writing-lootcrate

[writing-lootcrate]

Have A Little "Faith" Chapter 10: Dreams

Word Count: 4,659

When I first opened my eyes after what felt like ages, the only thing that I could see was nothing at all; darkness blanketed me on all sides in a suffocating manner, my heartbeat drumming in my chest as if it planned to escape me. For a moment I wondered whether or not I was even alive, and if this was the afterlife everyone was greeted with once passing on. I had a strange floaty feeling as though I wasn’t quite grounded and any movement would send me spiraling away into the unknown.

The sight of a faint light caught my attention almost immediately, especially since I didn’t expect anything other than myself to exist in this space. With legs that felt like jelly, I did my best to inch closer toward the source, though the closer that I got to the light the brighter it seemed to get until I had to cover my eyes, and the moment I next opened them revealed the home that I had grown accustomed to over the years.

Konohagakure.

I was in the center of the village amongst the people that were bustling about, as usual, eyes taking in the sights that I was all too familiar with yet still had come to admire. A pair of children ran past me while holding branches in their hands while pretending to be wizards making me instinctively take a step back to get out of their way only for me to bump into someone by accident, my blood running cold at the realization.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” 

The words left my mouth before I had even become aware of what I’d done almost as if it were instinct, my head craning around to look at who I’d stumbled into, only to find that they weren’t looking at me whatsoever. Fearing I’d done enough damage as well as fearing what fury would be unleashed, I gave a short bow of apology before turning and hurrying away, no real place in mind except anywhere but here.

The thing that stood out the most to me seemed to be the severe lack of judgmental looks I was getting, having grown accustomed to the hatred and distaste in the peoples’ eyes only to find that it was absent. It was nice not being looked at like some sort of freak for more than a second, a smile adorning my face as I made my way towards Ichiraku Ramen in search of Naruto, figuring that he’d be there over most other places.

Without even thinking about it, I walked straight through the flap that shielded the ramen shop, taking a look at the seats there and frowning at the absence of a blond head of hair that was recognizable almost immediately. I head towards the training fields next, assuming that even if Naruto wasn’t there then someone would be that I know.

Nothing.

What really threw me off wasn’t even the fact that I didn’t know anybody in the training fields, it was the fact that not a single person occupied it. Even on the days when the rain was so harsh, you couldn’t see your hand before your face, someone with the will to try would be going to town there to train their mind and body. 

It wasn’t until I walked back into town that I started to grow genuinely concerned, my jelly legs leading me to knock over a sign to a nearby shop only for no one to react. As the shop owner bent over to fix it with a huff of frustration evident in their voice, they completely ignored my presence despite being mere inches away from me.

Was this better than before?

The more that I thought about it the more I had to test it out, and in every single case, me messing with something and even going so far as to even trip a man who wouldn’t catch a hint from a woman who was happily sitting with her partner, not a single person reacted to my presence. It was nice, the feeling almost like I was some sort of ghost that could do whatever I wanted when I wanted, though my earlier train of thought came back to haunt me.

Am I dead?

That couldn’t be the case, right? Besides, the last place that I remember being was…

It was then that I realized that I had little recollection of what I was doing before this, though the fuzzy memory of getting a mission from the sandaime and Iruka-sensei seemed to linger longer than most. Perhaps I could try and see if they knew anything, and even if they didn’t acknowledge me in the slightest there would have to be documentation, right?

One minute I was going the pace of a snail and the next I was speeding through the village on my way to see the hokage, my need for answers blinding me to everything else. Before I knew it I was standing at the doorway to the sandaime’s office, almost too quickly, my hand raising to knock before quickly tossing that thought aside as I went to open it regardless, the matter at hand too urgent for formalities.

The sound of chatter inside made my hand on the doorknob pause, grip easing slightly as my body almost instinctively inched closer to listen, brown brows furrowing at the thought of eavesdropping on a conversation that didn’t include me. I didn’t plan on doing so for the entirety of it, merely to get context on whether or not it would be safe to simply walk in even if they couldn’t see me. At the sound of my own name, however, all those thoughts were immediately forgotten.

“Faith was the name, I believe; after what he’s done to her I fear that we need to be rid of her completely, for the safety of everyone.” The hokage’s voice was easily recognizable, though the sound of several people murmuring in agreement threw me off, especially since they were all people that I knew and were close to. That thought didn’t sit right with me, considering the context of the information I’d heard.

Fighting down the lump in my throat I took a shaky breath and considered leaving and coming back another time, and as I turned away to find something else to do in the meantime I was greeted with the one thing I didn’t need at the moment.

“Faith?”

The door to the office had been opened by none other than Lee, who was looking at me as though I had grown another head entirely. It wasn’t the gleeful look I was accustomed to seeing him with, instead, there was nothing but horror painting his features, the same expression plastered directly onto Naruto’s own as he stood at Lee’s side. In fact, all of the people in the room held the same expression; Guy-sensei and the rest of his cell were there, Kakashi and the rest of team 7 were there, and even Iruka-sensei were all standing there and staring, almost as if they were surprised I existed in the first place.

The entire situation had me on edge, the ringing in my ears dying down just enough to hear my name being uttered from the sandaime’s lips, my open eye slowly dragging itself away from everyone in the room to look at him in return, holding his gaze and hoping that he’d give me some answers.

“Yes sir?” I could feel the anxiety welling up in my chest at the sight before me, my hands slowly clenching into fists to try and hide the shaking at the sight of Iruka-sensei’s hand drifting down to the pouch of weapons on his leg out of the corner of my eye.

“Why did you come back?”

Sarutobi-sama rising from his desk jolted me from my staring at the weapon in Iruka’s hand, watching as the man speaking to me put his hands behind his back where they typically reside, his footsteps slow and cautious as he moved himself to be standing in front of the desk rather than behind it.

I couldn’t help but look at him in bewilderment, trying to make sense of what he was saying to me; I had no recollection of what had taken place before returning to Konoha which was why I had come here in the first place. At this, I had no other response than a simple nervous shrug of my shoulders and a stuttered “I don’t know” that didn’t seem to sit well with him.

A huff of disbelief to my right caught my attention and I had to turn slightly to look at them, spotting Guy-sensei refusing to look me in the eyes as he resorted to focusing his attention on the wall directly opposite of him instead. In the time it took me to look away from the hokage, he had managed to somehow make his way directly in front of me without me noticing in the slightest, a chill running down my spine at the sudden change in proximity.

“Now.”

That one word alone was the last thing I heard before the group of those I trusted most circled me, lunging at me and leaving me back in the dark void once again.

  ** ding dong pov change **

  The silence that consumed the room was deafening as the silver-haired shinobi sat alone with his thoughts, his mind racing with multiple things at once while trying to keep up and make sense of it all.

A full day had come and gone, and still Faith was fully unconscious, Tsunami mentioned over dinner that night that she’d checked in every so often to change the bandages only to find that she was completely undisturbed. She was doing fine in other regards, the wound almost appeared to be healing much faster than physically possible, and no other signs that she was in bad condition. Despite this, the team couldn’t help the growing concern over being down a team member at a time such as this, wondering whether or not they would have to leave her behind when the time came.

“K-Kakashi-sensei?”

Sakura’s voice was enough to grab the man’s attention, his coal black eye turning away from the wall he’d been staring at to look at the young kunoichi with an innocent tilt of his head, urging her to say whatever it had been that she’d come to him with.

“What do you think? Of the upcoming fight, I mean…” Her eyes turned away at this, almost as if she feared what she was going to receive as a response as she placed her hands in her lap, and if it weren’t for the sound of water running from the sink in the background and the sound of idle chatter she was sure that he could hear the hammering of her heart in her chest from anticipation.

The question to him seemed near impossible to answer considering he had next to no idea what would play out when the time came; for all he knew, they could win the fight with no problems whatsoever or they could all meet their ends in no time at all. What if he made the same mistake as before and overused the sharingan, leaving his students to fend for themselves? Not to mention the strange masked boy being a brand new factor in all of this.

“I’m sure we’ll think of something, Sakura,” Kakashi replied. “Every one of you has improved in such a short amount of time, and I’m positive that when Zabuza arrives that we’ll take him down.”

Giving the girl his signature smile along with his words seemed to have quelled the kunoichi’s thoughts as she gave him a smile in return and thanks, rising from her seat at the table as she went off to get ready for bed. Once she was gone, Kakashi couldn’t help but feel the smile begin to falter, gloved hand slowly tracing a finger over his glass of water that remained untouched otherwise.

He wasn’t sure who it was he was trying to convince: Sakura, or himself.

  ** go crazy aa go stupid pov **

  The squeaking of metal moving back and forth nearby was slowly becoming more and more irritating over time, my eye finally peeling open to see nothing but light shining directly into my retina. After a moment or two of blinking dumbly and trying to get my vision to adjust, I was finally able to make out the shape of the lamp above me that needed some proper treatment from the sounds of it, looking away from it to take in the rest of my surroundings.

The rest of the room didn’t seem to be in much better shape than the lamp, in fact, the lamp seemed to be the nicest-looking thing that I was able to see in my groggy state. The walls were cold and unwelcoming, the warm glow from the light above me offering them no kind of warmth.

In an attempt to get up and try to make sense of my location, it was then that I was made aware that my limbs were no longer within my control, the straps that pinned them down incredibly tight around my small arms. My legs were met with the same terrible fate, the straps bound at my ankles holding me in place and forcing me to lay on the flat surface against my will.

There was no way that I was getting out of this one so easily, especially since my body felt terribly weak, leaving me nothing more to do but try and take in the rest of the room. There were no windows in sight that I was able to see from my position, though to my right I was able to see a doorway with the door itself slightly ajar, where some faint voice could be heard on the other side. There was an almost orange tint to the light that was peeking in, reminding me of candles or an open flame of sorts.

Taking no comfort in the sounds of strangers speaking words I couldn’t hear, my attention was drawn back to the squeaky light above me as I watched it slowly sway from side to side. It was very close to lulling me back to sleep until I heard the sound of footsteps approaching me, which startled me since I’d not even heard the door move in my trance.

“You’re a small one, aren’t you?”

My head snapped towards the slightly obscured figure that was approaching me from my right, seeing a person standing with a clipboard in their hands. When my eyes adjusted once again I was able to see a masculine figure with silver hair kept back in a small ponytail, and large circular glasses covering their eyes thanks to the reflection of the light. They paid me no mind other than their comment, their head shifting down towards their clipboard as they began to read the contents aloud, more to themself than me.

“Honara Faith, five years of age, no occupation,” they spoke, filling in the blanks along the way as my heart rate picked up exponentially at the thought that struck me.

I wasn’t supposed to be here.

I tried desperately to recall where I had been before I’d gotten onto this table, thinking of a mission or something that I’d been on, my body involuntarily struggling against my confines. That information wasn’t true and I knew it. I’m not five years old, I’m ten, not to mention I’m a genin. What is going on?

“I’m sure the left one will work.” The figure took a couple of steps closer towards me which only made me halt my movements in a panic, gaze focused intensely towards them to try and predict their next move, which only made a sickening smirk cross their face.

“Are you scared?”

My gaze didn’t falter in the slightest at this, staring at this person as if I would soon bore holes into them from the power of it alone which only made them chuckle at me. “Hopefully you’ll be able to survive this; the past candidates haven’t been so… fortunate.”

With that, they used their pointer finger to push their glasses further up the bridge of their nose and turned, opening the door and exiting the room with a slight thud from the door finally closing all the way. Now that I didn’t feel like I was in immediate danger, I began to try and collect my thoughts, hoping to remember even something that would help me out in this situation here. 

I remember leaving the village for a little while, and maybe Naruto was with me? I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was that we were doing until I craned my head forward to look at my body on the table, remembering that something had physically happened to me while out. Almost as if on cue, slight pain on my torso made me cringe slightly as my head hit the table again, which I ignored the second I remembered what took place.

That damn swordsman. 

I was on a mission to Kiri before getting here, helping some old man build a bridge. I had made some stupid decisions once again, and accidentally reopened the wound and passed out from exhaustion while being carried. Meaning that this had to be some kind of sick and twisted dream of some kind, right?

An amused laugh in a voice I’d recognized almost instantly made my body tense almost immediately, slowly twisting my head to the right again more out of fear than want, only to make contact with yellow eyes that haunted me for ages. Once again, my body began to move involuntarily at the sight of the figure approaching, unsure about whether my plan was to escape or fight like my life depended on it which only brought a smile to his face.

“Yes, go ahead, squirm around helplessly; it’s about time I’ve had some more lively prey.” His smile turned more into a grin now, a single white fang peering back at me and making me halt my movements slightly, keeping an eye on him as he walked around me and out of sight for a second before the sound of metal trinkets could be heard rolling towards me making me freeze once a small table of medical tools rolled into view.

“Now, try not to die; it would make things much more complicated for me.”

  ** imagine not switching pov lmao **

  The fight with Zabuza was inching closer and closer to the shinobi residing in Tazuna’s home, a shit ton of training paying off and preparing them all for the battle ahead. Most everyone had been working their asses off to ensure that things went as smoothly as possible when the time came, leaving everyone feeling a mixture of exhaustion and energy swirling about. With or without their final team member, things were going to get serious. 

The longer that Faith was asleep though, the more that a certain blond-haired ninja felt anxiety swell in his chest; thoughts of getting everyone on the field of battle killed plagued his mind, as well as thoughts of his own death taking place before he could even reach his childhood goal of becoming the hokage. The longer he was left with these thoughts, the more violent the thoughts became until they were nearly unbearable, wishing that his best friend were awake to confide in.

With a lump in his throat and his fists clenched at his sides, Naruto took a deep breath with his jaw clenched, mentally preparing himself for what was going to take place. The longer that he spent dwelling on things like this, the more time he was wasting when he could be training himself to the bone instead. He had to win the fight ahead, no matter what it took. 

Even if it cost him his life?

  ** how many dreams are you gonna have old man **

  The stench was ingrained in my mind at this point, deep crimson staining my pale hands as the blood slowly dripped through the space between my fingers and onto the floor with the puddle that was slowly growing bigger and bigger with time. I had been too late once again to stop anything, feeling as though I was running in place at the sounds of the shrill screams, only to see the scene before me after I was too slow and weak to prevent it. This was my own personal hell, and I would never be allowed to leave.

Why did I have to watch my family die again? Wasn’t once enough?

My feet remained glued to my spot on the floor as I looked up from my hands, seeing yellow eyes I had become all too familiar with over the course of time; their sandaled feet took slow and menacing steps towards me, the small splash of blood from my mother’s corpse ringing in my ears but having little to no effect on the snake-like man before me.

“You aren’t worthy.”

Those same words that haunted my dreams time and time again, coming back to haunt me once again. My hands shook as the man moved to get even closer, the breath I had now hitching in my throat as my body tensed, afraid that this would be the day I too met my demise. I didn’t seem to be as lucky as the rest of my family, though, as the approaching figure made no attempt on my life as he had with the others, instead staring down at me in a mixture of amusement and mild disappointment. Not that it would have mattered, since it wasn’t as though my body would have responded in any way and gotten me to safety.

Slitted yellow eyes bored holes into the top of my head, the silence in the room practically deafening after the screams of pain and terror that filled it moments prior. It made me sick, the combination of being made to relive the experience of the death of those I held dear, standing in a pool of crimson by the corpse of my own mother, and the culprit looking down on me as though he were completely unfazed by it all.

Before I could scrunch my eyes shut and try to brute force myself into waking up the only way that I knew how, cold and slender fingers lightly brushed against the underside of my chin, forcing my head to move upward to my surprise, eyes shooting open against my will only to meet the golden eyes I’d hoped to avoid entirely. As if my body was now made out of my control, I could no longer move in any way at all, like a form of sleep paralysis within the dream itself, almost like it was meant to happen as his grip on my face turned harsh.

“I give you this gift…” The voice that I heard was just as horrid as I remember it, cold and menacing enough to burn itself into my brain. I watched as his gaze slowly raked up and down my figure before moving to my covered eye in disappointment. 

“...and you don’t even use it?”

My face was released from his death grip with a rough shove, sending me stumbling backward into the corpse of my mother as I tripped over her motionless figure, falling to the ground with a thud and further staining myself red as he spoke again. “You’re just another in a long line of failed experiments, child; it’s sad for me to think that I went through all of this trouble just for you to be of no use to me.”

His slender hand moved down to a pouch just barely out of sight and pulled out a fresh bandage, all pristine and rolled up just waiting to be used. With one swift movement, he threw the bandage gently in an underhanded throw as a way to roll it toward me, the small cloth bundle stopping just short of my foot. "You can use this as a cover for that new eye of yours; after seeing how you freeze up in life-threatening situations I doubt that it will be of much use to you."

I could only stare blankly at the bandage on the ground in front of me as I processed everything that had happened this time for me, having experienced this moment before in the past giving me the chance to properly think about what was happening before me. Was this whole thing done as some kind of test for me? Had my family been killed just to see what reaction I would have to the whole thing? Was this some kind of sick and twisted joke?

The silence was once again back to haunt me as it slowly began to settle in, my mind telling myself on repeat that this whole thing was just a fucked up dream and that this wasn't happening all over again. All I had to do was just close my eyes and wake back up, right where I had been when I fell asleep in the first place…

"I'm more surprised that I wasn't able to get a bigger reaction out of you; after all the trouble I went through in order to secure that chakra only for it to not take any effect…" 

The sound of his footsteps drawing even closer to me grabbed my attention, immediately trying to rack my brain for whatever it was that the snake was going to try next, only for me to go blank. From what I remember of this encounter, I had blacked out shortly after having been dropped a bandage and belittled, so this whole thing was rather foggy to me.

"I'm afraid I'm not leaving until I get what I want, of course, even if that does mean destroying the tool I've carefully crafted myself over the years." He paused just to my right, standing just above my dead mother as his gaze drifted from me to her, staring at her for only a second before he reared his foot back in a split second and delivered a harsh kick to her abdomen. 

My blood ran cold at the sight of her lifeless body being kicked away from me and into the wall behind me with a sickening thud, my throat already burning with the scream I belted out in an attempt to beg him to stop. Hadn't he done enough damage already?

Slow and menacing steps made their way over to her body, his pale hand diving down and grabbing her by her hair, and pulling her up harshly to look at me. "Stop? There's no way that you could stop me, orphan."

That one word alone took the breath right out of my lungs by force, and just before my vision could fade to black I was left with the sound of an eerie cackle of satisfaction as he was given just the result he had asked for.

  **thank fuck the coma died bro **

  The groggy and distant sound of plates shattering was what I was first greeted with upon waking up, followed by a shrill scream of shock from a feminine-sounding voice. My first thought was that I was once again back in another nightmare I couldn't awaken from, but my ears were keener than I'd given them credit for.

"Stay back, Inari!"

Inari? I don't remember an Inari–

It took just a second for my brain to catch up with what I was hearing, piecing together everything that I'd forgotten since the forest encounter. My eyes opened to reveal the ceiling of Tazuna's home, and my fears were confirmed when I heard a little boy's voice call out for his mother.

Someone was in Tazuna's home.

[writing-lootcrate]

Swimming Lessons

Word Count: 1,607

Fandom: Soul Eater

Character: Kisa Stein

Prompt: Stein signs Kisa up for swimming lessons

“Kisa, I have some news for you that I think you’ll be interested in.”

Kisa looked up from the book she held in her hands, brunette brow raised curiously at her father’s statement. Today had been a fairly quiet day for the younger Stein since her father had been out and about for most of it, leaving her in the lab alone with nothing but the book in her hand to occupy her. She would have been angry with him for interrupting just when the plot had begun to get interesting if she weren’t curious about what news he was planning to share with her.

“Is it about that endangered fox you dissected last week?” She couldn’t help but ask about it, knowing damn well that said fox was something that was probably incredibly rare and her father had sliced it open like it were nothing. “Is PETA trying to sue you or something? I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“No, this has nothing to do with the fox, Kisa.” Stein frowned at this, rolling his eyes at the thought. “Don’t even get me started about PETA since they kill more pets yearly than I’ve ever managed to lay a finger on within the span of my life.”

“Ah, I didn’t know PETA was such a shitty and hypocritical organization.” Kisa looked genuinely surprised by this, her hand moving over to the little table at her bedside as she grabbed a glass of water and took a sip from it.

“Anyway, as I was saying,” Stein moved a hand to reach into the pocket of his lab coat to retrieve something, soon pulling out a colorful piece of paper that he looked over once before glancing back up to his daughter. “I wasn’t sure whether or not you would be interested, but Spirit said that I should surprise you with it. They’re some kind of swimming team or something of the sort—”

Kisa choked on the water in her mouth at the mention of swimming, the water rocketing out of her mouth and spraying Stein in the stomach thanks to the considerable height difference between the two. He couldn’t help but stare down at the wet spot on his shirt with a frown, slowly glancing back to Kisa with his expression conveying how unamused he was. “Don’t get too overexcited.”

“What the hell did you do that for?!” Kisa was hacking and coughing at this point, trying to regain her breath from her near-death experience. “Swim team?! Of all things?!”

“Oh dear, am I not fathering right?”

Kisa looked up at her father in abject horror at the thought of joining the swim team and judging from the sound of it he had already signed her up before coming home. Her heart raced at the thought of being made to swim with a team, much less being made to swim in general. It wouldn’t be so bad if she had talked things through with her dad before he had decided to sign her up for some kind of extracurricular activity. She didn’t mind having something other than school for her to do, she just needed literally anything else. 

Kisa doesn’t know how to swim.

Every time that Kisa had been made to try and swim in the past, she would always end up sinking beneath the surface after a solid minute or so of wild flailing to try and keep her body afloat. To be fair, a lot of this took place in a time when Kisa was a mere child who didn’t really know any better, though remembering the feeling of suffocation as water filled her lungs and her eyes burning as she tried to see through the endless pools of water that surrounded her on all sides was enough to make her, for the most part, hydrophobic.

“I-I mean, no, it’s fine, I just… Is this the only thing that was available? Wasn’t there something like, I don’t know, softball? Hockey? Literally anything else other than the swim team?”

“This was the only thing that was left on the bulletin board; Spirit saw that I was looking and helped talk me through it saying that extracurricular activities are good for kids your age.” Stein’s expression remained as stoic as usual, the light catching the frames of his glasses and hiding his eyes from his daughter who was very displeased with the news. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be, you know; at least give it a chance and try it out and if you still don’t like it, I won’t make you go back again.”

After a moment or so of thought, Kisa let out a pent-up sigh of frustration as she slowly nodded her head to show that she agreed with what he had planned for her. Arguing with him about it wouldn’t get her anywhere so she might as well go along with it and see what ends up happening, right?

┈ ┈ ┈ ⋞ 〈 ⏣ 〉 ⋟ ┈ ┈ ┈

The day that Kisa was dreading had finally reared its ugly head as she stood at the edge of the pool in the one-piece bathing suit for the swim team members, hoping that the slight shaking of her body from the fear of drowning would be mistaken for chills from the cooler temperature after having been made to change. The rest of her team was currently grouped together on the other side of the pool and chatting amongst themselves happily, not even sparing Kisa so much as a glance as they were far too distracted trying to befriend one another. It worked out for Kisa though, since it meant that she had a little bit of time to try and psych herself up before facing one of her biggest fears.

Kisa took a deep breath as she eyed the water from the side, slowly easing herself to the ground and sitting at the edge of the pool with her knees tucked up to her chest, leaning forward ever so slightly just to take a peek at the water without having the nerves to actually make contact with it. What really didn’t help is that she was fairly certain that Stein was still somewhere nearby, and the feeling of him somehow seeing this side of her only made things worse for her in her mind.

Having not been paying attention thanks to the pounding of her heart ringing in her ears, Kisa had lost track of the other swim team members completely as she stared at her reflection in the water, taking note that she would probably have to remove her glasses when the time came which only sent another pang of fear coursing through her as she realized that she wouldn’t even be able to properly see.

Just as she had taken a deep breath and closed her eyes as if she had come to accept the circumstances, a shove from behind sent her into a panic as her eyes opened just in time to see the water of the pool getting closer to her face, her body tumbling into the cold liquid with a splash. With her entire body submerged underneath its depths, she wasn’t able to properly hear the giggles of her fellow swim team members who were none the wiser, under the assumption that they had pulled off a simple little prank that wouldn’t amount to much of anything.

She panicked.

Every calming thought that she’d gone over to try and keep herself mentally afloat had gone out the window the moment the shock of what had happened as well as the sudden cold rush from the water hit her and reality set in. Almost as if by pure instinct, she opened her mouth to take a deep breath only for water to start rushing in to take its place. The combination of water surrounding her on all sides and losing her glasses made everything incredibly blurry, and she was certain that she had no clue which way was up and that this is where she would drown.

Kisa could feel a wave of movement from her right as if someone else had suffered the same fate as she, her limbs struggling but failing to raise her closer to the water’s surface as her lungs slowly but surely started to fail her. The feeling of someone grabbing her arm nearly sent her into an even worse frenzy until her body started to move, the figure struggling but succeeding in pulling her to safety.

The moment that her head broke the tension of the water and fresh air was dangled right in front of her, Kisa took the opportunity to cough and hack up the water that had forcefully entered her lungs, taking deep breaths as her hands gently flailed about to find the edge of the pool, clinging to it for dear life once her savior led her towards it as she struggled to breathe.

“Are you okay?”

Kisa nearly didn’t hear the person speaking to her as fear drowned out most of what was happening around her until they placed a hand on her shoulder and forced her to turn towards them slightly, the person easing one hand away from the pool’s edge (with difficulty thanks to her iron grip on it) to give her glasses back and help her see. She could only really manage a shake of her head in a small and frantic ‘no’, pulling herself closer to the wall of the pool than before as she shakily placed her glasses back over her eyes, looking around her desperately with difficulty as the water on her glasses blurred her vision and made it harder to spot a ladder or stairs to get out.

Kisa started making her way to the nearest ladder with the help of the wall as the person who had pulled her out of the water was telling off those who had pushed her in, but it fell on deaf ears as Kisa’s main focus was getting the hell out of there. As soon as her hands made contact with the cold metal of the ladder she used what remaining strength she had to pull herself up and out of the pool, walking as fast as she possibly could with her head down towards the direction of the locker room to grab her stuff and leave.

It took longer than she would have liked to change back into her regular clothes thanks to the shakiness of her hands, but once she was back in her own clothes and had wiped her glasses free of water, Kisa sat on the bench closest to her and took a moment to finally breathe, her body going slack as she allowed herself to relax before she left.

The sound of the door to the locker room opening made her turn her head away immediately, not wanting to see any of the people who may have been involved in pushing her in out of embarrassment, though a familiar voice called out to her and made her turn her head slightly, but not fully, in their direction.

“Hey! You’re Kisa, right? I wanted to come in and check on you…”

Kisa immediately recognized the voice as the one that had come from the person who had essentially saved her life mere moments ago, taking in the girl’s taupe-colored hair held up in pigtails and her pale green eyes, currently looking at her in genuine concern after the recent fiasco.

“Y-Yeah, I’m Kisa…”

She mentally cursed at herself at the sound of her voice quivering in response, settling for looking down at her hands as she clenched and unclenched them as a distraction. The sound of footsteps coming closer had her eyes slowly drift to the floor at the girl’s feet for a moment, quickly moving back to her hands at the sound of the girl sitting down beside her.

“I…” Kisa’s voice seemed to be failing her as she struggled to find the words she wanted to say, cheeks reddening in embarrassment as she turned away from the kind girl, finding a rather interesting crack in the wall to stare at. “I don’t know how to swim.” 

She didn’t give the girl the chance to respond as she finally let go of the irritation and fear that was weighing on her that day, finally risking a look to the other and nearly stopping at the sight of her listening patiently. “I didn’t even want to do this in the first place, but my dad signed me up for it without asking me, and now I’m stuck here because he told me I should at least ‘give it a try’, but I didn’t have the guts to tell him that I don’t even fucking know how to swim in the first place, and because of that I nearly drowned before practice had even started—”

Kisa went on to vent to the girl for a moment or so longer, only stopping when she realized that she didn’t really ask to listen in on her problems, her posture slackening as she sighed in irritation at the entire thing. This whole ordeal could have been avoided if she would have just spoken up to her father about the situation, but instead her own stubbornness and fear had nearly cost her life to drown away.

“Thank you for saving me.”

The girl gave her a gentle pat on the back in response to this along with a “no problem!’ as the two settled into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, the quiet only being broken once the girl spoke up.

“To be honest, I didn’t really want to do this either; actually, my father was the one who signed me up for this as well, but of course, he went and did it without asking me.” She huffed in annoyance at her own misfortune, crossing her arms over her chest. “That idiot has no clue what kind of things that I’m into, but he’s too persistent to just leave me alone.”

She sighed after speaking and took a moment to shake her head, looking over at Kisa and offering her hand to the other as she went to stand, offering Kisa a smile. “Since neither of us really want to be here, let’s just leave and do something else; I’ve got things to do anyway and I’m sure that you don’t really want to be here any longer either, right?”

Kisa hesitated a moment as she stared at the girl’s hand, feeling a smile start to tug at her lips as she placed her hand in the other’s own, bringing herself to her feet as she nodded in agreement. There was no way in hell that she was going to stay here and make a fool of herself all over again. As soon as Kisa had agreed to her plan, the girl offered a smile as she turned to one of the lockers and grabbed her clothes to change, and once the two were ready they made their way out of the locker room and head towards the exit.

“So, Kisa is your name, right? I’m Maka, a meister at the DWMA; it sucks that we met this way, but maybe this was fate or something?” Maka put her hand out for Kisa to shake once again, a smile passing between the two as they were about to go their separate ways. Kisa returned the handshake with a small nod of agreement and the two parted, though just as Kisa turned to leave and begin her trip towards home, Maka spoke up once again.

“Hey… If you aren’t busy or anything, would you like to join me? I’m meeting up with some friends in a little bit and I don’t think they’d mind if you tagged along.”

Kisa turned around with her eyes widening a little in surprise, not quite expecting someone to have wanted to befriend her so soon after coming here, her stomach trying not to do somersaults at the revelation. After a second though, she realized that Maka was looking at her expectantly waiting for a response, and her brain fried, her words coming out in stutters and utter nonsense. 

“W-Well, I don’t really want to intrude or anything on your gathering and all, so—”

Sensing her hesitation, Maka took her hand and began to pull Kisa after her with a gentle laugh. “Nonsense! C’mon, they’re waiting for us at the basketball court; I’m sure they’ll like you and see how nice you are! Plus, there’s a bench there where you can sit out and take a break if you aren’t really feeling up to it, though I can’t guarantee that Blackstar won’t talk your ear off about joining for a game, but even then—”

Finally gaining control of her footing, Kisa walked alongside Maka hand in hand as she listened to her ramble about her friends and what they were like, doing her best to follow along in her mind what to expect from who before she got there. She was both absolutely terrified of the idea of meeting all of these people as well as excited, though she’d never mention the latter aloud even if her life depended on it. Despite having nearly drowned in the pool less than an hour prior, things seemed to be working in her favor as she smiled at Maka nervously as the two made their way to the basketball court where even more new people await.

[writing-lootcrate]

[writing-lootcrate]

writing tip #3358:

writing is hard

[writing-lootcrate]

Have A Little "Faith" Chapter 9: No Thoughts, Head Empty

Word Count: 4525

It wasn’t long before Kakashi was back on his feet with the help of a crutch as he planned to take his team out for training while I was left behind in the safety of Tazuna’s home, the pain in my chest throbbing but not feeling as if I were on the verge of death every waking moment. Kakashi was kind enough to tell me that they were planning on leaving, at least, that way I knew where they had gone. He even hit me with a “don’t cause trouble” as a joke, knowing damn well that I could hardly move to go and take a piss much less cause problems.

At first, I was a little jealous at the thought of the four of them going and training without me while I lay rotting away in a stranger’s home, but I was quickly reassured that the group would be going over chakra control and learning to climb trees without the use of their hands, Kakashi mentioning that I clearly didn’t need help in that regard considering how I had charged across a body of water without even questioning what I had done.

After he had left with the team, there wasn’t much for me to really do but lay there under my blankets and stare at the ceiling as I hoped that sleep would come to take me, but I wasn’t all that tired anymore. Honestly, I just felt kind of sick or something, like I was letting down people who weren’t really expecting anything of me in the first place. Before I could get too far into my feels, I heard and felt the vibrations of smaller footsteps coming my way, which could only be one person.

Just to confirm my suspicions, I tilted my head back awkwardly just in time to see Inari approaching me, staring down at me as if he were sizing me up. I couldn’t help but shift uncomfortably at this, especially since I knew how he and Naruto had already gotten off on the wrong foot. The last thing I needed was this kid to talk shit about me when I can’t do anything about it.

“What happened to you?”

It came a little out of nowhere, and I nearly had to ask him to repeat himself just to truly wrap my head around it. “I uh… I got hurt in the fight with the swordsman.”

It didn’t seem like he was satisfied with that answer, his eyes squinting ever so slightly as if he were urging me to say something more, head tilting innocently to the side when he saw that I raised a brow in slight confusion.

“How did you… get hurt?”

He was definitely being careful about asking, almost like he was simultaneously trying to be conscious of my feelings while also trying to judge my character a bit. It made sense to me, especially since I’d not really gotten the chance to properly chat with him as the others have. For all he knows, I could be another Naruto and be prepared to square up with a kid.

“Well,” I started, using my elbows to slowly and rather painfully hoist myself up into a sitting position, doing my best to be mindful of the wound on my chest, “before we got here we encountered that infamous swordsman that everyone’s been talking about, and he really didn’t have any problems with uh…” 

I cut myself off to indicate the new injury of mine, watching his dark eyes trail from my own to my chest that was hiding beneath a mix of a replacement shirt, bandages, and the blanket I was given. Thankfully, he was able to pick up what I was putting down, making it so I could continue without having to dive into that.

“He used such powerful jutsu and he had this sword that was twice my size; he was way past our level of strength, and Kakashi-sensei had to use his sharingan eye so that he could match him.”

“That sounds scary…”

“It was…” I couldn’t help but recall just how terrifying the man was, thinking of how easily he had come up and sliced me to bits right in front of everyone. “When he cut me, I lost consciousness for a little while and everyone thought that I had died because of it. By the time I had woken up, Kakashi-sensei was trapped in some kind of water bubble and everyone was trying to figure out how to get him out.” 

When I looked back to Inari after having gotten lost in thought, I saw that he was trapped within his own mind, his face clearly reflecting his thoughts as if he were completely transparent. I couldn’t help but smile at the kid with concern, but I knew better than to bother him. “What matters is that we were able to drive him off for the time being, yeah? By the time he comes back, I have no doubt in my mind that everyone will be even stronger than before and we’ll handle it, no problem.”

There was a small smile tugging at the boy’s lips that I wasn’t sure whether or not he was trying to hide, but his gaze turned back to mine just as he managed to “hide it”. His mouth opened and I could sense that there was something he was going to say, only for a call from the other room to cut him off.

“Inari! Can you come here, please? I need your help for a moment!”

Inari’s head turned towards the sound of his mother’s voice, turning to dash out of the room to assist her. Before he was gone, he turned back to me and smiled, giving me a quick “thanks” for telling him all about what happened. Once he was gone, I was left with the deafening silence once more, my visible eye dragging about the room for what felt like the umpteenth time.

Once again, my mind decided that tormenting me was the best way to kill time, my own words ringing about in my head. Perhaps the rest of the team would grow strong enough to fight Zabuza, but would I really be able to say the same?  After all, lying around on the floor as if I were a rock waiting to collect moss wasn’t really helping much, was it?

Ignoring the pain that was stinging throughout my body, I managed to lift myself off the floor with a little difficulty and headed for the door after grabbing my headband and placing it over my eye where it belongs, taking a look around me to make sure that no one would see me. Perhaps a short walk wouldn’t hurt, especially since any kind of physical activity could help me feel less like a piece of shit. Perhaps I could even find the others training and just hang out with them, even if I wasn’t able to participate much. Either way, I didn’t like the idea of lying around day after day just waiting for death at the hands of the swordsman who had brought this upon me in the first place.

** After an Hour**

Oh my god.

After what felt like years of nonstop walking, which was really only a matter of minutes, I felt like my lungs were ready to pack their bags and head out on me. My legs weren’t even aching, but my chest was killing me. The feeling of the rough bark scraping against my back as I slumped against it was the least of my worries as I slowly slid to the ground to catch my breath, hand clutching my chest in pain. I knew that this wasn’t going to be like just an average walk in the park, but I also wasn’t expecting to immediately fall to the ground.

Why was it hurting this bad? I know the wound was still very much a thing, but this felt like it was almost something else entirely gnawing at me with killer intent. Not only that, but it just felt like things were getting worse, not any better with time. Perhaps it was just my imagination or my pessimistic outlook, but something told me that I was right.

Sitting back and thinking about the pain certainly wasn’t making things feel any better, instead making me feel even dizzier than when I had been on my feet from trying to make sense of what was happening to me. I paused to take a deep breath and allowed myself the chance to fully relax against the base of the tree, mentally cursing at myself for having wandered off without not only letting someone know that I had left and went to search for the rest of my team but also leaving without taking anything that could even remotely help with the wound that was causing me to feel extremely lightheaded as well as not having any weapons to defend myself. The more that I thought about it, the more that it was becoming very obvious that it was a bad idea from the start.

Trying to shift my thoughts to anything else, I leaned my head back against the tree and looked upwards towards the canopy of leaves above, getting a peek at the sky through the various shades of green of the forest. The sky was such a brilliant blue, the wisp of a fluffy white cloud sneaking its way into view just before I felt my eyelids giving up on me, stopping to take a rest of their own.

**nardo pov**

My foot made contact with the base of the tree for what felt like the hundredth time today, though this time it wasn’t for training purposes as Kakashi-sensei had intended. Instead, this time it was purely out of a mixture of frustration and anger, disappointed that I wasn’t able to fully control my chakra and climb it as Sakura had earlier. If she could do it so easily, why couldn’t I?!

I turned to look in Sasuke’s direction, ignoring his current attempt at climbing the tree in favor of looking for the scratches made by his kunai knife signaling his progress. I would have been much better off had I not done so because seeing that his marks were further up than mine only made things worse.

“THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!” The words were belted out before I even had time to process what I was saying, my foot stomping angrily into the dirt purely to relieve the stress that I’d accumulated over the course of this training session.

Just as I’d said this, Sasuke landed back on the ground from his recent attempt, turning his head to look at me with a glare that very clearly showed his displeasure, rolling his eyes shortly after for good measure. “Maybe if you’d stop running your mouth so much, you could start running up the tree instead and make some kind of progress.”

The anger that swelled in my chest almost immediately was nearly suffocating, my fists clenched at my sides and ready to start swinging haphazardly. “Well, EXCUSE ME—!”

Before I could so much as call the guy a bastard, the bottom of Sakura’s sandaled foot made contact with my back with enough force to knock me over and make me faceplant the ground with a grunt. My mouth being open at the time didn’t help matters any, as now as I was stuck trying to spit out all the dirt and grass that had gotten into my mouth as Sakura scolded me like a child.

“Don’t you dare yell at Sasuke!”

It took a minute or two of me spitting on the ground for the taste of the earth to leave me, but thankfully by the time I had finished cleaning my mouth, everyone had gone back to whatever they were doing before. I couldn’t help but send one last glare to the back of Sasuke’s head as he made another go at the tree, growling and picking up my own kunai knife to ready myself for another attempt. 

‘Stupid Sasuke! He thinks he’s just SO cool! I’ll show him!’

**bingus pov**

Without even knowing it, I had managed to fall asleep against the tree I’d sat under for a quick break, opening my eyes to see, well, nothing really considering it was now extremely dark out. Even after I had given my eyes time to adjust to the space around me thanks to the faint glow of the moon taking pity on me, I was still very limited on what I could see in front of me which only made the forest even more unwelcoming and eerie than before. I could feel my heart rate jumping higher and higher at this realization, every little noise, and shadow around me taunting me.

Using the trees around me for support, I did my best to navigate myself back through the forest in the direction that I could only hope was Tazuna’s house. I was really regretting my decision now, stumbling over every little rock and branch on the ground from not being able to see them properly as I glanced around me every so often to try and see if there was anything that I recognized.

I don’t know the way back.

That thought alone sent a spike of anxiety through me, my head whipping around and hoping that I’d see someone I knew in the darkness, maybe even the house itself would be there waiting for me. My hand instinctively went up to the headband covering my eye, debating on whether or not it was worth the energy to try using it. Did I need to go left? Right maybe? Straight ahead? Or was I walking in the wrong direction completely?

A loud snap of a branch being crunched ripped me from my thoughts immediately, eyes darting towards the direction of the noise as my right hand immediately darted down to my leg to reach into my weapon pouch and…

...I didn’t bring the pouch.

In a blind panic I began to pat my legs like crazy, my brain not computing that I had left it sitting by my bedding back at the house and instead resorting to me clearly dropping it or placing it somewhere on me that I just wasn’t feeling. The fact that I was now out in the forest, in the dark, with no weapons to defend myself was now hitting me full force, my eyes glued to the direction of the noise like a deer caught in headlights. Despite how feeble it would prove to be, I clenched my fists at my side and readied myself for what could be a bad fight ahead, taking a step back to cover me with the tree only to get an idea at the feeling of the bark scratching my back. 

Footsteps could be heard approaching slowly but surely as I waited in my hiding spot on a low tree branch, ready to drop down on whoever had come to attack me. It might not have been the best idea all things considered, but knowing that I didn’t stand much of a chance anyway made me at least want to go out with some kind of fight rather than just taking it. 

As soon as I saw the hint of a sandal peeking out from the bushes I didn’t waste a single second in my attack, dropping on them immediately and clinging to their back as if it were life or death as they screeched in terror, dragging them to the ground with me with an oof. Despite not being that high up in the tree, hitting the ground was still enough to wind me, the air forced from my lungs as I rolled over and tried to pick myself up, trying to get my eyes to focus once again only to see a very familiar shade of orange.

“What the hell?!” They yelled, and only then did it hit me that who I’d jumped was the exact opposite of my enemy.

“N-Naruto?” I asked in disbelief, my chest heaving as it tried to get back the air I’d robbed from it from the fall.

Naruto himself was also in the same position as myself, picking himself up off the ground and trying to calm his breathing from the surprise of me dropping in on him unannounced, looking at me like I’d lost my mind. 

“I came to find you and bring you back! Everyone’s been searching for you, y’know?” Once he was finally back on his feet again and the shock factor had died down, Naruto stretched his arms out and placed them comfortably behind his head with a playfully sour look on his face from my actions. “Everyone was worried that you’d gotten captured or something since Kakashi-sensei suspects that Zabuza guy is still alive, but here you are in the middle of the forest for no reason like an idiot.”

Despite the fact that he was very correct, it still hurt my feelings a little to hear Naruto bluntly call me an idiot. The thought alone brought out a sigh from me, nodding my head in agreement. There wasn’t much to argue with here, especially since I knew I wasn’t supposed to leave the house under any circumstances. Taking the loss on that one, as well as the guilt of worrying everyone, I slowly stepped closer to Naruto to prepare myself to follow him back through the expanse of trees to the house.

As soon as I showed him I was willing to follow him, a huge grin made its way to Naruto’s face with his eyes closed, grabbing my arm and practically dragging me behind him as he told me about how everyone was looking for me. The guilt only increased tenfold in my chest, so much so that it was getting a little difficult to breathe for me the longer that I listened to my childhood friend speak. At this point, he wasn’t even talking about the fact that I had gotten lost, he was telling me about his training today and how far up the tree he’d gone.

Naruto would look back at me every so often as he spoke of how much better he is than Sasuke, just so he knew I was paying attention to what he was saying as well as making sure I was able to keep up. I tried to continue smiling at him every time he did so, but eventually, the weight on my chest was making them more challenging to fake as he saw through it almost immediately.

“Faith, is something wrong?” Naruto asked as he came to an abrupt halt, my body colliding with his own as he turned to me with blond brows furrowed in a mix of confusion and concern.

I stayed silent as I looked back at him without verbally responding, not trusting what my mouth would say or how my voice would sound at this point, instead settling for another smile that felt forced as I nod my head to show that I was okay to continue going.

He wasn’t fooled that easily.

”Are you sure? You seem like you’re gonna be sick or somethin’.” I wasn’t even aware that he had let go of my hand until I felt it drop against my side, Naruto’s head cocking to the side as he tried to look at my face differently as if maybe things would be different from another angle. “Do you need to take a break?”

”N-No, I’m fine.” I mentally cursed at myself for having spoken up thanks to the obvious stutter in my voice, soon clearing my throat as if to play it off and hoping it would go unnoticed. “I’m fine, I promise. Thanks for worrying about me, but we really should be getting back…”

He seemed to hesitate a moment at this as I watched him blankly stare as if the cogs in his head were trying to make sense of things, but eventually, he gave me a small nod as if to say that he agreed with me. “Okay, if you’re sure…”

Before we could even think about moving again, a rustle in the bushes in front of us startled us from our thoughts as Naruto’s hand shot down to his weapon pouch and pulled out a kunai knife, my body instinctively hiding behind Naruto’s own as I peered over his shoulder.

After a really bad choice on Naruto’s end of a loud “who’s there?!” to definitely give us away, the person who had been approaching had stepped forward towards our voices and revealed themselves, showing none other than Sakura with an irritated expression.

”Do you have to be so loud, Naruto?” The annoyance on Sakura’s face spoke volumes about how she felt about the blond, though once her emerald eyes landed on me behind him, her expression seemed to change into a more pleased one. “Oh, you found her! We’ve been looking all over for you, Faith.”

”I found her over there,” Naruto turned and pointed the direction we came, my face having to move to the side pretty quickly as he nearly poked me in the eye. “She tried to jump me.”

The look on Sakura’s face was an absolute delight to witness as the news of me bringing Naruto to the ground, especially the more into detail that Naruto went about what happened while he also still tried to phrase it in a way that made it seem as though he were still cool. It wasn’t until I cut in telling her how he had screeched that Sakura refused to hold in her laughter as Naruto got red in the face and starting yelling in disagreement that we were interrupted by two separate coughs, one coming from a tired jōnin that wanted his squad to head back and another from myself that set my lungs ablaze as I covered my mouth with my hand.

Pulling my hand away from my mouth in disgust at the feeling of something wet on my hand, I expected to simply see saliva or maybe mucus in the palm of my hand glaring back at me in all of its unsanitary glory, instead feeling my heart drop at the sight of a crimson color I’d seen all too much of.

The feeling of a hand on my shoulder nearly made me jump clean out of my skin as I looked up at Naruto without opening my mouth in the slightest, instinctively nodding my head despite knowing damn well that I was far from okay. Another cough shook my body as more red stained my skin, my ears ringing as tried to ignore the pain.

“Did you reopen the wound?”

I could barely make out Kakashi’s voice as I cringed at the taste of blood in my mouth, still unwilling to say anything in fear of being scolded like a child. My reluctance to speak on the matter seemed to be taken as an answer of its own as the sound of grass being tread through was one of the only things I was surprisingly able to hear over the pounding of my heartbeat as exhaustion continued to consume my body.

**3rd pov**

It had taken a bit of time, but soon the entirety of the team had made their way back to Tazuna’s home; Sasuke had the emotional expression of a wooden spoon as always, Naruto was looking at his friend the entire time with concern with a look at made it seem as though he had more to say, Sakura was trying to make sure that everyone was okay, and Kakashi was carrying a weakened Faith on his back.

Upon actually reaching the home, the shinobi made their presence known to the family as Tsunami was in the middle of cooking dinner for the lot of them with help from Inari. However, as soon as Tsunami caught sight of Faith, the happy expression turned into one more concerned.

Once Faith’s bandages were redone and she was safely placed back into her bedding, dinner was served to the rest of the household that was able to eat it, though it didn’t stop a certain blond from scarfing it down and getting ready for bed with his mind racing.

As Naruto lay in his own bedding, his bright blue eyes stared up at the ceiling as if hoping it would help him nod off to sleep, thinking about what had happened earlier and what he didn’t get the chance to say while he and Faith had been alone. He had plenty of time then to apologize for the way he’d been treating her since the graduation ceremony at the academy, and yet every time it crossed his mind was when she was out like a light.

He turned over onto his side at this, brows furrowing at how he was allowing himself to be some sort of coward, jaw clenching subconsciously before he sighed and relaxed. As much as he never wanted to admit it, Naruto really was afraid of rejection, simple as that. What if she denied his apology and shunned him? What if she started treating him just like the rest of the village?

The more he thought about it the more he was fighting with himself mentally, trying to convince himself that it would never happen that way. They’ve been friends for so long that the two were practically siblings at this point! Something like this wouldn’t be the thing that tore them apart.

Right?

With that final thought, Naruto groaned in irritation and pulled his blanket over his head, trying to hide from the headache that was starting to fistfight him in his brain. Whatever the reaction would be, he was going to take care of this once everyone was awake in the morning. Uzumaki Naruto was no coward!

**idk**

By the time morning had reared its ugly head and breakfast was served, everyone was awake and at the ready but Faith. Sasuke and Naruto were going to town on their own portions as if it were the first time they had eaten in years so they could go and train as soon as possible, Sakura was readying herself and her equipment so she could go and protect Tazuna and his work on the bridge for the day, and Kakashi was doing various workouts to try and build his strength back up for the inevitable battle ahead of them.

Before Naruto rushed out of the house in his training frenzy, he was sure to make a stop by Faith’s room just to see if she was awake, a mix of relief and irritation bubbling in his chest at the sight of her snoozing away. Grabbing a napkin and a pen he wrote a note saying that he wanted to talk to her once she woke up and held it in his hand for a moment before taking a deep breath and placing it by her head, rushing out to train with one last look before closing her door.

[writing-lootcrate]

Getting writer’s block and coming back to it later is like opening a video game save only to remember you stopped at a really hard boss

[writing-lootcrate]

[writing-lootcrate]

Have A Little "Faith" Chapter 8: The Arrival

Word Count: 823

I felt increasingly more uncomfortable the longer I lay in my cot on Tazuna’s floor, my face and body feeling hot enough to rival the sun itself as I struggled to keep my eyes open and focused on the woman who was currently tending to my wounds. Her name was Tsunami if I managed to hear her correctly, and I remember it being mentioned that she’s Tazuna’s daughter. Turns out whatever bit of energy that I had possessed after fighting Zabuza truly was adrenaline, as now that I was forced to stay in a separate room for recovery I couldn’t help but wish to sleep forever. 

Somewhere in my subconscious, I had begun to try and sit up for reasons that my brain couldn’t quite explain to me, only for Tsunami to turn away from the bucket of cool water before her with a damp washcloth in hand as she gently scolded me.

“Faith, you aren’t allowed to move or you’ll reopen the wound.” She soothed, making her way over to my side to gently ease my body back into lying down. I couldn’t help but stare up at her silently as I let her do whatever, too tired to really argue in the first place.

It was only minutes ago that we had arrived at Tazuna’s place, arrangements made to get Kakashi a cot to lay on arranged as the man could hardly move a muscle. It was shortly after that a little boy named Inari came in through the door that we met the old man’s grandson, though it wasn’t long into hearing the rest of the group talk that I slowly started to feel an unbearable ache in my muscles as I nearly nosedived into the floor. All of which led up to this, me sitting in silence as Tsunami placed a cold rag on my forehead as I nearly jerked out of my skin at the feeling.

Not only that, but the unnerved feeling in my gut hadn’t gone away since the death of Zabuza was only heightened once Kakashi had explained just what kind of ninja the boy who appeared for his corpse was, revealing that Zabuza is very much alive and we are very much not prepared to handle him thanks to our current conditions. It certainly didn’t help me relax any, although I do wish to give some credit to Tsunami for making an attempt.

“I can’t really blame anyone but myself for this one, y’know?” My voice was a little hoarse thanks to the aching of my lungs and throat, my eyes not even bothering to look at Tsunami and instead focusing on one little spot on the ceiling that wasn’t even that spectacular, to begin with. “I couldn’t help it, though.”

The look in Naruto’s eyes when I nearly collapsed still burned fresh in my mind too, something about it just making everything feel all that much worse; I really did try my best to put on a brave front when we had arrived so there wasn’t much need to worry, but then I went and made a fool of myself in front of everyone and basically reopened the emotional wound of me nearly dying on the battlefield. 

Tsunami hums in response to show that she’s listening as she tends to the bandages that she secured around my chest, making sure they were tight enough to keep everything safe but not too tight to the point that it was hard to breathe. I felt incredibly comforted in her presence, a smile tugging at my lips at the thought of being doted on like a kid again. Though, of course, the circumstances were much much different.

“I’m sure you did your best.” It was a pretty sweet thing to say, all things considered, and it helped me feel a bit better about it all. 

A part of me thought that it was incredibly foolish of me to have done what I did, charging into the fight knowing damn well that I didn’t stand a chance whatsoever, but then a thought lurking deep in the back of my mind wonders if my distraction was what we needed to win. Would Kakashi-sensei have made it out of that water prison if I hadn’t gone and done so? Or would we all be six feet beneath the ground?

All the thinking that I was putting myself up to was making my head hurt, which only made my eyes close instinctively as I’d been trying to avoid. There was so much that I felt needed to be done now that Zabuza was said to be alive, knowing that there’d need to be days dedicated to training to ensure we didn’t make the same foolish mistakes that we had made last time, but as my eyes closed involuntarily I was overcome with this nice sense of peace that once they closed, they stayed that way as I drifted into unconsciousness.

[writing-lootcrate]

Have A Little "Faith" Chapter 7: Is It Dead?

Word Count: 1,601

This son of a bitch. This fucking asshole.

As if my body and its movements were out of my control, I found myself charging across the water after Zabuza in an attempt to save our sensei from the man’s water prison. I wasn’t entirely sure how I was managing to walk across the water at the speed that I was, though I suppose it worked well enough since it ended up throwing the swordsman off balance.

I threw a kunai knife as quickly as I was able to, though it was quickly knocked aside like nothing only for me to full-on tackle the bastard into the water below us. Thankfully he decided that his life and beating the shit out of our sensei was more important than holding my ass under the water and drowning me, otherwise, I may have died right then and there.

“What the hell?!” Naruto exclaimed from across the water, face morphed into disbelief at what I assumed was the sight of me resurfacing from the water that felt unbearably heavy but still alive to tell the tale. “I thought you were dead!”

“I checked your pulse!” Sakura added, her expression resembling Naruto’s own.

I couldn’t help but give them a look of pity mixed with a definite “I’ll explain later” kind of vibe, but I could already tell that it wasn’t going to be enough to satiate them, hoping that they’d have the patience to wait until we actually had the time to discuss it.

Just as I was opening my mouth to say something I saw Zabuza out of the corner of my eye standing atop the water once more, raising his foot higher up to try and stomp me down beneath the water. Before he could get the chance, I took as big a breath as I was able to muster and dove under the surface myself, trying to get as much distance between the two of us as I could before he chased me down and ended my miserable life.

My lungs felt like they were on fire by the time I finally resurfaced, gasping for breath and shaking my head like a dog to clear the water from my eyes only to see nothing but empty space around me. Somehow I had managed to get turned around in my haste, but I was quick enough to swivel and see Kakashi-sensei back on his feet and balancing on the water’s surface in time to copy a water jutsu that Zabuza was preparing to use. From the looks of it, no one had yet noticed that I had resurfaced and was, in fact, alive, but it did give me the opportunity to try and swim my way back towards the safety of land without the fear of being submerged into the depths against my will by a man who had no qualms with killing kids.

The fight kept drawing closer and closer to land, the demon swordsman getting increasingly more frightened and agitated at the way our sensei was able to copy and foresee his every possible move thanks to the use of his sharingan eye. The increased churning of the water certainly didn’t make my job any easier, my little head bobbing about and struggling to stay afloat in fear that if I dipped under for so much as a second that I wouldn’t be able to come back up. Regardless, it didn’t help any when less than a matter of seconds later the water became unbearably choppy, the water soon rushing towards the land and the people on it, and I turned just in time to see a wave ready to engulf me entirely.

What felt like hours of being tossed around in a swirling vortex of water was only really a few minutes, my lungs burning and begging me to find a source of oxygen before I really did die and rub the salt in the wounds of Team Seven. When I was met with solid ground and what felt like the limb of a tree, I grabbed on as if my life depended on it (which, to be honest, it did), squeezing my eyes shut as I hoped to whatever higher being could be watching over us that it would all be over soon.

I wasn’t expecting to drop to the ground all of a sudden, the water having doused the land entirely and leaving everyone looking like a pack of drowned rats, my chest heaving as I was finally given my ability to breathe back. Everything hurt, especially my chest, the mix of the large wound, and my lungs attempting to shut down on me making matters infinitely worse. My eyes didn’t even want to open and instead, my body yearned to simply have me lay down and rest, but knowing that Zabuza could be ready to kill at any given second helped me raise my head ever so slightly.

From what I could see, the swordsman wasn’t in that great of a state himself, back against the trunk of a large tree and heaving from the sudden intake of water to his lungs, kunai knives stabbed into his arms and legs from who I could only assume was thanks to Kakashi. Before Kakashi was given the chance to properly finish the man off and give us a fucking break, what appeared to be two thin silver needles came flying from the shadows and dug themselves deep into Zabuza’s neck, killing him instantly.

Is he finally dead?

The churning in my stomach didn’t want to allow me to believe it, but the aching of my body seemed pretty satisfied as I finally allowed myself to fully collapse, back falling against the trunk of the tree I was just clinging to for dear life only moments prior as I struggled to fully regain my breath. The evil had finally been defeated at last, and although I wasn’t quite that big of a help, it was nice to know that it was all over and done with.

The person responsible for Zabuza’s death made their way out from their hiding spot, appearing to not be much older than Kakashi’s cell and I, a mask with a red swirl and thin horizontal slits for the eyes covering their features, long dark brown hair cascading elegantly down their shoulders as most of it was secured atop their head with a bun holder. For a split second, I felt a pang of fear strike me at their appearance, slightly uneasy about how they were able to take care of the threat so swiftly while we all struggled. It certainly didn’t make me feel better, that much was for sure.

You could tell that Naruto wasn’t all too happy with their sudden appearance either, his voice slowly rising in volume as he bombarded them with questions as if they didn’t just save our lives from the hands of a demon swordsman, Kakashi working to quickly calm the boy down in case the figure’s intentions also weren’t too kind.

It was then that I was made aware of the entire cell’s state, none of us looking to be completely intact after what had just taken place; beads of sweat were making their way down Sasuke’s pale face although his expression remained neutral, almost as if he were trying to mask whatever emotion he may be feeling, Sakura herself looked like she was desperately searching for her ability to properly breath, the sudden ending to the fight still not enough to quell her shaking hands, and Naruto had this air of tenseness radiating from him like he too had a hard time coming to terms with the end of this fight.

It didn’t take the figure long to suddenly appear before Zabuza in a slight gust of air that shook my figure to the core, my body involuntarily shivering from a mixture of fear and the cold. They lifted the swordsman's corpse with slight difficulty thanks to the sheer size difference between them, disappearing just as quickly as they had come. Before anyone was really able to grasp at what had just taken place, Kakashi-sense finally succumbed to the exhaustion of the battle as his body crumpled like paper and dropped to the ground, too tired to even remain standing.

“I overused the sharingan…” He muttered underneath his breath, loud enough that we were all still able to hear him, his body flat on the ground with his face practically dug into the mud itself. It was then that I finally made an attempt to stand, clutching my chest and taking a deep but painful breath as my feet drag me closer to the rest of the group.

When I managed to make eye contact with Naruto, it felt as though time itself had stopped, no one moving or even so much as breathing as we all became increasingly aware of what had happened, and soon enough Naruto’s eyes shifted from my own and down to the gaping wound on my chest which seemed to finally have everything click in everyone’s minds.

Oh yeah, I’m bleeding out.

As much as I wanted to be anxious about the fact that I was quite literally bleeding out, I had this overwhelming sense of relief at how we had managed to survive being attacked by the swordsman. Oddly enough, the wound wasn’t quite hurting as much as it had been, and I wasn’t quite sure if it was the adrenaline pumping through my veins at breakneck speeds or if my wound was finally cutting me some slack.

We had won.

[writing-lootcrate]

Table of Contents

OC x Readers

Ari x Reader - I Swear on My Life

Soul Eater Shorts

School Form

Swimming Lessons

OC Shorts

Cross Ari

Eye Candy

Needle

Cross Kyo

Peace

Etsuko Tomoko

Black and White

Tatsumi Kimashi

Can’t

Tatsuo Kenji

Acceptance

Passion

Hatred

Sugimoto Narihari

Ocean

Have a Little Faith

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

[writing-lootcrate]

Have A Little "Faith" Chapter 6: Surprise

Word Count: 1,567

A/N: I’ll be honest, this chapter originally came to be just to fuck with one of my friends lmao

**Third Person P.O.V.**

Faith fell to the ground like a dead weight after the sword made its way through her torso, no longer responding to anything that Kakashi or the rest of his cell was saying to try and see if she were still alive. Zabuza simply stared down at her helpless form on the ground for a moment as if what he had done wasn’t all that concerning, more concerned with the blood that could potentially stain his famed blade. 

Kakashi’s mind was running like crazy as he tried to come up with the best course of action as well as maintaining his composure in front of his cell. The last thing that he needed was to act as if he weren’t in control of the situation, otherwise, his team— or, what remained of it, anyway— would simply fall apart. “Zabuza! Leave the students alone! It’s me who you need to fight, so why take the life of a child?!”

It wasn’t hard to see that Cell 7 was getting extremely anxious and horrified; Naruto was looking down at the ground where his childhood friend lay on the ground while bleeding out as if he was having a hard time coming to terms with what had happened, Sasuke was visibly trembling out of fear for his own life and fear of what was to come, and Sakura was silently crying her eyes out over her fallen teammate but still afraid of making sound in case it drew the attention of the swordsman.

Zabuza simply chuckled in response to this, raising his blade and pointing it at the silver-haired shinobi threateningly. Then, without a hint of remorse dripping past his bandaged lips, he responded: “For fun.”

With that, the fight between the two shinobi continued; Kakashi’s movements were much slower than they had been before thanks to his sharingan tiring him out much quicker than he would’ve liked to admit, but Zabuza had yet to be defeated which meant that he had no choice but to carry on until one of them met their end. It seemed impossible for Zabuza to be stopped, slicing open Faith seeming to have almost strengthened the swordsman in some sick and twisted way as he was much quicker and fierce in his movements with his blade.

As both Kakashi and Zabuza were occupied, Naruto looked quickly between the members of his cell that were still tasked with protecting Tazuna as they soon caught on to what the blond wanted, the group moving together as Naruto ran ahead towards his fallen comrade before he felt his blood run cold.

Oh, it was worse than he thought.

There was more blood than he thought.

This isn’t what he thought.

It didn’t take long for both Sakura and Sasuke to make their way over with Tazuna following close behind, wanting to see the damage for themselves despite knowing better.

Sakura took one look at Faith lying still on the ground with the puddle of blood surrounding her form rather quickly beneath her and couldn’t help the feeble gasp that parted from her, hands instantly going to cover her nose and mouth as she felt the tears from mere seconds before returning. 

Sasuke didn’t seem to have a visible reaction or make any kind of noise, but his eyes were much wider than they had been before making his way over, his mind racing with thoughts about just how merciless this swordsman was. He had easily murdered their comrade who was only ten years old and that instilled fear in the young Uchiha. Zabuza had made it crystal clear that he didn’t care how old they all were. They could all die here.

Team 7 was snapped from their thoughts at the sound of a pained grunt as Kakashi was kicked harshly in the abdomen in the direction of the river, their sensei sinking beneath the depths momentarily before resurfacing with a gasp for air. 

Kakashi’s body felt uncomfortably heavy as he fought to stay above the water’s surface, and Kakashi could only watch as Zabuza leaped toward him with the intent to fight him here as opposed to solid ground. This terrain would only help Zabuza, for he had plenty of water at his disposal to help him out.

Sakura, trying to calm her trembling hands, bent down towards Faith’s body to try and feel for a pulse, fingers situating themselves on the girl’s cold neck only for the pinkette to confirm her fears.

She couldn’t find a pulse.

Sakura was momentarily frozen in place as she tried to think of what to do, fingers slowly trailing across the other’s neck to see if there had been some kind of mistake in her placement. What more would she be able to do? You can’t simply revive the dead, which is what Faith is now. Dead. Maybe she was just looking in the wrong place for a sign of life? Maybe there was something else that could be done? Sakura still held onto this silent bit of hope as she began shakenly look over Faith’s body, refusing to believe that she had watched someone die. 

Sasuke, on the other hand, had turned away from the body as he no longer wished to revisit past memories, swallowing the lump in his throat as he saw his sensei become trapped in a water prison that Zabuza had created. Not only was their teammate ripped to shreds on the ground before them, but now the jonin assigned as their sensei was at the risk of dying right before their eyes as well, meaning that the three young shinobi would soon follow suit.

Naruto, on the other hand, had stopped; he wasn’t quite aware that he was holding his breath until he took a large and shaky breath inward, unsure if his eyes were watering from his lack of blinking or if they were tears threatening to spill as things soon became clear to the young boy. Faith was dead now, and instead of thinking of the situation that he was in now, he was mentally trapped in the past, thinking about the last time he’d seen her since getting his team when he had pushed her away so harshly after everyone but himself had managed to graduate. The look on her face as he told her that he didn’t want to see her ever again before disappearing into the night. He didn’t even get the chance to properly apologize for what he’d said in the heat of the moment, worried that she would hate him for what he’d said and shun him just like the rest of the village, opting to keep his mouth shut and stay a safe distance away. Now that he was staring down at her, he knew that he’d have to live with his guilt now because as much as he hated to admit it, she was gone.

Naruto couldn’t help but cry, making no attempt to hide them or stop them in the slightest, knowing that there was nothing he could do now. There were too many memories clawing their way to the front of his mind, making sure that he knew just who it was lying at his feet in a growing pool of blood. 

She was like a little sister to him.

That thought alone was the one that made him come back to his senses, his tears beginning to dry up as he ran his sleeve over his eyes and sniffed to stop his nose from running. There was no way he was letting this damn swordsman get away with what he had done to his best friend, and with a newfound determination, Naruto turned toward Zabuza and his sensei with his fists clenched. “Sasuke, follow my lead.”

Naruto didn’t really give the Uchiha much time to consider what was going on, the blond reaching into his bag for a weapon as he glared daggers into Zabuza’s form. He wasn’t going to let Faith’s death be for nothing, and he was going to get his revenge by taking Zabuza down and completing this mission.

“You killed my friend!” Naruto yelled at the demon, hand finally finding the large shuriken that he’d been looking for and tossing it to Sasuke. It took everything he had in him to keep his cool, a certain hatred burning hot in his chest that wanted to be set free. “You’ll pay for that, you stupid mummy!”

Sasuke readied himself with the shuriken that Naruto had tossed to him, going over the plan in his head that he’d caught onto. To be honest, he wasn’t sure that Naruto actually had it in him to think of something so clever, but the loss of someone dear to you does seem to push you to new heights.

Before the Uchiha was able to throw the shuriken towards the swordsman, something happened that no one was expecting. Something that seemed very wrong and slightly terrifying.

Sakura had abandoned Faith after being unable to find a pulse that she so desperately searched for, Tazuna forcing the pinkette to turn away from the body and focus on the here and now so she didn’t end up in the same situation. She had taken her stance to protect the elder man once more, but it didn’t seem all too necessary anymore. 

Faith was alive, and she didn’t look too happy.

[writing-lootcrate]

I Swear On My Life | Ari Cross x Reader

Word Count: 6626

A/N: I simp for the Eggplant that I created so here you go :)

To think that you would have been captured so easily in the middle of your own village was something that could only fill your mind with a sense of shame and regret; you, the outstanding ninja that vowed to protect the Hidden Leaf with your life, had managed to get yourself wrapped up in some business that left you sitting in a cheap wooden chair with your wrists and ankles bound, your mouth covered with far too much duck tape, and your eyes struggling to make out the shape of the man sitting in front of you in the same condition. Yeah, you got your friend caught up in the mess too. Go you.

** ** **

"Ari, you can't keep running off on me!"

"I'm not! I'm just... I'm busy." 

Your arms crossed over your chest as you tapped your foot, your brow raising as if encouraging him to continue talking; getting this man to step away from his duties to take a breath was something you had come to accept as near impossible in the years that you had known him. He was a childhood friend of yours from the academy, one that refused to leave you alone regardless of the situation at hand until he got what he wanted from you. It wasn't anything bad, really, he usually just came to you for things like advice and company whenever his family was too busy to provide those things. Eventually, Ari had come to grow on you as lichen grows on healthy trees. Or, at the moment, he had grown on you like a very uncomfortable rash that never sees the light of day (if you catch my drift).

"What has you so busy to the point that you're going out of your way to avoid me? Am I really that bothersome to you?" You couldn't help but feel a little ignored with how he was acting around you recently, your shoulders slumping in response as a sigh escaped your parted lips. 

"(Y/N), it isn't like that, okay?" Ari frowned at the way you were currently presenting yourself at the moment, his deep blue eyes refusing to look up and meet your own as he adjusted his messy purple hair in a bun. "I just... I dunno, I haven't been able to really relax lately. I don't want to get in the way, y'know?"

It was kind of like a blow to the stomach; here you were worried that he had been avoiding you which only made you upset because you hated the idea of being ignored, but now you're finding out that you're being ignored because he didn't want to get in the way? Hell, it was a lot to take in all of a sudden. Not to mention you hated that you had upset him by being upset! Shit, this is confusing!

"You didn't want to get in the way? Ari, why didn't you just say something?" You had a strong urge to take him into your arms and give him a nice, comforting hug but you settled for a smile instead. "I've known you since you were a little brat in the academy; if you didn't want to hang out or something you could have told me! I would have understood!"

Ari looked down at his hands and started picking at his nails as you spoke, his mouth slightly ajar as if he wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words. He let you finish though, his thoughts finally coming together to allow him to get his words out.

"It's not what you think, (Y/N), I just don't know the right words to--"

He cut himself short once he finally managed to look up at you, his eyes taking a second to meet your own as he spoke. Everything seemed fine until his eyes darted to something behind you which of course made you turn around to get a glimpse for yourself.

Someone was watching you.

It was creepy, to say the least; their eyes were a deep shade of brown as they bored into your own, their messy brown hair fluttering in the small breeze you once found yourself taking comfort in until you shivered subconsciously, and their hands were currently holding on to what looked like a small beverage of sorts, probably a water bottle of some kind. He was sitting on a small bench with his leg crossed over the other, his attire similar to that of just a regular Konoha jōnin. It was unnerving to have the man sitting there in the first place as he stared at you like it was nothing, but for him to continue staring even after you had acknowledged that he was there? I mean, how stupid can you get?

"How long do you think he's been there?" You asked, slowly turning your head back to look at Ari for some form of comfort.

"Who knows; I didn't notice him before now." Ari couldn't bring himself to look away as you had, his gaze lingering on the strange man before he was able to look back at you. "Regardless, it's creepy and I'm walking you home; I'm not letting some weirdo eye you like that and then leave you to fend for yourself."

A blush managed to spread across your face at his proclamation, your (E/C) eyes growing to the size of dinner plates once his large hand grabbed you by the wrist as he carefully pulled you away. You couldn’t help but let him, not fighting in the slightest as he essentially dragged you down the familiar streets of the village that led to your home, his blue eyes occasionally meeting yours after checking to see if the two of you were being followed.

When the two of you finally made it safely to your house, Ari released you from his iron grip with a small “sorry” in fear of him accidentally hurting you in his moment of haste. You waved it off, telling him that he hadn’t caused any harm to you in any way and that you were glad that he had gotten you away from the prying creep in the first place. 

“Do you think that he’ll come back? I mean, what if you just overreacted?” You asked, hands fumbling in your pockets for the keys to your front door.

Ari’s brows furrowed at your question, his gaze going back and forth from you struggling to find your keys and the street to watch for the man. There was something about him that Ari seemed he wasn’t able to shake off, made obvious in the way he hesitated to respond to you. 

“I hope it was just me overreacting, (Y/N), but I’d rather you be safe than sorry.”

Boy, you hoped he was overreacting.

** ** **

It was a hot night, one where the fan that was spinning in wild circles in the center of your ceiling still wasn’t enough to cool you off as you tossed and turned in your bed to no avail. Your blanket lay on the floor in a ball after you kicked it off in frustration, the sheets under your body making you feel as if you were resting on a bed of silky fire that ate away at your visible skin. There was something off about tonight but you weren’t able to piece together just exactly what it was that was making you feel so uneasy, which only left you sitting in uncomfortable silence while watching the fan above your head spin desperately to cool you down.

It took every ounce of energy you possessed to slide off of your bed, your bare feet hitting the soft carpet of your bedroom floor as you essentially dragged yourself to the bathroom in hopes of cooling off. The light flickered to life as you turned the knob of the sink, your hand recoiling from the cold water before relaxing at the way it soothed the heat of your hand. Before you knew it, your hands were taking water from the sink and washing your face and limbs as you exhaled in relief at how comforting the sensation was.

You grabbed a small towel from the rack behind you, wiping at your arms and legs that were visibly dripping water as you made sure they were damp but not soaking wet when you went back to bed. There was a small creak from the bathroom door as you began to wipe your face, though you didn’t think much of it since you felt the corner of the door hit your foot only moments prior. Once your face was dry, you hung the towel back up on the rack where it belonged and turned back around to turn out the light behind you.

Someone was there.

Your eyes grew wide in horror at the sight before you, your mind going every direction at once as you tried to figure out how the hell someone had managed to break into your house without you sensing them. All thoughts were robbed from you rather quickly, though, since the masked figure’s large hand darted out quicker than the eye could follow as it grabbed you by the throat. Your own hands raised to try and pry the attacker away from you, nails digging deep and piercing their skin as you struggled to breathe. No matter how hard you tried to free yourself, it seemed that the hand that was intent on choking the life out of you wasn’t going to stop until you were dead. 

Just as you were sure that death was waiting right around the corner to escort you personally into the afterlife, you were dropped onto the cold tiled floor like a toy that a child was finished playing with. You gasped for air like your lungs depended on it, considering they did, and wrapped your own hands around what you knew would be a rather large bruise in due time in an attempt to ease the pain. Everything around you was a blur at this point, the small light of the bathroom searing into your retinas and making it difficult to make out anything in the room other than the figure of the stranger before you. 

Your body was telling you to run, move in some kind of way to get away from whoever the fuck decided to walk into your house and choke you the fuck out, but the sudden loss of oxygen had completely robbed you of any comprehensible thoughts. Rather than running, your body seemed very keen to continue lying on the floor and gasping as your eyelids grew heavier, the room spinning in sickening circles before unconsciousness claimed your quivering form.

ARI’S P.O.V.

The pale moon was full tonight, gifting Ari the sight he needed to follow the path he had memorized as he made his way to your home. Ever since he had seen that stranger merely hours earlier, something in the back of his mind was eating him alive at the thought of leaving you home alone. In fact, he had insisted that he stay the night just in case the man were to come back, though you had waved him off and told him “you didn’t want to burden him”. 

Why did he listen to you?

Ari shook his head in disbelief, his hand coming up to swipe stray strands of hair behind his ear before letting a sigh escape past his lips. He couldn’t help but frown at the various images of you injured that formed into his head, his brows furrowed and gaze downcast to his sandaled feet as he subconsciously quickened his pace. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he had placed you into some kind of danger, no matter how much you tried to reassure him.

He cares for you too much.

A light shade of pink coats his cheeks as he forces himself to sprint the rest of the way, cursing himself for allowing his mind to wander from the task at hand. He needed to get to your home, make sure that everything was safe and sound, and then he’d consider getting some sleep himself once his mind was settled. Surely, everything would be okay, right? In fact, he’s fairly certain that once he reaches your house you’re going to knock him over the head with a clenched fist and yell at him for being such a worrywart! There’s nothing for him to worry about!

His eyes light up once he sees your house in the distance, slowing his pace as he makes his way to your front door. His tanned hand raises ever so slightly so he can knock, though his heart drops once he realizes something off about the view before him.

Your front door was cracked open.

His breath hitches in his throat as the pictures of your injured form reappeared in his mind, his hand frozen in place mere inches from your door. When he was able to wrap his head around what was in front of him, his hand lowered to the pouch strapped firmly to his right thigh as he quietly reached for a kunai knife and gently eased the door open to make his way inside. Ari was greeted with pure darkness upon entering, the vague shapes of your living room furniture appearing only after his vision had adjusted to the little bit of light the room possessed. He was thankful for this as he maneuvered his way silently to your bedroom, slightly pleased with himself for knowing the layout of your home well enough to move silently through it in such stressful times.

As he approached the door to your bedroom, Ari’s grip tightened around the handle of his blade at the light peeking out from the cracked door as he slinks forward; the light being on wasn’t too big of a threat to him, knowing damn well that you would turn it on sometimes on your way to your bathroom because you hated tripping over any and everything that lay in your floor. He hoped that this was one of those times, his lungs struggling to take in the air that his body so desperately yearned for as he pried your door open and slipped inside. 

The first thing that his eyes caught sight of was the pile of blankets on the floor beside your bed and the sheets that looked like they were ready to pop off of the bed as soon as someone sat down. The fan that was spinning a mile a minute overhead was the second thing as he took in how little it was doing in the stuffy room. The third, however, was the door to your bathroom that was slightly ajar, the light switched on but no sound coming from it at all. He made his way over as carefully as he possibly could, mindful to watch for the certain spots in the floor that would creak under the slightest bit of weight. He knew your home like the back of his hand, every twist and turn that it offered and every secret contained within. 

As he neared the door, Ari was planning his approach: he could either ease the door open carefully as to not set off any alarms which may give whoever was waiting inside more time to respond, or he could swing the door open and catch whoever was waiting off guard which could potentially leave him with a broken nose if he really was overreacting about the whole thing from the start. Ari made sure not to dwell on it for too long, settling on the latter of the options after weighing them in his mind; he’d rather you punch the shit out of him for being a worrywart than him getting killed for his own negligence. At least if he opened the door quick enough it may distract whatever entity was trying to attack you, if there were one in the first place. 

With one swift movement, Ari pushed the door to your bathroom open harshly with his free hand as he raised his kunai up to ready himself for whatever was going to be coming at him, though he was soon surprised when nothing stepped out to knock his brains out. Granted, there were no enemies there that posed a threat to him, but you weren’t there to pose a threat to him either. With the pace that his heart was beating at, he wasn’t sure which worried him more.

If you weren't in the bathroom, where are you?

A sudden movement behind him made Ari turn on his heel as quickly as physically possible, just in time to see the gloved fist that was aimed at his face. He was quick to catch it with his free hand, shoving it downward quickly for him to aim a punch to this masked figure’s stomach as he readied the knife in his right hand to follow up with a slash. His own fist was easily caught, and rather than swatting it aside as Ari had, the attacker yanked him forward with ease and threw him into your bedroom floor as if the bulky six foot tall man weighed nothing to them. The kunai knife flew out of his hand thanks to this, the small blade landing but a few feet away from him as he struggled to regain the breath that was forced out of his lungs thanks to him colliding with the floor.

With a sharp intake of breath, Ari watched the masked figure slowly advance towards him and it was now that Ari noticed just how much bigger this person was compared to himself. Not only in height, but the muscle that this individual possessed was enough to make Ari grit his teeth together in frustration as he picked himself off the floor and prepared to fight. Standing before this creature and their intimidating stature was a challenge in and of itself, but considering that it was either fight or die Ari was prepared to give it his best shot no matter the results. 

The figure threw a punch quicker than Ari could blink, and it took every ounce of Ari’s energy to leap backward away from it. He was going to back up further to try and think of a strategy but the back of his legs hit the edge of your bedside table and smacked him across the face with the realization that he had unintentionally cornered himself in your bedroom. When the large being moved eerily silent towards him, Ari’s widened blue eyes scanned the room for a route of escape to at least lead this person outside where someone else might catch sight of the pair. Just as a large gloved hand was coming for his throat, Ari was quick to dive across your bed and land ungracefully on the other side as he made a mad dash for your door.

He forgot about that damn kunai knife.

Just as he thought he had made his escape, the sharpened blade of his own knife was thrown right into the crease of his leg behind his knee bringing him to the floor quicker than his mind was able to register the pain. Ari tumbled to the floor, turning over onto his back to better fend for himself as he mindlessly reached for the blade to remove it. He grit his teeth at the action, hand trembling ever so slightly at the crimson red he could see on the weapon from the little light the bedroom bathed him in. He readied the small blade in his hand, jaw clenched as he willed himself to think about the fight ahead of him rather than the pain that was coursing through his veins like liquid fire. His fighting spirit was quick to fade though once he saw the figure coming through the door after him, not because they were unnecessarily quick in their movements but because they were holding a rather large syringe with a needle that seemed to shine in the minimal light the moon was willing to share.

Ari absolutely abhors needles.

Now was the time that Ari cursed himself for his trypanophobia, using his good leg to try and scoot his body as far away as possible from the fate he knew he’d be subjected to soon. The sight of the needle alone made his heart race, his mind telling him just what was going to happen to him in due time; that needle was going to inch towards him, it was going to pierce his skin like a tiny dagger, and it was going to inject him with some ungodly liquid that would either kill him or have him writhing in pain. Even now as he was looking at it from a distance, it was as if he could already feel it breaking past that barrier of skin as he subconsciously moved his arms as if to ward it off.

His arms felt incredibly weak as he moved to raise himself onto his good leg, hobbling a little as he tried to quickly grow accustomed to relying on one leg. It was much harder than he previously anticipated, however, when he stepped backward and wasn’t able to properly hold himself up as he fell right back to where he was only moments prior. The gash in his leg was searing now, his chest heaving to try and catch what little breath his lungs could capture. The needle was the only thing he was able to see now that it was revealed, his eyes darting to its gleaming point no matter how hard he tried to will himself to move. He was going to hurt immensely or die here all because of his own negligence.

All because he was worried about you.

(Y/N)’s P.O.V.

Everything hurts.

It didn’t take you too long to come to that conclusion after having awoken from your so-called “slumber”, your head pounding, your throat aching, and your arms feeling far too heavy to raise them to wipe the faint trail of drool running down your chin. In fact, you weren’t entirely sure that you could turn over on your side and get into a more comfortable position with the way you were currently laying. Sleep paralysis was sounding like a viable reason for not being able to move freely, but once you crack open your dry, crusty eyes you were able to vaguely make out the shape of an old wooden chair leg on the floor in front of you. It took you a moment before you actually found the willpower to raise your head, but when you did you were greeted with many interesting discoveries.

You were, without a doubt, no longer in the safety of your own home as made evident by the old damaged cement walls that surrounded you on all sides. The chair leg that you had spotted upon waking up wasn’t just a lone chair leg, it was the leg to a chair that was currently occupied with your best friend who was currently unconscious with his head hung uncomfortably and his limbs tied to the chair, and you were met with the same fate of being unable to properly move thanks to your restraints. The lights in the room were very unreliable, reminding you of some cliche horror movies with the swinging bulbs that would flicker occasionally or turn off unexpectedly for minutes at a time. 

You are, in your own justified opinion, completely fucked.

You tried to pry your limbs free from your restraints, your body not wanting to comply with your wishes as if every ounce of your energy had been forcefully robbed from you while you were unconscious. You risked another glance over to Ari once you had come to terms with your situation, letting out a frustrated sigh as you racked your brain for answers. A possible solution to breaking out, waking up your friend and finding out how the hell he got here too, figuring out where you are, hell, all of it was giving you a bigger headache than you needed.

The purple-haired man in front of you began to stir slightly, a deep groan rumbling in his throat as he slowly raised his head with his eyes still closed. You thought about what you were going to ask him until he leaned his head backwards for a moment or so before the silence was broken by soft snoring.

The bastard is still asleep. 

If it weren’t for the tight ropes that were binding your legs to your seat you would’ve either kicked him awake or knocked his chair over backwards. You took a deep breath, blaming your thoughts on the frustration that you were feeling. Sure, he was the only one in the room with you at the moment but it wasn’t fair to take it out on him. Hell, the more that you thought about it, you weren’t even really sure why he was here in the first place. You faintly remember being choked to the point of passing out, but not once did you remember Ari being there. How the hell did he get here?

Before you could lose yourself to the questions your mind produced, a loud creaking of what sounded like an old metal door that hadn’t been oiled in ages came from the obscured area over to your left. You squint to try and make out the shape of whatever could’ve caused the noise, but you were soon answered by the padding of large footsteps and the gentle sloshing of some kind of liquid.

“Who the fuck are you?” Now that you had made a noise of your own, you became fully aware of how much the room you’re in echoes. It was unnerving to hear your own voice bounce off the walls around you in a taunting manner, almost like you were trapped in a box of sorts with no hope for escape.

You received no answer to your question, the footsteps padding closer and closer to where you and your unconscious friend sat. When the being was close enough for you to make out, you took in the large stature that made your blood boil. Whoever this fucker really was, it was the same bastard that had decided to give you the ungodly pain in your neck.

“HEY! Fuckface! What the hell are we doing here?!”

Once more, your question was completely ignored as they finally stopped just before both you and Ari. They had a bucket held tightly in their gloved hand filled with what looked like water from the shitty bulb above your head, and you were going to ask what it was being used for until it was raised and tipped over Ari’s sleeping figure. Ari responded almost immediately, sputtering and gasping for air as his body jerked him awake; the chair he was tied to scraped noisily against the cement floors which hurt your ears, though after the water had all been poured and Ari was fully awake with his head hung he was still as his chest heaved in an attempt to get his heart to calm down.

“Ari?! Ari, are you okay?!” You asked nervously, your wrists fighting against your restraints to try and reach for your friend that was basically waterboarded right before your very eyes. 

“Y-Yeah, (Y/N), I’m fine…” Ari made out between pants, water dripping from his hair and face onto the floor and your bare feet. “I’m fine…”

The large figure reached into a pocket of theirs and pulled out a roll of duct tape, turning to face you as their gloved fingers managed to peel at the line of tape with ease. You immediately put two and two together at this, doing your best to lean back in your chair as far as your body would allow as they moved to place it over your lips. You were unsuccessful, of course, as the tape was carefully placed over your mouth. They didn’t stop there, though, as they took the rest of the roll and began to wrap it around your head in a clockwise motion, making it so that your mouth had several layers of tape that would be a pain in the ass for you to even try and break through. 

Ari’s eyes met your own after the figure moved away from you, his large blue eyes boring into your own (E/C) orbs as if he were trying to nonverbally check and see if you were okay. There were still the occasional drops of water that would run down his face from time to time, and it clicked in your head that the tape would have a harder time sticking to Ari’s face as opposed to your own. At least if the two of you were left here, Ari would have an easier time slipping out of his tape and he could make some weak attempt to talk and calm you down.

Your eyes never once left the roll of tape in the person’s hand, only for your brows to furrow when it was placed back into the pocket it was retrieved from. Ari seemed confused about this too, that is, until he saw the figure removing the glove from his right hand and the spark of lightning chakra energy that followed shortly after.

The water.

It wasn’t long for you to piece the clues together, and once you did you were not a happy camper. The color drained from Ari’s face once he caught on to what was happening, his eyes going back and forth between the electricity and the masked face of your kidnapper as if wordlessly begging for mercy since his mouth could not. You did the best that you could to struggle against your restraints, your limbs screaming for mercy at how rough you were being as you attempted to pry them away from your chair. Despite your best efforts, your strength was taking a sick day, and you could only watch in horror as the hand darted out like a snake and hit Ari square in the chest.

You couldn’t even cover your ears to block out the sound of it all, tears brimming in your eyes at the sound of Ari’s scream of utter agony, weakly trying to free yourself still with your eyes shut tight as your silent screams were blocked by the tape. The sound of silence afterward was chilling, and you had to force yourself to open your eyes in fear of what you were going to see.

The figure had moved away from him and at first you had assumed it was because Ari had died, though you couldn’t help the shaky breath of relief at the sight of his chest rising and falling rapidly to signify that he was still breathing with his head hung once again. The figure then turned towards you and took slow and drawn out steps towards you, and you feared that you were going to receive the same unfortunate treatment.

It was the sight of Ari lifting his head up that made you look away from the advancing person who was intent on causing you and Ari grief, and the sight of Ari’s once kind blue eyes now a deep blood red glaring daggers into the back of your attacker that sent shivers down your spine. You half expected that your kidnapper would just turn around and go for round two in his little electricity game, either knocking Ari out completely or finishing him off for good. What you weren’t expecting was the sound of something snapping as the hand of electricity inched closer towards you, and the sudden flash of Ari moving at the speed of light as he tackled the figure to the ground.

You could only watch in shocked silence thanks to the tape around your head as the two began to tussle on the ground, Ari surprisingly seeming to have the upper hand despite having had the life zapped out of him only moments prior. When Ari managed to roll the two of them over and grab the stranger by the throat as he punched the bastard in the face with all the strength he could muster, you wiggled in your seat in a way of cheering for him while also hoping that Ari picked up on your wishes for him to end this man’s whole career.

It was only when the figure stopped trying as hard to fight back that Ari ripped their mask off, only to see someone that neither of you recognized, even less so now that their face was bruised and bloodied to hell and back. The confusion had caused Ari to hesitate slightly, which only cost him his position as he was grabbed by the throat with lightning chakra and pinned to the floor.

“I really didn’t want to have to do this to you, buddy, but you aren’t giving me much choice.” The man managed out in a strained voice as if he were trying to put all of his energy in killing the Cross. “It was a nice try, though. You should’ve just left (Y/N) alone when you first noticed me yesterday.”

One of Ari’s eyes struggled to open and look up at the stranger before shifting to you, the menacing red slowly fading back into their normal blue. Fear struck you hard as you panicked about what to do, until you thought of something at the last second and saved Ari’s life even if for only a moment longer.

You jerked until you knocked your chair into them.

The weight of your body and the chair combined was enough to knock away the man slightly as Ari was given the chance to breathe properly, the Cross gasping for air as he scooted himself away from the attacker as quickly as possible while trying to think of where to go from there. From this position you could only stare at Ari for what you assumed would be the last time, fearing that one of you, if not both, were going to die here and now for your actions.

There was something about the weak look in your eye that must have set him off, as Ari’s eyes flared red once again as the both of you made eye contact. With a little difficulty, Ari brought himself to his feet and faced the strange man once again, this time with the intent to kill burning bright in his dark eyes. It was hard to see the fight that ensued thanks to having knocked yourself over, but you could see Ari swinging fierce punches as the other man dodged to the best of his abilities. Things really heated up when Ari grabbed the other by their darkened top, smashing his head into theirs full force and letting him stumble away; he didn’t stop there either, soon using one of his large hands to grab the man by the face and slam him full force into the ground with enough power that the ground cracked and sent up stray bits of cement.

When the stranger showed no hint of moving, Ari stood eerily still as he watched their chest rise and fall harshly, and when he was sure that they weren’t going to move again he slowly made his way over to you. You could only see his sandaled feet the closer that he got as your heart pounded in your ears, but by the time that he’d come to a stop in front of you and crouched down, his red eyes had returned to normal as he looked over you with nothing but concern.

“(Y/N), are you okay? Please be okay…” Ari was scared to do anything that may hurt you, though he did his best to try and move your restraints from the chair as quickly and easily as possible. When you were free, he helped you to sit up and watched nervously as you slowly removed the tape from around your mouth and head, wincing whenever you did thanks to the tape sticking to your hair and skin painfully. When sure that you were okay, Ari engulfed you in a strong hug, and you couldn’t help but lay your head on his shoulder and take comfort in the fact that you and your best friend were alive.

“You look like asking someone if they’re okay; how in the world are you even still moving right now? I thought you were dead for sure...” Your voice cracked from misuse thanks to your forceful screaming that had been drowned out, your throat sore and burning at the attempt to talk.

“You scared me, (Y/N)...” Ari’s voice was soft and gentle, barely above a whisper as he pulled away from the embrace to look you in the eyes, hands going to the sides of your face to hold it gently. “I was scared that I was going to lose you…”

He trailed off after this, his thumb gently running across your cheek as he stared into your eyes for what felt like years. As years began to slip into an eternity, the Cross closed his eyes and slowly leaned forward, carefully placing his forehead against your own as your noses gently brushed against one another.

“(Y/N), I think… no. I know.” Ari’s voice was so soft and quiet now, the thumb that was trailing over the side of your face slowly dipping down to graze over your lips. “I know for a fact that I’m in love with you.”

You really hoped that he wasn’t able to hear just how loud your heart was pounding in your chest, since it was all that you were able to hear in the deafening silence that followed his confession. It only made you think about how he had been avoiding you lately, and now that he told you his feelings it made you begin to realize exactly why he had been doing so.

It kinda upset you as Ari slowly pulled away from you to look at you once again, his deep blue eyes looking over you in what was now a mix of concern and adoration. The fact that he had been that close to you only for him to pull away like that actually made you a little mad, and before he could get the chance to say anything else you grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss.

Hey, if he wasn’t going to initiate it then you sure as hell were.

He was a little too shocked to react immediately, though he was quick to respond and relax as he realized what was happening, kissing you back with all the love for you that he’d been storing inside him for god only knows how long. The both of you didn’t separate until you needed air, and as you struggled to take in breaths you could faintly see the red that covered Ari’s tanned cheeks.

“W-Well, this isn’t exactly how I planned for our first kiss to go, but it’ll do.”

You smiled at the dork as he slowly helped you to your feet, though he was quick to pick you up bridal style once the both of you were off the ground. With one last look at the man who had fucked things up for the both of you only moments prior, Ari began to carry you out of your creepy prison and back home where you belong, except now you had a nice strong himbo to keep you company and safe from any further harm. 

[writing-lootcrate]

Have A Little "Faith" Chapter 5: Demon Swordsman

Word Count: 2, 786

“And this has to happen right when I was starting to get comfortable,” I mumbled, looking up at the large sword that was lodged dangerously deep into the trunk of the tree. There was nothing but silence that followed immediately after, the group of us all looking around cautiously in case someone attempted to jump us like they had done before only for everyone’s attention to immediately be robbed at the sight of a man appearing out of thin air to stand on the hilt of the blade. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes, and I’m sure that if the lower half of his face weren't covered, we would most certainly see a dark grin to accompany it.

Once he was sure that he had our attention, the stranger hopped down and ripped the blade of his sword out of the tree in one fell swoop, landing on the ground in a gentle fashion that I wasn’t expecting from him. Once grounded, the man hefted his weapon and pointed it in our direction in a threatening manner, and it worked considering I was already regretting having not written my will out sooner.

“It seems that Mr. Tazuna has got quite the team of bodyguards.” The sarcasm was dripping in this man’s voice as he chuckled in delight at the sight of us, eyeing us all up and down and only pausing once he managed to catch sight of Kakashi.

Kakashi himself was squinting suspiciously at the newcomer in return, the two having a moment of silence of simply looking at one another before our sensei turned his head slightly to address us. “Guys, position yourselves around Mr. Tazuna; this is Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Hidden Mist and one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.”

That was the last thing that my dumb monkey brain wanted to hear, my mind shifting into maximum overdrive as I took my position at Tazuna’s right side, which made it a little difficult to keep track of what was going on. All I knew was that I had to keep this old man alive as if my life depended on it, and to be fair there was a good chance that this was my last day of living, were things to go awry.

Just as I had managed to take out a kunai knife in a feeble attempt to protect myself, I saw Zabuza suddenly lunge out of the corner of my eye and nearly shit my pants. Of course, Zabuza’s target was Mr. Tazuna but that didn’t make the experience any less terrifying, especially considering that we would be fought in order for Zabuza to execute his mission

“Everyone, just worry about keeping Mr. Tazuna safe from any further harm! I’ll take care of Zabuza!” Kakashi exclaimed as he dashed forward and cut Zabuza off from reaching the old man, fending him off with a kunai knife of his own.

The five of us could only watch in fear as Kakashi and Zabuza fought one another, knowing that any interference from us would only be getting in the way of their gruesome battle. The fight looked like it would last an eternity with the way things were currently going, one minute with Zabuza seeming to have the upper hand and the other with Kakashi coming out on top. Just as things were starting to get frustrating to watch, Zabuza moved his hands to use a jutsu, one that immediately summoned mist that rapidly filled the air in the blink of an eye.

Thanks! I hate it.

With Zabuza disappearing into the mist without a trace, everyone was on their guard even more so than before, Kakashi silently looking around the area with his sharingan eye shifting back and forth to try and prevent Mr. Tazuna and the lot of us from meeting our ends. It was terrifying to stand around in utter silence as you essentially waited for your doom, though with no one having any sort of visuals of Zabuza we were all just a bunch of sitting ducks, hoping that we would be fast enough to fend off the Demon Swordsman.

Just as I turned to look over at a trembling Sakura, the slightest hint of movement caught my attention only for me to come face to face with Zabuza’s blade mere inches away from slicing my head in two. Even though I had a kunai to protect myself, Kakashi was still much quicker to respond than I was as he dashed over and knocked the weapon away from me along with the swordsman himself. Zabuza stumbled back several steps but quickly recovered from the blow, the grip on his weapon tightening.

“I’m beginning to think that this mission may be more than just a C rank…” I couldn’t help but manage just above a whisper, though Sakura seemed to have overheard me as she and I made eye contact and she nodded solemnly before the both of us turned our gazes back to the fight.

Their battle was intense, weapons flying about at the speed of light, jutsus being weaved out of thin air and sent towards the opponent, all blindingly fast and far too dangerous for our interference. Even so, it still didn’t change the fact that I felt as though I was being a burden, all my previous training going down the drain as I watched Kakashi take on the task of challenging Zabuza alone. I couldn’t help but look down at the kunai knife in my right hand, thinking about all the experiences I’ve gone through that’s led to this moment. Was I truly not worthy of being here and being useful in this fight? Was I only meant to stay back and watch like some kind of coward?

Is this all I’m good for?

  ** ** **

“How old are you again?”

All I could do was stare shamefully at my feet, my own cowardice forcing my gaze downward and way from the jonin’s prying eyes. It was a foolish mistake, one that the more logical part of my brain would have decided against were things not to happen in the heat of the moment. A student of the academy, one who had been teasing me for weeks on end for not having been enrolled myself, had finally gotten on my last nerve after one comment I can’t even fully remember. All of the taunting and snickering had finally tipped me over the edge, and without even thinking my hands were weaving signs foreign to me and there were flames flying out of my mouth. It wasn’t enough to kill him, thankfully, but it was enough to let him run off and grab the attention of the nearest jonin so I could get chewed out.

“Hey, how old are you, kid? I’m not gonna ask again…” The jonin spoke with a bit more exasperation in his voice, arms crossing over his chest.

I couldn’t help but fidget nervously under the jonin’s gaze, feet scuffing up the dirt beneath my feet as I nervously looked over to see the kid from before snickering with his friends. “Ten, sir…”

The scolding that I was expecting didn’t come, to my surprise; in fact, there were no words at all that left the jonin’s mouth after confessing my age. Why was he silent? There was no reason for there to be such a reaction, especially since the kids at the academy were only a few years older than me. It’s not as if I’d done something crazy or unheard of, so this man’s silence was slowly driving me insane. Finally gaining my bearings, I sucked it up and gained the courage to finally glance up and look the jonin in the eye.

I didn’t see an expression that I was anticipating; I was expecting to see this man fuming or at least disappointed in my actions, but I saw a hint of surprise, or maybe it was a tad of fascination? It certainly threw me off guard, and all confidence that I had managed to build up was immediately tossed out the window at the sight of it.

“So, you’re ten?” He asked with a hint of confusion, almost as if he were confirming something in his head. An unsure nod of my head was all that he needed, apparently, as he soon took me by the arm and began to take me against my will to somewhere I had no clue of. 

According to the shinobi, what I had done wasn’t exactly “normal” or something, and whatever weird signs I had managed when the situation got dire were ones that were uncommon for a child my age, at least, that’s what I’d managed to pick up on my little trip to the Hokage’s office.

It didn’t take long for the two of them to speak as I stood outside of the office on my own, trying to ease my nerves by looking at anything and everything around me like a frightened child. I was soon called into the room by the Sandaime himself, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shaking like a baby. One minute I’m in trouble, the next I did something good, and now I’m probably going to get kicked out of the village.

Surprisingly enough, the Hokage didn’t seem all too upset at my actions, instead offering me a kind smile that I was convinced may be a little fake thanks to my own anxiety about the situation. 

“So… Faith, was it? I don’t think I’ve seen that jutsu in quite some time now! Where did you learn it?”

I felt like there was something stuck in my throat as I stood with my hands fumbling nervously in front of me, afraid to look away from the man as he calmly sat at his desk with his hands laced together. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was meant to tell him, to be honest, having no clue what had come over me and where the ninjutsu had crept out from. Did I make the jutsu myself or something? Is that what I did? No, the Hokage said that he’d seen it before. Where the hell did it come from?

“I… I dunno, sir; I don’t know how I did it in the first place, and I’m not even sure if I know how to do it again.”

“Is that so? Well, I presume that you’re a genin—”

I cut him off with a small shake of my head, lightly scratching at the palm of my hand thanks to the anxiety from the situation. From the look on his face, it almost appeared as if he had confirmed something in his own mind, something that I was unaware of myself. Whatever it was, it was enough to bring a gentle smile to his face once more as he stood from his seat.

“Well then; I know this may be a tad sudden, but I think it would do you some good to get enrolled into the academy! It may help you to hone those jutsus of yours that you seem to use on a whim, don’t you think?”

** ** **

It was from that point that I had been enrolled in Iruka-sensei’s class, going to the academy every day to learn the basics of becoming a shinobi alongside Naruto and the rest of the kids around my age. I’d never really been all too motivated before, but I made sure to work my ass off in order to graduate along with all the rest of them.

So why am I standing here like some kind of baby? Clearly I had at least some kind of potential for the Sandaime to look at me and say “yeah, you wouldn’t make too poor of a ninja”, right? So why was I watching Kakashi getting his ass beaten by some bitch boy who was out for Tazuna’s blood?

I looked down at the kunai in my hand once again, fingers curling around the handle as I weighed my options here. Clearly, Kakashi-sensei was getting worn out a lot quicker than he initially expected, and unless something was done about it he’d probably get killed, and the swordsman would turn his focus to us next. With that, I shifted the blade in my hand, and with all the force that I could muster, I threw it directly at Zabuza and watched as it lodged itself in the side of his upper arm, the man in question looking down at it without a hint of pain.

Ah, right, that’s why I was staying out of things.

At first, I assumed that he would simply keep fighting Kakashi as if nothing had happened, especially since he acted as if the blade protruding from his arm wasn’t that big of a deal, though when his dark eyes locked with mine I was really thinking about that will that I should’ve written by now. He ripped the kunai out of his arm and kicked away an advancing Kakashi, now turning back towards me and moving at me so fast that the only indication that I had of him moving in the first place was the fact that he was definitely getting closer.

Oh good, I’m going to be the reason everyone dies today.

It wasn’t until the swordsman was about a foot or so away from me that my body managed to react on its own, though one could argue that the maneuver I pulled wasn’t exactly show-stopping itself. Just as Zabuza leaped at me with killer instinct burning bright in his eyes, I had used my size to my advantage as I ducked and watched from my position on the ground as he sailed over me. Apparently, my monkey brain didn’t think that was enough, and just before he could fully pass over me I grabbed him by one of his legs, twisting my body uncomfortably and using some kind of inhuman strength I didn’t know I possessed to slam him into the ground.

‘Hey! That wasn’t too bad! Maybe I stand a better chance than I thought—!’

Just as that thought managed to cross my mind, Zabuza used one of his legs to kick my own out from under me and caused me to smash my nose on the ground with enough force to get it to bleed.

Never mind, I’m getting us killed again.

I looked up just in time to see that damn sword of his ready to swing down on me, finding enough strength to quickly roll to the side and avoid death for a few moments longer. I was back up and on my feet in no time, reaching for another kunai knife as I did my best to ignore the blood trying to slip into my mouth from my nose. 

Zabuza lunged for me once again in no time flat, but this time I was slightly more prepared than I was before, raising my leg to kick straight up in order to hit him directly in the nose as payback for what he’d done to me. Apparently though, the man moved much faster than I was expecting, meaning that my kick didn’t quite hit its mark.

I kicked him in the dick.

If he wasn’t mad at me before, he was definitely mad at me now; this was nothing like the kunai I had stuck in his arm as I could definitely see the wave of pain go all through him, and if things were different I may have even laughed. I would not, however, laugh at the kick to the face that I was given mere seconds after ruining his chances of having children, the world flying past me as I was sent backward into the dirt against my will, having the wind knocked out of me from the force of it.

Just as I managed to bring myself to my feet, I readied my kunai shakenly once again, though Zabuza disappeared right before my eyes and I was met with an empty space and a very concerned Kakashi shouting at me from behind for having interfered in the first place. Before I could ever hope to turn and apologize and take my place at Tazuna’s side once more, I was met with the last thing I wanted to see standing just behind me.

The last thing I saw before my vision faded to black was Momochi Zabuza standing behind me with his blade, the weapon slicing through my torso like wet paper as Kakashi and the rest of Team 7 yelled words that sounded an awful lot like gibberish as I fell backward into the earth’s cool and deadly embrace.

[writing-lootcrate]

Needle

Word Count: 288

Fandom: Naruto

Character: Ari Cross

He took another string from his pouch, his fingers holding it so it couldn’t slip from his grasp. Ari was the type to struggle with things such as this, his hands always clumsy with things that barely fit in the palm of his hand. On one hand, he held the string that was safely secured in his fingertips, his other hand occupied with a small sewing needle that looked a little too small to be natural. 

He doesn’t really like needles.

Even now as a thirty-year-old man, Ari dislikes needles with a burning passion; he remembers having to get shots as a child and squirming to get free of his mother’s grip as she held him still, comforting him and saying that it was going to help him get better. He remembers when he got into that horrible accident with his older brother that only he had survived from, the IV in his arm uncomfortable and nasty on its own as he lay in his bed and suffered.

Ari looked at the needle in his hand again, his fingers holding it straight up so he could try and put the string through the loop. He knew it wasn’t going to end well considering his fingers and eyes weren’t cooperating with one another, but he also knew that he either had to sew up the hole in his shirt or he would be forced to buy another one. Now, the hole wasn’t that small and he had yet to get his paycheck, so one has to do what one has to do. 

“Oh, this is going to end fucking horribly,” Ari muttered to himself, his hand trembling from holding the two things uncomfortably still. 

Needles just aren’t his thing. 

[writing-lootcrate]

Can’t

Word Count: 362

Fandom: Naruto

Character: Kimashi Tatsumi

His fingers brushed against the book cover, his mind wandering and straying away from the words on the page; he found it difficult to focus lately, his mind seemed occupied with everything under the sun except for what was contained in the book he held delicately in his hands. Too much was going through his head to focus on the pages of his medical book, though he refused to give up and put it down until he was able to recite the contents word for word.

He can’t.

He looked at the sight around him, the flames rising higher with each passing second; he could hear the shouts of his younger brother from the other room calling to him for help, the distress in his voice evident the more he screamed. He didn’t know how the house caught on fire in the first place, though he was determined to get out safely with his siblings. He rushed to his brother’s room, the door quickly kicked down as he did his best to pull his younger sister out from under a pile of burning wood. He knew that he had to make an important choice on the spot: either die with your two siblings as you attempt to save your baby sister or grab your little brother and make a mad dash for the exit despite the screams of your brother telling you to go back. He wanted to save them both.

He can’t.

He coughed and writhed on the ground in agony, the pain coursing through his body absolutely unbearable; the pain in his neck seemed to be spreading through every inch of his body like a wildfire that would only be put out after he succumbed to the harsh embrace of death. He saw his brother doing his best to fend for himself against the vile man who had put him in this position, the venom in his body sending his body through another wave of pain before his vision faded to black. He wanted to protect his brother no matter the cost. He wanted to save his brother since he couldn’t save his sister. He wanted to live. 

He can’t. 

[writing-lootcrate]

Eye Candy

Word Count: 358

Fandom: Naruto

Character(s): Ari Cross, Takuma Tatsumi

He sat on the bench just on the outskirts of the small park, book propped open with one hand while the other rested on a water bottle he messed with from time to time. His attention was solely focused on the story he held in his hand, mind soaring through the world the assortment of words had made for him. Nothing could take him from the piece of eye candy before him.

The younger boy sat beside him on the bench with a huff, his face dripping with sweat and his large black glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose. He collapsed more than he sat down, treating the bench as if it were his own sofa as his chest continued to rise and fall rapidly. He took one look at the older man who was busy reading a book, the younger’s attention grabbed by the title.

“What the hell are you reading?”

The elder man, Ari, looked to the teenage boy with a brow raised as he looked over his current state. It wasn’t often he was willing to look up from his book to acknowledge whatever had decided to disturb him so the fact that he was looking at a sweaty child annoyed him greatly. 

“What does it matter?” 

The teen’s brows furrowed at this, his cheeks inflating as he left out an impatient huff to signify that he wasn’t looking for an answer like that. His eyes skimmed the title once more before looking in a different direction, hoping and praying that his older brother would show soon to take him home. 

“I was just asking, buddy. Don’t get your panties in a wad.”

Ari had never wanted to slap the shit out of a kid so bad before, his hand nearly tearing the lid off his water bottle in the process of cooling down. First, the child had the nerve to interrupt him from reading peacefully by calling out to him and ruining his sense of smell thanks to the whiff of sweat he caught, but now the kid thought that getting an attitude was appropriate. 

Way to ruin his eye candy, kid.

[writing-lootcrate]

Hatred

Word Count: 967

Fandom: Naruto

Character(s): Kenji Tatsuo, Kyo Cross

The fire crackled in the dead of night; the flames rising high to match the intensity of the shimmering moon, challenging it to a battle of the light. The stars that showered the deep indigo of the darkness seemed to merely sit back and watch, providing nothing more than support for it’s larger companion. The group of people gathered around the fire seemed to inch closer and closer to the inviting colors, thriving off of the warmth that it provided them. Their weapons were discarded in random locations around them since they found no further use for them at such a time, their armor and other forms of protection lying uselessly beside them. What would come of such a silent night? A night where anything could happen; the moon could dance among the stars in ecstasy while the stars merely watched, the flames could rise higher until they replaced the sun itself, the entire group of people helplessly huddled around the fire could be slaughtered like pigs for nothing more than pure hatred coursing through his veins. 

He lies in wait for the entirety of the night watching, waiting, but for what? He knew nothing of the aggregation of humans before him. He suspected as much, at least. He knew exactly who they were; the timid yet kind boy that was much more than he appeared, the fiery red-headed female who stopped at nothing to get the things she wanted, even the man who sat silently in front of them, his back to our so-called “hero”, his snow-white hair reflecting the bright oranges and yellows from the fire that burned dangerously before him. He knew these people, that much he knew, but he couldn’t seem to remember their names.

He would.

He made quick work of the younger two, the girl being brought to her knees in a matter of seconds from the sheer force of the blow he delivered to her skull, the boy going soon after with a perfectly timed blade to the chest. Regardless of whether he pierced the heart beating rapidly in the coward’s chest, he knew from the amount of blood spilling from the wound that he would not last much longer. The man behind him was the only one left; all he had to do was turn around and finish him off and he would be rid of them for good, right? He had to keep telling himself that. 

“This is going to be over soon,” he thought. “They’ll be gone for good.”

When he turned to face the last remaining member of the team all he could feel was an overwhelming sense of disbelief and anxiety flooding over him, crashing into him and making him yearn for that sweet release of death. He did know these people, he knew them quite well, but it was too late for him to take back his mistakes. 

This was his team. 

He could only watch as the man from before, the same man who was the only one to accept him for who he was for years on end, looked down at him with no emotion for him. He should be angry, fearful perhaps, maybe even disapproving of the actions he had watched, the events that had unfolded right before his very eyes that he did absolutely nothing to stop. 

“How long have you been here, boy?” His voice was unusually low compared to the voice he was used to hearing each and every passing day that he was around. “How long have you been doing this, again and again in your mind, until you convince yourself that there are things that are out of your control? That I’ve been dead for months now, nearly a year, and you had absolutely nothing to do with it?

“How long are you going to stand there as I repeat this to you, for the umpteenth time, as you drive your bloodied blade into my heart and watch as I crumble to nothing more but a memory before you? How long will it take for you to realize that the past is in the past; that the friends you’ve killed were a result of the man we followed, that treacherous being that defiled what little sense of humanity you held in your palms, and that you are not at fault for their demise? How long will it take for you to move on, breathe, and accept the hardships you were fated to meet?”

The arm of the younger man moved on its own as if he had rehearsed this scene several times before in his head, plunging the weapon deep into the torso of the man he considered a friend, mentor, ally, or father. He had no control of what he was doing, and he knew it, and all he could do was sob pitifully as the wound began to take its effect. Through his tears, he watched as the blood spilled to the forest floor with the same eagerness that he felt when first meeting the man before him, his eyes gradually trailing upward to watch the same deep, crimson red gurgle in the mouth of his idol. As his legs shook from the pressure that had been placed on him, he could only watch as the light faded from his eyes, looking but never seeing. He began to drop with the man, his tears now hitting his red palms as he shook violently from what he had done. When everything around him seemed to be spinning and fading to black, he heard a voice. He paused for a moment, halting his crying for a mere second to hear what it had to say before he disappeared into the void around him.

“How long will it take for you to realize that this wasn’t your fault?”