Chapter 3: The Mission
1502 Words
Seven's tongue gaze across her lips when the visual images of their feared faces from yesterday were the reason why she slept soundly in her room. The reason why she was so smug. She found it nearly impossible to stop the cheeky grinning yesterday, but it has been so long since she would have witnessed the distress, the worry, the anxiety, the way they tried to hard to suppress the urge to run, the way they trembled when she merely glanced at them.
She missed being a ghoul. Being the way she was raised to be, and now here she was coexisting with humans for protection. She went as low as to turn to humans just to exist any further. The rock her leg had come into contact with fell before the sound hit her ears, she kept thinking about the way they reacted and she couldn't help it.
Naruto was silent, too scared to speak once the Sensei explains just exactly what sort of sustenance she had to consume, and how she had to get it.
Sasuke trembled, his lips trembled, his entire body trembled like she was about to react based on a flight or fight instinct. It was almost as if he had to hold himself back because he knew just how terribly horrifying the consequences may be.
Sakura was probably the most frightened one in the group, she couldn't keep her eyes off Seven for the love of Lord Hokage, even if her life depended on Seven. It was like Sakura was waiting for the ghoul to make a move like she was waiting for an opportunity like she knew Seven was gonna strike. She was so on guard Seven found it adorable, and she knew for a fact her heart was basically hammering in her chest because you could hear it.
A sigh escaped her nose almost lovingly at the memory. Once she finally reached her destination, her eyes landed on the reasons she felt so smug that day, and she didn't even bother to hide that grin. She stood behind Naruto, the mischievous idea to pull a small, harmless prank on him danced around her mind. She brought her index finger to her lips, gesturing for the two wide-eyed teens to keep their trap shut, and they did. Much to her amusement.
"What?" Naruto inquired absentmindedly, she leaned up to his ear and...
"Boo!" she exclaimed, sending Naruto leaping forward and embarrassingly, standing behind Sasuke before he spun on his heel, in a Kung Fu stance. The giggles escaping from her throat was something Sasuke and Sakura would've easily laughed at, in a situation where Naruto was hiding behind Sasuke for protection, something both of them would've died from laughter, but they couldn't bring themselves to laugh, the fear practically ate them whole. Oh, the irony. Seven sweat-dropped eternally at how stiff they were under her presence. Her hand snaked up to her neck, rubbing it in slight irritation. "Jeez, I get it that you guys are scared of me and all, but you do realize the Hokage let me stay here because I'm a nice ghoul. You were aware of that, right? Even an i***t would be able to figure that out!"
Yes, she misses being feared. What she missed even more though, were friends. She missed when people laughed along with her good jokes, or even more so at her lame ones. She missed the playful sarcastic insults the two would spew at each other and instead of getting triggered, she would laugh it off. She missed the love she used to receive. Though, that was a lot to ask of a human. Most of her friends were ghouls, after all, people who didn't fear her for simply because born this way. Sakura just mindlessly bobbed her head up and down like she understood what Seven was saying, Sasuke just stood there, narrowed eyes gingerly following Seven's movement and flinched at the slightest sign of a possible threat. Meanwhile, Naruto almost seemed curious about Seven, his eyes were wide like a child's first time seeing something.
"Seven, would you ever eat me?"
Seven snorted before bursting into laughter, her stomach was beginning to hurt, her hand instinctively put pressure on her stomach in an attempt to calm herself down. Even her posture was hunched forward.
"Of course not you i***t!" Seven exclaimed, calming down to just a mere giggle, "Why would I ruin my chance of this?! For f**k's sakes Naruto! I'm getting protection, I get fed every single f*****g day, I even get a free home I could do anything with! I can do nearly anything I pleased here without the fear of getting hunted down by ninjas because the ninjas are the one protecting me! And all they ask in exchange is that I protect their shitty little village." She watched Naruto's expression become even more baffled. In fact, everyone seemed completely and utterly drowned in a state of bewilderment.
"But-"
"Shut up." She demanded, and he quickly snapped his mouth shut, almost like scared cats, it was like his fur was even sticking up. She rolled her eyes, "If you need me, I'll be in the forest. Training."
"Good morning." the Sensei greeted, only to have two pairs of fingers pointing at him accusingly.
"Hey! You're late!" the two exclaimed, as Sasuke merely shot him a glare.
"Well, a black cat crossed my path, you see. So, I had to take a long way." he attempted, but the disbelief on his student's faces was enough for him to stop even trying, "Ahem! Oh well... let's get started and the ghoul?"
"Umm... Ri... Right behind you, Sensei." Sakura warned, using Sasuke as a shield to protect herself from the ghoul.
"Oh..." the Jounin tried his best to suppress the shiver that threatened to crawl up and down his spine, he couldn't believe he let himself get distracted, not to mention giving her enough time to stand right behind him. A cannibal none the less.
"Yo." she greeted, calming him down at the informal greeting, he quickly walked over to the timer, like he didn't want to be around her anymore so than he already had to, "Oh stop being such p*****s, I promise on life I won't eat you, idiots," Seven declare, narrowing her eyes at the proclaimed 'Ninjas'.
"Okay, it's set for 12:00!" the Jounin changed the subject, with a push of his hand, the beeping of the alarm clock drawing their attention off the ghoul, well kind of. They're still on full alert around that one. "Today's assignment is to take these bells away from me by noon."
"That's it?" She inquired softly to herself, surely it can't be that hard. Simply get someone else to distract him, meanwhile, two could easily attack from behind, and one could be on the lookout. Simple.
"Those who can't do it won't get lunch. They'll be tied to that..." he pointed to the tall tree stumps, "and I'll eat my lunch before your very eyes." The rest of the squad's stomach growled in protest, though she still kept her composure, let's just say she kind of ignored his orders. Besides she was a ghoul, she could go days without eating, though feeding helped her to perform her best today.
"But hold on, there are only two bells and there's four of us!" Sakura inquired.
"There are only two, so at the very least, one will have to go to the logs. That person will be disqualified for failing the mission." he shot them a closed-eyed grin, judging from the movement of the mask, she'd assume so, "and will return to the Academy. It might be one person at the very least, or it could be all three of you. You can use your Shuriken. You won't be able to take the bells unless you come with the full intent to kill me."
"You sure that's a good thing to state around a ghoul, Sensei?" Seven grinned at his sweat-drop, growing stiff under your gaze as he shook his head.
"Except for you Seven, you are forbidden from using your tentacle thingy for this task."
"It's called a Kagune, and that 'tentacle thingy' is a Rinkaku."
"But that's dangerous, sir!"
"Y-Yeah, that's right. You couldn't even evade a chalkboard eraser!" Naruto stated cheekily.
"In this world, those who aren't skilled enough tend to complain more. Well, just ignore the loser." Sensei shocked you with the utter savage-like words spewing out of his mouth.
"Oooh," she provoked, causing the tension to grow even thicker between the two.
"Begin when I give the "ready-go" signal." at that, Naruto already began to take out his Kunai, twirling it skillfully around his fingers, though her hand reached out to hold onto his, causing to him gulp down a big chunk of saliva in fear.
"He didn't give the "ready-go" signal yet you fucktard."
"Are all ghouls this potty-mouthed?"
The other two members and the sensei mumbled to themselves.
- Writer
