“What the hell is that?” Taiga’s voice was tight with fear as he shook the boy’s shoulders.
Aimee pulled a towel from her pack and tossed it to Iruka. “Bind him! Like Hanae showed us, or he’ll die!”
Iruka tore at the fabric, tying it tightly around the stump of the boy’s leg, his fingers moving quickly as the roar from below grew louder, a rumbling tremor shaking the earth beneath them.
“A snake!” the boy cried, scrambling backward, his eyes wide with terror. “A giant snake! It took Renji and…and…it ate Sora!”
“Another snake?!” Taiga’s voice cracked as the rumbling grew louder, vibrating through the canyon walls.
Aimee whipped her head back over the edge, eyes widening.
From the depths of the canyon, an enormous, obsidian-scaled serpent began to rise, its sleek body stretching nearly forty feet long. Its head, dark as night, emerged over the cliff’s edge, fangs as long as a man dripping venom into the darkness below. Its unblinking eyes gleamed like cold, polished onyx.
“Holy fuck.” Aimee stepped back, her heartthundering.
Positioning herself between the boys and the beast, she held her swords out before her, though every instinct screamed at her to run.
The beast’s massive head hovered above her, its eyes narrowing for a split second as if studying her. Its forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air around her, the thin strands brushing her skin like a whisper, testing her scent before retracting silently into its mouth. Aimee tightened her grip on her blades, flexing her wrists, ready to strike or defend if it came at them.
Iruka and Taiga came to either side of her, trying to flank the creature, but the serpent’s focus remained fixed on Aimee. Its gaze pinned her in place, but it wasn’t fear that crawled up her spine.
What is this?She wondered.
Then, with a deep, rumbling hiss, the serpent opened its jaws wide, the sound reverberating like a roar from the earth itself. For a heartbeat, Aimee thought she heard something else beneath the menace, an undertone of pain, deep and primal.
No, she thought, pushing it aside.It’s just a beast.
And as quickly as the hiss had come, the serpent’s body rippled, but instead of striking, it recoiled. With a powerful, fluid motion, it turned away, its massive form undulating as it slipped back over the edge and disappeared.
For a long moment, none of them moved.
Then, a collective exhale filled the air as they sagged in relief.
“What was that you said, Aimee?” Taiga asked, his voice shaking. “Holy fuck?”
“Holyyy fuck,” Iruka echoed, his own voice hoarse as he clasped Taiga’s arm for support.
Aimee turned slowly, her lungs still heaving, the dry desert air rough in her throat. Sand crunched beneath her feet as her gaze fell on the boy they had just pulled from the canyon’s edge. His body lay unnaturallystill on the hot, cracked earth, his face slack, eyes wide and vacant, staring up at the cloudless sky without seeing it.
Iruka knelt down first, placing a hand on the boy’s neck, searching for a pulse, the corners of his mouth dipping. “He’s gone.”
Taiga stood frozen, his mouth opened, then closed, his face paling as the realization sank in. “No…no, no, no…” he stammered, his knees buckling. “We had him! We—he was just—” He dropped to the ground beside the boy, his hands shaking as he reached out but didn’t touch him.
Aimee’s throat bobbed, watching Taiga’s disbelief turn to grief. He buried his face in his hands, his body shaking, while Iruka sat beside him in silence, a hand resting on his shoulder.
“We need to move,” she said, her eyes focused on where the snake had gone over the cliff. “Who knows if that thing will come back, and we remain in the middle of the Gekitotsu. People will be hunting us.”
“What about him?” Iruka glanced down at the boy’s dead body.
Aimee knelt beside the boy, pulling a small marker from her pack. With a soft snap, she broke it in two and placed one half in the boy’s hand, gently curling his fingers around it.
“The proctors will find him and recover the body. There’s nothing more we can do.” Her voice was calm. “We’ve still got to make it until dawn.”
Taiga opened his mouth to protest, his eyes clouded with emotion, but he stopped himself, his shoulders slumping before he squared them again. “You’re right, Aimee. Let’s go.”
The three of them resumed their formation, slipping into the familiar, silent coordination of shinobi. Taiga took the lead once more, scanning the canyon as they moved swiftly through the unforgiving landscape, sand and stone crunching beneath their feet.
After what felt like another hour of running, the sound of Taiga’s low whistle broke the silence.
