Not Missing Yet [Solo Self Mod | S]

[Senju Shizuka]

Mission

“Hagiwara Naoko”, the paper said in bold letters. That was the target Shizuka was sent after. Sitting on a little bench nearby the Academy, she went over the instructions she had received, for about the third time. The mission had started five minutes ago and the first place to bolt to had been the Academy. If nothing else, Shizuka wanted to know exactly what the other Genin had taken and if there were those from her class who could tell something about this little criminal. That’s why, she made sure to remember some of the classmates’ names by heart. Crashing their first course would be interesting - she could bet that some of them would be overly excited to share their knowledge. Not because they wanted to rat out a former classmate, but because this was the only way of actually saving her from an inevitable death.

Having been one of the five Genin who’ve been dispatched to find their comrade, Shizuka knew that the others would look at Naoko’s home and family’s places as well. She had gotten the school.

The Senju entered the class with a little bow toward the teacher. It seemed that the latter knew where this interruption was coming from. “Good morning,” she said, rain slamming into the wide windows and undermining her words. The atmosphere in the class wasn’t much better. Gossip went around like fire. They all stared at her with worry, fear, and frowny faces. She suddenly felt uncomfortable. They weren’t that far apart in age.

“As some of yo-” she started out but never got far.

“Is she going to die?!” One of the girls wanted to know.

There was no laughter, no giggling. The question was a real one and it was supported by the act of standing up. From behind her desk the blue eyed student with long dark hair wanted to know if her former classmate would die. Perhaps it was a potential friend, or already a friend. Who knew?

“I certainly hope not, that’s why I’m here, I need more information about Hagiwara Naoko, if anyone can tell me why this might have happened, it could help me and the team to find her before something irreversible happens.”

.. silence

She let it sink in, eyes going from the one who had spoken so bluntly toward the others. Some shifted uncomfortably, others still stared at her. Some of their gazes seemed to go through and hit the blackboard hanging on the wall. Only the sound of the rain echoed across the classroom. Shizuka found her breathing being too loud, but knew it were only her nerves taunting her - nobody else would notice.

Awkwardly turning to see the teacher cross her arms in front of her chest while leaning against her desk, Shizuka felt powerless. This really wasn’t the way she had expected things to be. Of course, looking for someone who was hiding wouldn’t be easy, she hadn’t expected that, but for nobody to talk… She frowned. Lightning lit up the classroom in an unnatural bright light for a split of a second. Then the door slid open with a bang.

* * *​

[525/2.000]

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Soaked, out of breath and with hair looking like its been electrified a couple of times, the young guy in the door opening gestured for Shizuka to come closer. “I.. I might.. have an idea..” he stammered, gasping for air once again. He wasn’t one of the Genin who’ve been dispatched less than thirty minutes ago to go look for Naoko. So, who the hell was he? And what on earth was he talking about if not about the mission?

With slightly narrowing eyes Shizuka did as he wanted her to. Cat-like eyes studied him cautiously, but when the teacher decided to speak up, Shizuka felt the tension leave her body. “Takeshi-kun, what on earth is going on? What happened to you?”

The woman rushed by, giving Shizuka a nod before taking care of her student. He wasn’t wounded, but somehow he was drained. Whether it was from running or fighting couldn’t be told from a quick glance. His form collapsed on what would have been the floor if the older kunoichi hadn’t been quick to catch him.

“Naoko.. I don’t- I don’t think she did it because she wanted it to,” he paused, but Shizuka wished that he hadn’t. Stepping closer her eyes flashed. It wasn’t a dangerous glow they got, it was an excited one. This was the type of information she needed, well, at least if it was real information.

Her movement seemed to encourage him to talk. It really looked like he wanted to help, though, that didn’t explain his state. Perhaps he would, later. “they took her little brother, I think, think that’s why she stole things..”

“Who? Who took her brother?” She had a little brother? “And what happened to you?” How do you know all of this? - She wanted to ask more things, push more, but didn’t want to come across as aggressive. Another thing she didn’t want was for him to pass out. The last thing seemed very probably by the way his eyes lost their focus now and then.

“Hey, stay with me.” This wasn’t the time to pass out. In fact, she wouldn't allow him to. Hence, without thinking twice, Shizuka formed the seals necessary for the chakra transfer she had in mind. Connecting to his energy she allowed hers to steadily flow into his rather dried up pool of chakra. Amazed at how low it was she felt a little surprised that he had managed to talk before passing out. This guy was a tenacious one! She was impressed. Not that it mattered, all that did was him opening his eyes once again.

“Ask her.. she’s under the old bridge, the one leading to the old geezer, you-” She knew, hence she interrupted him. “The only passage, up the hill, right?” This got her a nod. Then she was right; once she and Shiori had gone there. Their little adventure had ended up with the older girl half-carrying her home. The memories were fond ones, but she had no time for them. In case that Naoko was truly there, she had to go to the bridge immediately.

“You,” Shizuka pointed at the student who was the nearest. “please get the medical squad.” Then, with a nod toward the teacher, whose gaze was one of approval, she disappeared out of the room and into the pouring rain.

* * *​

[1.083/2.000]

 

[Senju Shizuka]

The road to the bridge wasn’t long and with the aid of shortcuts Shizuka arrived there only a couple of minutes later. Drenched, slightly ruffled and quite worked up about the possibility of meeting Naoko here, she dashed across the wooden structure just to find herself being thrown off balance. Wind jutsu!, went through her head as she was about to tumble from the bridge but didn’t because of a quick Water Whip turning into wood and holding her weight. She jumped from it, eyes traveling across the area to find where the attack had come from. Unable to pinpoint the location fast enough, she fell backwards into the depth of the canyon when the next shot of pressured air hit her fully in the chest.

Minutes went by with only the sound of rain and bursts of wind interrupting the cracking of the wooden bridge. Having found out the girl’s hide-out, Shizuka was now looking for a way of how to get there. She didn’t want to damage the structure, didn’t want to injure Naoko before they could speak, and didn’t want to end up at the bottom of the cliff either. This was such a hassle, she thought while chewing on her the inside of her cheek. Eventually, after thinking through a couple of scenarios, she decided to roll with something she was the most familiar with - wood.

Riding a top of a stream that quickly turned into a mass of wood, she practically catapulted herself toward the little platform near the belly of the structure. Of course Naoko was aware of her presence. The incoming wind was way stronger now, giving the young Senju bruises left and right. When she was about to land onto the platform a violent explosion of wind seemingly in every direction cracked the wood she stood on and blew her back toward an early death. At least, would have if it wasn’t for the wooden clone being the one to say goodbye to the world.

From beneath the platform the real Shizuka crawled - a lazy grin briefly marking the corners of her lips. She had been faster to jump from the other side of the wave, then climbed a part while Naoko’s attention had been on the obvious attack.

“Hey th-” the words were met with a punch, one Shizuka was able to block. Taijutsu wasn’t her thing, and with this one being a fellow Genin, well, she didn’t feel quite comfortable being this close to an enemy she didn’t know.

“Talk to me!” the shuriken came out as an answer to the dagger the other girl held. No words came, only strikes. A couple of them scratches her here and there - those cuts would heal soon, she was sure of that, but anything worse might form a problem.

“Your brother!” she tried again, but was met with a violent slash of wind. It almost went straight through her - kind of did and broke some wooden beams in the background - because instead of Shizuka there was a cloud of shuriken heading for Naoko. With there being very little distance between the two, she got hit by more than a few of them. Two prevented her from using her arm because it was pinned to the wood of the bridge. This was Shizuka’s opportunity to trap her entirely.

Quickly wood formed to envelop Naoko’s bleeding body. She wasn’t too badly hurt, so doing this wouldn’t kill her. What it would do, however, was prevent her from moving her hands or feet. At least Shizuka counted on that to happen.

“Alright, clearly you don’t want to talk about what the hell is going on, but you don’t have an option left, not really. If this is actually about your brother, as I’ve heard it, then let us handle it and turn yourself in.” Unsure if this got the point across, she pressured the matter. “If you don’t, you’ll die. What will become of him then? You think that sacrificing yourself will help him out? I’m not sure who got him, but I doubt they’ll care whether or not he’s taken care of. In fact, it might be easier to kill the kid so there would be no witn-”

“Shut up!”

Blinking, Shizuka felt happy that the girl wasn’t mute. Even if she wasn’t friendly, this was a start. “I’m willing to listen, if you speak up now, otherwise you’ll have to convince my superiors yourself.”

Unsure what they were doing, staring at each other like that, Shizuka refused to look away. Perhaps this was a way of measuring each other’s will. Perhaps not. Maybe Naoko was simply considering the words coming from a fellow Genin. Or.. she was planning an escape and Shizuka would be scolded for not having signalled their location right away if Naoko would get away.

Can’t have her get away then.. - She got to that when the other one cracked. If this was what interrogation was like then surely being with the village’s police and special forces was nice. Well paid, easy work. As if, the sarcastic tone in the back of her mind reminded her about the reality.

“They’ll kill me if they know I’ve told.. no, they’ll.. they’ll kill him first. Or.. or worse, they’ll catch me and have me watch him die and then the-.”

“Woah, woah, wait. Calm down. Who’s ‘they’?” The rambling went on, but not in the way she liked it. Somehow this girl was terrified of whoever had gotten to her. Oddly enough she was a genin, so.. unless it was someone above them there shouldn’t be so much fear. Surely they could protect her little brother and bring him back safely if not entirely uninjured. So.. what was the catch?

“You know what, I have an idea.. though, you’ll have to get a bit dirty for that.” Shizuka flashed Naoko a smile before putting the shuriken back into her pouch. After letting the wood crack open, she hit the other genin square in the face. The hit was hard enough for blood to spill over the platform they stood on. Two confused eyes looked up toward her - she wasn’t sure if it was fear or anger. There was no time for either, so the Senju offered a short explanation.

“You’ll have to look dead when I bring you to the hospital..”

* * *​

[2.149/2.000] Finished