• The Story of Katakune Tamoku
    (Hardships)

    Chapter 7 - "Shipwrecked and Heart broken"


    "Morning, Afternoon, Evening, Night. Yesterday, today, tommorow. Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer. It all goes so fast. Today's already going slow, and I just woke up..."
    I woke up with no energy whatsoever. I could bearly mustard up any energy to open my eyes. The only thing was, I was conscious. I need to stop asking myself rhetorical questions. I've given up. Tatsuka will never come back, what was I thinking? Okashii was my love, now he's gone, and it's my fault. Tatsuka was my care that led me through everything. Now he's gone too, abandoning me here for nothing. Just to see me suffer. How could a person be so cruel? This poor old town. I hate myself for not having enough money to buy real food. All the meat I've eaten was vile and I never want to experience that again. What am I going to do now? I feel like I'm at the end of my life, there's nothing to live for, but I'll give it one more try.
    My body strained as I gathered myself up to my feet. I got up dazzed and leaned over my self, throwing up. Breathing heavily, I stepped over the vomit and started walking to the village, holding onto my stomach. I felt a sharp stinging pain on my sore arm but ignored it as I walked past the village into the northern stream of The Yon River. As I walked through the village, I noticed a sign on the bakery, "Closed", which made me, again, very sad. I just hung my head and with my last bit of hope crossed a tiny bridge on the left into thin woods. finally when the trees got lesser and lesser I found myself in front a a huge gate towering over my head some twenty feet or so. I didn't even bear to look up, as it would make me nauseaus again.
    I slowly opened the giant gate and stepped into the bustling busy village. The bags under my eyes got a work out as I tried to look up at everyone in their daily lives. "So many people, but it's so early in the morning. What's up with this little village?" I thought to myself. I walked through all of them like I wasn't alive, nobody knowing or even caring. I looked around, hearing babies crying, and heavy old men laughing. I sighed when I felt the truth. I'm not like everyone else. I'm an outsider, with no one of my own. I'm not loved by anyone, and nobody even cares. Nobody in the world knows me... I saw the main building located in the middle of the streets which had a giant flag with a moon on it, waving at the top.
    I skipped it and got to a pause in the buildings. The smooth gray streets dissappeared into lush seas of tall grasses with few trees. Once I got a bit farther, I saw the horizon and an eternity of blue. It was the brightest, most fantastic color of blue I had ever seen. I walked out of the grass and into this soft light brown dust. It was everywhere on the ground, but it didn't seem out of place. It fit really well with the glimmering sea. I looked around more and saw the coast stretching around this lagoon. In various places were little houses with docks going into the sea. These people were so small in population but apparently had a lot of money. Come to think of it, the central building in the village did look a bit fancy, too. They owned huge boats and little canoes attaches to them. I got a little dissapointed with the large boats, obstructing the view of this beautiful island and it's daughter, the sea.
    I realized I needed to get away from this island; I have to go to the main land and start a new life there. It'll be much better living where there is more civilization. I know that people there will probably be a bit meaner and it'll be more populated, but I'm up to it. I'll hide undercover in my own little house, train myself to become a wise Shinobi, like Tatsuka wanted me to be, then wait. Wait until I finally find my purpose.
    I looked around to see if there was any kind of transporting boat around and luckily found one on each end of the island. Lucky me, the closest one is to the right of me. I almost jumped out of my pants once I heard a giant horn get blown and people shouting in incomprehensive languages. I saw that the transporter boat just pulled up it's anchor and was fully being operated, steam flying out of it. My face flew with shock and with the energy I never had, I sprinted as fast as I could to the dock. I didn't want to miss this boat, because I know it'll be days before it will come back again to drop off mainlanders.
    I could see family members waving goodbyes to their family members and some crying. I pushed through all of them and got to the other side. I took a daring jump and tried to grip on to the side of the boat. It didn't work though, I slipped. The tears on the side of my face from running dripped to the ocean below and I slowly fell, looking down as the boat got further from the dock. I hugged the boat and miraculously my feet found a grasp near the bottom. I heaved a sigh and looked up, squinting because of the sun. A big smile arose from my face as I noticed I was on a side ladder. I giggled to myself at the coincidence and started climbing up, watching passengers reading books and magazines and talking to their children inside. Once I got to the very top, I fell to my knees and embraced the cold wet wooden floors of the rescuing boat, for the safety.
    I knew I wasn't going to be happy for long though, I could sense it. I quickly got up and checked if anyone saw me. So far, no one has. I sneakily opened a mysterious hatch on the floor and climbed down the ladder into a beautiful parlor room. It had kind of a mellow and dramatic sense to it, feeling as if it were made years before my time. It was really roomy though, and colored a sad dark gold, brown, and yellow. I slowly walked through the long room, studying the archiatecture of this fantastic boat, until I reached a simple white door with a circular window. When I opened it, it sent me to this long, white, narow hallway. I suspiciously walked to the right and climbed down a ladder. I kept on climbing down that same ladder until I got to the very bottom. "This might be a good place to hide. Even though it might take a while just to get back on top..." I said.
    I hid under a long table at the side of the room, and slept. I dremt about how beautiful it looks on top of the boat, how the scenery of the island looks and what kingdom lies in the middle of the land. I've heard that the main land isn't very far away from our island, so it just might take us a day at the most. There was also this bad smell in this room which didn't really take well to my lungs, but I got used to it, and slept through it until I just had to get up.
    I had the worst life ever, nothing was ever good. Come to think of it, I knew this was going to happen.
    I unconsciously woke up once I heard an ear busting alarm go off. I forced my eye lids open to a deep red tinted room. I frantically looked around but all I could see was steam. Steam everywhere, and the smell was worse too. I started coughing, to get the horrible smell out of my lungs, but it barely even worked. I quickly ran up the ladder to get to the hallway. I could hear many people screaming in horror. Something had happened, and it was where I was too. I walked into the hallway and everyone was coming out of their cabins and frantically running down the hall. One man randomly came up to me, shaking me by my shoulders and spurting out something scary to me in a different language. I got a little creeped and watched the rest of the passengers run down the end of the hallway. I stood there confused until it happened. Out of nowhere a wave of water came rushing down the hall and flooded it ankle deep. "Kuso!" I started to rush down the opposite end of the hallway to the ladder but the unexplainable started happening. Gravity shifted the area to its side and threw me to the wall, along with the water. Before I knew it I was completely upside-down with the water rushing its way to my knees. I panicked and backed up into a hole which I fell through all the way down to an open balcony. I spit out a bit of water coming down and looked up at the waterfall coming from the hole. I then turned around and got to my feet. I looked down from the balcony and saw the whole entire auditorium of the boat flooded. It seriously looked like a mini lake in the middle of an ocean liner. I looked up and saw a verticle stream of water falling from the "bottom" of the boat, then looked straight; right at a series of circular windows. My eyes opened wide in astonishment. That wasn't outside, no. That is the ocean! I almost screamed, learning that the whole boat was overturned into the ocean. What had hapened? And do I even want to know? A crack found its way to the window and formed like a branch on a tree. I knew that if it cracked, the whole boat would be flooded even faster and we would sink to the bottom of the ocean in an instant. I couldn't help it though, it was on the whole other side of the boat. I clenched my teeth together in hope. But there was no hope... In a domino effect, each window burst out in a flash flood of water, exploding into the center lake. I looked down and saw an explosion of a gas tank which covered the top of the water. I pulled back on the balcony and almost slipped. I looked down and the water was almost to my thighs. Thankfully, most of it was falling down the spaces in the balcony.
    I couldn't stand around here and wait for my death, I had to find a way out. "Where, where, where!" I looked everywhere to find a way out but found myself tragically locked into a screaming metal death trap. A sudden splash of continuous water fell onto my head and made me hit my head no the railing. I scooted to the side with minor injuries. By now I was hyperventilating. The fridged cold burned on my pale skin as I cried in hope of an escape. I looked up and figured that if we aren't all the way in the sea, that should be the top. I fearlessly took out an exploding tag attached to a kunai and threw it with all my might to the top of the boat. Before it blew up, I looked down and noticed hundreds of people dead, floating lifelessly in the flaming waters below. I ignored it and looked up at the explosion from the kunai knife. The dust cleared hundreds of times faster than usual and I suddenly felt way more cold. I almost went deaf from the sound too. I squinted my eyes, holding my ears and saw that I hit the fan on the bottom of the boat. I tightly closed my eyes and bit my lip to think of something else. "I have to get up there, it's the only way out! But how do I turn the fan off?" I screamed. I looked back at the flooding water that forced the railing out of the balcony and down into the lake. I screamed the way going down. Into a giant pool of fire... I thought quickly and got out a chain from my tools pocket and threw it to the thin rails on the top of the balcony. "Success" I caught it, right before I fell into the death trap. But everything seemed off. Something was wrong... I was suddenly raised into the air! I looked back and saw that the fan was sucking me into the hole. The sound was the pterydactal's screech gone wild. I could even see a drop of water from below in reverse, going into the fan. "FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP" The fan's sound was the most scary thing I've heard, and it pulling me, tightening it grasp and letting me go of the chain.
    With miraculous strength, I climbed down the chain to the top of the balcony and grabbed onto the stairs above it. It was wet and slippery, I could bearly keep grasp, but I pulled myself up. I couldn't take any more of this so I just had to stop it. I opened up the heavy door and almost got flooded out. I forced myself to the right and held my breath. This is it. I have to go to the drivers room and turn off the fan to get out! I dove down the ladder's hole, forgetting that I was at the very bottom of the boat. My train of thought was lost, only concentrating on living. I can't let my breath go, but in freezing cold waters like this, it's very hard to hold your breath. Once the cold hits your skin, it takes away central temperature and you're already losing air. I could never give up though, no matter what. Once I got to the very bottom, I had to swim down a long hallway reaching the whole length of the boat. It's already been about a minute underwater in freezing cold tempurature and I could feel myself blacking out. I swam with little strength and pushed on the doors for an extra boost. My arms were becoming shakey and I couldn't feel my legs anymore. My face had become numb and I was longing for air. I could feel myself dying by the instant, and I was so greedy for oxygen, I let go my last ounce of oxygen to exchange it for hydrogen. Bad idea... I stood there floating in one place, in front of the capitan's door, gasping for air underwater. My eyes rolled back in my head and I could hear the angels calling for me. Everything became silent as my last action was opening up a door.
    I flushed myself into an airy room and quickly closed the door behind me. My body shunned me and fell to the floor. I hyperventilated for air, faster and faster. "I'm... alive!" And then I remembered. Once I turn the fan off, I have to go all the way back again... and it's going to be more flooded. "Kuso," I cried to myself. No time to waste, I looked forward and saw two pale dead capitans on the floor. I stared in shock then looked up at the windsheild. A giant crack crawled its way up the glass and I reacted. There was a shining red button above me; the button to the fans. "Ok, this is it. Gotta do it before the glass breaks!" I encouraged myself.
    I pulled out a kunai and threw the handle end to the button, and with perfect aim, stopped the fans. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked back up at the glass. "Oh no..."
    "Crack... ckll...PSHHHH BOOOM!" The whole glass bursted in and attacked me with sharp bloody particals and a ton of water that threw me against a huge metal pipe, blowing my last breath out, and leaving me there useless like the captains... floating in thick seas.
    ...
    ...
    ...
    "Wake up! Oh, please get up... please, don't die on me... Hello?" I heard a faint voice. It was an angel from heaven telling me to go with her. I opened my eyes. "Who... Who are you?"
    "My name is Tsuki! Oh, I'm so glad your alive!" She embraced me and cried on my shoulder. I thought I was dead... I guess not. "Uh... I'm Kata... Katakune. Where are we?"
    "We're on a rescue boat, come on, sit up if you can," She said. I sat up in agony and noticed all my cuts cleaned up. "What happened? Did you save me?"
    "Um... I guess you could say that," she chuckled nervously. I met this girl who saved me from a shipwrecked boat. She was a little on the pudgey side and wore her light brown hair in a ponytail held with a long pinkish bow. I also noticed white sweatbands on her elbows and a golden braclet on her left hand. "Thank you for saving me, Tsuki..." was the last thing I said before I passed out on her lap again.
    "Get up, Katakune, we're here!" I weakly opened my eyes and looked around. We were at the shore of a country I was not fond of. The coastline seemed to go on forever and the sight was pretty bare and unwelcoming. I turned to Tsuki, "Where are we?" "Oh, this is the Bear country. I come here every year to visit my grandma." She said smiling with her face down. "Oh," I replied, "did you come alone?" She suddenly frowned, "No... I came with my dad but. He... He didn't make it." "Oh. I'm sorry. Did anyone else make it?" I asked. She seemed to ignore me, "Maybe I'll live with my grandma now, I guess." I sat there for a minute, giving her a moment of silence. "I came here alone." I got out of the boat and helped her down to the beach. "Oh?" She questioned, taking my help, "Then why'd you come here?" "I wanted to come to train myself and become a shinobi. I want to find my purpose before I see Tatsuka again." I answered. "A shinobi?" she said. That's when I noticed the band on her head. "You're a moon kunoichi?" She replied, "Yeah, I'm a ninja from the village hidden under the moon. The land I came from. You too, right?" "Yeah, I think. I lived in a house on one end of the island. Alone."
    "Aww, I'm sorry to hear that. If you want to become a ninja here, there's a village not too far away from here called the Star village. They've just gathered ninjas there after a mysterious star fell in the middle of the village. I think they're going to rename it 'The Village Hidden Under the Stars' soon. It's just beyond that valley over there," she said, pointing inbetween two mountains in the distance. "Oh, well thank you. I'll train over there then."
    "Yeah. By the way, who's Tatsuka?" She asked. "Who? Oh... He's nobody important," I replied. "Okay. Well, good luck being a Star shinobi, I have to go to grandmother's now. Maybe we'll see eachother again someday soon?" She said. "I don't know, but I won't forget you, Tsuki. Thank you again for saving my life! goodbye."
    "Bye, Kune-kun," She giggled.
    I stared at her walking away then watched off in the distance, glaring at the valley, with the sun setting inbetween the mountains.
    I sighed and closed my eyes, starting my journey to the Star village where I will start my new life. Once I got past the forest and got into the village boundries, it was night-time. Mostly everyone was asleep in their houses When I was wondering around the streets of this village. I pondered past a few houses and upon one, I saw a headband hanging from a pole from a stand on the house. I stared at it and thought of how different this country is from mine. I took the headband and walked back to the forest to a very old abandoned house I saw coming here.
    I opened up the creaky door and looked in. It was a very plain house, but it would work. I walked down a hallway to the left into a door at the end. It opened to a room with a nice bed, like it was waiting for someone to sleep in it. It looked so good that I just plopped myself into it and slept until morn.
    "Caw! Caw!" It's dawn, and the crows are calling for early breakfast. It's time to begin my new life style and train to become a Star ninja! I pinned the metal plate on the headband to my scarf and opened up the wax sliding doors to the back. This shall be my new personal training field! I sniffed in the cool air and screamed to the top of my lungs, "Come and get me, Tatsuka! I am ready for you anytime!"


    "... Foolish brother... You will never be ready for me........."