Experiment 786

'Thump, thump..... thump, thump...'

The pulsing continued in the familiar rhythm every human knew, a sound they couldn't escape unless they escaped life itself. Shrouded in darkness, it was all that was heard until soon enough the dreaded noise of liquid around came into view. The sound heard every time she woke and whenever she wasn't being put through a series of painful and antagonizing tests.

There was a tap on the glass, no wonder fish hated the sound.
"786, wake the hell up, it's time for you to eat."
The being's body stayed still as if it were lifeless; not even the black wings twitched.
"786...I know you can hear me....."
'Go away.. go away... please...just go away...' she pleaded in her head, holding herself in a crouched position as she steadied her breaths to prevent anymore bubbles to rise from her mouth. The man tapped his foot irritably, "786, I would advise you to eat, you haven't had anything for five days and we need you alive... stupid thing..."
'Go away... go away...' she continued to think over and over, her wings starting to twitch and giving her away. The man tapped the glass again before pushing a button. Katsumi winced at the beeping sound before the tank opened, the green liquid spilling on to the floor along with her semi-lifeless body. Her wings fell to her sides as she laid there, shuddering and covering herself. The man kicked her back and made her wince yet she never cried out. "Get the hell up and eat" he barked and she opened her eyes, staring at him with a powerful glare. "Don't give me that fucking look you wretched beast" he snarled before she felt cool steel meet her bare skinned back.

"Having trouble Dr. Masato?" another man spoke and Katsumi covered herself with her wing, as if she had anymore dignity. "This stupid bitch won't eat her damn food again, why can't we just kill her ass and feed her to the cannibals?" Katsumi felt soon felt a warm hand against her cheek as her blue eyes gazed over, the dark form coming into view to reveal a man. "Dr. Masato, it seems only YOU have trouble making her eat. Now then... leave it to me will you." Dr. Masato mumbled under his breath before placing the plate of food aside and storming off, leaving the other man beside Katsumi. "Katsumi dear, if you don't wish to die you must eat. I promise if you eat you will be let out sooner, now please, will you? You don't want to make the others mad again do you?" His words were kind and soft, his intentions seemed good as if an angel had come to save her. She knew all to well that he was lying to her face, his soft expressions and voice fake. She was through with listening to them all trying to give her hopes of a false freedom.

Lifting her up as if she were some sort of puppet, he held on to her before picking up a piece of grilled cheese and holding it in front of her mouth. "Come on Katsumi, it's time for you to eat." With hollow eyes, she stared at it as a faint memory came to mind. She saw a male much like the one holding her, except she felt the one in mind was closer to her and held more importance. She closed her eyes, searching in the empty darkness for the figure as everything became drowned out and the sound of a soft whimper could be heard. She receeded within herself before suddenly there was a loud snap and her eyes slowly opened. She was within the tank again, the strange green liquid starting to fill as her wings wrapped around her once more. The man sighed, holding the plate in one hand while the other hand was behind his back.

"And you said I was the only one having trouble," Dr. Masato scoffed, standing next to the man. "Now now Dr. Masato, Im sure she was just tired." "Bullshit, we've had her hooked up to live video feed, all that wretched thing does is sleep and stare into space. She hasn't said a word since her last attempt to escape, she's probably just acting like this so we release her. That or we overdosed her and she became stupid in the head.... fucking dumb ass. You think she'd be smart enough to eat so she doesn't die. Why the hell can't we just hook her up to an IV and call it a day?"
The other man sighed, the first sign of stress appearing as his forehead creased above his brow. "You know Dr. Masato, if you would watch your mouth you would probably get that promotion you've been seeking." "HA! You can't fool me with that false hope bullshit. I'm leaving, have fun with your sad excuse of an experiment Dr. Cyrus...." Dr. Masato grouched as he walked off, mumbling and cursing under his breath.

Dr. Cyrus gazed up at Katsumi's empty eyes, her mind elsewhere. "You arn't stupid.... you just..." Dr. Cyrus sighed, the crease returning before he wrote on a clipboard and walked off, "such a failure.."

'Failure....failure? Petty fools, they are the ones that are stupid.'

Katsumi's eyes came back into focus as she gazed up, peering at the camera as the red light flashed and zoomed in on her. She narrowed her eyes as her wings spread out against the bindings around them. She growled, placing force into them but the bindings stay put. She moved her body to rid the ones that placed her arms to her chest before sighing and focusing, nodding once before moving her arms in closer. She bit down on the strap, tearing at the weak part before undoing the bindings. She then hurried as she moved her arms to her pockets, drawing out a key. The fools made a terrible mistake.
1. They forgot she could read their minds.
2. They placed the key on their body in a place she could easily reach.
3. Their subconscious had told her how to get out from the very beginning.

She knew every exit, every place ninja were at, what was contained in each tank and cell; she knew the map of the whole buildings and where it was located. She flashed her eyes over to the corner of the room before a figure emerged and moved over the camera. Placing a hand over it, the figure then grasped it before ripping it out of the wall and slicing the wires. Another figure then ran over and put in a 4 digit code, the tank making a snapping sound before it slowly began to drain. Katsumi waited patiently before the glass came undone and the two other beings nodded, disappearing in a puff of smoke. A third one then merged and carried over her katana and scythe, nodding and disappearing as she strapped them on.

She ripped off the bindings around her wings with a simple kunai before bounding forward, trailing green liquid behind her. She tapped in the 4 digit code again and put in the key. The tiny machine beeped three times before the doors slowly began to open into a great hallway.

Ten ninja bound into the room followed by at least five medical ninja, all led Dr. Cyrus. "Keep an eye out, she has to be in here somewhere," he shouted at them as they spread out through the room. Dr. Cyrus stood at the door, watching and waiting before the cool tip of a wet kunai met his neck. He held his breath as a hand grabbed his back, a black feather floating down before him. "So there you are... Katsumi" A smile creeped across her face before Dr. Cyrus smiled and disappeared in a poof of smoke, the girl gasping as a kunai was soon placed to her neck, "Im afraid you lose....how disappointing."

Suddenly the girl before him disappeared into a puff of smoke before a katana pierced his chest, missing vital points but surely causing the man pain. "H...how did you..." he gasped and winced, the ninja turning to him and drawing out their swords. 'Im afraid you lose....Dr. Cyrus...' her voice said and she withdrew her blade, his body falling as he chocked up blood. "Kill.....KILL HER" , his voice roared, losing its soft tone instantly. She stared at them as the ninja sprung forward, attacking her from all directions. Numerous blades pierced her flesh as she then smiled, disappearing in a puff of smoke.



Katsumi continued to run down the halls, positive they fell for the distraction and traps set. Many ninja shouted but she easily used the basic academy jutsu to hide herself to where they passed right by her. Soon, the exit came into view, but ninja dropped down before her, surrounding her. "Thought you could get away, huh you wretched wench", Dr. Masato spoke out before he entered the circle of ninja. "You can run... but you can never hide," he said with a sinister smile. Katsumi reached for her katana before pulling out her scythe, staring dead at Dr. Masato. All at once the ninja bound forward and Katsumi released the wind chakra she had built up; her black wings bursting open as she slahsed out the scythe. Concentrated wind chakra slashed at the ninja and Dr. Masato as the ninja behind her were flung back. Some rose but she was already there with her katana, slashing at them and reading their next action. The real Katsumi placed a foot on Dr. Masato's chest as he gazed up, cursing her under his breath. She stared down and sighed before connecting to his mind, 'appears the stupid wretch isn't so stupid after all... any last words Dr. Masato?' "What the hell will you gain from killing me!?" "Freedom."

Soon his life was taken as a blade pierced his heart, his body going limp. She withdrew the blade and walked towards the last door separating her from the outside world, the clones standing by the dead bodies before disappearing. The door opened slowly and she took a step forward before foot steps came up behind her.

"Katsumi! Wait!" Dr. Cyrus shouted, hand raised out towards her as the other held his chest. Some ninja came up behind him as she turned to face him, 'what...' "Please stay, I promise you that everything will be better... you are th best experim-" 'Im not just some fucking experiment!' He flinched as he took a step back, "S- sorry, I mean, Katsumi, you are my favorite to know.. please just stay." 'First you try to take away my father, then you experiment on me, then tell them to kill me, and now you plead for me to stay! Who do you think you are you piece of trash!?', she calmed her thoughts and turned away, 'take your false words and shove them down your throat.' She took a step forward before the door slammed shut and Dr. Cyrus chuckled, "you fool Katsumi... you fool."

The ninja bound forward and she gazed up and smiled, 'You are the fool Dr. Cyrus.' His eyes widened and as the ninja grasped her limbs, she soon disappeared in a puff of smoke; leaving Dr. Cyrus shouting before an explosion was heard from the room. A series of exploding tags went off just as planned as the real Katsumi watched from a distance, her arms crossed. She sighed and turned, bounding towards Konoha to put together the fragments of her hazy memories.

Keiji, Kenpachi and Yachiru were currently walking along a grassy plain in Tori no Kuni after receive information from a man who gave them the info in exchange for them doing mercenary work for him. They’ve been on the search for Katsumi for approximately a week and several days now and this was their main lead. According to the man, there has been some rumors of experimenting on humans in a facility around here and due to Katsumi’s unique characteristic, this could be something that would take a certain interest in capturing her, as her father had told Kenji. Keiji and Kenpachi were walking side by side while Yachiru laid there in piggyback position on Kenpachi’s back, snoring as she slept, an obvious indicator of her exhaustion from travel.

The trio of a search team were wearing there traditional ANBU uniform with their masks at the side of their face, except for Yachiru who had hers by her neck. Soon after, they were met with a forest which the man had told him about and quickly entered into it, searching for any clues of Katsumi’s disappearance and/or the lab they were told about. While walking throughout the forest, Keiji stopped and stared closely at a tree truck close to them. Kenpachi soon bent over beside him so he could see what he was looking at. A black feather was lying on the trunk and it looked dried up. Keiji and Kenpachi looked at each other for a second before they heard a loud explosion.

Upon hearing the explosion, Keiji immediately sprinted in direction of the explosion. With Kenpachi trailing slowly behind him with Yachiru still sleeping on his back ‘I swear, You could have a train crash while she’s in the train and she would still be sleeping.’ Kenpachi thought as he kept on running. Once a different pattern of footsteps could be heard, Keiji immediately hid behind one of the tree with his hand on the handle of his blade in case it was an enemy. Soon, Kenpachi heard it too and jumped into a branch of leaves to mask his appearance, keeping his hand over Yachiru’s mouth the keep her quiet.

Once the pattern of footsteps reached him, Keiji immediately put his left arm around her neck and held his Katana at her throat before he saw who it was. Upon noticing it was Katsumi, Keiji quickly let her go as Kenpachi fell from the branch, face holding a serious expression in opposition to the maniacal smile he just had on. He was thinking the exact same thing as Keiji. ‘Katsumi?’

Katsumi heard the thoughts of others nearby and quickly made a clone as her image shuttered and disappeared, she didn't wish to be caught now that she finally had a little taste of freedom. The clone continued on before a being leaped out and captured her as if trying to kill her; Katsumi's eyes narrowing. The being soon let go and the clone disappeared before Katsumi appeared behind the man, a kunai placed at his neck now. She was connected to everyone's thoughts now, not even peering at them as she kept the kunai placed firmly to the man's neck.

She moved it in, a small droplet of blood running down the cold gray blade. 'Who are you... and what do you' she said in each of their minds, her voice more threatening. Her black wings stayed tucked in as she stood in wait, listening to their thoughts.

It was then a thought escaped the man in her grasp, Keiji. She saw a young girl with blue hair much like herself but soon enough his thoughts shifted to a boy beside her. The boy held her hand, a smile on his face before the image faded. The boy then appeared later as a man, now stronger, walking down an aisle as the woman stood at the end in a wedding dress. Next, it turned to Keiji walking into a hospital room as the man stood beside the woman, a baby in her arms as the man held her. "Look father, this is your grandson.... Satsoshi Akira." Katsumi's heart raced at the name and the images before she suddenly dropped the blade and pushed Keiji away, a hand placed to her pounding head.

Images rocked by and suddenly Katsumi disappeared in a puff of smoke, an obvious clone. Movement was heard nearby as the real Katsumi raced away from them all, her heart and head pounding as the memories pieced themselves together. However, it was all still to hazy to make a clear mental image of what was occurring. She continued to see the woman with the man, a baby boy with them and soon a young girl being born before the woman left the house in search of someone, the woman's father. But who, who was the woman and why so familiar? Who were they? She stopped and landed on a tree branch, walking to the trunk and placing a hand on it to hold her up. The other remained on her pounding head as she winced. 'Ken...Ken...' she thought in her mind, her words traveling out as unknown tears escaped her eyes. She didn't understand this phenomenon escaping from her eyes, drawing a blank. Was it something she remembered, or something she forgot...

She could of sworn she heard people behind her, but remained against the tree; ready to fight if need be.

Upon Katsumi’s departure Keiji and Kenpachi held a shocked and worried expression on their faces, and worrying is not one of Kenpachi’s stronger emotions. Kenpachi stepped forward, ready to make chase. “I go after her.” But Keiji stopped Kenpachi before he was able to make a move. “No, you stay here and look after Yachiru. I’ll go after her.” Kenpachi simply nodded as he sat on the grass and Keiji hopped on a branch and continued hoping from branch to branch in pursuit of his daughter in law.

Once he continued to make haste, Keiji soon caught sight of her. She seemed to be in a mental struggle with herself. Once Keiji was close enough, he stopped at the tree branch that was across from her and looked into her eyes. There was no doubt in his mind that she was having an internal conflict with herself. Keiji continued to look into her eyes with that same worried expression on his face before he spoke. “Katsumi, it’s me, Keiji Akira. Don’t you remember me, don’t you remember your family? Don’t you remember Satoshi and Ayame, your children? Or your husband, Kenji? They miss you and want you to come home.”

Katsumi gazed up, her hand still on her head as she fought herself; trying to sort through the memory fragments. She remembered back when she began to forget things, her first meal and the feeders thoughts. They had slipped some sort of pill within it to completely wipe out her memories to the point she would eventually only be known as experiment 786; their newest weapon. She stared at Keiji and heard his words before thinking of Dr. Cyrus and his lies of false hope. Her wings furled and spread out far, nearly touching the others branches of the tree as she let out a snarl. Her violent blue eyes stared right at him, tears still falling as she grew into a defensive stance, ready to spring. Her breaths became heavier before her eyes darted in thought of what to do next. To some this may come as a sign of anxiety, but the truth of the matter was these characteristics were all due to the tests, pill, and stress built up. She wanted to escape but yet she wanted to stay, be nearby him. She continued to think, 'Ken...Ken...Ken...' in her head and her thoughts soon spread into Keiji's mind as she heard him answer subconsciously, 'Kenji.'

Her eyes widened more as her defensive stance began to come more to a rest. She felt she could trust him, she felt the familiarity, but the word 'family' didn't comprehend. She steadied her breathing, looked down with her hands on her head as she calmed her mind. Her wings receded around her as she pieced it together. Kenji Akira, Satoshi Akira, Ayame Akira, the rest of the Akira's that came to mind. 'Last name... my last name... R....R...Y?...' She hear Keiji answer Ryota and soon memories flashed before her eyes of her past, who she was; her own family. All of it began to come to mind as she relaxed her wings and grew very calm, taking in deep breaths. She looked back up at Keiji and opened her mouth to speak but had somehow managed to forget that she couldn't, connecting to his mind. 'Keiji.... what happened? What happened to the building I was in... where is my father?'

Once Katsumi seemed to come back to her senses, Keiji quickly hopped to the branch that Katsumi was currently on and gave her a quick hug that showed his concern for her. He smiled happy that he was finally able to find her, but once she mentioned her father, his smile quickly depleted as he held his head low and an awkward silence filled the air as the wind slowly picked up. "Katsumi..... about you father..... he made it all the way to Konoha and saw Kenji but....."

All of a sudden, the wind picked up vigorously and a man appeared before them with an incredibly angry expression on his face and red in his face to match. "Katsumi! I gave you everything I could! I was nice to you and everything, you ungrateful brat! And you just left me! You will pay!" Soon a mini army of around 40-50 ninja and experiments appeared behind him, prepared to attack once they were given the command.

Katsumi gave Keiji a hug as well, the first real human contact for a long time. She then gazed up at him and her eyes grew as solemn as his. She read his thoughts, she already knew what he was saying. She even heard Kenji explaining stuff to him due to Keiji's subconscious remembering it. She lowered her head before her head snapped up, a man and numerous ninja and experiments dropping down. The man shouted at them, his face half burnt along with his now grayish lab coat. Katsumi tensed and her wings spread out threateningly as she snarled at him, one wing partially around Keiji.

"Katsumi .... I was the only one willing to help... the only one there. And you do this to me!" he shouted, spreading his arms out to reveal his blackened skin. His eyes burned red from his stress and as if he were about to cry. "Im through with this..... you are a failed experiment.... KILL HER!" The experiments roared, snarled, and let out shrills as they bound forward towards them. Katsumi moved to the side, grabbing Keiji before her black wings pushed down and up; carrying her upward. She dodged some trees as she hovered, the flying types soon coming after. She brought her hands together as three more clones appeared and made handsigns, dropping their hands on to the ground.

The ground soon shuttered and lowered, taking in some of the land dwellers and casting them under. As others attempted to flee, the ground soon shook beneath their feet and making them loose their balance. Katsumi dealt with the flyers, twisting and turning within the air while holding on to Keiji. She gasped as one cut her back and wing, causing some feathers to fly. Dr. Cyrus stood and watched, a sinister smile across his face as his creations began to attack her and Keiji. With a swoop, Katsumi then dove back and spun downward; escaping the flying creatures as she landed on the ground with a not as graceful land. Allowing Keiji to stand on his feet as the creatures prepared to attack again.

Keiji, worried about Katsumi possibly being injured, kneeled down next to her. “Katsumi, are you ok?” For that reason alone, Keiji was distracted for a quick second and a dozen ninja went straight for him, kunai in a position in their hands that was excellent for piercing him in the back. As they were inches away from completing their assassination, all twelve of the backstabbers all of a sudden split in half as a semi giant appeared right behind him with a sickening look of glee on his face and his sword in his right hand that was unsheathed and blood soaked. Keiji immediately turned around for the answer to his question on why there was blood on his uniform and got it in the form of his older brother with a happy child on his shoulder that was fully awake and cheering him on he knew as his niece. “Kenpachi? Yachiru?”

Kenpachi’s smiling face moved towards Keiji and Katsumi as the eye patch on his left eye started to twitch a little. “I’m disappointed in you, Keiji. Keeping all the fun to yourself and just letting your guard down like that. Tsk tsk tsk.” He then pointed his blade at the army of ninja in front of him “Now look see, you pansy nerd wanna be bitch, You’re dealing with me now and just to let you know, people who fight me…” His right eye twinkled as his smile became wider. “… Never fight again.” The burnt looking man, stumbled back a little, but quickly gained back his smug look as Yachiru let out a giggle before jumping off of Kenpachi’s back to take a look at Katsumi’s wing after yelling. “GO KEN-CHAN!”

The man just laughed a sort of maniacal laugh at Kenpachi’s arrogance. “You really think you can win you arrogant fool!? I have an army of ninja and successful experiments alike! You will all die here!” Kenpachi just kept his smile and prepared to attack when “Kenpachi.” He turned around to see Keiji appeared beside him with blinding speed and a sheathed sword. “Let me take care of this” Kenpachi was about to protest when Keiji just looked at him with an extremely serious glare. Kenpachi just scuffed “You get to have all the fun. Fine, but hurry up.” Keiji continued to look forward. “Will do.” The man just laughed again. “Fine, you will all share the same grave as that wretched failed experiment! Kill them all!!!” When the ninja charged at him to attack, Keiji just held his sword up in a salute position with the blade pointing to the ground. “Now you will see what happens when you harm an Akira.” He dropped his sword to the ground, but it didn’t just fall, it melted into the tree brach that he was standing on as he whispered the words “Bakyaku: Zenbon Zakura.”

Suddenly, ten swords exactly like the one he had in his hand previously, appeared around him “One thousand blossoms of death.” All of a sudden, time seemed to stop as everyone on the battle field froze except for Keiji and Kenpachi, including Yachiru and Katsumi. The blades then slowly turned into a thousand cherry blossoms and floated in the air, looking as peaceful as a meadow. Suddenly, time and the world went back to normal blood spurred from all of the ninja, experiments, and the man in an enormous portion and they all fell from their positions, instantly killed. Kenpachi smiled a little at how blood chilling and deadly that jutsu was as he comforted Yachiru’s slightly shaking body for she has never seen that jutsu until today and the coldness in her mind and body was almost unbearable. All she was thinking now was. ‘Is this what cousin Kenny would have to go through to be leader? If so, then I would not want to be him.’ Keiji turned around at the group as his sword turned back to normal and he sheathed it. “I apologize that you had to witness that, shall we go now, Lady Hokage?”

Katsumi watched the display before rising to her feet and standing tall. She walked over to them and glanced at each of them before looking to Keiji, 'thank you all. I think we took care of them all. We can send more ANBU scouts to examine the base later.... whats left of it anyway.... now can we go back to Konoha... I feel I have missed a lot'. Letting out a sigh, she remained connected to each of them before nodding to her clones. They returned the gesture before dispersing into smoke. Katsumi then tapped into a thought from Keiji where she glanced back over at him and only connected to him. 'Kage eh? Im gone, possibly dead, and they still made the decision for me to do it? Very well then.... but right now as we both know I have a family to return to before dealing with the affairs of Konoha.... as many as there may be.... 5 years have passed without the Kage and in that 5 years the people may have grown quite restless. ANBU have done their jobs though,' she said to him before returning back to present discussions. 'As for my father.... I heard in your mind about what happened... forgive me for prying... I got him out... but it was I who was captured and got him killed.... dishonorable. I need to settle the affairs with my clan as well, im sure they are worried about their leader. Because of that... I will be placing someone as a second in command for when I am gone. Ill decide that later... right now...,' she then smiled, 'lets just go home.'

Taking a step forward, she stopped and looked back towards the direction of the base before letting out a sigh and dashing forward. She grew quiet and disconnected to their minds, drowned in her sorrow from something she did...or something she didn't do.