#my teeth move FREAKISHLY fast. which was great when i had braces

[lonelyroommp3]

just put in my retainer after not wearing it last night. my phone says the time is 1:34 but right now it feels like it’s actually tooth hurty

[fictionliv-ing]

04 || Marked

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"Listen here, you lot!"

At the sound of the proctor's voice, I give her my full attention. She stands in front of a tall fence that separates us from a dense forest— one so dense that beyond the frontmost trees, I see nothing but dark shadows.

"Before we begin the second exam, I have to hand these out to all of you." Anko holds up a thick wad of papers before passing them to the nearest genin, who then passes it around for everyone to take. "It's a consent form. You must sign it before you can participate."

Naruto speaks up, studying the sheet of paper given to him. "Why do we need a consent form, though?"

"This forest is called 'The Forest of Death'- and for good reason. The moment you step foot in there, there's a chance you'll die. I have to get your consent for that." She smiles sheepishly. "Otherwise, it'll be my responsibility.

"The second exam is one big survival exercise." Anko continues. "You'll be let into the forest through a gate. There are 44 in total, surrounding the entire area. Inside, you'll find rivers, a forest, and a tower. The tower is right in the center of the area, an exact 10 kilometres away from each gate.

"The objective is simple." She states. "Make it to the tower in five days."

"That's it?" Kono mumbles to us. "That doesn't sound so bad."

"However," Anko pipes up again, reaching into her jacket and bringing out two scrolls- one colored a light cream, the other a dark navy. "To pass the second exam, you must show up to the tower with a pair of scrolls: one Heaven and one Earth."

I narrow my eyes in suspicion.

"Half of the teams here will get one Heaven scroll each. The other half will be given one Earth scroll. All your team has to do is survive in the forest and get to the tower with both scrolls." She says.

So, we'd have to hunt others down to pass.

Anko continues to explain the rules of the second exam to us. We'd have to make it to the tower as a three-person team, with both scrolls, within the time limit. If anyone were to become incapacitated or if a member was lost, we'd be disqualified. On top of all of that, looking at the content of the scrolls was absolutely forbidden— to test our reliability as chunin.

"That's all!" She concludes. "When you're done signing your forms, step up to that table over there and exchange your forms for a scroll. Once you've gotten your scrolls, choose a gate and wait. All the gates will open at the same time.

"Just one last piece of advice," Anko sighs, looking at all of us seriously. "Don't die!"

"Well, that's cheerful." Kono comments, deadpanning nervously. Mira looks just as nervous, fidgeting with the sheet of paper in her hands. The three of us sign our forms and quickly exchange them for a scroll. Heaven. Mira pockets it quickly, keeping it tucked away under all the weapons and tools in her pouch.

Walking to a gate far away from the other examinees, we strategize. We decide that Mira keeps the scroll as she has the best defenses with her earth style ninjutsu. In the inevitable situation that we come across other teams, we're to pretend that Kono is holding onto the scroll, which will hopefully fool the opponent because of his tall stature and authoritative aura. But since our primary objective is to obtain an Earth scroll, we plan to spend the rest of the day settling into a clearing and setting up traps. When all the traps are in place, we'd then set up camp right in the middle and wait for someone to fall victim to our scheme.

It went smoothly enough. As soon as the gates opened, we'd sprinted straight into the forest, putting good distance in between us and the perimeter. Once we'd found a clearing that had great lighting, we immediately got to work. Not even thirty minutes into the exam and our plan was already going well.

Halfway through our setting up, something changes and everything feels wrong. There's a shift in the air, an ominous one. I'm not the only one who notices, either. To my right, Mira stops in her tracks and glances at me. We exchange looks and turn to Kono, only to find him already standing alert and in a fighting stance.

"Mira. Sumi." He says, teeth clenched. "The plan can wait."

At his tone and demeanor, Mira and I immediately move to his side in a defensive stance. We face our intruder.

On the other side of the clearing stands a man in neutral colored clothing. A Grass shinobi. He has a thick, purple rope tied around his waist and a straw hat resting atop his head. His teammates are nowhere in sight, so I immediately scan the area behind him and around us, just in case they were lurking in the shadows somewhere.

"Look at you three," He hisses. Under the hat, a freakishly long tongue darts out to lick his lips messily. Gross. "So young and full of life."

"What do you want?" Kono barks out.

"I was planning to attack only one team here but," He takes off his straw hat and tosses it to the side, fixating on us with a predatory glare. "I'm feeling a bit more alive today."

I narrow my eyes at his form. The blood lust rolling off of him is sickening.

What happens next is too fast for any of us to process. His head darts forward, neck elongating with his movement, and we're all knocked off our feet. The collision sends us all flying backwards into a tree, and we don't even have time to react.

"Pitiful." He drawls, head returning to his body. "Is this the best the Hidden Leaf can do?"

Kono gets to his feet first, holding out a hand to help Mira and I up without turning his back on the man. "You guys alright?"

I nod, hand going to my kunai holster and bringing out a knife. Clenching it hard in my fist, I stand confidently beside Kono, ready to engage. "Are we fighting?"

"Seems so." Mira answers from Kono's other side. She flexes her fingers in anticipation of the battle to come. "He's not going away anytime soon. Kono?"

"Hm." He grunts in response. We understand right away and brace ourselves. "Go."

The signal is quiet and sudden, but we react immediately. Moving along the perimeter of the clearing, I sprint towards the Grass ninja, pumping chakra to my legs to increase my speed. Kono does the same on the other side, leaving Mira behind us. She immediately gets to work, weaving a series of hand signs.

"Earth Style: Dark Swamp!" she calls out, slamming her hands down onto the ground. Her jutsu makes the earth beneath the Grass ninja's feet turns dark and sludgy. He sinks into the mud, unable to move from his spot. Kono and I take this opportunity to close in from both sides, aiming to kick downwards at his shoulders. Before our feet make contact, the Grass nin raises his hands and latches onto our ankles, effectively stopping our attack.

He twists his body a full 360-degree angle to build up momentum and roughly flings us back to where we came from. I crash into Kono, who is caught by Mira. Since her hands are forced to catch us, her jutsu is put to an end. The Grass nin steps out of the mud, smiling menacingly at the three of us, who lie on top of each other on the ground. My breathing is deep and heavy; I'd put a lot of chakra into that kick, hoping to end things quickly so we could go back to our plan. To have my chakra release cut off like that- it's taken a toll on my body.

"We're going to have to fight our way out of this one, guys." Kono says after I get off of him. I offer the them my hands and help them up, the three of us getting into formation again. "He's tough, but it's three against one. We can do this."

And try, we do. For what feels like hours, we do our best against this Grass shinobi who seems to have a counterattack for everything we throw at him. One after the other, Mira and Kono are knocked out, heavily wounded, and I'm left barely standing with dozens of scratches around my body, breathing raggedly.

I wasn't going to use my Kekkei Genkai until we encountered a team that possessed the scroll we wanted, but I'm left no choice. Despite not having enough time to take a chakra pill, I do my best to will my teammates' blood clean and back into their bodies. The openings of the cuts, I seal, just to make sure that they don't start bleeding out again. Seizing control over my own blood, I form it into senbon needles and send them flying towards my opponent, who stands at the far end of the clearing. Because I'm so tired, he's able to dodge my attack easily. He's smart, too; he doesn't fail to notice the details that make my needles unique.

"Red needles?" He asks me, being direct with his question. "Blood?"

I don't respond. How could I, when it's taking what little energy I have left to keep myself from collapsing. Instead, I will more blood needles into form, throwing them relentlessly at the Grass ninja. Might not have been my best move, as he dodges everything just as easily as the first time, and I'm running out of blood by the second.

"It is." The man hisses in wonder, walking towards me and licking his lips with that abnormally long tongue of his. "I haven't encountered a member of the Takao clan in so long."

He stands close enough for me to see the evil glint in his eyes. Due to our close proximity, it should've been easy for me to hit him accurately this time, but I can feel my consciousness slipping away. The blood loss is causing my vision to go blurry, and my head is suffering from the lack of oxygen. I can't hold myself up anymore. My legs give out from under me, and my body surges forward. I wait for the cold, hard ground to hit me in the face, but it never comes.

What happens next disgusts me to my very core. The Grass ninja sticks his tongue out, elongating it rapidly and wrapping it around my waist. I'm lifted up by the muscular organ, and he holds my limp body up in front of him.

"You have potential." He tells me, tongue moving to flick my hair away from my face. I shiver in fear and cringe away, but still lack the energy to free myself from his grasp. "You will be mine."

His tongue moves away from my face and goes to wrap around my wrist. My arm is lifted up, though I don't really process anything as I slip in and out of consciousness. Blinking desperately, I struggle to make sense of what he does.

He sinks his fangs into my forearm, sending a searing pain tearing through my body. I scream in agony, feeling as though his bite sends fire crawling into my veins. Slowly, he unwinds his tongue from my waist. I fall to the ground roughly, clutching onto my arm as if squeezing it hard enough would make the pain go away.

"How little you must know of your heritage." The man drawls. I don't even have the energy to look up at him as he speaks. I'm left staring at the ground, clenching my teeth in an effort to keep quiet; the last thing I need is more enemies showing up. "If you want answers, you will come to me. I'll give them to you. And then I'll give you more."

One blink and he's gone. He's vanished, and there's not a single trace of him other than the bite marks on my forearm. I fight to stay awake, but my body eventually gives into the exhaustion and my consciousness leaves me, the memory of his promise ringing in my head.

-

There's a blinding light that whites my vision.

Am I dead?

Blinking rapidly, I angle my head away from the light. My neck protests against the sudden movement; pain is my body's reaction. I gasp at the sensation, lifting a hand to my neck to clutch at it. My arm burns too, making me groan in discomfort.

So, this is what the afterlife is like. Your body holds onto the pain you feel in your dying moments. Not exactly what I expected, but—

"Sumi-chan!" A hazy voice calls.

Huh? Who's that?

"Kono-kun, Sumi-chan's awake!"

A pair of shadows loom over me, blocking the light source, and I am finally able to see clearly. Leaning over me with worried looks on their faces are my teammates. The air smells of dirt and foliage- but maybe that's just because I'm lying flat on the ground. Then, I remember: I'm in the Forest of Death.

My body screams in protest as I struggle to pull myself up. Kono helps me into a sitting position, and Mira rummages through our supplies for a canteen of water.

"What happened?" I ask, voice coming out raspy and hoarse at the lack of hydration. I accept the canteen that Mira hands me, relishing the feel of the water sliding down my throat.

"When we woke up, you were unconscious, so we don't know what happened between you and that Grass ninja." Mira starts. "We did our best to dress your wounds, but you've lost a lot of blood. You're a lot paler than usual."

"We went ahead and set up the traps." Kono says, reaching into his pouch. "While you were out, a team got caught. Luckily, they were weak enough for us to defeat, and they surrendered their scroll without further hesitation."

He brings out two scrolls of different colors. "Lucky for us, they had an Earth scroll. Now, we just need to make it to the tower. We'll be fine."

"That's great news." I let out a sigh of relief. "How long was I out?"

"Two days."

"Two days?!" I exclaim, straightening up and wincing at my lightheadedness due to the loss of blood. "That's a lot of time lost. We should get going!"

Despite the pain in my muscles, I try to get up on my feet. Grunting in pain, I manage to get to my knees before my body absolutely refuses to move.

"Stop, Sumi." Kono commands with authority in his voice- a tone I rarely hear him use. "You have no energy in you, and your body needs a little bit more time to recover. Rest first."

"I've been resting for two days— " I protest.

Mira rests a hand on my shoulder. "Kono's right, Sumi-chan. You're only going to hurt yourself if you keep pushing on like this. Eat something first, at least."

Seeing the concerned looks in their eyes, I nod. They help move me to lean against a tree, giving me some food that they'd cooked while I was unconscious. While I eat, we strategize. Our main goal now is to reach the tower without any delays. No fighting, no side trips, no breaks— just a one-way trip to the tower.

Kono and Mira decide to seal the scrolls we'd managed to obtain in a spare scroll that we'd brought with us, so that if we were ever cornered by another enemy, we'd be able to convince them that we had no scrolls in possession.

We're almost ready to go. I've finished my food and have done a couple of stretches. Though my muscles still ache a bit, I'm feeling much better than I did when I first woke up and can properly move by myself. I lift my canteen of water to my lips one last time before we depart.

"Sumi-chan, what's that?" Mira asks, pointing to my hand. I follow her gaze to a mark on the inner side of my left wrist: three slightly curved lines surrounding a hollow center, the tips equidistant from one another.

"I don't know..." I reach out a finger to touch it, the action bringing back a familiar sensation. It's the same burning feeling I felt when that Grass ninja bit into my arm, though not as painful. "What...?"

"Guys." Kono interrupts, though I can see him studying the mark on my wrist cautiously. "We should go."

I stand straight and nod, Mira mirroring my stance. "Right."

Jumping into the shadows of the trees and traveling towards the tower as quickly as we can, we leave the clearing behind and move forward to greater things.

-

For the first time since the second exam started, things go according to plan. We make it to the forest by sunset without interruption; no enemies, no traps, nothing. It's the best thing to happen to me in this forest, and when we enter the tower, I fall to my knees in both exhaustion and gratification.

"Sumi-chan!" Mira gasps, rushing to my side in concern.

"I'm fine." I pant, still not having fully recovered from all the blood loss. "A little tired, but I'm fine."

Together, Kono and Mira help me to my feet, supporting my weight as we make our way further into the tower and into a room, where I rest on a bench. Draining my canteen, I lean back against the wall and close my eyes, concentrating on calming my breathing.

"Hey, look, it's Hinata!"

Kono's voice makes me look up. Sure enough, Hinata stands in the doorway of the room we're resting in.

"Kiba-kun, they're in here!" She calls out behind her. Entering the room, she takes notice of the numerous cuts scattered on our body and offers us a special ointment. Taking it gratefully, Mira applies the ointment to my wounds first, then does the same to herself before passing the pot to Kono.

Kiba comes running in with Akamaru on his heels and Shino close behind. "Sumi-chan! Wow, you guys look terrible."

"Thanks for stating the obvious." Mira says with a pointed glare at him. Kiba chuckles and scratches the back of his head sheepishly before growing serious.

"You'll never believe what we saw." He says, tone grim. "You guys know the Sand genin, right?"

At the mention of Gaara and the others, I narrow my eyes. "What happened?"

Kiba goes on to tell us the story of how they'd gone to investigate the opponents that Akamaru had noticed, only to witness Gaara ruthlessly murder an entire team, even after obtaining their needed scroll. He had used his sand to encase their bodies in a cocoon, and then applied pressure until the bodies caved in. The victims had died in seconds.

"You were right, Sumi-chan." Kono mumbles, a scared look in his eyes. "They're bad news after all."

"At least we successfully avoided them this time." Mira says, placing a hand on my shoulder in comfort. She knows how easily triggered I get at the mention of that sand. "The only thing we can do now is rest up and recover. Who knows what the proctors have in store for us?"

-

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[shadowsfiguresfigments-blog]

A good place to die - Intro

Warning: mentions abuse, harsh language, violence

It wasn’t quite awake yet, but it had regained enough of is consciousness to realize a great deal was wrong. It was hurt.

Badly hurt.

And something was coming.

It tried to grab at the pieces of consciousness, and when it had gathered a couple more, it realized it was drifting in pieces. An image emerged from somewhere, and after another wave trying to break the dizziness, it took form. The pieces that were floating around the dimly flickering lights started drifting together, merging and forming a peculiar shape. Not yet quite aware of how or why things were happening, it gently floated down to the wet floor, still not entirely finished reforming, and directed its silver gaze to the dark hole of the tunnel from which the presence seemed to come. Hazy memories flashed through its mind, memories of fear, of the chase, of floating kids and of the pain that had been inflicted on it. The image emerged again, and a name with it: Pennywise.

Pennywise began to understand. He had lost the battle, again, and as it would seem, nearly for good. Also, his hibernation cycle was off – he knew another 10 years would have to pass before it would be actual feeding time again. Yet this presence, which was now fast approaching, had brought him back – or, at least, had brought most of him back. He felt incredibly weak. His senses seemed dull, and he was sure he wouldn’t be able to shape-shift out of the clown form. Only because it was his most frequently used form he had been able to gather himself enough to turn into it in the first place.

He sniffed the air and tried to gather information on the unexpected visitor. If it was one of the nasty group this would be his last day for sure. After all they had wounded him badly twice now.

But he only caught the scent of one human being, and an unfamiliar one it was too. He heard the splashing noises of the humans little feet dragging through the grey water of the sewers. Judging by the sound of the waves and the strides it would be a small one – a child, fortunately.

Pennywise cracked a smile. Maybe his process of recovery could be significantly shortened.

He braced himself and slid into the shadows of one of the towers of junk that had built over the years. Just a second after a tiny human child in a green jacket stumbled into the opening of the cistern and came to a halt. Damp black pigtails protruded from underneath its hood, and the child’s breath came in ragged sobs.

Perfect.

Pennywise scanned the girl briefly, and the clowns face furrowed in the imitation of human confusion.

The girl was older than she looked, and sorrow surrounded her like a second skin. The latest argument between her and her way-too-young mom and her abusive dad was running through the girls mind. Pennywise could still see the bruises the father had left on the girls jaw only a couple of weeks before.

He took another whiff and scanned her again, more thoroughly.

This child was a mess. Derry had always been cruel to its children, but nothing compared to what the girl went through on a daily basis. Abuse in all imaginable forms from the 40 year old father and the mother who had given birth in her early teens. The bullying in school, both verbally and physically. And, of course, the complete disinterest of anybody who came in contact with the child. So much suffering, so much pain to draw from. If only Pennywise could gather the strength to transform…

The clown would have to do in the meantime.

 Pennywise stepped out of the shadows and towered before the girl. She didn’t even reach his crotch, probably because of the malnourishment, and she strained her neck trying to look up to him.

But she didn’t flinch.

“Hello, little girl. Are you looking for the circus?”

She stared at him for moment longer, her big grey eyes devoid of any reaction to his sudden appearance.

“I ran from my family and hid in the sewer. Now I’m lost, Mr. Clown.”

Nothing in her emotional make-up changed. No fear, no worry about being lost, now wonder at the sight of a freakishly huge clown in the center of the sewers, just dull sorrow radiating from her.

“I would say you are found, little girl.” He cackled in the high-pitched, just slightly over-the-top manner that children liked but adults abhorred. “You are found by Pennywise, the dancing clown. That’s me.” His eyes had turned blue, and he lowered himself slowly to the girls’ level.

“My name is…”

“Oh, I know your name already, little girl. Would you like a balloon?”

He pulled a bright red balloon on a white string from behind his back and held it out to her.

She just stared at him, no emotional reaction whatsoever. At length she finally shook her head.

“My dad would just pop it.”

He tilted his head to the side, a sly grin on his lips.

“Then you could stay here, and I could give you all the balloons you want. You could watch them float…”

Still emitting nothing but sorrow, the girls dead eyes turned towards the balloon, than back to the clown.

“Are you going to kill me?”

Pennywise began to worry. The girl did not show any signs of fear, of hate, of anger or any other emotion he had come to associate with fucked up kids. She was sad, yes, and she was well aware of what would happen to her once she went home, but it did not scare her.

The last time a girl had no longer been afraid of her dad did not end well for Pennywise.

Pennywise smiled, and made sure she could see all of his myriads of sharp teeth. “Yes, I will, little girl.”

And then she stepped forward, right in front of his scary teeth, and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, Pennywise”, she said, and for the first time the sorrow gave way to something else - relieve.

“You want to die?” Pennywise asked, now seriously troubled. He’d had so much fun with the kids Derry broke. Henry Bowers, for example. Feared by all the other kids, yet so afraid of his own Dad he still wet his pants when he was already drinking and smoking. Henry had been both an excellent source of fear and a very useful tool. But then Beverly Marsh and the losers came and hurt him, hurt him so bad he could not quite explain how he was still alive.

He was not going through that again.

But then again the little girl did not exhibit any sort of anger or aggression. Her relieve was so genuine and so intense it blocked out the smell of the sewer. Her physical contact made him nervous, but he didn’t dare to move. If he upset her she might very well finish him off for good.

He had lost his touch.

The girl still clung to him, her pigtails tickling his nostrils, not caring about the drool that started to run down her jacket.

“I am a nuisance. I do not want to live anymore, I do not want to be a burden anymore.” She started crying now and Penny slowly, carefully pulled away. Fascinated, he slowly licked the tears of the girls face.

There was just the card-board taste of grieve.

Pennywise began to back off. Careful now, don’t upset the human. Don’t make her ram an iron poker through your skull. Don’t make her shoot something against your soft belly.

“Why aren’t you scared of me?” he croaked, his already breaking voice even more sporadic.

“You are honest. And you can end this for me.”

She was still staring at him expectantly, like he was an over-sized beardless sewer Santa. Realization dawned on him. He shook his head. “I will not eat you.”

The expectant look on the girl faded, her eyes became lifeless again, and she slowly lowered her gaze. But she stopped crying. “Why not?” Her whisper was barely audible.

“You are not afraid. You won’t taste like anything”, Penny explained, at the same time wondering what he was doing. “Besides, I am supposed to sleep for another decade, so I’m not hungry.” The last part was only half a lie.

She looked at him again, her eyes expressionless but somehow still piercing through him, through Pennywise the clown, down to the dimly glowing lights. “You are hurt”, she observed, and then she sat down on an old washing machine that protruded from one of the junk mountains.

Pennywise didn’t know what to do. The girl creeped him out, and he wanted her to go, but if he upset her she might become more than just a nuisance. Besides, the trick with the balloon and the fangs, something he would normally do “in his sleep”, as the humans said, had cost him a considerable amount of strength.

“Look, little one, I want to go back to sleep, so you need to go.”

She shook her head. “But, Mr. Pennywise, you said yourself that I am found now. If I go, I will be lost again. That’s not something good to be, right?”

He cringed a little. “I’ll show you out.”

“Can I please hold the balloon on the way?”

He held it out to her, and the girl hopped down from her seat. She very, very carefully took the balloon from him, no urge to bite her there, and then she beamed at him. Her entire face lit up, and her dead eyes looked human for the first time during this entire strange encounter.

“Thank you!”, she whispered, and hugged him again, this time around his knees.

There was only so much Pennywise could do to keep himself from kicking the girl across the entire cistern. “Let’s get going”, he moaned, and she let go of him, but still kept smiling at him and the balloon. Then she reached out and took his hand, all smile and admiration at the simple red balloon.

Pennywise started to go to the entrance to the tunnel that would bring them closest to kissing bridge, but on a second thought he took something from one of the piles of junk. The girl didn’t notice, her eyes still locked on the balloon while trying to keep up with Pennies big strides.

So the unlikely pair wandered off into the darkness and foul smell, and the little girl was happy for the first time in her short life, while the clown was scared for his the third time within the eons he had already existed.

When they reached the exit the girl held the balloon out to Pennywise, but he hesitated a second before taking it.

“My dad will destroy it, and that would be a pity.”

Once again the huge clown folded his frame and crouched down to the height of the human. He took the balloon, but held out something else. It was an old, dirty and ragged teddy bear that smelled of mold and sewer. It was missing an ear and an eye, and the fabric was threadbare.

“Take this one instead, little girl. You can hide it beneath the blackberry bush in your garden, so your parents won’t find it.” Better make sure the scary girl likes you, if she won’t fear you, right? Better not anger her or make her come back while you are sleeping. Better appease this human abomination.

The girl stared at the teddy bear, and Pennywise was beginning to feel very anxious again, but then she let out a little giggle and reached for the worn toy. “Thank you so much, Mr. Pennywise. You are the kindest, bestest friend I have” , she said, and adding, after a second of consideration, “You are the only friend I have, but you are still the best.”

She hugged him again,  more drool smearing on her jacket and her bruised face, radiating joy to the point where Penny felt sick to the stomach, and then she finally left, teddy hugged tightly against her small chest, carefully setting her feet on the slippery stones.

Friend, she had called him.

Pennywise shuddered while withdrawing back into the darkness where he would sleep and dream for another decade.