Dream Skirmish

Chapter 2

The young blond bounces in excitement before he flops down on Blacky's bed in a sitting position, shaking the mattress and his sister a little. For a brief moment she furrows her brows in annoyance, but swiftly calms her expression as her sibling begins a long winded banter about the happenings of the day, never once not reminding her just how powerful he feels after training.
"Man, today was something wasn't it? I feel like I'm a million times stronger!" Naruto chirps  quite happily, whilst looking snug in his PJ's.
"You'll feel the burn tomorrow..." Blacky mumbles under her breath, only half-heartedly listening to her eccentric sibling.
"Yeah, maybe, but it was so worth it!" He grins widely with his eyes closed. "At this rate I'll really become the best Hokage ever."
His sister nods numbly, her green eyes still staring at the paley lit rooftops outside of her bedroom window. He glances at her, watching the girl stare out the glass as still as a statue, never moving. He even had to focus on her chest to see if she was still breathing.
"Sis, is something wrong? You've been... Absent all day..."
"I'm fine." She replies bluntly, further feeding his ever growing worry.
"Are you sure?" He shifts closer, tilting his head into her view to make sure she's looking at him. "You know you can tell me if something's wrong. That's what siblings are for, after all."
The young girl gives him a half smile. "I'm just a bit tired, Naruto."
"Oh... Well, alright... If you say so. Guess I'll let you sleep." He adds as he gets off her bed, stretching his sore limbs. "Good night, sis."
"Good night, brother."
The girl turns back to the window, peering into the darkness of the night as her brother leaves and walks to his own room to sleep.
Something has been bothering her, but she herself can't even tell what it is, she's simply had a bad feeling all day long for no apparent reason; a woman's intuition. To her there is no point in making a fuss about it to anyone, most don't just blindly trust someone else's gut feeling--with good reason.
She will simply try to ignore it to the best of her abilities, though she is fully aware of the fact that sleep will not come easy to her. Perhaps a late night walk would help settle her mind.

The two teens walk to a small building inside a bubble of comfortable silence. It has been a long day for both of them, but even though he is beyond tired, Neji insisted that he'll walk Hell home on this dark night. They stop outside of her home, glancing at each other with somewhat awkward looks.
"Well, thanks for taking me home, Neji." The young woman throws a smile his way. "You really didn't have to, though."
"It's on my way to the Hyuga compound anyway, so it was no trouble at all."
"Still... Thank you... Well, Uhm... Good night then."
"Sleep well, Hell. I shall see you in the morning."
They exchange brief glances after idly standing around for a few moments before finally parting ways and leaving behind the oddly embarrassing moment they shared. As soon as she enters her humble estate she notices a strange shift in the atmosphere. Instantly being alarmed Hell carefully walks from room to room, surveying every inch in the darkness as she can feel eyes on her, watching her every move.
Fairly uneasy, the female ninja decides that it's better to be safe than sorry and channels her chakra into the shadows around her, letting her jutsu perform an in depth search of every nook and cranny of her home, just to find that nothing is out of the ordinary. Stamping the feeling off as pointless paranoia, she prepares herself for bed, brushing her teeth, washing up and changing into a comfortable baggy shirt and a new pair of panties.
Just as she climbs into the safety of her blanket, she sees a brief light in the corner of the room, like glasses reflecting a light from outside. Startled, she jumps up, races to the light switch and illuminates the room to find it's empty. Just to make sure, she checks the surroundings outside her window and suddenly, a figure hangs down from the roof of her house, sporting a malevolent grin and quietly whispering a 'boo', which makes the young woman yell in shock and stumble backwards.
"Kabuto?!" Hell's eyes widen in realization. "The hell do you want here? This isn't Sasuke's place!"
"I'm here for you, of course. Be a good girl and this will be easier for both of us."
Quick as lightning he appears behind her, grabbing the woman's throat tightly. Gasping for air, she still manages some quick thinking and summons her shadows back to her aid, wrapping them around his feet while a second set, shaped like spikes, dash at him from the side. With a small chuckle, Kabuto slices his free hand through the air and Hell can only helplessly watch as her attack is literally cut in half by an unseen force and crumbles back into the floor, turning into the shapeless shadow it was before.
Her captor uses the same attack to remove the shades holding on to his legs and starts heading to the window for the quick escape route out of the village with his target tightly within his grasp, but Hell will not go down without a fight. Even as she can feel herself losing consciousness, she is violently struggling against his hold on her neck, thrashing around like a crazed animal and using her chakra to control the shadows around them to at least slow him down until help arrives and rescues her.
She can feel him dragging her across the rooftops as her vision blurs and finally goes dark. He lets out a disgruntled sigh of relief when she stops struggling and throws her limp body over his shoulder so it's easier to carry her to a secure location where he would tie her up. Managing to leave the village without any resistance or being spotted by the sentries, he sets Hell down, letting her slump against a tree and grabs some rope he keeps handy in his supply pack and begins binding her hands together in such a way that even if she awakens she can't do any hand signs or use jutsus to be a bigger pain in the ass than she already has been.
"I knew it." A voice sprouts up from behind a tree, startling the kidnapper.
"Who's there?!" Kabuto demands spinning around to face the one intruding on his so far flawless abduction of Hell.
Out from the shadow steps none other than Blacky, the best friend of the woman being taken to Orochimaru by one of his most capable henchmen. She stares at him with an indescribable look, though confidence is quite present within her green eyes. His annoyance is quickly replaced by a condescending smile, she is nothing he has to worry about, she is just a Genin after all.
"You should go home and play with your dolls, before you get hurt... Little girls shouldn't be playing ninja with the adults."
"I will make you regret patronizing me, you do know that, right?"
"Heh." The man chuckles in glee, shifting his glasses with his index finger. "Big words from a weak Genin. I watched you during the Chunin exams and frankly, you don't even have what it takes to be taken serious by children."
"Then you should get yourself some better glasses."
The young woman shifts her stands, placing her hands together with her two index fingers extended and ceases any further movement. Kabuto watches her intently with baited breath, expecting her to continue her hand signs and perform some weak jutsu he can easily dodge before taking her out, but she simply stood there, doing absolutely nothing. He grows a little concerned, wondering if this is some half-assed trick and he's falling for it or if she really is just a big moron, hoping that her lack of offense will throw him off long enough for her to plan out her next moves properly.
Regardless, he has to strike. He's faster than her and if she tries anything during his assault he will be able to dodge or even counter it with ease. Hesitating then no longer, he grabs a sharp kunai from his pack and lunged at the teenager. With an easy victory in sight, he grins widely as his blade is a split second away from coming into contact with her chest when she suddenly disappears completely, not even leaving a cloud of dust behind. Confused the man looks around the forest carefully, catching a reflective glimpse of something racing towards him and with speed that his opponent cannot match, he evades the projectile with a simple backflip. With no time to relax, he has to continue dodging a few more blades before her assault ceases.
"Is that all you got? Some sharp toys to throw at me while you hide like a coward? Pathetic."
He takes another look at the thrown objects, noticing that all of them have a tag wrapped around the hilt and judging by their angle of impact, none of them were going to hit him in the first place. He grits his teeth when he realizes he probably just walked right into her trap and is on high alert for any sneak attack she might be planning. He grips his blade tightly, holding it up defensively as he analyses the predicament he's in just when Blacky seems to appear out of nowhere right next to him, launches a swift strike, misses him by inches as he manages to evade in the last second and disappears again.
'What in the world is going on?!' He yells inwardly, perspiration forming on his temple. 'Could she really have gotten so fast that I can't even see her movements anymore?'
After a few more sneak attacks, she finally manages to land a powerful blow to his side, wasting not even a second to flash her hand signs as quickly as she can and blows a small stream of fire his way, using her hands to shape it midair into something resembling a snake just before it crashes into his forearms that he uses to shield himself. After the impact, Blacky's attack bursts apart like a raging inferno, desperately trying to break through his offense, but doing no real harm to him.
As the flames die down and darkness returns to the scene of battle, she can see a wide smile on Kabuto's lips. What was an expression of worry and desperation moments ago, is now replaced with a look of triumph; a grin of certain victory.
"I figured out your little trick... Not bad." The ninja dusts his arms off, removing some of the soot left behind from his opponents jutsu and shifts his glasses back into position. "For a genin that is."
He's bluffing, but it works. Panic ridden, the girl disappears once more, hoping to come up with another plan and not knowing her enemy lied through his teeth. However, her mistake gives him the time he needs to spot her hiding place and without delay, he channels his chakra into the tips of his fingers and jumps up behind her, delivering a small, but devastating cut to her back. Blacky falls limply off the branch, blood seeping from the side if her mouth as she finds herself almost completely paralyzed.
"Hmm... Seems I missed your spine, oh well." He smiles and crouches down beside her. "You're quite the lucky one, since you're not on my hit list, so I'll leave this how it is... Tell you what, if you manage to recover from my chakra scalpel cutting your artery, why not seek us out? I'm more than certain Lord Orochimaru would make it worth your time." He stands up and moves back to Hell, throwing her lifeless body over his shoulder. "If my master is willing, he will grant you power beyond your imagination..." Kabuto laughs patronizingly at the injured teen. "Just kidding. Have fun dying a slow and painful death."
Blacky can only watch through half lidded eyes as Kabuto carries away her best friend, not even having the strength to shed a tear as they are swallowed by the night. She'd gather whatever strength she has left to send up a burst of flames as a signal to the leaf village, but there is no energy left to tap from. As she feels the blood gathering as a pool inside her chest, her eyes begin to shut completely and time seems to stand still.