Maya - a Naruto Fanfic

4. Into The Fire

A new man walks into the room, tall with long blond hair. He doesn't look all too threatening, but the grim look on Kakashi's face scares me enough for me to shrink back in my chair.

"You must be Maya." The other man's face is grim too. This meeting isn't going to go well. I press my lips together hard and choke down my fear, nodding robotically.

"We should start." Kakashi says from his spot by the door. The other man nods. Then he laces his fingers together in some kind of complex hand sign and some of my fear evaporates.

"The heck are you do- ugh!" I don't have time to finish before there's some kind of pressure pushing in around my skull. I double over and draw my knees up as high as they'll go, pressing my forehead hard against them, but the pressure won't go away.

"Don't resist it, Maya, it'll only make it worse." Kakashi advises, but I can't force any comeback past my gritted teeth. I press my eyes tightly shut against the growing pressure and try to just breathe, but still my chest grows tighter and tighter.

"Listen to Kakashi, child." The man says. All I can manage is a vicious shake of my head and a muffled groan.

Then the pressure breaks.

"Ah!" The scream rips out past my tightly presses lips. My fingers gouge long lines of wood out of the chair, my own marks joining the marks of others before me, as my scream peters off into whimpers.

"Just a little more..." The man mutters. Liquid runs down my legs to soak my socks. When did I start crying?

When the pain finally eases, it's little comfort. My head feels... Wrong, somehow. Too full. The man has fallen silent. I raise my head slowly, blinking away the last of my tears and prying my cracked nails from the wood. Kakashi is staring at me in silence, arms crossed easily over his chest. The other man has his eyes closed, head bowed over the sign his fingers form.

Images start flashing behind my eyes. In my ears, I hear the faint echoes of my conversation with Kakashi, with Ibiki. I see the streets and gates of this village, the forest, the rabbit, all flashing faster and faster like film reel, flicking and clicking through my mind. My stomach turns again, and a rush of frustration follows it.

"Stop it!" I snap, shaking my head hard, "whatever you're doing, stop it now!" They won't say anything, and that just makes it worse. I can see my school fence now, the fair, my best friend, the stalls, a flash of dark skin, thick kinky hair, smiling dark eyes- no!

"I said stop!" I scream at the top of my lungs. Almost immediately, the whatever-it-is vanishes, like it's pulling away.

"Why are you stopping?" Kakashi asks the man.

"I have what I need." The man says, hands falling down to his sides. It doesn't stop me scowling at him as hard as I can. I've had enough of being afraid today.

"What the hell did you do?" I snarl. They both just stare at me for a moment before leaving the room.

"Hey! Don't ignore me! What did you do to me?!" But they're gone, the door slamming shut behind them. In the silence I slump back in my seat, exhaustion hitting me like a freight train. Too much has happened today, all I want to do now is sleep, and hopefully get a change of clothes. My shirt clings uncomfortably to the skin of my chest, already drying in to crusty salt patches.

My eyes are just starting to slip shut when the door swings open, and Ibiki strides in. I'm careful not to move as he unlocks the cuffs around my wrists, watching him suspiciously when he steps back.

"Stand up." He orders me. It's easier said than done, and my knees nearly buckle under my own weight. When I stumble, he doesn't reach out to catch me, just watches impassively as I clutch the back of the chair for support.

"Are you letting me go?" I ask softly.

"No." My knees nearly buckle again and a sob rips from my throat. What now?

"Calm down, we're taking you to the Hokage. He'll decide what to do with you."

"What's a Hokage?" I frown.

"That's none of your concern."

"It is if you're taking me to him!" But it's no use, Ibiki's done speaking to me. He leaves the room with me slinking behind in his shadow, head bowed and shoulders hunched. Outside stands Kakashi and the blond man. The blond one falls into step behind us, looking like the weirdest escort a girl could ask for.

"Aren't you coming, Kakashi?" He asks.

"I'll catch up." Is all he says before vanishing in a literal puff of smoke. I close my jaw with a snap and blink quickly. Tell me that didn't actually just happen?

I hadn't realised, but it looks like I arrived here pretty early in the morning. Where the streets were once almost completely deserted, now they're packed, and I wish they weren't. I could really, really do without everybody staring at me like I'm some sort of free entertainment. My face feels hot as I try to shrug my curls over my shoulder to hide my face.

"Who's that?"

"An enemy shinobi?"

"Don't be stupid, like they'd let an enemy go loose like that."

"Well she's obviously not a guest. Look at her wrists."

"She's just a kid."

The whispers follow us like a wave, running over the crowd and making my cheeks flush brighter.

It's no small blessing when the crowds start to thin before an enormous building. It towers above every other in the village, huge and conspicuous with it's faded red roof and round sign.

"Fire?" I frown. I'm pretty sure that's what the symbol says, but my Japanese is amateurish at best. I didn't have much time to learn before dad left.

"Quiet." Ibiki snaps.

We walk towards the building in silence. My heart's still beating way to hard, but I can finally think through the panic. Unfortunately, with this new clarity comes all the pain I'd been filtering out. My shoulder feels like it's on fire, every step jolting it and sending out a new burst of agony. I try to keep it still, holding my injured arm protectively against my chest, but it's no use; I'm just substituting agony for a constant throb.

There's more pain still in my wrists, rubbed raw by the metal shackles. There are angry red gashes in my skin that bring tears to my eyes, and I just know it's going to be bruised for weeks.

I guess you could say that, overall, I'm a complete mess. And I've just been paraded through the village looking like this. Ugh. Is this some new form of torture - total humiliation?

Ibiki stops suddenly, and I crash into his back.

"Hey- !" He glares down at me and, without warning, grabs my shoulder and yanks it back. I drop to my knees, throat clamping shut and tears springing to my eyes. What the hell was that?!

"The pain'll go away soon. Stand up." Ibiki orders.

"Ugh..." I can't - I'm shaking too badly, but when I try to speak all that comes out is a sob. I can't take any more of this!

I must really make him angry, because he pulls me to my feet by my hurt shoulder, and suddenly I find my voice.

"Let go!" I scream it at the top of my lungs, smacking his hand away and stumbling away from him.

"Stop being ridiculous." He snarls, stalking towards me and looking for all the world like a predator cornering it's prey. I shake my head hard.

"No! This is too much! I can't-" my voice dies again, and I try to curl in on myself, bowing my head and trembling as I sob.

"What's going on here?!"

A/N: wow people are actually reading this. Hi! I hope you're enjoying it, feel free to comment and stuff. It's taking a while to begin but I swear actual stuff will start happening eventually, it's just. Setup. Yeah, you get it.
Ta-ta~