Gifted (A Konoha High Fan fic)

Chapter Thirty Six - The Cannibal Strikes Again

A/N

Short chapter but it's interesting! Think it's the third chapter of the day! Aren't you guys proud of me? :')

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Ai kept her mouth sealed for two days and her skin pricked whenever a Hakaze champion pass by, looking as normal as ever. Mabayui even smiled at her once. That made Ai crash into someone infront of her.

After what she saw the last two days, she had trouble sleeping. Obviously no one knew about the Hakaze

champions, wait, I meant Hakaze Cannibals, and Ai was the only one with the discovery.

Should she tell anyone? I don't think 'the Hakaze champions are cannibals!' sound convincing enough for anyone so, she kept the information to herself. But sometimes, the tape around her mouth began to peel when she kept on catching any of the Hakaze Cannibals eating.

Eating humans. The school noticed the absence of several students and were confused to find no traces of them. There were tears, yells, and more students eaten. But then, Ai had lost it when she came across Gakubu, who had been eating the most.

"Wait for me here, guys, I have to go get my textbooks!" Ai said to Sakura and Tsuyoi. She turned around the corner and walked to the lockers.

And very faintly, she heard screams and hisses. She shut her locker and tip-toed in the deserted hallway, hearing the noises again in a classroom. She tried the doorknob.

It didn't budge.

Yokoshimana, help!

Aye aye.

With the force Yokoshimana gave her, she stumbled into the empty classroom just in time to see Gakubu rip Yorie's heart out.

Blood dripped onto his shirt and from his sharp teeth and Yorie's bloody and still body fell on the desk with a dull thud. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and growled in hunger when he saw Ai standing rigid in the doorway.

Tears sprang to her eyes and she was lost for words. Her heart was beating so fast and she gasped for air. Then she screamed.

"Y-You-MONSTER!" tears came washing down her cheeks and she forgot she was a weak little non-Shinobi. She forgot that Gakubu just ate Yorie. She forgot the fact she was pathetic and he was a cannibal.

She grabbed the nearest item closest to her - a vase - and threw it at him, her hand groping around for another. Gakubu caught the vase and bared his fangs and leapt for Ai.

Ai! RUN! Right now!

Ai ran for it. She dashed down the hallway, her tears flying behind her as Gakubu chased after her. Their loud footsteps thundered on the floor and teachers poked their heads out from the doors, looking annoyed.

Gakubu was fast. Ai was slow. He was catching up and in a second, he could grab the back of her shirt and swallow her whole. She bolted past the janitor's closet and kicked the cleaning products sitting next to it in attempt to slow Gakubu down. But he simply jumped over her and tackled Ai.

Ai shierked when she felt his breath hit her skin and wriggled fruitlessly in his arms. He grabbed her neck and forced her to look at him. His face had suddenly turned monsterous. His eyes now pupil-less and skin now pale white. He drew out a scaly hand and prodded Ai's chest, exactly where her heart was located and reached in, his mouth opening to let out a growl.

"Let her go, you psycho freak!"

Gakubu stopped, inches away from Ai. He sniffed and air and swiveled his head around to see Eken. He dropped Ai and hissed at his new prey. Ai felt herself slipping into darkness and slowly, her eyes started to close.

Gakubu lunged for Eken and there was a loud ripping sound.

NO!

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For the past days, Yorie and Eken had been nothing but great friends and pesky flies. First, she had seen Yorie's heart eaten by Gakubu and now she witnessed Gakubu doing the same to Eken.

There were a lot of noises going around her. Cries, screams, growls, and footsteps. Her vision was already blurring and all she can make out was a what seemed like a thousand black dots towering over her.

She felt someone grab her shoulders and shook her back and forth, shouting for her. But unconsiousness hit her already.

It didn't take her very long to grip consiousness. Apparently, Gakubu had already fled when all the peole rushed in, leaving them finding for the murderer of Eken.

So no one will ever know that the Hakaze champions were actually Hakaze Cannibals. She felt pain surge through her chest everytime she breathed. The feeling of Gakubu about to tear her heart out lingered and her mind went round and round with flashes of Eken and Yorie's lifeless bodies.

She saw white light when she first opened her eyes. A flashlight was practically in her face. The flashlight was dropped and she was choked to death with the arms around her neck. She felt her shirt wetten and she heard sobs.

"You're a-alive."

It was Sakura. Her face was red and tear-stained. Her hair was a mess and she was hiccupping.

"Your heart signal was dead for a few minutes," Sakura sniffled, pointing at the heart monitor next to Ai's head. "I was so scared, Ai. I thought we lost you."

We lost Eken and Yorie, Ai thought bitterly.

"Where are they? I mean, Yorie and Eken." she said and watched Sakura choke back a sob.

"They're at the school entrance - "

Ai ran out the room. She dashed down the steps of the steps of the spiral staircase and stopped abruptly when she heard a certain two's laments over the noise.

" - we can't heal them. Their hearts are tore out. And most of their flesh are eaten. There is no - "

Shizune stopped explaining to Sonoe and Ro and her eyes filled up with sympathy as she watched Sonoe hug Ai tightly and burst into tears all over again.

"I can't tell who killed them," Tsunade said, not far from them. "All they smelt of was blood. There is more on the Eken boy than that Yorie girl's - "

That's because he got his filthy hands on Eken after he got them soaked in Yorie's blood.

Sonoe pulled away, red in the face, another tear strolling down her cheek as she disappeared. Ro didn't say anything. He didn't even look at Ai.

Ai didn't know how much it hurts to lose a bestfriend. She scanned the room and spotted the Hakaze Cannibals on the steps of the stairs, successfully acting like they're downcast. And just for a fraction of a second, Gakubu sent her a dark smile.

She noticed his bloody teeth.

Are you going to tell everyone they're cannibals? Yokoshimana asked. She had been silent for quite a while and she patiently waited for Ai's answer.

I have a better idea.