忍ぶ心 Shinobu Kokoro
Title: Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro
Rating: PG13 (mild violence, some sexuality)
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Genre: action, AU
Chapter: twelve
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno Satoshi is the student of a strong ninja lord who has lived his life following his teacher’s strict guidance. But what happens when he slowly learns he has to live for himself?
Part 1: Shinobu Ishi ( Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter three, Chapter four, Chapter five, Chapter six, Chapter seven)
Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro Chapter eight, Chapter nine, Chapter ten, Chapter eleven
Ohno’s sword was haphazardly jostled around as he sprinted through the forest and towards the village, the smell of burning getting stronger with every step he took.
The only thoughts running through the ninja’s mind were of Jun and where he would be, trying to pass the morbid ideas of anything bad happening to the younger man.
He darted through the streets, even though he saw one collapsed house on his right and a group of unfamiliar ninja darting through the alley farther down. Part of his mind said to intercept them before they did any damage, but Jun’s name was taking up too much of his attention right now and he ignored them, opting for Nakai’s workshop, which was finally visible in his field of vision.
The door was torn open by Ohno and he called out, “Jun,” loudly, looking around the storage area of the hut. He darted to the back of the building, looking into the only other room, a tiny closet, but there was still no one in sight.
Jun wasn’t here.
Ohno turned back to the entrance, which had been wrecked by his own hand, his mind in a wild frenzy.
He had to find Jun.
Jun might be hurt.
As he started for the exit, Ohno was immediately pushed back as the troupe of unknown ninja he had seen earlier slid through the doorway, blocking him in the house with no other means of escape. There wasn’t even a window behind him, only shelves and shelves of miscellaneous items and costumes.
The three enemies came at him in formation, the one in the front with eyes sparking and obviously the leader of the small group. But Ohno wasn’t wearing any of the protective gear he usually would have been, instead covered in only his training clothes from the clearing. He hadn’t brought anything with him besides his sword, either, since he had left the grounds as fast as he could, not thinking straight or planning properly. His position was not good right now.
The swordsman blocked all three attacks, just barely, since his current opponents were better trained and lither than the usual soldier, and Ohno had to retreat a few steps as they came at him again.
His blade slid across the one belonging to the ninja with the shining gaze, nicking the exposed knuckles of his adversary, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the next fluid assault, and a burning sensation shot up his arm.
Backing up more, Ohno jumped a slice that was directed at his legs, and then tumbled into the shelves behind him, barely catching enough of his balance to keep the rain of sword attacks from completely destroying him. A few items fell around them, but they didn’t distract any of Ohno’s opponents and proved unhelpful for anything else, since the ninja didn’t know how to use them.
There was another stabbing pain across his shoulder when he didn’t parry an attack fast enough, and then another in his side, which he barely prevented from being a fatal hit.
He heard someone call out his name from the doorway, which was so far away from him, and one of the ninja assaulting him stumbled and collapsed onto the ground.
Another turned to face the intruder, but Ohno thrust his sword smoothly through his chest, even though it cost him an additional deep cut across his shoulder from the captain of the group.
A projectile flew across the room and the final ninja, the one that had caught Ohno’s attention, dodged it without any trouble. But it distracted his enemy just enough for Leader to slice his throat with a long swing of his sword, sending the man immediately to the ground. As he fell he stared straight into the swordmaster’s eyes, knowing that he had been bested in this battle even though they had outnumbered him.
Leader turned to the doorway and saw Jun standing there with a look of terror on his face, his arms and legs shaking as he stared across the room at him.
“Ohno…” he whispered in an unstable voice, taking a few unsteady steps into the house.
Leader swallowed and fell to his knees, feeling completely blank even though adrenaline was still pumping quickly in his veins.
Jun stumbled towards him and fell to his own knees in front of him, cupping Leader’s face in his hands, tears swelling in his eyes.
“Ohno, are you okay? Y-you’re bleeding…” Jun’s gaze went from the empty expression in front of him and down the ninja’s tattered clothing. “Everywhere…”
Ohno raised his bloodied hands and covered Jun’s, which were still plastered against his face. He blinked, trying to get a hold of himself, but all he could see was the boy in front of him.
Jun was okay.
As tears began falling down the younger boy’s face, Ohno moved his hands again to brush them away from his cheeks, although they left a bloody mess in their wake instead.
Jun was okay.
“Ohno, we have to get you to a support ninja,” he sobbed, leaning forward to press their foreheads together, but the older man still didn’t respond.
Jun was okay.
Suddenly another pair of enemy ninja was in the doorway and Ohno stiffened upon seeing them, immediately pushing Jun down to the floor and darting up and forward to protect him.
If the illusionist had thrown a knife earlier to kill his attacker, he had used his second as a distraction for the last.
That meant he had nothing left.
Before Jun could right himself to see what was going on, blades were clashing in front of him, Ohno’s strength restored now that it was needed it to protect Jun.
Knowing that his friend was safe and right behind him, Ohno’s head became level again and instead of the haphazard thrashing he’d been doing earlier, his movements became concise and accurate, and in only a few seconds both of his adversaries were on the floor, bleeding heavily against the unpolished wood.
“Jun, get your knives,” Ohno commanded, not looking back at the boy. The swordsman forced himself not to grasp his shoulder, where he could feel blood soaking up in his shirt, and clenched his jaw trying to hold back any other reactions. If Jun knew he had an injury like that, he’d force Leader to retreat when his help was still needed on the battlefield.
This surprise attack had to have been orchestrated by an outside source, since ninja were being used instead of soldiers, and the whole situation was dangerous. The village was supposed to be nestled in a strategic location, its whereabouts unknown by most of the outside world, and yet here were enemies crawling all around inside of it.
This hidden opponent that hadn’t even had the courage to face the group of ninjas head on was probably more dangerous than the men they had hired.
Ohno waited until Jun had joined him at his side, then turned to the slightly taller boy and gave him a serious expression.
“Stay close to me, Jun.”
He nodded in response, but Ohno’s face fell in a frown.
“Promise me.”
Jun swallowed, an upset look on his face, the tears from earlier barely drying along with the blood. “I promise I’ll stay close to you.”
“Good.”
Ohno lead the way to the exit, the rest of the words unspoken.
I’ll protect you.
+++
They had run the other group of ninja off after an hour of battle. The enemies had either lost enough of their men or had realized the difference in strength they were facing and abandoned their mission.
But the damage had been done. The village was in ruins, half of the houses completely burnt down, the rest broken enough that they would all need repairs, and there were at least fifteen casualties that had been accounted for, most of them civilians.
Ohno and Jun made their way back to the Main Building, where the survivors were gathering, either to be treated or help with the treating. Jun was only exhausted from their conflict, not a scratch on his beautiful body, and Ohno hadn’t gotten any more injuries other than what he had left Nakai’s house with.
But his footsteps were tinted in blood, and even though he tried to convince Jun that it was the enemies’ and not his own, the illusionist had turned their direction from checking the rest of the village and immediately to the Main Building to look for Aiba.
In the courtyard, there was a group of people either laying or sitting on clean white ground covers, while the uninjured residents had collected together farther off in the grass, towards the forest.
Jun immediately pulled Ohno to the white designated area, even though the older man was insisting that there were probably other people that needed Aiba’s attention more than him. As they got closer the figure of their friend became visible; he was kneeling in front of a man, wrapping a bandage around his arm, even though the red was already soaking through.
“Aiba!” Jun called out as the pair approached. The herbalist jerked his head around at the sound of the younger mans’ voice and looked up at the couple in relieved misery.
“Leader, Jun-kun, you’re okay!” he left the man to hold the bandage and threw himself at his two friends. “I was… so worried…” the tenderhearted ninja sobbed, tears streaking his face, as they apparently had been for a while.
“Aiba, you need to look at Leader,” Jun insisted before he could gurgle out any more thankful words.
Pulling back, Aiba stared down at Ohno with glazed eyes. His face was pale and, upon closer inspection, there were large beads of sweat dripping down his face and dark bags above his cheeks. He looked worse than if he had just been nervous, even if it had lasted all day, and Ohno worriedly wondered if there was something else the matter with him.
After blinking a few times, trying to focus his eyes, Aiba’s throat tensed up and he covered his mouth tightly with his hands.
“What’s wrong?” Leader asked immediately, grabbing onto his friend’s shoulder. “Aiba, what’s wrong?”
But the herbalist pulled himself violently out of Ohno’s grip and ran to the side of the Main Building, away from the group of people. Ohno and Jun watched, unable to offer any help, as the ninja began dry retching violently and then as, a moment later, a thin line of vomit dripped from his mouth.
“He was poisoned.”
The pair turned quickly as Shimura Ken shuffled up behind them, watching Aiba as he fell to his knees and was sick again.
“He was hit with a poison bomb when he went to check the general store to make sure everyone had escaped safely.”
Ohno swallowed at the explanation and Jun’s eyes were tearing up again.
“I’d say it was lucky it was Aiba-chan that was on the receiving end of that one. He produced an antidote on the spot once he was outside. If it was anyone else, they surely would have died,” the old man continued in a morbid tone, nodding. “You’re lucky to have such a skilled and kind boy in your group. He still fought, despite his condition, and he’s been helping me here for the last little while, even though that’s the state he’s in.”
Ken sighed, finally looking at the other two ninja straight on.
“Satoshi, you’re bleeding.”
“Where’s Nino? And Sho?” Ohno demanded in a quiet voice, continuing to stare at Aiba across from them.
The experienced herbalist swallowed at the serious response.
“Over there.”
He pointed to the patch of white linens that were resting closest to the Main Building, and Ohno’s heart fell.
Nino was crumbled over Sho’s body, which was laid out on the sheet, sobbing uncontrollably and grasping the unconscious archer’s chest while a support ninja tried to talk sense into him.
All of the energy Ohno had left abandoned him immediately and he collapsed onto the ground, jarring his knees and wrists against the hard surface.
It was delayed a second, but Jun tore his gaze away from the pair dislocated from them, and Ohno’s blank stare drifted down to the dirt a few feet in front of him.
He couldn’t move.
All of his friends were hurt…
His village, destroyed…
He had failed.
He had failed Aiba.
He had failed Sho.
He had failed Nino.
He had failed Jyani.
He had failed the entire village.
Everyone.
+++
Jun dove as Leader fell to the ground face first, barely catching him before the older man hit the densely packed earth.
The illusionist turned and cradled Ohno against his chest, then examined his own palm, which felt wet.
It was covered in blood.
Ohno had told him earlier that it was from the ninja Jun had killed, but there was no way this much blood had come from that encounter.
With the intention of tearing off Ohno’s clothes, the younger boy began laying him back on the earth, but Ken stopped him, suggesting they move him to the cleaner area first.
Jun held up Ohno’s arms while Ken carried his legs, and the two of them shuffled towards Nino and Sho, bile rising in Jun’s throat as they moved. Anger filled his head, at Ohno for lying to him, and at himself for believing him.
When he had first seen the cuts that were evident through Leader’s sliced clothes, he should have forced him to retreat to the Main Building. Instead, the two of them had rushed to the forge, saving the building from attack just in time and Jun had made his second perfect hit with his throwing knives that afternoon.
And here Ohno was dripping blood as they moved him.
They were finally able to gently lay him next to Sho in the space that was left. Ken immediately bent over Ohno and Jun began untying Leader’s shirt in order to remove it and examine the wounds he undoubtedly had more accurately.
Nino cried out as he recognized the new comers.
“Not Ohno, too… P-please…” the weapons master hiccupped, his face drenched.
Jun vowed he would find out what was wrong with Sho too, but first he had to know about Ohno, who had seemed perfectly capable up until a moment ago.
The bared chest revealed that Leader had a huge gash across his shoulder and down his bicep, a flap of skin hanging off to show the muscle underneath. This was the injury that the blood was pouring from, flowing all the way down his arm and making the skin slick with the dark red liquid.
“Let… me help…” Aiba had stumbled back to the group, his face soaked in sweat, and he was wiping his hands on a bloodied piece of cloth hanging off his waist. Turning to look back at the herbalist with a wary expression, Jun essentially knew that he could do nothing for Leader, and so he moved aside to let the expert in.
He watched Aiba and his mentor work for a few seconds before he was confident that Leader would be taken care of, and he uselessly turned back to Nino, who was letting out sobs again, his breath coming in violent gasps.
Jun crawled over next to him and touched him lightly on the back, trying to distract Nino from his situation as well as himself from his own.
The first thing he noticed was that Nino’s arms were both bandaged tightly, faint traces of blood on the back of his knuckles. He then looked down at Sho, who had been stripped of his shirt just like Ohno, and immediately spotted the treated wound around his chest, which was the biggest injury the unconscious archer was showing.
“What happened?” Jun asked in a lowered voice, afraid that Nino would simply burst out in sobs again. The older boy turned to him with blood-shot eyes and sniffed, wiping the back of his forearm across his face, trying to get rid of the salty water running down his cheeks and out of his nose.
He hiccupped again, and Jun pulled Nino against him, rubbing his back and trying to stop himself from losing control of his emotions too. Jun was lucky--he knew that Ohno was alright… for now, at least. He had no idea what condition Sho was in, though, and the archer’s swallow breathing revealed that it wasn’t good.
“He s-s-saved me,” Nino replied in a high pitched voice, unable to control his tone enough to get the words out steadily. Jun rubbed the back of his friend’s head firmly, messing his hair in the processes, trying his best to console him. “He-he…” the distraught boy tried to continue, but ended up stopping, attempting to gasp for breath.
“It’s okay, Nino…” Jun whispered drawing his head closer to his chest.
Taking a few deep lungfuls of air, the weapon master forced himself to calm down. He closed his eyes and pressed his tear stained face against Jun’s clothes, not caring that the proximity was stifling his breath.
He tried to tell himself that he couldn’t let Jun see him this way, that it would knock down all of the reputation equity he had built with the younger boy while helping him train.
But the tears wouldn’t stop.
In his head, the image of Sho’s horrified face, only a few feet away from him, replayed itself over and over, torturously slow, slower than the event could have ever taken place.
Sho had nothing to protect himself, only his quiver of arrows and his bow, which would be useless defenses against something like a sword, and a sword was exactly what all the enemy ninja were equipped with. He had been sniping, as usual, but just as they had made it into the village, already having taken out all the enemies in sight, Nino had been stopped by group of four ninja, all coming at him together.
It had been easy to dodge the first two, but they were trained back on him in a second.
The first came at him with his weapon, which Nino caught in the grip of one of his sais and broke it in half in one swift movement, but the adversary immediately discarded the broken item and pulled out a set of knives.
By the time he came back at Nino, one of the other men was dead, an arrow pierced precisely through his throat, and the weapons master had tried to evade the other two by nimbly kicking some of the rubble from a nearby house in their faces.
They had avoided it, though, and were coming straight at him once again. Nino knew the ninja with knives was circling around him to his side in order to get a clear shot of his target while his comrades took Nino head on, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. If he turned now, the ones with swords would break past his defenses, but if he didn’t, a knife would be buried in his side.
There was no time to form a strategy, since he was surrounded on both fronts, his sais at odds already with the swords. He turned to watch the knives bared in his direction, then saw Sho running at him from a few feet behind.
As he came closer he shot another arrow, but the man with the knives stopped his actions and ducked, barely avoiding it. The arrow hit one of the other ninja in the leg, but Nino couldn’t shake him off despite the disrupted attention, and the knives were regrouping immediately and headed near him again. The opponent was too close now for Sho to take another shot at, since he was only a few feet away by then.
Instead, and this was the part that was burned into Nino’s memory, Sho darted towards the group and intercepted the ninja before he got to Nino, his bow held out in front of him like a pole. He blocked an attack from one of the knives, the steel blade buried in the wooden handle of his bow, and saved Nino.
But the other one, he found out as the archer collapsed to the ground, had been thrust into Sho’s chest.
Nino cried out as he crumpled, but continued to fight automatically. He forced the two swordsmen back with a sudden surge of energy, and promptly arced his wrist to slam the handle of his sai into the temple of the ninja with the knives.
It was a fatal blow, since so much force had been put behind it, but Nino didn’t care. He lithely bent over and retrieved the knife that Sho had blocked a moment ago, now on the ground, and flicked it with his wrist, sending the blade right into one of the enemy’s ribs as the man raised his sword for another attack.
The ninja fell backwards onto the hard surface of the street, in the same state the archer was in, and Nino turned to the last opponent, his veins boiling in fury.
The man attacked, Nino blocked and caught the sword with his sai, bringing the other part of the pair down and breaking the sword, in what was quickly becoming his signature move.
The enemy went to drop the useless weapon, but before he had even done that much, Nino punched him, the metal of his weapon reinforcing the attack.
Upon impact, the jaw immediately shattered and the man was sent to the ground, but the weapons master wouldn’t let it stop there. He picked up the handled portion of the enemy’s broken blade and tucked his sais into his sash.
Without thinking, Nino jumped on the man with the broken jaw, forcing him to lay flat as he struggled to get back up. He dragged him by up by the collar of his shirt, pulling the material back enough to get a clear view of his neck.
Not hesitating, with only the image of Sho falling to the ground and the erratic breathing he could hear behind him, Nino placed the shortened blade on the man’s exposed throat and sliced it open.
He was covered in blood by the time he turned back to Sho, feeling completely stunned and unable to think properly.
Kneeling down, Nino turned the archer over gently, not caring if more opponents came and cut him down as he was.
“Ni…no,” Sho was still conscious and gasping in pain. He slowly reached up to touch the younger man’s face.
He tried to stay calm, but the knife was stuck completely up to the hilt, just barely below where Sho’s heart should be.
“Don’t move. Don’t move, Sho-chan,” Nino whispered under his breath, forcing the shaking hand back to rest on his chest.
He looked distractedly at the knife, then back to Sho’s pale face. Leaning down, the younger ninja pressed his lips against the curve of his partner’s mouth and closed his eyes, still trying to stay calm and keep his emotions contained.
But he felt numb… he felt like everything inside of him was going to come pouring out as Sho’s eyes fluttered closed.
“Don’t die, Sho-chan.”
“He’ll be okay, Nino,” Jun whispered against his head, and he hadn’t realized he had repeated the same plea out loud, the one that had been running through his mind since he had dragged Sho into the shelter of a half destroyed house and then went to find Aiba.
Aiba… thank God for Aiba.
Even though he had vomited twice while examining the archer and Nino was barely holding himself together, somehow he had gotten a makeshift bandage around Sho’s chest and the two Arashi members had moved him slowly towards the Main Building, where the wounded were already gathering, the air full of panic.
Nino had stared as Aiba began working again, but after a few seconds he knew he should go back to the village, to make sure everyone was alright and contribute what he could to the effort.
He swallowed and forced himself to leave his love to Aiba, knowing that the herbalist would try just as hard as Nino would to heal Sho if their skills had been the same.
As he fought, full of fury at the men who had done this to his precious friend, Nino didn’t hold back, but instead went out of his way to slaughter his enemies. The only life saved that day was by Jyani who called out to his subordinate as he worked, a bloodied, barely breathing enemy crushed underneath him, and asked if he could keep that one for questioning.
Nino had glared and immediately set off to find his next victim, leaving his lord to deal with the prisoner himself.
But by that time, most of the enemies had fled and Nino promptly turned and headed back to the cluster of villagers by the Main Building. He hadn’t seen Ohno or Jun during the battle, but Nino knew that Ohno was competent enough, even with protecting their little greenhorn, that he was only worried that Leader would push himself too hard and sleep for three days.
With lifeless eyes, Nino had walked, dazed, towards the spot that he and Aiba had left Sho at, which was now at the end of a long row of similar looking sheets. He sat down, his back to the Main Building, and stared at Sho’s lifeless face, listened to his haggard breathing, and eventually began feeling his love’s clammy skin.
No matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, it was obvious that Sho was in bad shape.
And it was his fault.
Someone had come back to bandage his scratched and bruised hands and eventually, he wasn’t sure when it had started, tears began silently falling from his eyes. They continued as he tentatively touched the archer’s wet brow, pushing back his messy hair and running his fingers through it affectionately, trying to force a smile as he remembered that Sho liked it when he did that.
And he couldn’t stop crying, no matter how much he tried. It started getting harder and louder and soon he couldn’t even keep his eyes open any more. Nino leaned back on his heels and yelled into the sky, sobbing and swearing and tightly clenching his fists.
He rubbed the wetness on his face away, although it was immediately replaced with fresh tears, but at least he could make out Sho through the droplets obscuring his vision.
At his scene, a support ninja had come over, patting him gently on the back and trying to reassure him, but Nino simply pulled away and leaned over Sho’s immobile body, grasping tightly onto the older boy’s hand.
And that was when Ohno had been laid next to Sho.
Jun was patting his back now, trying to make him feel better, and Nino didn’t understand how Jun wasn’t in the same state he was in.
“He can’t die, he can’t die, Jun,” Nino mumbled, trying to repress his cries again. He was doing a little better, though. It felt like he had used up everything inside of him and his eyes were running dry, even though it did nothing to ease the blistering depression hiding underneath his skin.
“He’ll be okay, Nino. They’ll both be okay.”
Jun sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as his comrade.
+++
That night was a catastrophe.
Since most of the village was in ruins, pretty much everything but the Main Building, which had been far enough off that the ninja hadn’t made it there before being intercepted and chased off, the survivors who didn’t have a place to return to had been given accommodations in several of the rooms there.
The wounded had been moved into the medical wing, fitting five or more in each room, and the reception hall had been made a temporary addition, mostly because it was the biggest room in the building, was nearby, and easily converted to fit the needs of the support ninja.
Nino, Aiba and Jun had tried to force themselves in with Sho and Ohno, but there was simply no space for them and Jyani had given them a firm look and told them to get some rest in their own private quarters.
When Jun had seen Yamapi and Touma wandering around looking lost and just as haggard as the rest of the group, he offered them a place to sleep with them. He didn’t like the idea of a body filling the futon that belonged to Ohno, but it was apparent that sleeping room was sparse within the village as well as the Main Building.
Although they were all exhausted, Yamapi and Touma had briefly explained that the house they had been staying in with two other men had been burned in the raid and that they would have to start over tomorrow, either taking enough mission until they could hire someone to rebuilt it or do it themselves.
“I didn’t know you two were living together,” Jun casually said, not thinking straight through his exhaustion and frayed nerves to realize he was bringing up something that could be awkward.
“Yeah…” Touma looked at Yamashita out of the corner of his eye and the other ninja turned away, as if avoiding something. “Thanks for letting us stay in here,” he said instead of explaining anything else, changing the subject to dispel the uncomfortable aura that had settled around them.
The other three had all stared at him blankly, none of them really processing the remark.
Eventually they had all made it to bed, Aiba and Nino and Jun all snuggled together despite the two guests, but Jun found in the morning that Yamapi and Touma had slept together as well, and as they continued to do so for the next month as they tried to create a new home.
+++
The support ninja had first told Jun that Ohno would probably be okay and make a full recovery. He would just be scarred and it would take a while for him to regain the full use of his damaged arm, but he was looking well, if still unconscious from exhaustion.
And Sho, too, came back with a positive response. He’s made it this long, they had said. He can only get better.
Of course his recovery would be similar to what Nino had gone through years earlier: he would have to stay in bed for weeks, months maybe, and heal completely before he even thought about using his bow again.
But at just the prospect that Sho should be waking up within the week made Nino break down into grateful tears, although he had pulled himself together before he allowed Aiba or Jun to drag him back out into public.
Even though patients were filtering out as they recovered, the medics still stopped the three Arashi members from anything other than afternoon visits to the room that still housed Ohno and Sho, lying next to each other on the generic white futons.
Only a few days after the attack, before either of the older members of Arashi had awoken from their prolonged sleep, Jyani called for the other three.
They met in his private rooms, since all the rest of the ones they could have used were occupied, either housing homeless villagers or the ones that needed medical attention, and the rooms were by far smaller than the missions or reception hall.
But none of them were complaining.
In fact, the three ninja still seemed stunned and emotionless, and it would probably stay that way until Arashi was complete again.
“You did well,” was what Jyani started with, his usual praise for a job not botched. “Arashi did well,” he clarified after a second, acknowledging the fact that two of their members were missing.
He sighed and dropped his facade of a proud leader, and instead looked at the boy as if they were his dear friends and he needed a favor.
“As you know, the village is in pieces. You saved it, you really did,” he looked pointedly at Aiba, then to Nino seated next to him, and lastly at Jun, who was really feeling like he hadn’t helped at all. “Without you five fighting, we would have lost far more than what we did.”
Nino nodded detachedly, as if asking Jyani to get to the point.
“Usually I would pressure Satoshi with this sort of information, but he’s obviously not here right now,” Jyani explained. “So I’m going to be upfront and honest with you.
“The fate of our clan lies with you.
“More than a third of our working ninjas are dead, with another quarter of them injured past recovery.”
Jun almost gasped at those statistics, but realized that, aside from the five of them, there were only the men who lived in the Main Building that were really considered working ninjas. Ninja like Touma and Yamapi, who only took missions occasionally or ones that called for their specific skills, usually had other jobs as well, or were living with family, and therefore probably not taken into consideration in those numbers.
“But you, you are the next generation, the ones that will keep this village alive after we are dead. I must leave the task to you, to rebuild what has been destroyed and bring these people back together instead of letting them suffer alone.”
Eyes closing at this new burden suddenly dropped on his shoulders, Jun tried to relax, to tell himself that he wasn’t useless and that he could do something to help his home, even though he hadn’t been here that long.
Aiba swallowed nervously and Nino was looking at Jyani with eyes tinted in sadness.
The room was filled with silence, the heaviness of the conversation weighing down on all of its occupants.
Jyani gave them a chance to reply, to ask questions, to even rebel, but none of them did.
He cleared his throat, knowing that there was nothing more to be said on that topic.
“There is one more thing.”
Jun shot him a questioning look, as he was sure his comrades were doing.
“We were able to capture two of the enemy ninja. As far as we have discovered, they were hired by a rich lord, one that was the target of a mission of yours… most likely to get revenge.”
Adam’s apple bobbing in apprehension, Jun stared at Jyani, unable to open his mouth to ask the question he feared he already knew the answer to.
“Lord Matsumoto. It was the castle you rescued Jun from.”
+++
A/N: CLIFF HANGER THE SECOND
Another Wednesday update, but at least you didn't have to wait too long for the action, right? Although, I got worked up when I was posting this because of Sho. Also, this is probably the most violent chapter with Nino's rage, because although I've found that violence is a little surreal the write, I'm pretty squeamish about it in the end. =A=;
The typhoon is pretty bad tonight, especially in Tokyo (the trains stopped running). It'll be coming to my area soon, so hopefully it'll pass quickly!!
Rating: PG13 (mild violence, some sexuality)
Pairing: Jun/Ohno, Sho/Nino
Genre: action, AU
Chapter: twelve
Disclaimer: I guess Johnny’s technically owns Arashi, huh? Not me.
Summary: Ohno Satoshi is the student of a strong ninja lord who has lived his life following his teacher’s strict guidance. But what happens when he slowly learns he has to live for himself?
Part 1: Shinobu Ishi ( Chapter one, Chapter two, Chapter three, Chapter four, Chapter five, Chapter six, Chapter seven)
Part 2: Shinobu Kokoro Chapter eight, Chapter nine, Chapter ten, Chapter eleven
Ohno’s sword was haphazardly jostled around as he sprinted through the forest and towards the village, the smell of burning getting stronger with every step he took.
The only thoughts running through the ninja’s mind were of Jun and where he would be, trying to pass the morbid ideas of anything bad happening to the younger man.
He darted through the streets, even though he saw one collapsed house on his right and a group of unfamiliar ninja darting through the alley farther down. Part of his mind said to intercept them before they did any damage, but Jun’s name was taking up too much of his attention right now and he ignored them, opting for Nakai’s workshop, which was finally visible in his field of vision.
The door was torn open by Ohno and he called out, “Jun,” loudly, looking around the storage area of the hut. He darted to the back of the building, looking into the only other room, a tiny closet, but there was still no one in sight.
Jun wasn’t here.
Ohno turned back to the entrance, which had been wrecked by his own hand, his mind in a wild frenzy.
He had to find Jun.
Jun might be hurt.
As he started for the exit, Ohno was immediately pushed back as the troupe of unknown ninja he had seen earlier slid through the doorway, blocking him in the house with no other means of escape. There wasn’t even a window behind him, only shelves and shelves of miscellaneous items and costumes.
The three enemies came at him in formation, the one in the front with eyes sparking and obviously the leader of the small group. But Ohno wasn’t wearing any of the protective gear he usually would have been, instead covered in only his training clothes from the clearing. He hadn’t brought anything with him besides his sword, either, since he had left the grounds as fast as he could, not thinking straight or planning properly. His position was not good right now.
The swordsman blocked all three attacks, just barely, since his current opponents were better trained and lither than the usual soldier, and Ohno had to retreat a few steps as they came at him again.
His blade slid across the one belonging to the ninja with the shining gaze, nicking the exposed knuckles of his adversary, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the next fluid assault, and a burning sensation shot up his arm.
Backing up more, Ohno jumped a slice that was directed at his legs, and then tumbled into the shelves behind him, barely catching enough of his balance to keep the rain of sword attacks from completely destroying him. A few items fell around them, but they didn’t distract any of Ohno’s opponents and proved unhelpful for anything else, since the ninja didn’t know how to use them.
There was another stabbing pain across his shoulder when he didn’t parry an attack fast enough, and then another in his side, which he barely prevented from being a fatal hit.
He heard someone call out his name from the doorway, which was so far away from him, and one of the ninja assaulting him stumbled and collapsed onto the ground.
Another turned to face the intruder, but Ohno thrust his sword smoothly through his chest, even though it cost him an additional deep cut across his shoulder from the captain of the group.
A projectile flew across the room and the final ninja, the one that had caught Ohno’s attention, dodged it without any trouble. But it distracted his enemy just enough for Leader to slice his throat with a long swing of his sword, sending the man immediately to the ground. As he fell he stared straight into the swordmaster’s eyes, knowing that he had been bested in this battle even though they had outnumbered him.
Leader turned to the doorway and saw Jun standing there with a look of terror on his face, his arms and legs shaking as he stared across the room at him.
“Ohno…” he whispered in an unstable voice, taking a few unsteady steps into the house.
Leader swallowed and fell to his knees, feeling completely blank even though adrenaline was still pumping quickly in his veins.
Jun stumbled towards him and fell to his own knees in front of him, cupping Leader’s face in his hands, tears swelling in his eyes.
“Ohno, are you okay? Y-you’re bleeding…” Jun’s gaze went from the empty expression in front of him and down the ninja’s tattered clothing. “Everywhere…”
Ohno raised his bloodied hands and covered Jun’s, which were still plastered against his face. He blinked, trying to get a hold of himself, but all he could see was the boy in front of him.
Jun was okay.
As tears began falling down the younger boy’s face, Ohno moved his hands again to brush them away from his cheeks, although they left a bloody mess in their wake instead.
Jun was okay.
“Ohno, we have to get you to a support ninja,” he sobbed, leaning forward to press their foreheads together, but the older man still didn’t respond.
Jun was okay.
Suddenly another pair of enemy ninja was in the doorway and Ohno stiffened upon seeing them, immediately pushing Jun down to the floor and darting up and forward to protect him.
If the illusionist had thrown a knife earlier to kill his attacker, he had used his second as a distraction for the last.
That meant he had nothing left.
Before Jun could right himself to see what was going on, blades were clashing in front of him, Ohno’s strength restored now that it was needed it to protect Jun.
Knowing that his friend was safe and right behind him, Ohno’s head became level again and instead of the haphazard thrashing he’d been doing earlier, his movements became concise and accurate, and in only a few seconds both of his adversaries were on the floor, bleeding heavily against the unpolished wood.
“Jun, get your knives,” Ohno commanded, not looking back at the boy. The swordsman forced himself not to grasp his shoulder, where he could feel blood soaking up in his shirt, and clenched his jaw trying to hold back any other reactions. If Jun knew he had an injury like that, he’d force Leader to retreat when his help was still needed on the battlefield.
This surprise attack had to have been orchestrated by an outside source, since ninja were being used instead of soldiers, and the whole situation was dangerous. The village was supposed to be nestled in a strategic location, its whereabouts unknown by most of the outside world, and yet here were enemies crawling all around inside of it.
This hidden opponent that hadn’t even had the courage to face the group of ninjas head on was probably more dangerous than the men they had hired.
Ohno waited until Jun had joined him at his side, then turned to the slightly taller boy and gave him a serious expression.
“Stay close to me, Jun.”
He nodded in response, but Ohno’s face fell in a frown.
“Promise me.”
Jun swallowed, an upset look on his face, the tears from earlier barely drying along with the blood. “I promise I’ll stay close to you.”
“Good.”
Ohno lead the way to the exit, the rest of the words unspoken.
I’ll protect you.
+++
They had run the other group of ninja off after an hour of battle. The enemies had either lost enough of their men or had realized the difference in strength they were facing and abandoned their mission.
But the damage had been done. The village was in ruins, half of the houses completely burnt down, the rest broken enough that they would all need repairs, and there were at least fifteen casualties that had been accounted for, most of them civilians.
Ohno and Jun made their way back to the Main Building, where the survivors were gathering, either to be treated or help with the treating. Jun was only exhausted from their conflict, not a scratch on his beautiful body, and Ohno hadn’t gotten any more injuries other than what he had left Nakai’s house with.
But his footsteps were tinted in blood, and even though he tried to convince Jun that it was the enemies’ and not his own, the illusionist had turned their direction from checking the rest of the village and immediately to the Main Building to look for Aiba.
In the courtyard, there was a group of people either laying or sitting on clean white ground covers, while the uninjured residents had collected together farther off in the grass, towards the forest.
Jun immediately pulled Ohno to the white designated area, even though the older man was insisting that there were probably other people that needed Aiba’s attention more than him. As they got closer the figure of their friend became visible; he was kneeling in front of a man, wrapping a bandage around his arm, even though the red was already soaking through.
“Aiba!” Jun called out as the pair approached. The herbalist jerked his head around at the sound of the younger mans’ voice and looked up at the couple in relieved misery.
“Leader, Jun-kun, you’re okay!” he left the man to hold the bandage and threw himself at his two friends. “I was… so worried…” the tenderhearted ninja sobbed, tears streaking his face, as they apparently had been for a while.
“Aiba, you need to look at Leader,” Jun insisted before he could gurgle out any more thankful words.
Pulling back, Aiba stared down at Ohno with glazed eyes. His face was pale and, upon closer inspection, there were large beads of sweat dripping down his face and dark bags above his cheeks. He looked worse than if he had just been nervous, even if it had lasted all day, and Ohno worriedly wondered if there was something else the matter with him.
After blinking a few times, trying to focus his eyes, Aiba’s throat tensed up and he covered his mouth tightly with his hands.
“What’s wrong?” Leader asked immediately, grabbing onto his friend’s shoulder. “Aiba, what’s wrong?”
But the herbalist pulled himself violently out of Ohno’s grip and ran to the side of the Main Building, away from the group of people. Ohno and Jun watched, unable to offer any help, as the ninja began dry retching violently and then as, a moment later, a thin line of vomit dripped from his mouth.
“He was poisoned.”
The pair turned quickly as Shimura Ken shuffled up behind them, watching Aiba as he fell to his knees and was sick again.
“He was hit with a poison bomb when he went to check the general store to make sure everyone had escaped safely.”
Ohno swallowed at the explanation and Jun’s eyes were tearing up again.
“I’d say it was lucky it was Aiba-chan that was on the receiving end of that one. He produced an antidote on the spot once he was outside. If it was anyone else, they surely would have died,” the old man continued in a morbid tone, nodding. “You’re lucky to have such a skilled and kind boy in your group. He still fought, despite his condition, and he’s been helping me here for the last little while, even though that’s the state he’s in.”
Ken sighed, finally looking at the other two ninja straight on.
“Satoshi, you’re bleeding.”
“Where’s Nino? And Sho?” Ohno demanded in a quiet voice, continuing to stare at Aiba across from them.
The experienced herbalist swallowed at the serious response.
“Over there.”
He pointed to the patch of white linens that were resting closest to the Main Building, and Ohno’s heart fell.
Nino was crumbled over Sho’s body, which was laid out on the sheet, sobbing uncontrollably and grasping the unconscious archer’s chest while a support ninja tried to talk sense into him.
All of the energy Ohno had left abandoned him immediately and he collapsed onto the ground, jarring his knees and wrists against the hard surface.
It was delayed a second, but Jun tore his gaze away from the pair dislocated from them, and Ohno’s blank stare drifted down to the dirt a few feet in front of him.
He couldn’t move.
All of his friends were hurt…
His village, destroyed…
He had failed.
He had failed Aiba.
He had failed Sho.
He had failed Nino.
He had failed Jyani.
He had failed the entire village.
Everyone.
+++
Jun dove as Leader fell to the ground face first, barely catching him before the older man hit the densely packed earth.
The illusionist turned and cradled Ohno against his chest, then examined his own palm, which felt wet.
It was covered in blood.
Ohno had told him earlier that it was from the ninja Jun had killed, but there was no way this much blood had come from that encounter.
With the intention of tearing off Ohno’s clothes, the younger boy began laying him back on the earth, but Ken stopped him, suggesting they move him to the cleaner area first.
Jun held up Ohno’s arms while Ken carried his legs, and the two of them shuffled towards Nino and Sho, bile rising in Jun’s throat as they moved. Anger filled his head, at Ohno for lying to him, and at himself for believing him.
When he had first seen the cuts that were evident through Leader’s sliced clothes, he should have forced him to retreat to the Main Building. Instead, the two of them had rushed to the forge, saving the building from attack just in time and Jun had made his second perfect hit with his throwing knives that afternoon.
And here Ohno was dripping blood as they moved him.
They were finally able to gently lay him next to Sho in the space that was left. Ken immediately bent over Ohno and Jun began untying Leader’s shirt in order to remove it and examine the wounds he undoubtedly had more accurately.
Nino cried out as he recognized the new comers.
“Not Ohno, too… P-please…” the weapons master hiccupped, his face drenched.
Jun vowed he would find out what was wrong with Sho too, but first he had to know about Ohno, who had seemed perfectly capable up until a moment ago.
The bared chest revealed that Leader had a huge gash across his shoulder and down his bicep, a flap of skin hanging off to show the muscle underneath. This was the injury that the blood was pouring from, flowing all the way down his arm and making the skin slick with the dark red liquid.
“Let… me help…” Aiba had stumbled back to the group, his face soaked in sweat, and he was wiping his hands on a bloodied piece of cloth hanging off his waist. Turning to look back at the herbalist with a wary expression, Jun essentially knew that he could do nothing for Leader, and so he moved aside to let the expert in.
He watched Aiba and his mentor work for a few seconds before he was confident that Leader would be taken care of, and he uselessly turned back to Nino, who was letting out sobs again, his breath coming in violent gasps.
Jun crawled over next to him and touched him lightly on the back, trying to distract Nino from his situation as well as himself from his own.
The first thing he noticed was that Nino’s arms were both bandaged tightly, faint traces of blood on the back of his knuckles. He then looked down at Sho, who had been stripped of his shirt just like Ohno, and immediately spotted the treated wound around his chest, which was the biggest injury the unconscious archer was showing.
“What happened?” Jun asked in a lowered voice, afraid that Nino would simply burst out in sobs again. The older boy turned to him with blood-shot eyes and sniffed, wiping the back of his forearm across his face, trying to get rid of the salty water running down his cheeks and out of his nose.
He hiccupped again, and Jun pulled Nino against him, rubbing his back and trying to stop himself from losing control of his emotions too. Jun was lucky--he knew that Ohno was alright… for now, at least. He had no idea what condition Sho was in, though, and the archer’s swallow breathing revealed that it wasn’t good.
“He s-s-saved me,” Nino replied in a high pitched voice, unable to control his tone enough to get the words out steadily. Jun rubbed the back of his friend’s head firmly, messing his hair in the processes, trying his best to console him. “He-he…” the distraught boy tried to continue, but ended up stopping, attempting to gasp for breath.
“It’s okay, Nino…” Jun whispered drawing his head closer to his chest.
Taking a few deep lungfuls of air, the weapon master forced himself to calm down. He closed his eyes and pressed his tear stained face against Jun’s clothes, not caring that the proximity was stifling his breath.
He tried to tell himself that he couldn’t let Jun see him this way, that it would knock down all of the reputation equity he had built with the younger boy while helping him train.
But the tears wouldn’t stop.
In his head, the image of Sho’s horrified face, only a few feet away from him, replayed itself over and over, torturously slow, slower than the event could have ever taken place.
Sho had nothing to protect himself, only his quiver of arrows and his bow, which would be useless defenses against something like a sword, and a sword was exactly what all the enemy ninja were equipped with. He had been sniping, as usual, but just as they had made it into the village, already having taken out all the enemies in sight, Nino had been stopped by group of four ninja, all coming at him together.
It had been easy to dodge the first two, but they were trained back on him in a second.
The first came at him with his weapon, which Nino caught in the grip of one of his sais and broke it in half in one swift movement, but the adversary immediately discarded the broken item and pulled out a set of knives.
By the time he came back at Nino, one of the other men was dead, an arrow pierced precisely through his throat, and the weapons master had tried to evade the other two by nimbly kicking some of the rubble from a nearby house in their faces.
They had avoided it, though, and were coming straight at him once again. Nino knew the ninja with knives was circling around him to his side in order to get a clear shot of his target while his comrades took Nino head on, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. If he turned now, the ones with swords would break past his defenses, but if he didn’t, a knife would be buried in his side.
There was no time to form a strategy, since he was surrounded on both fronts, his sais at odds already with the swords. He turned to watch the knives bared in his direction, then saw Sho running at him from a few feet behind.
As he came closer he shot another arrow, but the man with the knives stopped his actions and ducked, barely avoiding it. The arrow hit one of the other ninja in the leg, but Nino couldn’t shake him off despite the disrupted attention, and the knives were regrouping immediately and headed near him again. The opponent was too close now for Sho to take another shot at, since he was only a few feet away by then.
Instead, and this was the part that was burned into Nino’s memory, Sho darted towards the group and intercepted the ninja before he got to Nino, his bow held out in front of him like a pole. He blocked an attack from one of the knives, the steel blade buried in the wooden handle of his bow, and saved Nino.
But the other one, he found out as the archer collapsed to the ground, had been thrust into Sho’s chest.
Nino cried out as he crumpled, but continued to fight automatically. He forced the two swordsmen back with a sudden surge of energy, and promptly arced his wrist to slam the handle of his sai into the temple of the ninja with the knives.
It was a fatal blow, since so much force had been put behind it, but Nino didn’t care. He lithely bent over and retrieved the knife that Sho had blocked a moment ago, now on the ground, and flicked it with his wrist, sending the blade right into one of the enemy’s ribs as the man raised his sword for another attack.
The ninja fell backwards onto the hard surface of the street, in the same state the archer was in, and Nino turned to the last opponent, his veins boiling in fury.
The man attacked, Nino blocked and caught the sword with his sai, bringing the other part of the pair down and breaking the sword, in what was quickly becoming his signature move.
The enemy went to drop the useless weapon, but before he had even done that much, Nino punched him, the metal of his weapon reinforcing the attack.
Upon impact, the jaw immediately shattered and the man was sent to the ground, but the weapons master wouldn’t let it stop there. He picked up the handled portion of the enemy’s broken blade and tucked his sais into his sash.
Without thinking, Nino jumped on the man with the broken jaw, forcing him to lay flat as he struggled to get back up. He dragged him by up by the collar of his shirt, pulling the material back enough to get a clear view of his neck.
Not hesitating, with only the image of Sho falling to the ground and the erratic breathing he could hear behind him, Nino placed the shortened blade on the man’s exposed throat and sliced it open.
He was covered in blood by the time he turned back to Sho, feeling completely stunned and unable to think properly.
Kneeling down, Nino turned the archer over gently, not caring if more opponents came and cut him down as he was.
“Ni…no,” Sho was still conscious and gasping in pain. He slowly reached up to touch the younger man’s face.
He tried to stay calm, but the knife was stuck completely up to the hilt, just barely below where Sho’s heart should be.
“Don’t move. Don’t move, Sho-chan,” Nino whispered under his breath, forcing the shaking hand back to rest on his chest.
He looked distractedly at the knife, then back to Sho’s pale face. Leaning down, the younger ninja pressed his lips against the curve of his partner’s mouth and closed his eyes, still trying to stay calm and keep his emotions contained.
But he felt numb… he felt like everything inside of him was going to come pouring out as Sho’s eyes fluttered closed.
“Don’t die, Sho-chan.”
“He’ll be okay, Nino,” Jun whispered against his head, and he hadn’t realized he had repeated the same plea out loud, the one that had been running through his mind since he had dragged Sho into the shelter of a half destroyed house and then went to find Aiba.
Aiba… thank God for Aiba.
Even though he had vomited twice while examining the archer and Nino was barely holding himself together, somehow he had gotten a makeshift bandage around Sho’s chest and the two Arashi members had moved him slowly towards the Main Building, where the wounded were already gathering, the air full of panic.
Nino had stared as Aiba began working again, but after a few seconds he knew he should go back to the village, to make sure everyone was alright and contribute what he could to the effort.
He swallowed and forced himself to leave his love to Aiba, knowing that the herbalist would try just as hard as Nino would to heal Sho if their skills had been the same.
As he fought, full of fury at the men who had done this to his precious friend, Nino didn’t hold back, but instead went out of his way to slaughter his enemies. The only life saved that day was by Jyani who called out to his subordinate as he worked, a bloodied, barely breathing enemy crushed underneath him, and asked if he could keep that one for questioning.
Nino had glared and immediately set off to find his next victim, leaving his lord to deal with the prisoner himself.
But by that time, most of the enemies had fled and Nino promptly turned and headed back to the cluster of villagers by the Main Building. He hadn’t seen Ohno or Jun during the battle, but Nino knew that Ohno was competent enough, even with protecting their little greenhorn, that he was only worried that Leader would push himself too hard and sleep for three days.
With lifeless eyes, Nino had walked, dazed, towards the spot that he and Aiba had left Sho at, which was now at the end of a long row of similar looking sheets. He sat down, his back to the Main Building, and stared at Sho’s lifeless face, listened to his haggard breathing, and eventually began feeling his love’s clammy skin.
No matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, it was obvious that Sho was in bad shape.
And it was his fault.
Someone had come back to bandage his scratched and bruised hands and eventually, he wasn’t sure when it had started, tears began silently falling from his eyes. They continued as he tentatively touched the archer’s wet brow, pushing back his messy hair and running his fingers through it affectionately, trying to force a smile as he remembered that Sho liked it when he did that.
And he couldn’t stop crying, no matter how much he tried. It started getting harder and louder and soon he couldn’t even keep his eyes open any more. Nino leaned back on his heels and yelled into the sky, sobbing and swearing and tightly clenching his fists.
He rubbed the wetness on his face away, although it was immediately replaced with fresh tears, but at least he could make out Sho through the droplets obscuring his vision.
At his scene, a support ninja had come over, patting him gently on the back and trying to reassure him, but Nino simply pulled away and leaned over Sho’s immobile body, grasping tightly onto the older boy’s hand.
And that was when Ohno had been laid next to Sho.
Jun was patting his back now, trying to make him feel better, and Nino didn’t understand how Jun wasn’t in the same state he was in.
“He can’t die, he can’t die, Jun,” Nino mumbled, trying to repress his cries again. He was doing a little better, though. It felt like he had used up everything inside of him and his eyes were running dry, even though it did nothing to ease the blistering depression hiding underneath his skin.
“He’ll be okay, Nino. They’ll both be okay.”
Jun sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as his comrade.
+++
That night was a catastrophe.
Since most of the village was in ruins, pretty much everything but the Main Building, which had been far enough off that the ninja hadn’t made it there before being intercepted and chased off, the survivors who didn’t have a place to return to had been given accommodations in several of the rooms there.
The wounded had been moved into the medical wing, fitting five or more in each room, and the reception hall had been made a temporary addition, mostly because it was the biggest room in the building, was nearby, and easily converted to fit the needs of the support ninja.
Nino, Aiba and Jun had tried to force themselves in with Sho and Ohno, but there was simply no space for them and Jyani had given them a firm look and told them to get some rest in their own private quarters.
When Jun had seen Yamapi and Touma wandering around looking lost and just as haggard as the rest of the group, he offered them a place to sleep with them. He didn’t like the idea of a body filling the futon that belonged to Ohno, but it was apparent that sleeping room was sparse within the village as well as the Main Building.
Although they were all exhausted, Yamapi and Touma had briefly explained that the house they had been staying in with two other men had been burned in the raid and that they would have to start over tomorrow, either taking enough mission until they could hire someone to rebuilt it or do it themselves.
“I didn’t know you two were living together,” Jun casually said, not thinking straight through his exhaustion and frayed nerves to realize he was bringing up something that could be awkward.
“Yeah…” Touma looked at Yamashita out of the corner of his eye and the other ninja turned away, as if avoiding something. “Thanks for letting us stay in here,” he said instead of explaining anything else, changing the subject to dispel the uncomfortable aura that had settled around them.
The other three had all stared at him blankly, none of them really processing the remark.
Eventually they had all made it to bed, Aiba and Nino and Jun all snuggled together despite the two guests, but Jun found in the morning that Yamapi and Touma had slept together as well, and as they continued to do so for the next month as they tried to create a new home.
+++
The support ninja had first told Jun that Ohno would probably be okay and make a full recovery. He would just be scarred and it would take a while for him to regain the full use of his damaged arm, but he was looking well, if still unconscious from exhaustion.
And Sho, too, came back with a positive response. He’s made it this long, they had said. He can only get better.
Of course his recovery would be similar to what Nino had gone through years earlier: he would have to stay in bed for weeks, months maybe, and heal completely before he even thought about using his bow again.
But at just the prospect that Sho should be waking up within the week made Nino break down into grateful tears, although he had pulled himself together before he allowed Aiba or Jun to drag him back out into public.
Even though patients were filtering out as they recovered, the medics still stopped the three Arashi members from anything other than afternoon visits to the room that still housed Ohno and Sho, lying next to each other on the generic white futons.
Only a few days after the attack, before either of the older members of Arashi had awoken from their prolonged sleep, Jyani called for the other three.
They met in his private rooms, since all the rest of the ones they could have used were occupied, either housing homeless villagers or the ones that needed medical attention, and the rooms were by far smaller than the missions or reception hall.
But none of them were complaining.
In fact, the three ninja still seemed stunned and emotionless, and it would probably stay that way until Arashi was complete again.
“You did well,” was what Jyani started with, his usual praise for a job not botched. “Arashi did well,” he clarified after a second, acknowledging the fact that two of their members were missing.
He sighed and dropped his facade of a proud leader, and instead looked at the boy as if they were his dear friends and he needed a favor.
“As you know, the village is in pieces. You saved it, you really did,” he looked pointedly at Aiba, then to Nino seated next to him, and lastly at Jun, who was really feeling like he hadn’t helped at all. “Without you five fighting, we would have lost far more than what we did.”
Nino nodded detachedly, as if asking Jyani to get to the point.
“Usually I would pressure Satoshi with this sort of information, but he’s obviously not here right now,” Jyani explained. “So I’m going to be upfront and honest with you.
“The fate of our clan lies with you.
“More than a third of our working ninjas are dead, with another quarter of them injured past recovery.”
Jun almost gasped at those statistics, but realized that, aside from the five of them, there were only the men who lived in the Main Building that were really considered working ninjas. Ninja like Touma and Yamapi, who only took missions occasionally or ones that called for their specific skills, usually had other jobs as well, or were living with family, and therefore probably not taken into consideration in those numbers.
“But you, you are the next generation, the ones that will keep this village alive after we are dead. I must leave the task to you, to rebuild what has been destroyed and bring these people back together instead of letting them suffer alone.”
Eyes closing at this new burden suddenly dropped on his shoulders, Jun tried to relax, to tell himself that he wasn’t useless and that he could do something to help his home, even though he hadn’t been here that long.
Aiba swallowed nervously and Nino was looking at Jyani with eyes tinted in sadness.
The room was filled with silence, the heaviness of the conversation weighing down on all of its occupants.
Jyani gave them a chance to reply, to ask questions, to even rebel, but none of them did.
He cleared his throat, knowing that there was nothing more to be said on that topic.
“There is one more thing.”
Jun shot him a questioning look, as he was sure his comrades were doing.
“We were able to capture two of the enemy ninja. As far as we have discovered, they were hired by a rich lord, one that was the target of a mission of yours… most likely to get revenge.”
Adam’s apple bobbing in apprehension, Jun stared at Jyani, unable to open his mouth to ask the question he feared he already knew the answer to.
“Lord Matsumoto. It was the castle you rescued Jun from.”
+++
A/N: CLIFF HANGER THE SECOND
Another Wednesday update, but at least you didn't have to wait too long for the action, right? Although, I got worked up when I was posting this because of Sho. Also, this is probably the most violent chapter with Nino's rage, because although I've found that violence is a little surreal the write, I'm pretty squeamish about it in the end. =A=;
The typhoon is pretty bad tonight, especially in Tokyo (the trains stopped running). It'll be coming to my area soon, so hopefully it'll pass quickly!!