Tayuya's Story - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Fallen

Tayuya opened her still weary eyes, and blinked a few times, before stretching and sitting up. She opened her tent door slightly, and peered out into the early morning. She could tell it was early, but had no desire to return to sleep. She reckoned she had a couple of hours until Oshime got up, so she closed her tent door, and laid back onto her sleeping bag. Staring at the ceiling of the tent, she found herself once again getting lost in her own thoughts.

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Tayuya hobbled forward, only partially sure she was going the way her teammates should have been. As she made her way forward, she saw some type of white structure. She made her way towards it, not sure what it was she was seeing. Tayuya gasped as she entered the clearing in forest. She stared at the tall, white structures protruding from the ground, knowing instantly that they were the bones of her teammate, Kimimaro.

“Kimimaro?,” Tayuya said out loud, “What the hell was he doing here, as sick as he is?”

Tayuya hobbled up to the bone formation, and worked her way around it, and through the spaces between them when possible, but found no sign of her teammate. Tayuya leaned against one of the structures, and eased herself into a sitting position, wincing at the slight pains across her body. Pondering what could have happened, she sighed, and looked at the bone structures. As she looked above her, she gasped in shock at what she saw. There was her teammate, sticking out of the top of a bone spire, a vacant look on his lifeless face, unmoving. His body was still in its second state of cursed seal, and his left arm was covered in his bone spiral technique still. Tayuya stared at her dead teammate for a few minutes, realizing that his sickness must have been what ended him, despite the observation that he appeared to be in the middle of a battle at the time.

“Well, that’s the idiot gets for leaving the compound,” Tayuya stated, “He should have known he was too sick to be of use to Lord Orochimaru”

Tayuya summoned her strength, and pulled herself back up, making sure not to put weight on her bad leg. Taking one last look at her fallen comrade, she began limping from her location. She made her way forward for a bit, before deciding follow the small river down the gorge, knowing Sakon and Ukon had fallen down there during their skirmish with that feral brat and his mongrel. As she made her way, she felt the terrain change, becoming more rock-covered and jagged. Careful not to lose her balance, she managed to continue forward, looking for any signs of her conjoined teammates. The first thing she noticed was a trail of blood splatterings leading away from the river. She followed the path, not sure what she was expecting to find at the end of the trail. What she did find was nothing she was currently prepared for. She stared at the bloody body of her two teammates, each head with a mix of rage and surprise on their faces, lying in a puddle of their own blood. It looked like they had been stabbed multiple times, from various angles.

“Them, too?” Tayuya asked, starting to feel alone, “Those dumbasses probably got overconfident again.”

Tayuya sighed, and began trekking away from the bloodied corpse of her combined teammates, trying to find a way out of the canyon, hoping to find Kidomaru or Jiroubo still alive.

“With my luck, it’ll just be me and Lardass…”, Tayuya grumbled, continuing on.

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“Hey Tayuya, you awake yet?” Oshime said gently, outside of Tayuya’s tent.

“Yeah, I’m awake,” Tayuya replied, stretching her legs under her sleeping bag.

“Ok, meet me out here when you’re done changing,” Oshime said, “Umm, if you need to that is.”

“Yeah, yeah” Tayuya grumbled, knowing that she did indeed need to.

Oshime sat by the sealed chest, hearing the sounds she’d come to correlate with Tayuya. After a few minutes, Tayuya emerged from her tent, wearing a light green T-shirt, and a pair of baggy, black sweatpants. Tayuya said nothing as she walked over to the chest, and performed the necessary handsigns to release the sealing jutsu on it. Oshime opened the latch, and quickly grabbed her sword, followed by her Akatsuki cloak. Tayuya scooped her cloak and flute out the chest, and first placed her flute in its holster on her belt. She stared at her cloak, not wanting to put it on in the already humid and warm air. Sighing, she slipped it over her outfit, noticing that Oshime had already done the same.

“Ok, let’s go,” Oshime said, collecting her supplies into her pack. Tayuya did the same, folding her tent up awkwardly, and shoving it into its holder incorrectly.

“Nice job…” Oshime said sarcastically, “And you wonder why your last tent broke…”

“Shut it,” Tayuya growled, walking onto the path, “What’s the name of this village, again?”

“Ugh, what CAN you remember?” Oshime replied, shaking her head, “The village is Kagegakure, the Village Hidden in the Shadows. It’s located in the middle of a tall mountain range, so they say they’re protected by the shadows of the mountains.”

“Huh, well, you’d think they’d call themselves the Village Hidden in the Mountains, or something,” Tayuya said.

“Well, they’re not called that, so try to act nice when we meet the Kage of the village, ok?” Oshime pleaded, “I don’t want your foul attitude to ruin this heist.”

“Ugh, shut your trap,” Tayuya demanded, “Wait, I thought only the five main villages had a Kage?”

“Official Kages, yes,” Oshime replied, “But many smaller villages call their leaders “Kage” in order to boost the moral of their people.”

“So, this village calls its leader the Kagekage, I assume?” Tayuya said, shaking her head. “This’ll be the easiest heist we’ve ever done”

Oshime just shook her head, not saying anything. The two continued their forward progress, Tayuya noticing an odd look on her partner’s face, but deciding not to mention it.

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Tayuya had finally found her way out of the gorge, and continued at her sluggish pace through the forest. She recognized a few remnants of the traps she had set for their pursuers just the other day, and knew she was going the right direction. She continued looking around for any signs of her other two teammates, and eventually found an area of trees with had fist-sized holes in them, along with a fabric-like material spread across the forest floor. Knowing this to be the work of Kidomaru, she looked around, noticing more webbing in every direction. She sighed, and walked around the area, until she saw a figure lying on the ground in the distance. Stumbling over to it, she saw the body of Kidomaru lying motionless on the ground. Noticing he only had a few nicks and scratches on his body, Tayuya grimaced, and painfully bent over to check for signs of life.

“Nope,” She sighed, “Dead like the others.”

Tayuya shook her head, and began hobbling away from Kidomaru, only somewhat sure she was headed in Jiroubo’s direction. As she walked on, she looked at the six-armed shinobi one last time before shaking her head.

“How could a bunch of shit-faced genin decimate us like this?” Tayuya yelled to no one in particular.

Tayuya no longer expected Jiroubo to be alive, seeing as he was the weakest of their team. Despite this, she continued her slow pace towards the place she thought he was. Before getting too far from Kidomaru’s location, she felt a warm sensation spreading across her legs. She was confused at the cause, as her pants had dried awhile ago. She looked down to see the wetness spreading down almost to the edge of her pants before coming to a stop. She looked around for a water source, but was unsurprised to find one.

“Did I just…?” Tayuya asked herself, the faint smell of urine answering her question before she could ask it.

Tayuya yelled a few profanities, and had to stop herself before she stomped on the ground with her bad leg. She realized the internal damage to her abdomen must have been pretty severe, having rendered her temporarily incontinent, or at least she hoped it was only temporary. She released a few more profanities, and continued going forward.

After twenty or so minutes, Tayuya found herself in a clearing, much smaller than the one Kimimaro had met his end in, with a small crater in the center. Hobbling over to center, she saw the body of Jiroubo lying in the center. His chest looked like it had been caved in by whatever had formed this impact crater. Despite expecting to find him dead, finding Jiroubo made Tayuya feel the worse. It’s not that she cared more about him than the others, quite the opposite in fact, but seeing the last of her teammates dead made her feel alone for the first time in her life, despite fending for herself since the age of seven. Tayuya veered to the left, unsure of where she was heading, but knowing she would not return alone to Lord Orochimaru, lest she wind up the same as the rest of her team. She shed nary a tear for her comrades, as shinobi were trained to never show their emotions, lest they show weakness.

Tayuya continued for hours, hungrier and thirstier than she had ever thought it possible to be, and her pants incredibly uncomfortable as the urine dried. Just as she thought she didn’t have the strength to continue any further, a snapping sound penetrated her ears, as the branch she had been using as a crutch broke, sending the kunoichi tumbling to the ground. Pain tore through her as she hit her leg and other other injuries against the rough ground. Not even having the strength to swear, Tayuya found a single thought in her mind, as she blacked out: “Fuck.”

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Tayuya snapped back to reality as she almost tripped on a pebble protruding from the ground, swearing at it as if it would respond.

“Nice going, Tayuya,” Oshime said, “You were almost beaten by a rock…”

“Screw you, shit-face,” Tayuya responded, “A damn fly could kick your ass.”

Oshime gave her a mean look, but then looked back at the path ahead, pulling a small container out of her pack. She opened it, and began munching on the food inside.

“Want some pretzels?” Oshime asked, holding out the container.

“No thanks,” Tayuya responded, not even glancing over at her partner.

Oshime brought the container back close to her, and continued snacking, finishing the whole thing quickly. Tayuya stopped suddenly, causing Oshime to stop and look at her. Tayuya did not need to say a word, as Oshime nodded. Tayuya walked into the trees with her pack, and emerged a few minutes later, blushing as she usually did in the situation. Saying nothing, both girls began walking again, getting closer to their destination.