the girl's lip as well, whether from additional injury or because she was biting it to try and distract herself from the pain in her arm, even Sen was unsure. Hiroe sat slumped up against a tree, panting from over exertion and a number of small wounds inflicted by the bandits. The red-eyed child had taken on three opponents at once at one point during the battle, and it proved to be far too much for the young Genin. He was exhausted, and essentially unable to move.