"I hate to ask, but we have been here for much too long."
Yukio rocked back and forth in the cave, ignoring Shuen's pleas to leave the cave.
Since he had summoned Shima, he had remained in the cave for several days.
His body would refuse to die of starvation, so that wasn't a way out.
As for why he wasn't leaving the cave? He didn't know himself, something deep within wasn't allowing him to leave.
"Yukio. I have given you many things, now return the favour and leave this cave."
Yukio continued to ignore Shuen.
"Sensei, I think there's something in here." A young female voice came from just outside the cave.
Yukio's eyes suddenly widened and he reached for his Ninjatō, wings flaring.
And that's when he froze and locked eyes with someone.
He saw two pale blue eyes staring back at him from a distance, unsure if the pair could also see him.
Thanks to Shuen, all of his physical abilities had vastly improved, he could see not only in the dark but from a long distance too.
At a time like this, Yukio wished he was like Sora.
He wished he could just vanish.
He really wasn't in the mood to get into a fight, the entire idea of combat repulsed him after his fight against Sora, but he still managed to help his father and then continue fighting those invaders.
And then his master died.
It was like… every time that Yukio engaged in combat, something horribly wrong would happen.
"Yeah, sensei! There's someone in here!" The voice came again, louder this time.
Yukio unconsciously curled up into a ball, his wings wrapping around his body to hide himself.
"I do not sense any animosity, only curiosity and a little bit of unease. Do not be afraid, this is a good opportunity to leave this cave. There are four signatures, three small ones and one large one."
Yukio shifted uncomfortably but he trusted Shuen's judgement, making a small hole for him to peek out from.
He spotted four individuals walking towards him.
One was a tall man, one small girl and two small boys.
Well… small was a strange way to describe one of them.
Yukio had never seen someone so… fat.
His eyes narrowed, scanning the people approaching.
The tall man had tanned skin, black hair and a beard. He was wearing a flak jacket and a headband that made Yukio's eyes narrow in hatred.
But then, he noticed that the pattern was different. Instead of it looking like a pot, it looked like a leaf.
He looked at the three younger ones.
The girl had short pale blonde hair tied into a bun, light blue eyes and pale skin. She was wearing a purple crop top and skirt combo with bandages beneath them, covering most of her skin. Then, on her waist she also had one of those headbands.
Yukio's eyes shifted again, confused as to why a HEADband was on her waist.
He shook his head and looked at the others.
A boy with a weird hairline and spiky black hair tied back into a bun, he was wearing a very similar outfit to the man with his headband on his shoulder.
Then the fat one, the kid was wearing some sort of underwear on his head and had even weirder spiky brown hair that poked out either side of the underwear.
Before he could analyse further, the man spoke. "Reveal yourself." Before he signalled the three children to get behind him in a formation.
Shuen's voice rang out in Yukio's mind before he could panic.
"This will not escalate, do not panic. Just comply, if it does come down to it and you find yourself unable to battle, just hold your sword and speak his name…"
Yukio's eyes shot wide open, shocked at Shuen's idea.
"I could never! I couldn't use him like that! To hurt people… that wouldn't be what he would've wanted—?!"
"You clearly do not know him then. That boy was nothing more than a battle maniac, I'm more than certain he would love to wreak havoc at any given opportunity. Especially if it is to protect you."
Yukio did not know how to reply, so he complied with the man's request.
The man's gaze sharpened as the ball of white and pink feathers unfurled.
Out came Yukio, who was trembling slightly.
The squad of four all stared in confusion.
In their eyes.
A pale, scrawny boy with white and pink hair wearing rather baggy and shredded bloody brown clothing and a luxurious white Ninjatō resting at his hip.
But that wasn't the weird part.
The weird part was the pair of white and pink wings on his back.
Yukio looked up, his matted light hair covering most of his face, making him look rather scruffy and quite a sight.
He didn't say anything, his posture on edge as he waited for the squad to continue.
Seeing that it was just a child, the man sighed in relief and relaxed his posture slightly. "Judging by that sword at your hip… you aren't from any random village. Are you a qualified shinobi of the sand? No… there isn't a forehead protector. Hey, kid, where are you from?" He asked, the lit cigarette playing on his lip.
Yukio digested the man's words, quickly understanding.
"I am not a qualified shinobi from any village or whatever. I am a swordsman and the only remaining user of the Kagamihana Sword Style." He said, trying to make his voice quiet but for some reason it came out far louder than he had tried.
The man's eyes narrowed. "A swordsman?"
That's when the girl piped up from behind him. "Hey, girl. You better clean yourself up, you look a mess! And what are you doing sitting in a random cave, are you trying to die out here?" She asked with an incredulous look.
"Girl?" Yukio muttered to himself, confused.
The boy with spiky black hair just sighed. "What a drag…" he groaned.
The fat one looked a little empathetic as he muttered. "Must be hard without food…"
This nearly made Yukio chuckle, but he kept his composure.
"So, are you people just going to stand around or are you planning on leaving?" He asked, hair still covering his face.
The man stepped forward. "Well, now I'm curious. What's your name, kid?" He asked.
Yukio stood up, wings shaking slightly to dust themselves off. "Yukio Sunohara, please, don't involve yourselves with me and just leave." He said in a flat tone.
The man continued walking closer. "I'm sorry kid, I've got to make sure that you are okay. Bad for my conscience if I just leave ya' here."
Yukio's vision blurred slightly as he felt unnaturally angry, much unlike him.
The man blatantly ignoring him and not listening to his pleas got on his nerves really badly.
He didn't know where this sudden new sense of pride came from, but he let it take over and cloud his judgment.
He focused chakra into his throat and his eyes sharpened, making the man pause briefly.
"TWIST!"
Yukio had hoped to place the entire squad into an illusion that made their world twist and turn, but instead…
His eyes widened as the entire cave shook, the four people suddenly covering their ears as if they had been hit by something that had destroyed their eardrums.
"H-huh?" Yukio said, stumbling backwards.
"Oh… right. I forgot about that. Us peacocks have a really powerful sonic scream that will usually trigger if you use chakra on your voice. I haven't had much of an opportunity to explain the powers you've gotten but… now you know, I guess."
Yukio's eyes widened in horror, realising they would probably see this as an attack and retaliate.
So, he prostrated himself immediately. "I-I am so sorry! Please… please forgive me!" He tried.
But… the three of them were rolling on the floor, clutching their ears.
The man on the other hand, had already regained his composure and had assumed a combative position.
It was clear he couldn't hear Yukio's apologies, so that sucked for him.
"Use the soulflame to heal, or sacrifice a feather or two."
Yukio hadn't really shed the so called soulflame before other than to heal himself, but that took quite a large amount of his chakra and made him feel empty afterwards plus he didn't know how to use it properly.
"It's not that hard, just visualise your soul in the form of flames and use intent to change its property."
Yukio was smart, but this was quite hard to understand, even for him.
"Can I just use a feather?" He asked hopefully.
"I mean… sure, but losing a feather sucks really bad. You'll see what I mean once you try it."
Yukio fumbled as the man rushed forward.
Not hesitating, he willed one of his feathers to detach and fly toward the man.
The man raised a strange unique weapon that could only be described as a knuckle knife to deflect.
Yukio's eyes flashed pink from behind his matted hair and the feather flipped around the knife and fell onto the man's head.
And then, Yukio willed its chakra to enter the man's, then into his burst eardrum.
As for the man, he quickly realised what was happening and froze in confusion.
When he felt his hearing come back, he gave Yukio a strange look.
Yukio placed both of his hands together in an apology. "I am sorry, I didn't even know I could do that. I was trying to put you into an illusion so I could escape." He said, bowing deeply.
The man raised an eyebrow and rubbed his ear with one hand, the other grabbing the slowly disintegrating feather from his head as he inspected it.
"The hell is this? Some kind of bloodline trait?" He asked before looking behind him at his students. "Can you do the same to them?" He asked, a hint of skepticism remaining on his face.
And then… Yukio understood what Shuen meant.
It felt really weird, uneven. It was like he was missing a tooth, a strange sensation that just didn't feel right.
That wasn't even mentioning the large portion of chakra he was missing.
But despite that, he nodded reluctantly and sent three more feathers in their direction.
…
"So… your village was destroyed and you escaped here?" The man, who Yukio had learned was called Asuma, asked.
Yukio nodded in response. "Yes, they killed my parents and master and reduced my entire village to ruin." He said, a vengeful look appearing on his face.
Asuma sighed. "It definitely sounds like the sand… it is in line with their recent assault on Konoha too, of course they'd be interested in those feathers of yours." He said, looking over at Yukio's wings.
After Yukio had healed the three kids, Asuma had shared some clothes, food, water and even used some technique to wash him.
Yukio was sitting around a campfire in the cave, wearing a purple sweater, black shorts with bandages up his legs and some actual sandals! His feet no longer had to burn when he walked on the sand.
Right now, his sleeves were rolled up and his two dark pink cuff wrist weights were visible.
By now, they barely felt like anything, so Yukio just kept them on for sentimental value.
Asuma had not expected the kid to look like this, he was expecting someone so dirty to be quite a bit more… hideous.