A Hatred That Will Never Bloom Into Friendship

"Kimina... Kimina..."

"Ugh... uh... ugh. Huh?" I felt a cool hand take mine, and another hand on my shoulder.

"Kimina…!" That voice. It sounded so familiar to me. But yet it didn't. The voice sounded exasperated, short of breath. Was it an angel calling me to him? No. The voice sounded too familiar and too disturbed to be a harmonious vocal of an angel. I was still alive. But how?

"Kimina! Kimina...!"

"Lloyd..." My throat was so dry; I could barely speak his name. A sound of relief escapes his lips.

"Who else... would it be?" I could hear him chuckling, but it sounded wrong.

"I'm... I'm not dead?" I ask incredulously.

"Of course your not. Now, here... let me help you up." He wraps his arm around the upper part of my back. He grunts lowly as he stands, pulling me up with him.

"Oh my God..." I gasp out, placing my free hand over my forehead. I was so dizzy; it felt that I would collapse again at any moment.

"I got you," Lloyd tells me surely, tightening his hold around me. And that's when I felt it. Something warm on my right arm; something warm and wet.

I look down to see what it was, my vision much more clearer than seconds before. "Lloyd! You’re... you’re hurt! Your arm...!" His left arm had a big gash near his shoulder-line, blood pouring from it heavily.

"I'm fine, Kimina. I had to get that guy off of you somehow, right?" he says, smirking.

"Lloyd... no. You shouldn't have done anything. That... that wound is so deep..." I stammer. The wound looked too ghastly to look at.

"I said I'm fine, Kimina. He just sliced me a little with a kunai knife. The kunai that I was going to pierce him with. He was... so fast. He let go of his hold on you, and took the knife from my hand and sliced me before retuning to his brother's side..." he explains a bit sharply. "Anyway, looks like you were right about Naria sensei. She was hiding something from us. Our own sensei..."

"There has to be an explanation for what she did," I tell Lloyd, more to myself though. I desperately wanted to believe that.

"Yeah... if we make it out of here alive, we'll be sure to ask her." His tone was very annoyed and sarcastic. 'That is... if our sensei is still alive herself...'

"So, what are we going to do?" I question hopelessly. I then spot the two brothers standing a bit away from us, smiling calmly and carelessly. I grip onto Lloyd tighter for support.

Rakuyo walks up to us just then, his expression serious. He looks at me. "You okay?" I nod my head.

"These guys" --Rakuyo begins-- "they are really strong..."

"Oh, so now you want to talk? For your information, we already know that they’re strong! Tell us something we don't know!" Lloyd interrupts Rakuyo shrewdly.

"Lloyd...!" I yell, stunned.

"Will everyone just shut-up and let me think!" he shouts, very irritated. I pull away from him, completely taken aback by his outburst. He ignores my sudden retreat from him. Rakuyo
says nothing, only eyes Lloyd specuatively.

"Look at them bickering," Toshio proclaims with a snicker. "It's really sad."

"Breaks my heart," Yasu retorts sarcastically.

"Lloyd..." I mutter softly, knowing he couldn't hear me. What was going on with him? Was he cracking under the pressure? No, not Lloyd…

Lloyd's P.O.V

'Rakuyo's right. These guys are very strong. How are we ever going to... damn!' I ponder over and over in my mind.

Flashback
"You never want to show fear to your opponent, never. No matter their strength. That is the way of the Yukohama. Attack your enemy head on!" My father goes on and on, balling his fist up with each ending sentence.

I watch with curious and excited eyes, my legs dangling from the chair I was sitting on.

~~*~~

"This is your first mission outside the village. Remember everything I have taught you, and do not disappoint me." My father stares down at me, his eyes serious.

End Flashback

End of Lloyd's P.O.V

"Listen you guys, just stay here..." Lloyd orders clearly.

"Why?" I ask, dumbfounded. "Don't tell me... your going to try to fight them two on your own?" His silence proved me right.

"Lloyd... whatever you’re thinking about doing..." Rakuyo trails off. "Remember what Naria sensei told you, told us about teamwork." I close my eyes at the word. Rakuyo notices.

"Alright, Rakuyo. What do you plan we do then?" Lloyd asks. Sarcastic again.

"Hmph. So, I guess he's just gonna' have his little teammates make all the decisions for him... like a good little Leaf genin, right?" Yasu says to his brother amusingly.

"Shut-up!" Lloyd spits back.

"Oh... a very short-tempered one too," Toshio exclaims, sneering.

"I'll show you short- tempered!" As Toshio had wanted, Lloyd darts out to the two brothers, blood dripping on the ground behind him.

"Lloyd!" Rakuyo yells after him, his expression astonished. "What does he think he's doing? Come on, Kimina."

I didn't move. I couldn't move. I was frozen where I stood, my feet interlocked with the ground beneath me.

"Kimina," Rakuyo calls my name again, worry in his voice. "Kimina, what's wrong with you?"
I shake my head back and forth, unable to speak.

"Kimina!" he calls my name again, this time much louder.

"Aaahhh!" Lloyd's fatal cry echoes through the trees once more. He flies backwards and lands on the ground, near Rakuyo's feet. He screams out in pain, gripping his wounded arm.

"Lloyd... you alright?" Rakuyo asks tentatively, kneeling down beside him.

"Ugh... I'm fine," Lloyd answers back, trying to get up.

"Here," Rakuyo helps him to stand.

"Hmph. Thanks..." Lloyd acknowledges in a quick whisper.

"Hah! What a worthless effort that was!" Toshio's laughter rings though the area.

"And look at this one. Ms. Beautiful is scared stiff," Yasu proclaims, with a laugh of his own. I could feel Lloyd's and Rakuyo's gazes upon me, but just like Yasu had just said, I was too scared stiff to return their wondering stares.

"What's wrong, precious? Why so scared? I promise you, I'll make your death quick and painless," Yasu declares, his smile unruly. He stretches out his right arm, and something the color of brown gradually comes out of his wrist. He takes a hold of it and pulls it out with one tug. It was a sword. A long metal sword with a brown handle; that he pulled out of his wrist.

"Looks like she cares more for her life than she does her teammates." Toshio chuckles dryly.

"No, I do not!" My voice was not a powerful as I wanted it to be. A figure than stands in front of me, blocking my view from the brothers, his hands clutching my shoulders gently.

"Kimina, what's up with you?" he asks, bewildered.

"I'm... alright," I retort, barely above a whisper. From the corner of my eye, only barely, I see Yasu take a couple steps forward, the sword grasped in his hand. My body stiffens automatically, and my breathing comes up short.

Lloyd's P.O.V

'What's wrong with you, Kimina? What... what happened to all that confidence you had?' I ponder completely baffled. I grip her shoulders a bit tighter, staring into her fear-stricken eyes.

'Kimina...'

End of Lloyd's P.O.V

"I... can't..." I barely manage to say.

"What? You can't what? Fight?" Lloyd asks me, his eyebrows raised. "Kimina, what happened to you?" I finally look into his eyes, tears forming in my own.

“I can’t do this. I don’t know why. My body just won’t move. It won’t react,” I tell him, forcing myself to not let the tears fall.

"Lloyd, Kimina, look out!" Rakuyo screams to us.

"What?" Lloyd gasps, only now senseing a presence behind him. His body appears behind Lloyd in a blink of an eye. I try to scream, but nothing would come out. My throat was so dry.

"Hehe. Now you die!" Yasu raises his sword in the air, ready to slice both Lloyd's and my body in half. Lloyd grips his hold tighter on my shoulders, and pushes me back away from him.

I fall to the ground from the force of his shove, simultaneously as Yasu slices through Lloyd's body in one swift movement. "Lloyd!"