Next Generation Story – The Sunrise Arc – Chapter 2 – The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner



So… I did it. I reached the end of my journey.

Wait; is this happiness I’m feeling?

No… It isn’t, it’s… emptiness. Makes one thinks about if there’s any point in living.

God, I’m I that weak? I’ve been through hell and back, and I’m giving up now. How depressing is that, and why is it so God damn hot? Huh… Maybe I never left hell.



Damn



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Finally, something had completely caught the girl’s attention away from the sun. Pity it wasn’t the nice things that usually revolved around her life. More the opposite in fact. As she paced across the room, for what seemed like, a gallzilion time, the thought of Death crossed her mind again. She didn’t like death. No-one did, but especially not her. She didn’t even like thinking about it. The one thing she hated about being a ninja. She could never… ‘Damn it, this is driving me crazy’ So, she stopped, and let the humidity in the surrounding room impale her. She preferred pacing.

           Then, the stony faced doctor, tired and groggy, came forth from the backroom. Destry’s eye’s shot up, so did pony tailed boy and their Red head teacher as well. The moody blond, however, continued to sharpen his favourite toy. Most of them waited on edge, while the old man, who too everyone’s annoyance, decided to take his time, as he reached for the cabinet on the far side and took out a glass and a bottle, without even saying a word. Until…

            ‘Well?’ asked the great Isa. Even he couldn’t take it.
            The doctor continued to pored a form of liquid into his glass
‘Don’t fret,’ he finally said. He’s alive’
            A sigh of relief echoed through the room. Then…
‘You could have said something earlier’ Destry said, as she glared at the man, who didn’t seemed to care about anything except his glass of scotch. However she then caught of look of her sensei, whose face told her to take a closer look. When she did, she saw how truly exhorted he was. You could say that he himself was about to collapse on the floor.
            ‘Girl, if you hard just spent all your chakra, trying to bring someone from brink of death, you too would need this’ the old man stated, as he sat down and took a swig of his glass.
‘I prefer not to’ she reply, crossing her arms, sat, then leaned on a stool in the process. She did not, like being corrected.
            ‘So’ asked Ando, feeling the discomfort in the air, ‘Was he really that bad?’
              The old man gave a very deep sigh. He himself, did not like having to answer questions
            ‘Son, give me every single battlefield injury that one gets in the actions of battle, and he’ll have it.’ He said blankly. ‘Scars, wounds, broken bones, poisons, malnutrition, you name it. Haven’t seen someone messed up this bad since the war.’
            Destry, along with her compatriots, were so shocked by this, she almost fell backwards. ‘But…’ Destry stuttered as she balanced herself upright ‘I saw him walking! How can he still do that with those injuries?’
            ‘Never underestimate the strength of sheer willpower’ Fox-sensei answered in an ‘oh-so-knowing’ tone of voice. ‘You could even bring yourself back from the dead with the inner power that we all have within ourselves’
            The Doctor nodded. ‘It’s even more impressive’ he added, ‘bearing in mind that he’s not even from the desert’
            ‘How can you tell?’ asked Ando, again forgetting that the old man did not like having to answer questions. Luckily for him, Isamashii had finally decided to add to the conversation.
            ‘Because’ he started promisingly ‘you said you didn’t find any water on him’
            ‘So’
            ‘Well it’s simple. No-one around here that stupid not to have any’ he then coldly stated as he continued to sharpen his toy, ‘though, since you have to look up common sense in a guidebook, I guess you wouldn’t have got that.’
             ‘Oh no, don’t me he said that’ thought the girl, as all of a sudden, past acks and pains started spring up all around her, remembering how such a similar argument that had caused them.
            ‘You want to say that again blondy?!’
             ‘Shit’ her worse fears were realised and her face sank ‘I thought things had got better’. She prepared for what she knew was coming. She didn’t need to look at Sensei’s face. She could feel her rage building up. Then…
             ‘Well, actually, I was thinking of the fact that he’s not getting any better’
             The doctor did not know what he had saved the three young ninjas from, as immediately, everyone drop everything and turned to why they where in the first place.
            ‘What do you mean he’s not getting better?’ Asked Destry, her voice filled with concern.
            ‘As in, he’s stable, but still not showing any signs of recovery’ He then took another swing of his precious liquid. He had real habit of trying everyone’s patience. ‘I’m guessing that since this isn’t his natural environment, his own natural immune system can not heal his wounds properly.’ The old man explained ‘What he needs is rest and relaxation, and he’s not going to get it here’.
            ‘Sensei…’
            ‘Don’t worry Destry’ Fox calmly said. She then turned the doctor. ‘I’m sure that moving him to Konoha will be perfectly alright’.
            ‘Of course’ he replied, finally in a polite tone. ‘I have some interns from the Sunagakure. They’re be able to help you take him all the way’
             ‘Well Destry’ she said turning to her student, ‘You just saved a life. How do you fell?’
              She often heard about this feeling, mostly from her mother after she’s saved someone from the brink of death, but she herself hasn’t experienced it. She didn’t know what to say. She wanted say something really special and sophisticated, but she couldn’t find the words.
            ‘Oh what the hell’
            ‘It feels great Ma’am’ she smiled.
            ‘Good’ The caring teacher replied, with a warm smile on her face. Ando joined in too. Even Isa gave a smirk. Maybe this week wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

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            ‘Man, this sword is fine’
            Two days into the trip back home, Destry and Ando has taken it as their personal duty as ninjas, to ‘examine’ what could be ‘potentially dangerous’ items that  had come with there ill friend. Ando had taken the liberty of ‘examining’ the odd looking but intriguing sword.
            ‘I mean, it’s worn here and there’ he described as he swung the sword from side to side ‘but damn, its light, not to mention sharp’
            ‘Aww,’ has the great water sword been replaced then?’ a devious voice said beside him. On hearing this, Ando immediately return the sword back its scabbard, and clutched his own, as if it was his offspring. The girl grinned.
            ‘Hurray for sweet revenge’ the thought cheered in her head, as she remembered about Ando’s earlier comment. However, Ando soon stroke back.
            ‘Like you haven’t been eyeballing that gem.’
            ‘What gem?!’
            ‘The one that you’ve been hiding behind your back’
             Destry frowned, pulling out a necklace with a shining blue jewel from behind her. She stared at it as the necklace as it twirled in the wind. Then the sunshine caught it, sending it to sparkle even more.
             ‘Damn, it's pretty’
             Then, the thought of its original owner came into mind. Her head turned in his direction, and saw the interns tending to him and his wounds. They had clothed him in some simple black jumper and trousers, but he didn’t need that to show pale he was. Two days had past, and he still had shown almost no signs of recovery.
             As Destry stared into his face, questions ran through her head. The obvious one was ‘who he is?’ and ‘where did he come from?’, but the one that was bugging her was ‘where did he get all those wounds from?’ and ‘how long was he like that?’ It really got to her, to think that someone was alone for all that time. It was like when she heard about how Isamashii would whole hours on his own with…
              ‘Wait, where is Isa-kun?’ She twisted and turned her head until finally, she located him on a bolder, staring out into the distance. She realise how big the gap was between him and the camp.
            ‘Hey Isa-kun’ she shouted ‘come join us, breakfast‘s almost ready’
            The teenager did not move. The girl frowned in the disappointment, which was followed by a face of concern, while the boy next to her frowned as well.
            ‘Why can’t she except the fact that’s what he’s like’ once again feeling the bitter emotion of jealousy. He wished he didn’t, because he knew what it usually leads to, but sometimes, he couldn’t stop himself.
           ‘Damn these emotions that control my head and my heart’
           The mood in the camp was so down that it might as well be rainy. Then…
           ‘Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him’ as Fox-sensei came to the rescue. All of a sudden, the tension melted away. She had the uncanny knack to see what was really going on. She probably knew more than anyone in the group, and that’s why they loved her as their sensei, and that’s why, on hearing this, Destry came back into her normal joyous self again, and bitted into her morning meal. Ando had also cheered up as well and took a bite into his apple. All was right in the world.

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            As she stood behind her most brilliant of students, so says everyone in Konoha, she saw how tense he was, as if a wild tiger was about to come out of nowhere and pounce on them all.
            ‘So, you’ve realised that we’re being watched too then?’
            ‘Idiots’ he scowled ‘they should’ve noticed ages ago. Why are they so blind?!’
            ‘Don’t underestimate them. They’ve got more skill than you think. They’ll pick up on it soon enough.’ She calmly said as tried to reassure her student’s feeling of impending doom. She then knelt down to him. ‘Besides, they’re not going to attack now. They probably going to set up an ambush up ahead’
            ‘The trench?’
            ‘Most likely’
            ‘Then why are we sitting here, wait for them to try and kill us all?’
            ‘Because, if they do know that we know, then most likely, they’ll try something desperate, that probably will kill us all’
            Isamashii’s eye’s widened. Why the hell didn’t he think of that?
            ‘Don’t worry Isamashii, even geniuses get it wrong some days. We’ll be ready for them’ she said while patting him on the back. ‘I guess I don’t need to ask you to keep watch?’
            The boy nodded.
‘Good’ she then drag herself onto her feet. ‘I’ll bring over some food then’
            She turned and walked off in the direction of the smell of delights that was coming from the camp. As she did so, the boy stared at her, trying to suss out what had just happened. For a person who was constantly on the ball, this was quite a shock, for someone else to have complete control of the situation, before he had.
            ‘Wow,’ he thought ‘she really is the master’