Gifted (A Konoha High Fan fic)

Chapter Forty Six - Human Stew . . . Yum?

  It was a long, tensed pause. Ai couldn't bring herself to look at Orochimaru after knowing the consequences of the fifth round.

  "Well, looks like my job here is done. Good-bye, Ai. And make sure you think carefully about this," he chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll be seeing me soon enough."

  And with a poof, Ai felt herself falling and hit the ground, the snake long gone. Heart pounding, she sat up and stared at the deserted room.

  Sharp pain shot through her head and her eyelids drooped and she fell back, only seeing flashes of yellow and black.

---

  It wasn't long after Ai regained her consiousness. She was lying on a log by the cataract and Sasuke and Naruto were on the opposite, staring at her.

  Her mouth was dry and it was hard to speak.

  "Guys?" she croaked.

  "Ai, you're awake!" Naruto exclaimed. "You passed out in the Arata Cho High School."

  Ai's heart fell.

  "I didn't get the scroll?" she whispered.

  Sasuke took something from behind him and the gold shone on her face. She stared at it. Her name was on thr scroll and the name of the school was beneath it.

  "H-How did you get it?" she asked, surprised.

  "Found it next to you, idiot." he said and her face scrunched up in confusion.

  "We couldn't find the principal." Naruto said, shrugging and biting into his third helping of sushi.

  "Really?"

  And it all fixed like a puzzle. Orochimaru must've captured the principal in order to confront Ai and the snake must be his! And Orochimaru must've put the scroll in the snake's mouth.

  "I see . . . " she murmured and took the crackers Naruto handed to her. When she bit into it, it tasted bitter in her mouth and she set it down next to her.

  "I don't want to go get my other scroll . . . " she frowned. Sasuke scowled.

  "Are you forfeiting?"

  Ai shrugged. Sasuke scowled again at the lack of response but said nothing and drank out of his canteen. Ai swallowed her own saliva and remembered that her canteen was empty.

  She grabbed it and crouched over the cataract. Once her canteen was full, she went back to her log. Sasuke made a face as he watched her carouse.

  Drinking to her last drop, Ai realized that the water did nothing to curb her thirst, only worsen it. She walked to the cataract again and as she does that, she felt herself . . .

  Shrinking.

  Naruto grew wide-eyed and he was lost for words. He pointed and opened his mouth but no words came out. Ai reached the cataract and slowly . . . she noticed her reflection and dropped her canteen into the water with a loud plop.

  "Ai! Ai!" Naruto shierked. "You're small!"

  "What?!" Ai shierked back and clamped her mouth shut when she heard her own voice. It was high-pitched, squeaky, and definitely not hers.

  "What the heck . . . ?" Sasuke had nothing to say.

  Ai glanced down. Her clothes were sagging and her shirt now looked like a dress. She pinched her cheeks, patted her hair, and felt her arms. Her cheeks were baby-skin smooth, her hair now short, spilling on her shoulders, and her arms were skinny like toothpicks.