Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Oblivion ❯ Silence ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Revised: Wednesday, September 22, 2010                          &nb sp;           
< br> Disclaimer: I did not create, nor do I own Naruto, Masashi Kisimoto did and does. I cannot claim any characters of my own creation either, because I imagined them from the inspiration of Narutoverse.

Chapter Two: Silence

The sun was setting by the time they reached their home. The wagon creaked; bells chimed  happily with each bump from the dirt road that led to the barn. Yousuke walked before the large, black and white ox. He whistled a tune while he held the lead line connected to the ox’s halter. Hazuki hummed along with him as she sat upon the wagon on a stack of hay. Momo slept with her head in her sister’s lap, her hands tightly clenched around a silken strip of fabric.  
Once the trio reached the barn, Yousuke unhitched the ox and removed the yolk and halter. He turned it out to graze while Hazuki gathered some left over vegetables into a burlap sack. Yakitori would be excellent for dinner, along with some roasted squash and boiled cabbage and daikon.
“Chichi should be home today.” Hazuki sighed, as she slipped the burlap sack over her shoulder and began to the house. “I really hope he doesn’t make us quit the stand and move back into the compound. I do not want guards constantly watching us again. I like this freedom and not having to be so noble all the time.”
“Yeah.” Yousuke sighed. He picked up Momo. The child wrapped her arms around his neck and continued to sleep, her silky cloth still tight in her hands. “This isn’t bound to last forever though. Two noble families have already lost members. Someone is targeting the High Council, and that means that we are no exception, imooto.”
“Yeah I know. Okay, ani, I get Momo and me, being that I’m only seventeen, but face it, Yousuke. Why are you still here? Why haven’t you gone to that university yet? Why aren’t you shacking up with some girl or getting more involved with Dad‘s work? I mean you’re a whole decade older than me–”
“So.” Yousuke pouted. “Are you trying to say I’m old or something?”
“Duh.”
 “Gees, sis, I‘m only twenty-six-years-old!” Yousuke grumbled, his brows narrowed and his pout causing Hazuki to smile and giggle.
“Still, Yousuke. Why are you here growing and selling produce of all things when there is a whole world out there beyond this one, waiting to be explored?” Hazuki asked.
 Yousuke shrugged and said, “I’m keeping an eye out for my little sisters. That is my job as the older brother! I’m supposed to protect you two.”
“Gees, but you’re a wuss, Yousuke! You haven’t won a single fight in your entire life. How are you supposed to protect us lower-nobles from shinobi, samurai, or even the common punk-loser huh?” Hazuki playfully teased.
His silly contorted face made her laugh as he mumbled, “That’s not fair. Those punk-losers in school had an advantage over me! Most of them had some type of martial art training and I didn‘t! I had to use my magnificent brain power to get out of those messes!” He dropped the play, his face turned serious as he said, “And our status doesn‘t matter, imooto. Father is taking great bounds to establish stronger bonds with the nations around us. Sometimes great bonds build while coarser bonds chasm. Things with Kusa haven’t been going too well, so the High Council, Father and I all have to keep vigilant. Even if I must put my dreams on hold for a while to watch over my baby sisters, I’ll humbly do so. Lower nobles or not, there are possibilities that we are targets too, Hazuki. Just remember that.”
Hazuki looked away, her lips pursed together in rejection. Being noble--even lower noble in all honestly sucked. They weren’t aloud beyond the compound unless escorted by a guard. She couldn’t sit slumped either.  Her shoulders always had to be up and perched as a proper woman’s should be. Yet what Hazuki hated most were the layers of kimonos she had to wear when in the presence of other nobles. That all changed after Mother died . . . after everything went to hell.
Hazuki loved the secluded life they lived now. No compound or guards, no rules, no postures . . . just the rustic little farm house nestled between the hills with nothing but fields of growing bounty around. No guards were giving her haunting images of dead bodies strewn across the courtyard. There was no tears or pain from being left alive to endure the loss of her innocents. The compound was not burning to the ground. No mother being tortured right before her eyes . . .
Hazuki could almost smell the sick smell of smoke mingled with the awful stench of burned human flesh from that night ten long years ago. She entered her house and found it oddly misty or was it smoke? The smell of burn was so strong. Hazuki smelled the air, only to cover her nose. She didn’t imagine the smell.
“Hazuki, do you smell that?” Yousuke asked as he walked up the cobblestone path with Momo securely in his hands.
The burlap sack dropped to the floor. Daikon and cabbage rolled out from it. Hazuki froze, instantly solidified against the body of the person that grabbed her. Her teary eyes stared across the kitchen to where two other shadowed figures stood. She didn’t have to look at their hitai-ites to know that they were ninjas. The ninja kept his hand over her mouth, making her unable to warn her brother of the danger on which he was about to walk into. It wouldn’t matter anyway. She couldn’t scream if she wanted too. Her voice was gone.
“Hazuki?” Yousuke mumbled as he stepped into the house.
Momo shifted and fluttered her eyes open. At that exact moment a man clobbered her brother with a club. His arms loosened around her as he slumped. She slid out of his grip and fell onto the floor as everything seemed to go in slow motion. Her eyes widened upon the blood that dotted her face when the man struck Yousuke again. He blankly fell to the floor. Blood oozed from the wound on his head, his eyes were blank and faded.
Momo’s breathing quickened as she stared horrified at her brother. “Brother?” she signed. “Onisan? Yousuke? Yousuke?” she crawled to him, shaking his shoulder as tears leaked from her eyes. Frantically she tried to call to him, her voice only strained air.
“Damn, Houssay. I think you killed him.” The man that held Hazuki chortled.
Houssay laughed, “Isn’t that what we’re here to do anyway, Jinirou-sama?”
“A-Ani?” Hazuki whimpered as she stared at him. N-No way! Hazuki thought, watching as her brother’s still form. Her eyes wanted to believe that he was still breathing, and that it wasn’t the wind outside just blowing his shirt. That her brother’s eyes weren’t clouding in death.
Hands traveled down her body as Jinirou whispered into her ear, “Then again, we can have some fun from this one before we kill her.”
Hazuki buckled, her stomach expelled what was within it as she cried. The ninjas laughed. Harshly Jinirou pushed her into the kitchen counter and spread her feet apart. The ninja fiddled with her pants. Tears leaked from her eyes as her body racked with a sob. Her body rejected it. Her mind rejected it. She wanted nothing to do with this.
Not again. NOT AGAIN! I’ll die before I let them. I’ll die! Instincts took over. She screamed, stomped down on the man’s foot, and then snapped her head back hitting him square on the nose. He released her, stumbled back, and held his bleeding nose.
“She broke it!” Jinirou screamed in pain. “She broke it!”
“Momo!” Hazuki shouted to catch the stunned girl’s attention.
Hazuki grabbed Momo and dashed into the living room while the other two ninjas crowded around their leader. Hazuki looked up the stairs and thought of possible escape routes or places to hide. At the top of the stairway awaited their nanny, Nayukiko. The ninjas had hung her, and Nayukiko’s corpse still emitted smoke from when they ruthlessly charred her body.
“Oh my God . . . D-Don’t look. Ju-Just don’t look.” Hazuki told Momo.
The younger girl couldn’t take her eyes off the burned corpse though. She couldn’t help but feel, that their fate would soon be as Nayukiko’s. Momo clung tight to her elder-sister as she dragged her quietly through the house. Hazuki rushed into the dinning room and pushed on part of the wall. It slid open. She forced the quivering Momo inside and then entered the secret compartment herself. The door silently slid closed.
Father rigged the house with these rooms just incase something as this happened. Not only were their hidden rooms, but also tunnels that lead out of the house to safe places. Memory guided Hazuki as the drills that her father constantly put them through of the house’s hidden labyrinth surfaced.
If only she could calm her nerves. Her entire body quivered as she ran her hands along another wall. She kept glancing over her shoulder to the panel in fear that it would open and the foreign ninjas would find them. A finger-sized hole brushed along Hazuki’s fingertips and she pushed her finger into it. Another panel near the floor opened.
“Come on, Momo.” Hazuki whispered.
She helped her sister into the cramped area and then Hazuki slid in herself. The panel slid closed as if by magic. Taking hold of a rope, Hazuki began to pull on it. The box they were in began to move to the left and slid effortlessly across the tracks without a single sound. They rode the track between the walls as ghost. Once they could travel no more, another panel slid open.
“Come on, we’ll be safe in here for now.” Hazuki whispered to Momo.
Hazuki rose into the room that could hold no more than three people. Momo pulled herself out and looked around. Light filtered in from a vent outside. The sisters stopped when they heard voices from below them. They could hear three voices. One was of the man that held her, Jinirou. The other voice belonged to the gruff man, Houssay, and then an unknown feminine voice.
“They just disappeared.” The woman said.
Houssay said, “Yeah. I figured they’d stop dead when they saw that whore hanging in the hall.”
“They couldn’t have gone far.” stated Jinirou. “Little bitches . . . ”
“Come on.” Hazuki signed. “Keep going, Momo. Don’t stop! Go through the tunnel.”
Hazuki lifted Momo to the banister above them. The child scrambled to a square opening and crawled inside it. Sounds, bumps and muffled voices neared, forcing both girls to freeze and stare at eachother horrified. Hazuki shook it off, and began to pull herself up when the floor beneath her gave way. She screamed and dangled from the ledge. Quickly she pulled herself up, and forced Momo into the small opening when she threw herself into it. Pain rushed through her left shoulder, but Hazuki ignored it. She quickly crawled in after Momo into the hidden crawlspace.
Something padded along the wall, the sound echoed within the crawlspace. The light became blocked. The kunoichi’s hand reached in and grasped hold of Hazuki’s foot, only for another to latch onto her ankle. Hazuki yanked back.
“Keep going, Momo!” Hazuki screamed as she dug her nails into the wood when she slid back.
“You’re not going anywhere, girl!” the female ninja snickered, her feet braced against the wall as she used chakra to keep her gravity defying feat active. She yanked on Hazuki’s ankle, as she laughed, “Just like noodling a fish out of a cave!”
Hazuki pulled herself back in and glanced back at the crazy white-haired witch. A lever caught her attention. With a yell, Hazuki brought her free leg back and kicked the lever with everything she had. The wide-eyed look of the female ninja burned into Hazuki’s memory when the guillotine dropped. Fingers moved on the severed hand. Hazuki couldn’t help but scream. She kicked the appendage from her, trying to calm her hysteria as she closed her eyes. Her brown hair fluttered into her face as she wished this nightmare would end. Keep going. She urged herself. Do it for Yousuke. Do it for Momo because she still needs you! Tears reddened her eyes and Hazuki panted and crawled deeper into the crawlspace. She came to another room.
“I’m going to kill you! KILL YOU!” the woman’s voice echoed down into the space.
A loud crash caused both Hazuki and Momo instinctively to move to each other. Momo’s arms snaked around Hazuki’s torso and hugged tightly.
“This is a nightmare.” Hazuki cried as she rubbed her face and thought of what they could do to escape. “What are we going to do . . . What can we do?”
The hidden panels and crawlspaces were only going to get them so far. They had to get out of the house and into the safety of town. Hazuki shivered upon the cold smooth steel that rested in her shoulder. She wrapped her ringers around the handle of the kunai. She began to pull the blade out, just as a hand clasped onto her shoulder.
“BITCH!” the kunoichi rasped.
Hazuki pushed the woman’s hand from her, and then slammed the small crawl way door closed. The female screamed in pain when her wrist cracked, a sign that it was broken. Hazuki leaned back on the door, forgetting the kunai in her. The door snapped closed. Frantically the sisters sealed the room off by dropping a large board into slots before the crawlspace. Hazuki groped the wall. She found a flashlight within its designated holder upon the wall. She clicked it on and looked to Momo.
“Go down the tunnel. Go to the room where only you can hide. I’ll be there shortly, okay.” Hazuki signed, while Momo shook her head, her eyes full of fear. “I’ll be okay.” Hazuki cried. “I’ll be okay, so go. Do this for Yousuke okay. He’ll guide you and I promise I’ll be right behind you. I promise.”
Momo shook her head again, only for Hazuki to force the girl toward the boxed tunnel. She pushed Momo in, tossed the flashlight, and then blocked the end off. A loud bang caused her to turn back to the barricaded door. The board that held it closed buckled. Quickly Hazuki looked around the area. She slid to the floor and began to cram herself into a thin space between the tunnel and floor on which she stood.
She became completely immobile when the crawlspace door burst open. She couldn’t stop shivering as she watched a shadow slither onto the wall and hear the hissing breaths of something vile nearing. She couldn’t stop shaking damn it! Hazuki gasped when the once stable floor beneath her once again gave way. Air rushed from her lungs as she landed on the floor of the living area. Dazed she looked up into Jinirou’s bloody face.
“Ah,” Jinirou chirped. “Found you.”
His foot stomped on the kunai and pushed it though her. She screamed with her fingers curling as the kunai stopped when it hit her shoulder blade’s bone. Blood splattered, only then to ooze from around the dark blade. The kunai cut into her collar bone, pierced an artery, but missed her lung and was far from her heart. The pain though, it was excruciating.  
“STOP!” Hazuki screamed as she panted with pain. Pleadingly she whined, “Please stop! Please! Please . . . ”
He kicked her, causing her to become dazed as she smashed into the opposite wall. At least Momo was safe. That was all that mattered now . . .
“Hmm. How disappointing. I like to hear my targets beg for mercy and at least fight back more than what you are.” The man sighed. He picked Hazuki up by her hair. “Though, your profile tells that you shouldn’t have fought back at all. You freeze up every time you’re near a shinobi. How pathetic you really are though. Where is the other one?”
Hazuki looked up at the man dazed. “What?”
“Tisk tisk,” the ninja sighed. He smacked her causing her to shriek. “The other girl. Your sister. Where is she?”
“Who?” uttered Hazuki stubbornly as she glared at the man, wishing him death.
The ninja sighed. “If this is how you truly demand to play, then I’ll play.”  
He grabbed her face and slammed the back of her head into the wall. He kneed her, backhanded her, and then threw her to the floor. Hazuki’s vision burred and pain ricocheted throughout her. He forced her up, about to strike again, only to startle when a loud crash came from behind him. Something large barreled through the wall behind him. The man leaped away, dropping Hazuki when the large form tumbled directly at them and then broke through the next wall coming to a stop out into the front lawn. Dust scattered while splinters of wood clanked to the floor.
“What the hell?” Jinirou growled. “Houssay?”
The large man who welded the club did not move. He kept his awkward position on the ground; Houssay was dead. Jinirou jerked when a powerful ki filled the air. His knees wobbled slightly but he clenched his fist and narrowed his eyes. The Ichikita girl vomited again, inching away as she couldn‘t handle the pressure and killing intent this new opponent expelled. Jinirou turned  to dodge the kick that could have well taken off his head. The ninja then turned to his opponent, his eyes narrowing.

Japanese Words

Chichi- verbal reference to father
Imooto- younger sister (normally it's spelled, imoto, but the o after the m is supposed to have a macron over it (a line) indicating that it's a long o. So, being that I can't put a macron over the first o, the correct way to spell it would be to add the extra o, turning imoto into imooto)
Ani- verbal reference to elder brother
Onisan- elder brother





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