The genin watched his brother take advantage of his mist jutsu, lightning up his blade with ration chakra. He made a mental note to learn that at a late date should he ever decide to take up the sword art. He remained behind on the tree when the other leaped ahead, the touch of his blade ignited the gas and caused a strong enough explosion for Masaaki to feel the force of its heat and rapid wind. Hehe, the mist jutsu is quickly becoming his favourite. He should try and upgrade it to cover a larger area.
In the midst of the chaos he spotted the bandit leader and another runt escaping the gas by the skin of their teeth, he frowned and jumped off the tree to land on the soil and followed after the runt bandit, leaving his brother with the boss. He must help the hostages, they come first. He hoped his brother would be able to handle himself with the boss, and hopefully Masaaki will get things finished soon for him to go back and assist Neci.
“Hey!” yelled Masaaki as he followed the man from above, but he was surprisingly quick on his feet. Up ahead he can see Ameko, the daughter of the merchant lady Mia picking up a few daisies, oblivious of the oncoming danger. ‘What the hell? Why is she not with her mother?’ thought Masaaki as he pushed ahead even harder, trying to catch up and save the girl because the man with his grotesque scars was heading straight for her with a battle axe in his hand.
He finally did managed to speed past, only to throw himself at the little girl to push her away and into the hollow part of a tree, he landed on his chest and looked over his shoulder to see the man lunging at him, a battle axe raised over his head and no time for Masaaki to dodge or block. Instead Masaaki could only close his eyes and cover the back of his neck like a hedgehog retreating into a ball of spikes.
Instead, no impact met him, not even a touch, no sickening feel of rusty steel digging into his flesh, why? But as soon as he opened his eyes he saw. Mia.
His eyes widened at the sight, the battle axe deeply ingrained in the lady’s neck just between the shoulder bone. Her arms limb and her streaks of cut hair falling softly on the fresh grass. She struggled for her breath, but she managed to gather enough strength to look over to shoulder to see her daughter, who was sitting at the base of tree numb with shock and tears welling up.
No.
No no no no no no no no.
No sound came from his lips, he doesn’t think he could’ve managed one anyway and even if he did it would only be a broken voice. He looked behind him to see the girl’s face a river of tears. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Mistakes, all mistakes.
Why.Why why why why.
It’s all his fault, the thought run through his mind like an open wound. Ameko gritted her teeth and with as much agony as she could muster she screamed “Mummy!” He might not be able to hear her, but the look on her face pieced through his soul. He knew the pain of loss very well, and from the knowledge that his actions took away a mother, destroyed a child’s innocence brought back a memory.
~Flashback~
He stood in front of his mother’s corpse, covered up by a white sheet with the crimson red scarf on her chest and a ANBU accompanying it. “I’m sorry Dako…” whispered Sora, shame and regret in his eyes. His father stood beside him, motionless. His hand wavered just above Masaaki’s shoulder but never met it, the boy’s face buried in his mother’s stomach. He wanted to wake up, to believe it’s a dream and that’s none of its real.
But it was real, as clear as day.
~Flashback~
Masaaki can hear something. He can actually hear, or at least he’s used to. But the only sounds he heard was the swishing of the sword and a woman’s pained screams. He was four years old, a lady’s motionless body laid in front of him. A stranger. Yet there was a fading warmth in her eyes that old him a different story.
He lifted his innocent eyes to the pair of sharigan eyes in the darkness, fear and pain settled that created scars in his heart, the same scars would inflict an eternal impediment on the rest of his days. He watched the woman whisper with her dying breath “I love you Masaaki.” Who is she? He doesn’t know, didn’t understand. Either way, he knew he loved that for some reason. For the feeling of loss was identical to losing his mother.
Right there, in the darkness with blood strained walls something was born inside him.
~End flashbacks~
“Arghhh!” roared the bandit, ripping out his battle axe and letting the body of the woman slump to the ground to roughly step on her and leapt into the air to deliver a fatal blow to the young genin, Masaaki’s didn’t move until he finally lifted up his eyes and his cresent moon eyes. A blood red moon and a black tomoe.
It was surreal; suddenly he could see the movements. To the bandit’s surprise Masaaki’s dodged, letting the blade strike the ground with strong impact. Masaaki placed one hand on the handle of the battle axe and lifted himself up into the air to counterattack with a swift kick in the man’s face, he twisted his body around to use his other leg to kick the man again on the top of his head, the impact forced him to let go of his battle axe. Effectively disarming him. In the midst of it, the bandit locked eyes with the genin and saw only hatred in them. The kind of hatred only a motherless child could understand, and those same eyes spelled out four words for him. “I will kill you.” And soon, he would be right.
Masaaki seized the opportunity to plant his feet on the handle of the battle before he slammed his hands together to form the hands seals required for his next jutsu, he gathered up enough chakra before letting it loose to unleash a gigantic ball of fire right in the man’s direction, the man was only a few feet away from the genin so he had no time to escape or dodge, it was inevitable. He burned to a crisp. Masaaki didn’t even think about it, only acted.
The smell of burnt flesh and woodland hung in the air once his fireball jutsu was finished, a deadpanned expression on his face. The kunai in his hand hung loosely from his fingers, he couldn’t move. It was only the gentle tug of a sniffling little girl that brought him back “M-mister…” Masaaki looked at her, a look of apology in his eyes. It’s his fault. He gazed at the woman’s body one more time before picking up the girl and promptly left the area far enough to leave her on a branch of tree “Stay here, I’ll be back soon.” Instructed Masaaki, he needed to help his brother. He managed a brave smile at the little even though tears were streaming down his cheeks, he didn’t understand why. Was it for his mother? For that white haired lady he saw in his flashback? Or for Mia? He doesn’t know, but one thing he does know is that there is an ache in his chest.
Without another word he dashed from the tree to sprint ahead to his brother’s location. He better be ok, he expected Masaaki to be there to cover his back. Masaaki doesn't think he would have it in him to forgive himself if Neci is hurt because of him. It would be the first time anyone ever counted on him, and Masaaki doesn’t intend to let him down!
WC in this post: 1350
[Learning Sharingan: One Tome-1500 = quick learner trait = 1500 - 10% = 1350]