literature

.Feral. Chapter One

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Okay, I think, shoving the dense pink covers of my bed away from me. Today is the the day. I swing my feet over to the side of my bed and spring up. A glance at my clock tells me the time is 7:03. I stretch for a moment before slowly walking to the shower and preparing as necessary. A squeak signals the turning of the knob, sending the water, which takes a curiously small amount of time to warm up, onto my back. A shampoo and a wet towel later, I find myself scurrying into my tiny closet to throw on my clothes. A firm tug brings down my maroon tee, and I secure my bright canary yellow cummerbund--I always thought that was a funny word--across my waist. I slip on my much duller orange jacket, though it is really more an accessory than a necessity, after all, it has sleeves shorter than my shirt's. Subconsciously, a soft tune resounds from my lips as I put on my shorter-than-most shorts, which are countered by maroon, toeless knee-highs. The closet door opens with a creak as I get out, almost tripping on my not-quite-on-yet left shoe. I strap on my weapon holster, on my right leg if you must know, and place my shuriken pouch in its proper place. And, always the most important part of my wardrobe, my Star Village headband is wrapped around my forehead and secured tightly.

Today is the day I recieve the nagare-boshi mark.

As custom, I look over myself in my room's oval, body-length mirror to make sure I look all right for the day. Oh. Duh. I pad over to my out-of-place bedstand and snatch up my hairbrush, stroking through my auburn hair carelessly a few times before setting the tool back down. I glare at the clock, which seems to enjoy showing the time I never seem to want. As for now, it mocked me with its stiff, black hands pointing to show the time 7:30. It wouldn't be another 30 minutes before anyone could get to the star. Letting out a louder-than-necessary sigh, I collapse back onto my bed, which lets out a sharp creak of disapproval. A little soundless burst of air from my lungs lifts away the strands of hair that apparently decided to fall in the middle of my face. Not much use laying around here. I might as well do something. I sit up. Taijutsu training, I guess?

After deciding the tree had taken enough punishment for today (and not to mention my limbs as well), I pushed off from the wood, using the momentum to move away, though it was not completely necessary. My hand fishes through my pocket and soon locates my silver pocketwatch. I almost squeal in delight when I flick it open and see that it reads 7:57. With newfound energy, I rush through the trees, starting toward the crater where the shooting star was found.

My footsteps tap the rock beneath as I slow every second, the crater nearing. I stop about a foot away from the drop, which is quite steep. Luckily, with all the hubbub about the star, a few villagers had decided to put in a convenient little stony staircase, which now finds itself trampled on by my descent. Most of the people scattered around are village officials and a few shinobi who have already recieved the nagare-boshi mark. I am not the only one out to get a mark, though. I can see a few villagers (aside from the officials, who elected not to recieve the mark until the effects were further studied) with bare arms, and I can recognize a few of them. In fact... "Pika? What are you doing here?" I call, jogging toward my friend and waving an arm in the air so that he'll see me. "Getting a nagare-boshi mark. What do you think I'm doing?" he replies teasingly and relaxed-like. "Well, you just told me," I say, sticking my tongue out at him. He laughs a bit. "True." He stretches. He just kind of stretches all the time, like he's going to run off into a marathon or something. I guess he just likes stretching for his own odd reasons. "So, taking the chance, then?" His words snap me out of my little zone-out session. "Yeah," I reply. "I just can't stand feeling so useless, y'know? And maybe we can show our power with more shinobi getting the mark."

"Probably." Pika's face crinkles to the side a bit, as if he were chewing on some unsavory food. "But how are we going to show it, anyway? It's not like we're gonna launch ourselves into a war or something. And you know the Hoshikage's obsession with the Leaf Village; if we attack anyone, we'd be attacking them, and that's just suicide." He pauses to glance at my reaction, which was hardly one at all, and continues. "Sumaru's not that way, anywho." Pika stretches again, thrusting his arms into the air. "Yeah," I agree, my gaze drifting to the
purple building that housed the new star. "And y'know, it's not like he doesn't have a reason to be obsessed with them, I mean, after all, a group of their ninja ended Akahoshi's reign and that destructive star training." I look up to the cloudless sky. "I just hope this star doesn't have anything near the side effects of the last one," I finish quietly, really talking more to myself than to my best friend.

"Yeah..."

A buzz of chatter suddenly surrounds the building. I look at it. The doors were open. "Pika!" I say in surprise, "C'mon, it's open!" We shoot forward to the structure (well, I assume it is both of us; all I know for sure is that I sure as heck speed over there) through a mass of people, surprisingly enough. Just our villagers, just the ones who want to recieve the nagare-boshi mark, and somehow there's still a huge crowd. Huh. "Attention! Can I have everyone's attention!" calls one of the medical scientists in charge now that we are all in the building. I cannot restrain myself from sneaking a peek at the star. It doesn't look much like the last one, though they are probably about the same size. It is a pale shade of gray, and the minature craters in it are outlined with a faint trace of pink, maybe purple? Hard to tell. It's not glowing very much, but it does have a shell of whitish fog around it.

"...groups of two," the man finishes. "What did he say?" I whisper to Pika, who has somehow ended up next to me. "We'll pair up; two of us at a time'll go to the star," he replied faintly. "I guess you'll be my partner?"

"Yeah, I don't think I know anyone else here," I mutter back, looking around at the ninja of our village shuffling around. "Is Sorainu Daiichi here?" the medical ninja organizing the comings and goings of the nagare-boshi mark calls. "Here," a male voice replies, accompanied by a bandaged hand lifted into the air. Sorainu worms his way to the medic with a girl a little younger than him. "And I'll recieve it with my sister." he says. "Then I'll check her off as well," the operator says kindly. Sorainu gives him a brief nod and, with his sister, approaches the star. I can see that their hands are tightly closed together as they kneel so that the star is at their eye level. My face awkwardly tightens up, and Pika takes notice. "What's wrong?" I slowly turn to look him in the eye. "We're... We're not going to have to hold hands, too, are we?" I say in a gravelly manner. "No," he ridicules. "It's not like the world would implode if you had to hold my hand for a second, anyway." He snickers. I bite down the urge to smack him upside the head.

"Is Pika Pikahoshi here?" The official's voice snaps us out of our little fight. "Here," he calls from right next to me. Come on, he mouths to me, making his way to the star. The two siblings from the Daiichi were gone. "Where did they go?" I whisper. Pika doesn't hear me. "And with you?" the medic questions. "I'm recieving the mark with Sukoshi Kuma."

"All right." My heart thumps a million times a second, and it seems to threaten to fly out of my chest. Pika and I slowly make our way to the pedastal-seated star. "You ready?" Pika mutters to me absentmindedly. "Yeah," I respond, so quietly that I am not sure if he heard me at all. My blue-haired friend kneels in front of the star. I hesitate in a horrific moment of fear and doubt. Just one of those freaky little "I can't believe I'm actually doing this" moments. With a bit of a growl, Pika tugs me down to his level. I reclaim my reddish shirtsleeve from his grip and kneel how I should be doing so. I close my eyes and will my breathing to slow. Surprising how I had not noticed I was breathing overly choppy before. But whatever. In a slow exhale, I feel a pulsing sensation in my forehead and my right arm. It soon spreads to my whole body, and changes to a combo pulsing-tingling feeling. Light grey spots pulsate in my already-black vision, and I lose consciousness.

When I wake up, I am sitting on a small, white, uncomfortable bed. Many others surround it, with many other villagers on them. A small squeeze on my right arm makes me turn my head and rest my gaze there. A length of bandage was wrapped twice around my upper arm, just under a purple circle that spans most of the side of my arm. Two long lines come from the opposite edges of the circle, and they meet in the middle of my forearm. A smile spreads across my lips.

I finally have the nagare-boshi mark.

I lean back on the hospital-style bed and sigh, not in sadness, just a pointless, noisy burst of air from my lungs. This is my first step...No, the Village's first step...to being a real Hidden Village. Someday, someday soon, we can be recognized as what we are...Not just a tiny, nobody village, but one of the Great Hidden Villages.
w00t! First chapter! :boogie: So, tell me what ya think and stuff. :3
© 2008 - 2024 Shitsugaikocu
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Miyazaki-A2's avatar
Ah the Star Village and their superiority complex...

Anyways, I thought this was really well written, and the character sounds pretty interesting. Love to see where this is going. :heart:

And I honestly can't remember this coming into my DeviantWatch. I'll have to be more observant. :cries: