Chapter 2: Broken

"Who are you?" a man yelled through the trees that surrounded him. Someone or something followed him as he entered his little village just outside Konoha.

A girl's voice giggled from the high trees.

"Baka, you don't know who you're dealing with." she replied. The man scanned the area, but found no signs of anyone within the area.

"You can't find me. You guys are so stupid. And you were promoted to Jonin just recently. Poor poor. You have no right to consider youself a jonin." she spoke, her voice was more gentle now, ang getting a bit serious.

"I'm the strogest Jonin in this area now! Right after you took out most of them here!" the man yeeled into the dark blue skies and stars. He was starting to go a little crazy.

"Baka... I like to get rid of people like you." a girl walked out from the darkness of the forest. She was tall. Raven black hair fell like a blackened waterfall to her lower back. Bangs were carefully combed and her yellow cat-like eyes shimmered in the night. A high-slanted black collar shaped her neck perfectly and a high top that showed her navel and low-cut gray shorts that rested only four inches aboveher knee revealed her figure. Finger-less gloves with the Konoha forehead protector on both hands carefully slendered her long fingers. Fishnet stockings were the final touch to her ensemble and toe-less-low-cut boots.

"I-I know who you are! Hokage-sama warned us about you! You and your wretched siblings!" the man pointed at her.

Her eyes narrowed and the color slowly changed onto a hazed black with red outlines. "Shut Up! You have no right to call them that! You're a disgrace to Konoha." she silently muttered.

Black figures started to come from the ground. Red eyes were the only things you could see.

"You're the disgrace!! You and that Minoru boy! And worst! That little Rika who killed everyone inn Konoha..." his voice lowered as he looked around as those figures, drooling with some black subtance, sorrounded him.

"You like them? Meet the shadows of Death." she smiled.

The man stepped backwards, planning an escape from the shadows.

"You know, death sent them to protect me, and at the same time, to make me happy."

They were getting closer. Just ten steps away from devouring his soul.

10...

"And if I'm not happy, then he won't be happy because he loves me as a dark child...."

9....

"I don't want to kill you..."

8....

"But I'm forced..."

7....

"Or else I'll be killed...."

6.....

"And I don't want that..."

5....

"I could've spared your life...."

4....

"But I have to kill any who knows about....

3....

"Minoru...."

2.....

"Rika....

1.....

"Or me..."

A scream was echoed throughout the forest until the gates of Konoha.

The next day...

Naruto and Sakura jumped from tree to tree to reach a specific location within in the forest. Tsunade had an emergency leave when she heard someone was murdered in the forest. But he was murdere in some gruesome way that Tsuanade may know who the killer was.

"Sakura-chan, what have you heard about this?" Naruto asked as they were a few meters from the site.

"Well... All I know that even Tsunade-sama came just to examine the body and surroundings..." Sakura brushed away some branches as they came over the site.

The site was filled with ANBU officials and Jonins all around. Tsunade was beside a body. Sakura and Naruto walked over and thier expressions changed as they saw the body. It was blue and looked like something sucked the life out of it.

"Sakura, Naruto. I'm glad you're here." Tsunade signalled them to cover up the body. Jonins instantly covered it all up and carried it away.

"Hokage-sama, there are large tracing of chakra all over the place." Neji walked over to them.

"Was it just like I told you?" Tsunade looked as stern as Neji.

"Yes."

"Then come along." Tsunade started to walk.

Tenten approched and spoke "There was no sign." she reported. Tsunade signaled her to come.

Tsunade led them into a tent that was set just a few meters away from the camp. And everyone was there. Even the sunagakure siblings.

"Thank you for all being here." Tsunade greeted.

"Tsunade-sama, is this so urgent that you called them here?" Kiba asked.

"Why? Don't you want us here, Dog-boy?" Temari smirked at him.

Kiba just smirked back.

"This is too important for us to risk on our own." Tsunade replied.

Naruto and the others walked over to where Sai, Hinata and Ino were. Tsunade started a presentation. A projection of three siblings appeared.

"If Sunagakure had thier siblings, then so did Konoha. But that was a long time ago..." she started off.

Everyone nodded.

"Well, who you see here are those three siblings. The boy is named Minoru." Tsunade continued.

"Well, he looks mighty hot." Temari commented.

"Hell yeah." Tenten agreed.

'He's the one in the picture...' Sai thought.

"The older girl is his younger sister, two years younger, Seitsuga." Tsunade spoke.

"She looks cute..." Kiba commented.

"She looks dangerous..." Shino spoke.

"she's scary." was all that Naruto could ever say.

"And the one in the middle is Rika. The youngest via strogest." Tsunade finally said.

"Just like Gaara..." Kankurou said. Gaara just gave a smirk.

"Let me make this quick. Minoru's ability is materialization. Meaning that he can make anything out of anything and controlling them. Sietsuga is one you shouldn't upset. Death adores her and is considered a child of darkness. She uses death as her shield and weapon." Tsunade paused.

"Death?" Naruto was a bit frightened.

"As in death-death?" Kiba asked.

Tsunade didn't want to reply, but she had no choice. She bit her lower lip. If she wanted the three siblings to be defeated before thier invasion, they had to know what they were about to feal with.

"Yes. Death as in the Grim reaper." she finally spoke. Most of them started to chatter. Temari held on to Shikamaru's arm tightly, and he didn't mind. Ino, slowly crawled her hand into Neji's long-sleeve and held his hand. He held it back tightly. Tenten scooched over to Lee and Hinata covered her mouth while Naruto put his hand on her shoulder.

"Rika, she's much more dangerous than Seitsuga." Tsunade's voice entered.

"What can be more dangerous than death?!" Kiba protested.

"Rika. Simple." Tsunade replied. "A single look from her could send you to your own demise."

Everyone fell silent. Even Gaara who was shocked that that ability was even true.

"Tsunade..." Gaara's voice was heard.

Tsunade nodded, she knew what Gaara was thinking. Gaara nodded back and was on his way out of the tent.

"Gaara...." Kankuou followed.

"Oi! What's going on here? I can't understand all your signlas!" Naruto jumped out. Though, Tsunade didn't reply to that.

"Your mission now...." Tsunade stated.

Everyone, eyes were filled with fear and excitement.

"is to go into that mountain..."

Everyone was anxious....

"and defeat... Rika." she finished.

'That took forever...' Naruto thought.

"Defeat someone like that?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. Tha reason why Gaara is here is to help you gain victory over Rika. Naruto and Gaara will be the only ones to take on Rika. The rest of you will distract the two." Tsunade had it all planned out.

The idea of the two, Seitsuga and Minoru came into their minds. How maybe someone could just make them explode from the inside! Or Sietsuga standing thier with death's shadows by her side to aid her.

"Tomorrow." Tsunade said. "You will all go tomorrow." she finished and left with Shizune. She had to gamble in order to defeat them. Life's a gamble. You either take it or lose it.

It was a bit late and Tenten was walking around Konoha. She couldn't sleep. Just the thought of this could be her last night in Konoha. Watching the stars and feeling the cold brezze wrap around your shoulders. It would be the perfect night to be the last night.

'Everyone's asleep. Naruto and Hinata might be awake now. But I don't want to bother them.' Tenten passed by an apartment with the lights on. So Tenten just walked on, her hair got loose when the wind strongly blew. 'It's just so perfect...' she thought and looked up at the stars trying to reach out to them.

Tenten continued with her late night stroll, enjoying what may be her last pleasures on life.

"Minoru..." a girl apeared. Shadows slowly revealed her, what seemed to be like crawling over her. "Why did the wind act like that?" she looked at him, a bit serious.

"The wind whispered that she looks beautiful with her hair down. So I decided to see for myself. The wind always finds the beatiful people..." Minoru exagerated. Though, his sister didn't know what this meant. He held out his hand anda ball of wind gathered, showing Tenten.

"You know Sei, everyone has hidden beauty in them. Even you. You even have external beauty." Minoru looked up at his sister. He admired her even though she was younger.

"Thanks for the compliment. But did you forget who we are?" she asked. He exactly knew who he was. Rather, he knew exactly who they were. She need'nt an answer, rather just a confirmation.

"Yes. But, the reason why, I wanted to take a good look at her, was that she has my forehead protector." Minoru looked onto the ball of wind. It showed a picture of his forehead protector.

"Oh, so she has yours. I still hadn't find mine." Seitsuga looked upon the horizon. The sun still wouldn't rise until a few hours later.

The other reason why they had comeback was to look for thier forehead protectors. Well, just the protector itself. It was specially made for them from thier grandfather. And it had sentimental value. At the back of the protector itself, thier names were engraved and a little description about them. Thier grandfather wasn't able to make one for Rika because he had passed away himself.

But Seitsuga and Minoru had those. And before they wanted to leave for good, they wanted just the protectors. They wanted to see thier names engraved onto the back with love from thier grandfather. Seitsuga only had exactly 24 hours and counting to look for it.

"I can look for it for you, you know, Sei." Minoru looked beside him as Seitsuga sat beside him. Seitsuga shook her head.

"I'll look for it myself." she spoke.

"If that's what you want, then I won't force you. However, the wind had already whispered a name to me. He might have yours. But, we're still not sure." Minoru released the ball of air that remained in his palm.

"A boy eh. Fine. You look for it." Sei said. They both know what they were thinking.

"And you'll retrieve it?" Minoru asked. Sei nodded. Slowly, shadow mists started to comsume Sei and take her away. Minoru looked puzzled.

"Where are you going now?" he asked.

"The sun will rise in a couple of hours. And my shadows can't stand it." Sei said as she finally vanished from beside him.

"Nuisance." Minoru said as Sei was finally gone. The wind blew more strongly. It whispered a name to Minoru. And minoru chuckled.

Ino tossed and turned in bed. By now, she would've hit the person beside her. But he wasn't there. She got up and found the other side of the bed empty. Only the sheets crumpled. The scent was still there. It lingered. Ino got up of bed and went over to the living room. It was still dark and she didn't open the lights. It was only rare, how her lover described it, 'the night truly showed it's beauty...'. And it was true. The silence was very beautiful and the night was broken through by the moonlight.

"Neji..." Ino walked onto him sitting by the window sill, looking up at the sky.

Neji looked towards Ino, her hair loose and her bangs tucked behind her ear. She was beautiful. And he was lucky that he had her. "I couldn't sleep." he said.

Ino walked over to Neji and hugged him. "I can't sleep either. I just can't stop thinking about tomorrow. So soon. And the possibility of death will be around the corner. It's like we're going to war." she said. Neji held her hands. It was rare that he'd be worried about someone.

"We're going to war. Those siblings. Sai told me something about them this afternoon.

(FLASHBACK)

"Neji-san." Sai approached Neji. Neji stopped and looked at Sai.

"Sai." Neji greeted. Sai and Neji weren't that close.

"I need to tell you something." Sai spoke. Sai never told anything to Neji. But this seemed urgent. This was desperate. "What?" Neji told Sai.

"Those siblings. There were some details that Tsunade didn't want to say." Sai began. Neji started to listen to must be a way. A way to finish them off.

"They're dead." Sai continued. Neji was shocked. Dead? Those three were dead? That couldn't be possible.

"How do you know if that's true?" Neji asked, his eyes averted from Sai. They were narrowed.

"That's all I know. The dead has come back to life. They're looking for something. And that spirit inside Rika's the only thing keeping them attainable. They only have until the day after tomorrow. If they fail, well, that's what I don't know." Sai told and he decided to leave.

Neji didn't stop Sai to ask more. After all, Sai freely told Neji this information on his own will.

(END)

"Dead huh?" Ino said.

"Aren't you scared?"

"No. Are you?"

"Only scared about losing you." Neji told Ino about his fear. Ino smiled at him. She never saw Neji a bit scared. But she understood why. She was the only thing he had.

"I won't be lost tomorrow." Ino told him and pulled him into thier room.

"Rika? You called me?" Seitsuga entered a large room. It was empty with stoned walls and a single stained glass window whose colors shone upon thier coffins. Thier bodies inside.

"Onee-chan... Watanauki-sama wants to speak to you...." Rika spoke as she gently stroke off strands of her black hair of her face. She touched the gentle skin of her body. Soft yet cold. Her preserved body over the past 17 years

"Tell him I'm busy. I got to find mine before we enter our bodies again." Seitsuga started to leave the room. The doors closed infornt of her and she fell to the ground screaming.

"I want to talk to you. Seitsuga." Watanuki spoke through Rika's mouth. His hoarse voice was heard even though Seitsuga was on the floor screaming for help. The shadows tried to touch and help her, a force didn't allow them to touch her.

"Seitsuga dear... how much will you keep us waiting. In the morning, you must lead them here. We need the nine-tails to send you into your bodies. Once we're done, we'll invade Konoha." it spoke.

Seitsuga didn't reply from the pain that the seal inflicted on her. It was slowly sucking out chakra from her. Watanuki had to live from chakra nowadays since they were just spirits. He mostly got his chakra from Seitsuga since she was a bit more powerful than them and can sustain herself.

"I'll take that as a yes." Watanuki's voice receeded and Seitsuga was no longer in pain. The shadows engulfed her and took the pain away. Seitsuga coughed.

"Onee-chan! Are you ok?" Rika ran to her side.

"....*cough*.... I'm.... *cough*..... fine..... *more coughing*....." Seitsuga replied and stood up with the help of Rika.

Seitsuga left the room and left as the sun slowly rose. Thie night was still there. However there was a tint of orange beyond the mountains. If she didn't hurry and find Minoru, the light will engulf her shadows and she couldn't use them. She only used them in the darkness.

Minoru on the other hand was sitting under a tree and was listening to the leaves singing and the flowers dancing. He was simply amusing himself. He watched as the sun wasgetting to it's place over Konoha. He should've been back to the mountain by now. But, he wanted to enjoy life's pleasures. As a ghost. Yet, he didn't mind. He noticed someone coming closer to him. Only one person would approach him.

"I guess your shadows won't come out now eh?" Minoru chuckled at the sound of his sister's footsteps.

"Shut up. It's time lazy-ass." Seitsuga spat.

He got upand decided to end his leisure time and do what they were forced. He noticed black substance dripping on the back of her neck.

"Got hurt again eh?" he laughed.

"Shut Up!"

END