Chapter 2: Chapter Two: Capture... Again.
Raio's heart lept to his throat, and everything– just for a moment– slowed down tremendously.
This ninja, this unfamiliar enemy, this threat looming over him, looking down at Raio with a glowing eye. His left hand performed a set of seals while cackling electricity engulfed his raised right.
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨? Raio had never faced such intense dread.
This man was going to kill him.
The enemy murmured, low and rough, as the lightning built to an overwhelming climax. The smell of burnt wood soured the sweet blood in the air as bolts of lightning drilled into the walls and ceiling as collateral. "... Lightning Cutter…"
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵.
He moved before he could adequately think. Raio's whole body fell to a crouch, leaning forward so that his fingertips could grace the floor of the caravan he found himself in. With incredible agility, his tail lashed, the needle point at its tip careening into the shinobi's seal-performing hand.
Even though Raio was weak and his physical prowess was in a terrible decline, he was still fast. The ninja was forced on the defense, moving back in another blur, the lightning in his hand hissing as it dissipated into pure chakra.
The energy, such powerful energy crashed into Raio like a rippling tide. It washed over him harmlessly– but the idea that he was so tantalizingly close to someone so strong…
His mouth began to water. Blood was dripping from the enemy shinobi's wounds, some that Raio was now just taking in. Over his arms, tearing holes and rips into his clothes, blood matted the fabric to his skin. The silver hair he had fluffed over his face was slightly wet with sweat and blood, a river of crimson running down his hairline and the side of his face.
No. No. The caravan spun around him as he stumbled. No, he told himself. Not again. Not again. This wasn't supposed to be normal.
𝘐𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘒𝘢𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘥?
Raio bit down on his tongue. Sharp, quick. A gesture that only succeeded in filling his watering mouth with the thick ichor of blood. This wasn't supposed to be normal.
Raio was filled with the craze of a rabid dog, one who had been starved and chained all his life. He pressed his hands flush against the floor, curving his back like a hissing cat.
There were so many fresh wounds marred into the shinobi's flesh. Light burns, oozing flesh, and blood fizzling over like a faucet. Raio's only thought was filling his aching stomach. It repeated in his mind like a mantra, thrumming through his whole body in such solid certainty.
The two were at a standstill. No doubt he could see the craze in Raio's eyes. The way his chakra was pooling to his legs to prepare for a preemptive strike. The man was quiet as he sized him up. Glancing at his tail, at his inhuman features. If Raio paid enough attention, he could see something like…
What was it…
In his wrinkly brain, he still couldn't quite place it. Emotions were foreign, and something he struggled against– but the conflict on the man's face was palpable. So they stood at a stalemate. His legs itched, and his muscles tensed under his skin, but waiting to counter an attack and seize the opening was the smarter move.
In his peripheral, Raio could see the chakra signatures of the three figures outside beginning to move.
Wait. Fuck. Fuck!
He only had so much time to get a bite in, to attempt to procure an appetizer. Seconds. Less than seconds before his group would get inside the caravan. This was no time for morals.
How much longer was he going to be starved? Was he going to be chained and beaten?
Raio shot forward, putting intense pressure on his legs. From the build-up of chakra, his claws had dug into the wood of the caravan to help get a grip to tear forward. Wood splintered in a choppy cloud, deep cracks traveling up the walls and nearly ripping the little wagon apart.
He bore his teeth, sharp and serrated. He could almost taste it— the rich metal on his tongue, so smooth and warm– blood that wasn't his.
The little mutant was fast, but his opponent proved to be much faster. Before Raio could adjust midair he was slammed into the wall of the caravan, a gloved hand around his sore throat and a foot pressing the point of his tail into the wood. Raio screamed in response, an unholy and desperate cry, as his taloned hands tried to lash and claw at the shinobi in front of him.
𝘜𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴.
Before any hits could land, the shinobi had his other hand pressed into the area just below his sternum, where his ribs parted. So much chakra had gathered in his palm in an instant, it stole Raio's breath from him.
𝘈𝘩𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘵?
Raio wanted to chide himself, to act rationally, to plead himself out of the situation. But God, the blood slicking his opponent's face was just right there, and he was so hungry. So hungry.
As if reading his thoughts, the shinobi squeezed Raio's throat with an insurmountable force. He wheezed in response. Everything was going spotting, dizzying, and it pissed him off beyond belief.
𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘥? 𝘉𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢?
Maybe it was the lack of air, the crushing force constricting his throat, the frustration of it all, but tears sprung to Raio's eyes so hot they hurt. It was nothing new. The shinobi regarded him, and his expression hadn't changed. Raio's lips parted, wheezing, gasping, a forceful whimper, "Let me go! Let me go!"
He was able to strain his voice loud enough, scarce enough, to cry out in a rasp. That terrible cry grated over his ears. Desperate, meek. But wasn't he so familiar with being at the mercy of others? The ninja's silver hair and masked face bled into the visage of someone else.
"I don't want to die!" Raio screeched before the ninja could squeeze any harder, and his hands weakly went to the man's wrist. "I don't want to die! Fuck, let go! Let me go!"
His entourage had made it inside the ruins of the caravan.
"Kakashi!" A strong, commanding voice barked. In Raio's spotted vision, blurring and spinning, he could see a broad-shouldered man put a hand on his assailant's shoulder. He was about to move him, shake him, this Kakashi, but his eyes turned to Raio and he paused.
𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴.
Raio cynically thought, wheezing, his chest starting to rattle with the shallow breathing he had been forced to endure. A monster Raio was. A freak of nature. A lab experiment in his father's care, his plaything. Squeezing his eyes shut, the tears that had pooled in his eyes spilled over with a choke.
Except, Kakashi's grip on his throat most assuredly loosened. Raio gasped in deep and greedy breaths for hair, his chest heaving. He allowed himself the hope of opening his eyes to watch.
His new ally, the one in the jumpsuit, was firmly grabbing Kakashi's shoulder and pulling him back. His thick brows were kitted together, his mouth pulled into a determined grimace.
"Kakashi," He firmly said again, "You're about to kill a kid. He can't be more than ten! Let him go."
Though Raio could breathe, his eyes still stung and his throat throbbed and burned from Kakashi's violent handling. Now that all four of the shinobi were here, so close to him, fighting his way out was an option long forgotten. Not even for a chance of food.
There was an impulse, something instinctive in Raio, to squirm completely out of Kakashi's grasp and bolt away. But how many times had that instinct been beaten down, again and again? So he would leave his fate in their calloused, adult hands. Nothing he could do.
"This is one of Orochimaru's experiments," Kakashi said coolly, and Raio's blood went cold. 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳? Briefly, a panic shot through him. His mind started to run away from him, piecing things together in small jigsaw pieces. "We don't know what it's capable of. I have a history of dealing with his projects."
So these shinobi of an unfamiliar village– as they all brandished the same little swirled signature on their headband protectors, caught wind of Raio's father moving his… his things to a new location, probably a new lab, and stopped it midway. Now everyone was dead except him.
A third spoke to the two shinobi, a woman with fair skin and wild black hair. Her eyes were quite pretty, being almost the same red as Kakashi's one, though had a darker ring within them. While the three men were crusty with blood and grime, she only had a light scratch on her cheek. 𝘚𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵, Raio thought.
"You're being too harsh," She chided, her voice honeyed and quiet. She took a step closer to Raio, who instinctively tensed, and lifted her hand. The other shinobi watched warily. They were testing him. Raio had no choice but to grit his teeth, the sharp points digging into the inside of his lips, as her warm fingers pressed against his forehead. "Sleep, why don't you?"
His eyelids fell, too heavy to fight, and Raio wanted to scream. 𝘖𝘩𝘩, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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