How'd A Kid Get Stuck In A Tree

     "It's all your fault, Kake! Toothbrushes and toothpaste! We're lost in a magic forest and I don't even have my swords!!"

     "Eehhh, calm down, Kuchiha. We'll make it out somehow. We did it before, didn't we?"

     "Yeah, but that time you were chasing a bunny! And the bunny must've known how to get out, if it was a natural wonder!"

     "Rabbit."

     "I DON'T CARE!!!!!"

     Rika was getting used to the argueing, and sat down to rest, too tired to start crying again. Something caught the corner of her eye, and she turned. "Bunny."

     Kuchiha jerked to attention. It was the first time she'd heard Rika's voice. Rika bounded up and pointed at the surrounding bushes. "Is that the bunny!?" There was something white in the midst of the leaves. Kuchiha blinked and tried to peer past the overgrown foliage in the dim light, but before she could make it out Rika had already started running towards it. She was about to reach her hands into the bushes when the white twitched and blurred, the surrounding leaves rustled, and the purple-eyed rabbit shot out between her legs. Kuchiha involuntarily shouted and, grabbing Rika again, dashed after it. If it had gotten them out of the forest before, there was a good chance it would do it again. The branches and vines kept lashing at her, almost as if they were trying to cut her to shreds. It severely sapped her energy to dodge them all and still keep up with the rabbit, and she was forced to keep going for at least half an hour. Then, very abruptly, the rabbit stopped.

     Kuchiha skidded to a halt next to the rabbit and, panting, put Rika down. There didn't seem to be any reason for it to have stopped, but the heavy silence was giving Kuchiha chills. She glanced behind her, and her stomach sank.

     "...Kake?"

     There was no reply.

     Rika raised her head and looked around.

     "Aahhh, that idiot!" Kuchiha collapsed under a tree and cursed. He must have been unable to keep up with her and then gotten lost. If he was lucky, he'd either wander out of the forest or run into them. But people are rarely so lucky, and she knew this. "Rika, when was the last time you saw him?"

     "Ah--right before I saw the bunny."

     "Hmmnh..." She turned towards the rabbit. For some reason, it hadn't moved a muscle since it had stopped. "...Are you waiting for an order? That 'heart' thing Kake was talking about..." Its ear twitched slightly, and it seemed to be straining against some unseen force. Kuchiha would have talked more if Rika hadn't been staring at them intently from between her knees, but as it was she realized how insane it was to talk to a rabbit. She needed to catch her breath, though, and her right hand, the one she'd punched against the wall, was bleeding at the knuckles.

     "Here, Rika. If you see the bunny move, or if you start falling asleep, call me. We're taking a break here."

     "Okay." The little girl fidgeted uncomfortably. The silence was prickling the back of her neck. "Nee-san [japanese term/name thing--means big/older sister, in japan little kids sometimes refer to older kids like that], you aren't all that mean." 

     Kuchiha didn't know how to react.

     "But you're scary."

     "Aaagh, you little twerp, just keep an eye on that puffball and be quiet."

     Rika giggled, and obeyed. But since practicaly nothing at all was happening, the job as a watchman was not very interesting. After what seemed like eternity, Rika started to get cold, and sleep stole into her eyes. She yawned, her stomach growling. She wanted to go home.

     "GRYAAAAHH!!!"

     Rika's heart caught in her throat and she swiveled around. The blood from Kuchiha's hand had dripped onto the roots of the tree she was sitting against. The tree drank it, somehow, and threw its limbs around its prey, ecstatic from the promise of fresh meat. Kuchiha yelled as the tree wrapped around her and squeezed like a boa constricter, tied down on the ground. The rabbit bound to life and ran frantically in circles, and Rika helplessly tried to tear the branches apart.

     Kuchiha, curled up and completely enclosed on all sides, felt something quivering touch her fresh scabs, almost vibrating against them. It tickled, drew back, then stabbed into her hand, quivering and vibrating its way almost into her arm. The pain gushed all over her body. A blood-curling scream erupted from her mouth, and twisting and thrashing, she clawed and tore and ripped a hole into open air. The first thing to come out was her foot, and Rika grabbed it and pulled with all her might. It wasn't much, but it was enough to let Kuchiha know where to get out. Like an animal, she lashed her whole body towards the hole, biting and tugging at the thick, rough branches. Somewhere along the way, the quivering thing had been wrenched out of her hand, and she'd accidentally kicked Rika full in the face. As she came crashing out, wild-eyed and panting, the rabbit bounded on top of Rika, spread-eagled on the grass.

     The torn tree withdrew its limbs and shrank into shadow, and there was a brief moment of silence again. Kuchiha listened as the heartbeat pounding in her ears [no it's not edgar allan poe! the blood was just rushing into her head!] slowed and softened, and her eyes regained their original brightness. The pain in her arm still prevented her from thinking perfectly clearly, but she was able to bend down and check if Rika was alright. The rabbit stared at her with its strangely intelligent eyes, and when Kuchiha looked back, the violet met squarely with her black eyes, and somehow she knew exactly what was going to happen, and where to go to escape it.

     "R-rika! Come on! We've got to run!" Kuchiha grabbed the girl before she had time to become fully conscious, and with her bleeding arm took ahold of the rabbit, forgetting the pain. She could see the entire path in her mind like it was broad daylight. Something whispered in the spot where the flesh-eating tree was, and a chill ran down Kuchiha's spine. She bent down.

     There was no warning, no rules to the game, only a thin whistling sound like a tennis racket swinging through the air. And then there was a giant crater where Kuchiha once was, and a monstrous whip was swaying high above the forest, aiming for the next hit. But it wouldn't have another, becuase Kuchiha was running, almost parallel to the ground [which is why she had to bend down], faster than the rabbit ever could run towards her destination. The whip slammed down angrily, and Kuchiha had to veer off course. It crashed like a felled tree a foot away. She could see everything clear as crystal in her mind's eye, and was dodging everything much easier than when she was running almost blind after a vague white blob [you know, you can't see *anything* when it's dark]. But the entire forest was awake now, and each tree was slicing its entire body [do trees have bodies???] at her without restraint. She was getting cuts all over, as often as she crushed a trunk underfoot, but her black eyes were aimed straight ahead, and her only goal was to get away from the thing she knew could kill them all in half a second.

     "Wuuuoooohhhh!!!" [lols it's a war cry that's just everywhere in action manga] Kuchiha burst into a clearing and fell to her knees, Rika and the rabbit scurrying to their feet. This was the destination, and they were safe. Once the sun rose, it would all be over like a bad dream.

     Or at least, she thought so.

     Numb from weariness and pain, she glanced at Rika. She was surprised when the child just stared up.

     "Nee-san...It's Nii-san [japanese for older brother/big brother]..." Rika's voice was pure shock. Kuchiha turned to where Rika was looking--a great Botanical [this is an actual word! it's not a tree name, though] tree stood in the exact center of the clearing, magestic limbs overhanging with vines and moss. And in the center...

     "Uh..." Kuchiha felt obliged to say something, but the words seemed to keep getting caught in her throat. "Ka...ka...! ...!!"

     "Why is Nii-san there!?" Rika started breaking down in tears again, and the sound snapped Kuchiha out of her daze. The words bubbled over her throat and exploded out.

     "HOW'D A KID GET STUCK IN A TREE!!!???"

     Rukamina Runo was stuck, quite firmly, in the center of the Forest of Devourer's master tree.

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Chapter 8

Chapter 10