Break to Breathe

 

BREAK TO BREATHE

by Okami Rayne

Chapter Twenty

[Dedicated to K. Nefertiti]

They'd come from below.

Deep below.

The first hand had punched up through the ground in a shower of grit and dust. But Akamaru's jaws had seized the meaty wrist before the twitching fingers could lock around Neji's ankle.

The Hyūga had sprung back, but the minute his feet had touched down, the surface of the earth had broken up like a shell, hatching hands that snapped for legs. Bodies had followed, springing up like animated corpses.

Only these enemies were very much alive.

And fast.

They'd kept the Konoha shinobi constantly moving. But the speed of the combat didn't disturb Neji as much as Shikamaru's failure to respond to his last transmission.

"Nara! Did you hear me? They're coming from the—"

Neji turned, sensing a dual-attack.

It wasn't fast enough.

The Hyūga jabbed his fingers into the throat of one of two charging shinobi, his movements a blur as he found their openings, a procession of sharp stabs rendering both ninja immobile as their internal organs ruptured from the impact of the Gentle Fist.

"Neji!" Sakura called a warning he didn't need.

He could already see it.

Unfortunately, there was only one way to avoid it. His body moved on pure instinct, falling for a second time into its natural defensive jutsu.

"Eight trigrams Palm Rotation!"

Neji whirled into the protective spin, the dome of his jutsu deflecting a hail of quill-shaped kunai. Stabs of muscle-jerking pain lanced straight through his chest, making him wonder if he hadn't failed to repel the attack. But then he felt it again – the blood welling in his throat.

No…

Swallowing down the sickly clog of iron, he sprung back just as Chōji's multi-sized fist arced to his defence, denting the head of another attacker springing up from the gouges in the ground.

Neji reached for his transmitter, using the back of his other wrist to quickly swipe away the blood leaking from his lips, fighting the urge to heave.

"Shikamaru!" he choked out. "What's your position?"

No response, just the crackle of static.

Damn it!

Neji looped three kunai into the crook of his fingers, springing into a run towards Sakura as Chōji's massive fist uprooted a tree, using the trunk as a makeshift weapon to batter aside charging enemies, clearing a path for him.

Movement flared on the radar of his dōjutsu.

He turned as talon-shaped scythes came whirring through the air, some cutting flat like frisbees, others whirling end-over-end in cartwheel spins. All spatial levels covered, it made ducking or darting impossible.

I can't…use the Palm Rotation again…

Neji barely had time to process this realisation before he fell back on the only alternative; Hinata's jutsu.

"Protective eight trigrams sixty-four palms!"

He felt the gush of chakra stream twin jets to his palms, the jutsu he'd tried to hold in the glade back at the Nara residence firing into blade-like beams. He managed to move his arms just in time, knocking the talon-like scythes off course before he spun a round-house kick into one, sending it curving back towards the ninja who had launched the attack.

Assault avoided, Neji turned back towards Sakura, making a beeline straight to her.

The pink-haired kunoichi held her ground; her chakra-packed punches beating back the ring of enemies tightening around her. Neji lodged a kunai in the back of one ninja's neck, stabbing his fingers into the vital kidney point of another before bringing himself between Sakura and the swing of a blade aimed for her nape. Sparks flew as the enemy's weapon jarred against the opposing smack of Neji's crossed kunai. The reverberation from the hit juddered up the Hyūga's arms.

"Sakura!" Neji hissed, glancing over his shoulder. "You need to take out the ground! They must have catacombs. Collapse them, now!"

Sakura blinked at the command, falling back a step as she began to channel chakra into her fist. "Got it! Get the others off the ground!"

"Just try it!" the blade-wielder snarled, jumping back to get a double-handed grip on his sword.

He left himself wide open.

Neji planted his left foot, spinning to hook his right knee around the throat of the swordsman. He tugged viciously, flooring the man and dropping to a kneel to pin the ninja, shutting off chakra points with a rapid stab of his fingers.

The Hyūga then reached for his transmitter, his voice reaching Chōji and Kiba.

"Elevate your positions immediately! Get into the canopies!"

Neji heard Sakura suck in a deep breath as she pulled up the chakra with a building roar, preparing for the earth-punch that would tear up the ground.

"Get ready!" Sakura called, hopping back out of range.

"Okay! We're clear!" Kiba's voice crackled through.

Neji's Byakugan eyes scanned the fight zone, picking up on Chōji and Kiba lunging for the trees, Akamaru springing behind them.

Time to move.

"B…Byaku…gan…Hyūga…"

Neji frowned, dropping his eyes to the stuttering enemy at his feet. The man snarled up at him, unable to move, but able to raise his voice enough to scream.

"H…HYŪGA!"

Neji felt the immediate shift in the air as the focus of the enemy onslaught wobbled and redirected. Ten pairs of enemy eyes swung toward him; but one man's stare was more venomous than the rest, his chakra flaring. Neji snapped his gaze across, locking onto the glare of a red-haired male hefting a familiar looking sword.

Just like Fukurō's…

Neji frowned, but didn't have time to fully turn toward this Tsubasa aggressor.

"Neji!" Sakura roared, charging. "Move!"

Neji broke the stare, just as the red-haired ninja smirked.

Sakura brushed past, forcing the Hyūga to kick off a tree and shoot skyward just as the kunoichi's fist careened into the already cracked ground, punching a shockwave of chakra deep into the belly of the surrounding earth.

It rocked a pulsing quake straight into the tunnels the Tsubasa had sprung from.

For a moment everything was still.

Then the excess shock of the impact struck.

Neji picked up on a violent flare of chakra below, seconds before the ground blew apart, exploding chunks of earth and clouds of soil in all directions.

He was high enough in the air to avoid the fountain of rock and grit…

…but not the massive sword that came spinning hilt-over-tip from the haze.

Neji closed his eyes and grit his teeth against the pain he knew would follow.

"ROTATION!"

---

This is bad…

Shikamaru didn't know what was more unnerving, the swelling vision of black, or the horrific noise growing in proportion to it. Birds...hundreds of them...the gathering flocks streamed in from every corner of the forest, pooling their flapping hordes into a massive floating group.

This is really bad…

The noise level reached a crescendo. The macabre screech and scream of a thousand birds; it made Chidori sound like a kid's jingle in comparison.

It's got to be a Summoning Jutsu…

Shikamaru backed up another few steps, his eyes glued to the sky as the massive, screeching swarm of birds blotted out the remaining light, casting premature darkness over the clearing.

No light. No shadows.

"Dammit," he hissed, feeling Naruto bump against his arm.

"What the hell's goin' on here!" Naruto shouted above the screeching.

"It's a Scattering Swarm Jutsu!" Shikamaru shouted back, frowning up at the beating throng of wings. "Hinata! Get a pin on the caster! There might be more than one given the size of this thing!"

"I'm searching!" she called back.

Shikamaru frowned.

How the hell did they get past the Byakugan? There's no way they'd be out of Hinata's range…they need to be in relatively close proximity to pull this off…

"Shikamaru!" A voice yelled from the canopies.

Lee.

Shikamaru reached for the transmitter, opening up the feed to the whole team to prevent yelling himself hoarse. "Get down to ground level, Lee."

"Understood!"

"Uh, Shikamaru…now would be a good time for a game plan…" Naruto's voice crackled through.

"Working on it," Shikamaru backed up a pace. "Hinata?"

"I'm still looking…!"

"They're coming from everywhere!" Lee shouted, his voice ringing loudly through the mic as he dropped down beside the team and straightened up, frowning. "All different kinds too…"

"Man," Naruto adopted a semi-crouch, as if preparing to spring. "What the hell are they doin'?"

"Stalling," Shikamaru muttered, tracking the flock's disturbing hover. "This kind of Jutsu is normally used to mask approaching allies…but it can also be used offensively…"

Hinata should have found the casters by now…dammit…we can't wait on her…

As if on cue, the flock began to pulse, the synchronised beat of their wings generating enough force to whip up a breeze, the ominous rustle building.

"Uh…Shikamaru…"

Shikamaru shook his head. "Use Rasengan…"

"But you said—"

"Just do it. Hit the centre of the formation, I'll hit the left with exploding tags."

"That'll do it?"

"The ones we hit will puff away like clones. We need an opening." Shikamaru slipped his fingers into his ninja pack, tugging out three rigged kunai. "A big enough break and we'll have some leeway. I need light, fast, to use my Shadow Stitch. Lee, defend Hinata in case some wheel around, be prepared for enemies from the ground. Hinata, find those casters."

A shrill chorus of squawks caused the formation to shift, a wave of screeching black descending in a flurry.

Shit!

Shikamaru twirled the kunai in his grip. "Naruto! Now!"

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Shadow clones burst into form, two jumping up to distract from the ones that held and created the glowing sphere flaring in Naruto's palm. "Here we go!"

Shikamaru slid a leg back, bracing himself as Naruto kicked off with a roar, cradling the swirling orb in the snare of his hand. Tracking the Uzumaki's ascent, Shikamaru drew his arm across, preparing to let the tagged kunai fly.

Hinata's gasp stopped him short.

"There's…nothing …"

Shikamaru froze. "What?"

"T-There aren't any casters…"

WHAT!

"Then they're…" Shikamaru's eyes widened, then his gaze flew to Naruto. "Nar—!"

"—RASENGAN!"

The hit struck the swarm of birds like thunder, flashing lightning-like beneath the black cloud of wings as it erupted, exploding a canon-fire of chakra…

The crash lit up the forest…

Then it rained crimson.

A shattered storm of blood, bones and broken feathers.

"Shit!" Shikamaru threw up an arm to shield his eyes from the gore as it splattered down, drenching them in red rain, the nauseating scent of blood and scorched carcasses clogging in his throat.

If it's not a Swarm Jutsu…!

Shikamaru heard Naruto crash down beside him, coughing and shuddering out a string of curses. He felt the sticky trickle of blood against his skin and the hammer of bone fragments clattering like hail around them.

And it's not an illusion…then…what the hell!

"They're real, dammit!" Naruto snarled, stating the obvious as he rocked back onto the balls of his feet, trying to swat away the shower of feathers and blood. "Ugh...god…and I just…just blew them apart…"

"Keep it together, Naruto!" Shikamaru tried to wipe the blood from his face, only serving to swipe more across it. "They're going to tear us apart if we don't counter. You'll have to hit them again."

Naruto turned wide, sickened eyes on him. "W-what!"

Shikamaru squinted up through the red haze at the screeching flocks as they swell and reformed, closing ranks with a blood-chilling round of screams.

"Great, now they're pissed," Naruto growled, but his voice was a little shaky.

"Shikamaru?" Lee pressed, keeping close to Hinata as she slid into a defensive stance.

…What the hell is controlling this…there's just no way…

"Shikamaru-kun?"

Shikamaru brushed splinters of bone from his flak-jacket, trusting the mic to carry his voice above the screeching. "Naruto, hit them again. Only this time, keep pushing and hold it until you hit the top of their formation. Then let it go."

"Dammit," Naruto shook his head, snapping his hands into fists as his voice hissed through the static. "Fine."

Shikamaru turned to Hinata. "As soon as Naruto clears a path, the flock is going to try and regroup. I'll hit the left side with tagged kunai. Lee will hit the right. That should blow apart the horde and keep them open long enough to scale through. We'll need your eyes…it's gonna get pretty messy…we'll be moving blind."

Hinata nodded, her blood streaked hair whipping on the breeze beating around them from the flock's wings. Shikamaru offered a grim nod, glancing upwards, squinting once more against the occasional slap of feathers as they swirled around.

"Lee, get ready." Shikamaru pulled out another three kunai, the hilts lodged between his knuckles. Lee followed his lead.

"Make it count, Naruto." Shikamaru spared a glance at the fidgeting Uzumaki.

Naruto nodded, scratching at the blood on his clothes. "Yeah…I got it."

"We'll be right behind you." Shikamaru turned to map out a path along the trees, already plotting the route they'd take, marking it out for Hinata with a sweep of his arm.

She caught on immediately, nodding.

Ugh...This gonna be ugly…

"Get ready."

They'd have to time it just right. The team moved into position, Naruto taking a step back as he made to form the hand sign for his clones.

Then suddenly the birds went quiet.

Shikamaru blinked and held up a hand quickly. "Hold it."

The Konoha ninja stilled as one, their joint gazes flicking up to the eerie flock that hovered in chilling silence. The only sound was the united flap of their wings; a steady, rhythmic beat, like the sinister pound of a war drum.

Shikamaru felt his pulse mirroring the hypnotic throb...

An unsettling, unnatural sensation crawled under his skin…

Time slowed...almost seemed to shrink and swell around the steady beat of hundreds of wings...

An endless swarm of eyes stared down...feathers fluttering and falling...

The thick, bloody mist around them swirled, the breeze picking up, rocking the carcasses of the dead birds on the ground...

Shikamaru felt his skin prickle...

Then as quickly as they'd massed, the birds dispersed.

They broke away in a mass of squawking chaos. Feathers fell in multicoloured flurries as the birds took off, fleeing back into the tangle of the woods or the safety of the skies…a flutter and sweep of plumes whirling in their wake.

For a long moment the world tunnelled into an eerie stasis of drifting feathers. The distant screeching of the birds fading into a silence more disturbing than the noise that had preceded it…

Shikamaru stood motionless…simply watching the delicate drift and soft spiral of feathers as they fell; an eerie paradox to the blood and gore that had rained down moments ago.

…W…what the hell?

He felt the soft bush of a quill against his cheek and blinked from his dazed stare, swallowing hard and tugging in the locked breath he'd been holding.

He heard Naruto slump to the ground.

"W…what just happened?" the Uzumaki rasped, swatting a feather from his hair, kneeling in a scatter of plumes.

Shikamaru shook his head wordlessly, scanning the area.

It had brightened a little, now that the massive flock had vanished. Shikamaru half wished it hadn't…the added light bore witness to a grim scene. He let his gaze travel over the dripping foliage. Blood trickled along leaves and branches, dribbling down to the ground, littered with bird corpses, bones and stained feathers.

What the hell was that? It's as if they…

"Shikamaru-kun?"

Hinata's tentative voice drew his gaze away from the mess. He cleared his throat, brushing blood soaked feathers off his clothes. "Everyone okay?"

Lee nodded, removing the tags from the kunai he hadn't used, using the flat of one of the blades to scrape off clots of blood from his uniform. "I think so. No one harmed."

Naruto snorted, pushing back up to his feet. "Yeah right, are you kiddin' me? What the heck just happened? That crap was even more messed up than a frickin' genjutsu."

Shikamaru frowned.

Mass command like this...needs a caster…

The shadow-nin crouched down, picking up one of the ruined feathers, his thumb running along the broken rachis. He ignored Naruto's shaken grumbling, focusing his attention on the feather in his palm.

There's no way someone could pull this off underground…not at the speed at which the birds accumulated...

He glanced up toward the trees, then back down again, vaguely aware that Naruto was still talking.

"—didn't say anything about blowing up birds!"

"It is as you say, Naruto," Lee said as he stepped over. "But Neji did warn us to be prepared for anything."

Neji…

Shikamaru blinked, jerking his head up. He dropped the broken feather and immediately reached for his mic, his voice pushing out hoarsely.

"Neji?"

The spit and crackle of a dead transmission was the only response. Shikamaru worked his jaw, trying to loosen the tension as he straightened up, casting Hinata a glance. She read the request instantly and activated her dōjutsu.

Shikamaru tried to lock back into his rational mode, ignoring the cold twist in his core. If Neji's team had been attacked from the ground and the backup unit from the air, then both groups had been targeted in carefully coordinated assaults; not only mixing up attack methods, but covering the invaders from above and below as opposed to flanking them.

Thorough…way too thorough not to have been premeditated…but how did they know?

Shikamaru shook his head, frowning. They'd had two Byakugan users charting activity; add to that Kiba and Akamaru. He scanned the trees again, his eyes tracing over the rough twist and turn of boughs and branches.

Neji said they came from below…yet Hanegakure shinobi have an affinity for trees…their strength is above ground…but to use an underground network…and one that allowed them to chart movement from above…

A buzz at his ear caused him to jerk his shoulder, swatting at the distracting sound before he realised it was the drone of his radio as it crackled to life.

"Shikamaru…"

Shikamaru reached up to adjust the channel feed. "Sakura?"

Naruto and Lee bounded over immediately. Shikamaru raised a palm to ward them off, still fiddling with the mic to get a better signal.

"Sakura?"

"Yes…ar… okay? Ar...hurt?"

"You're breaking up a bit. Yeah, we're okay. Are you guys?"

"…"

The hesitation caused his fingers to twitch against the transmitter.

Shit…don't tell me…

Shikamaru blinked slowly, fighting to keep his voice as steady as his face when he repeated his question. "Sakura…Are you guys okay?"

"…Yeah."

He didn't like her hesitation, but a quick glance at Naruto and Lee made him reconsider calling her up on it. He offered a more open question instead of the one poised at the tip of his tongue.

"Good. So no one's injured?" he asked, turning his head as Hinata walked over, her nod telling him she'd located the others. "Sakura? You hear me? Is anyone hurt?"

Sakura hesitated again. "…Shikama—"

Another voice cut across her. "Everyone is fine, Nara."

Shikamaru's eyes fluttered shut in the barest flicker of relief before he scoffed and adopted his usual drawl. "Nice of you to respond, Hyūga."

"If you have time to be facetious, I assume you aren't in immediate danger."

Shikamaru smiled slightly at the Jōnin's tone, glancing over his blood-spattered teammates, too relieved to get sarcastic. "Not immediate. Don't wanna hang around. They hit us with an aerial attack."

"…Aerial?"

"Yeah. Caught us from both ends. Don't know how the hell they managed that…"

"With a big ass flock of birds, that's how," Naruto piped up, fiddling with his own transmitter to tune into the channel.

"…Birds?" Neji said.

"The whole 'Land of Feathers' just got literal and crap," Naruto grumbled. "Frickin' bloodbath."

Neji went quiet for a moment. "Shikamaru?"

"Yeah, don't worry," Shikamaru glanced around with a frown. "I'll fill you in."

"Yes. I think it best that we converge. We're…at a disadvantage divided. I'm sure Hinata has already located us. We'll stay put."

Shikamaru let his gaze sweep across the clearing, feeling the eerie prickle at the back of his neck again. He gestured for Hinata to take the lead, falling into step behind Naruto and Lee as they began to move out, stepping over dead birds.

"Alright, we're on our way."

Neji hummed. "Understood."

Despite the cue for their exchange to end, Shikamaru spoke again, taking a chance to try and read anything off Neji's voice.

"We'll need to move fast once we—"

"I've already selected a place to fall back on."

"Already three steps ahead there, Hyūga?"

"…Still one hundred and ninety seven behind you, Nara."

"I'm flattered."

Neji scoffed softly, amused. "Don't let it go to your head."

"Not a chance," Shikamaru scrubbed a hand across his face. "I'm still recovering from the last parting gift you gave my head."

"…Headband, Nara."

Shikamaru smiled. "Cheap shot, Hyūga."

"Are you guys speakin' in code or something?" Naruto cut in, glancing over his shoulder at Shikamaru with a puzzled frown.

Shikamaru waved Naruto off with a lazy sway of his hand. "We'll be there soon, Neji. Oh yeah, we're short on tents."

"That is the least of our problems."

"You say that now," Shikamaru smirked, already watching Naruto pick up pace. "Make sure Chōji holds onto the cargo you guys have got."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Hey! Is Sakura alright?" Naruto piped up again.

"She's fine."

"Are you?" Shikamaru added.

"Of course."

Shikamaru hesitated, but let it slide. "Are you near a water source?"

"One moment." A brief paused lapsed. "Yes."

"Good," Shikamaru stepped over a gnarled web of tree roots, following the others down a steep incline. "We're going to need to clean up a bi—"

"—You're hurt?"

Shikamaru arched a brow. "No. Just messy."

"What do you mean?"

"I won't ruin the surprise for you, Hyūga," Shikamaru kept his tone light, his mood lifting further when they cleared the snare of the tangled incline and levelled out onto even ground again.

"I think we've both had enough surprises for one day."

Shikamaru snorted. That was a damned understatement.

A soft bark up ahead alerted them to a swiftly approaching Akamaru. The dog bounded over, going straight for Hinata, immediately scenting out the blood spattered across her clothes; after assuring that she was uninjured, the canine repeated the process with the rest of them, cocking his head up at Shikamaru.

The Nara arched a brow. "You really don't wanna bite or lick me right now…"

Akamaru cocked his head the other way, wagging his tail.

"Yeah he might catch something!" Kiba shouted across the short distance, waving an arm as he approached, looking to Hinata. "You okay?"

She kunoichi nodded, darting glances at Naruto, obviously concerned for the Uzumaki, who was scratching at the blood crusted on his clothes as if he had fleas. Kiba followed her gaze, glancing over everyone, shaking his head.

"Whoa, you guys look like hell warmed up." The Inuzuka frowned. "All that blood from birds, huh?"

"Yeah, probably the whole damn forest worth of birds." Naruto scowled. "What did you guys get? Worms?"

Kiba snorted. "Might as well have been, the bastards just popped up outta the ground, just as slimy and dirty to fight."

"Man, you're telling me about a dirty fight?" Naruto gestured to his clothes.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes as the two of them launched into who had it worse off. He shifted around the talking teens in a lazy sway, making his way across the leafy clearing with Lee and Hinata. A rustle drew his attention as Sakura met him halfway, her steps quick and driven.

A woman on a mission.

Either good or bad…

Shikamaru offered an uneasy smile, not sure how to read the look in her eyes. She kept glancing over her shoulder. Sensing that she was heading directly to him, the shadow-nin paused, waiting for Hinata and Lee to move on ahead as he turned towards the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Sakura."

"Shikamaru, please tell me that's all enemy blood," Sakura said, drawing up short with a grimace.

Shikamaru followed her gaze over his gory appearance.

"And brains…maybe some guts too…" Shikamaru deadpanned, his eyes falling to a shutter before he quirked a lip. "You can quit staring."

"Sorry, it's just…" she shook her head with a sympathetic smile. "You're all okay. That's what matters."

Shikamaru nodded, searching her face. "What's wrong?"

Sakura drew a breath and averted her gaze for a moment, pressing her lips before she glanced back at him, as if struggling with the burden of some reservation he was certain Neji had shoved on her.

Troublesome…

Just knowing this caused his unease to double its weight in his chest. Even so, Shikamaru watched her patiently, tilting his head after a moment and arching his brows, waiting for her to speak first.

Sakura closed her eyes, but when they opened again, they were bright with an urgency that caused him to stiffen.

"I really need to talk to yo—" she cut off when Shikamaru's gaze strayed over her shoulder.

"I'm fine, Sakura," Shikamaru covered for her, tipping his head away. "You should check up on Naruto though. He got hit with most of this crap."

Sakura didn't need to turn around to sense the presence behind her.

She offered Shikamaru a grateful smile, mouthing "thank you" silently. He shrugged, sliding his hands into his pockets as he cocked a hip in a nonchalant manner, though the brief look he gave her indicated he'd understood what she hadn't had time to explain.

"I'll catch you later," he said, the underlying meaning in his words reassuring her.

She smiled, nodding. "Yeah."

Shikamaru watched her move across toward Naruto and Kiba, waiting a moment before he let his gaze stray back and across towards the pale-eyed ninja observing him.

Neji's eyes traced over him in a slow, calculating track…trailing up from his feet, following every crease in his clothing and flak-jacket…taking in the matt of blood, feathers, grit and gore…scanning higher until the opal-like irises settled on his face.

The shadow-nin blinked.

The Hyūga arched a brow.

Shrugging, Shikamaru offered a faint lop-sided smile. "Surprise."

---