Slithery Whispers within the Black Forest

Her lungs struggled against the weight that pushed against them. The constriction that held the kunoichi in place, unable to move and hardly able to breathe. Her shoulders shifted as the woman tried her best to free herself from whatever it was that was threatening to crush and break her body. It would be like snapping a branch, quick with the echo of breaking bones. But no matter how much Aroma struggled and fought against the restraint, there was literally no progress made. All she was doing was wearing herself out, which would make her a much easier meal to the monster before her. 

Quite a bit of time has passed since the genin had made her way through the forest that had casted a dark shadow through the history of Kumogakure. She was surprised that she hadn't spent more time exploring it. Yes there was something dark and eerie about the way it seemed so lifeless and ghastly, as if the trees were all dead and forever to be. Their black twisted bodies seemed to block out most of the sunlight from up above. 

There had been a time or two, within the past few weeks, that Aroma had witnessed a man venturing out to this forest. She had been simply running a few errands, and with her senses always on high alert, she couldn't help but notice and watched as his dark hair disappeared into the twisted trees. That was when her curiosity got the better of her, nagging her to find out more about this dark, nightmarish terrain that Kumogakure had to offer. 

Her journey of learning more about the forest began with fact checking and gathering information. The lass knew better than to just dive into an unknown terrain without having some sort of heads up of what it contained. That was when she found out about the corruption that once plagued the forest long ago. 

But it seemed that despite all of her intel gathering and preparation, she was still not ready for what laid ahead within those twisted, dark trees. Because here she was, in quite a messy situation. She was bound by a massive, scaley body of a serpent. Unable to move, escape, or retreat. Almost unable to even breathe. 

After her unsuccessful attempt to do any good at wiggling around within the massive snake's grasp, Aroma finally considered calming down. She was just wasting whatever strength she had left at this point, and it wasn't doing her any good. So instead- she began calculating her surrounds. Peering through the strands of lavender hair that fell in front of her face with eyes that matched, following the scaley body of the snake to find where it lead. Where was the head of this beast? Not long after she had this silent, unspoken thought did the beast's head finally revealed itself. An enormous scarlet head appeared from the greenery with large emerald green eyes that peered hungrily at her. 

Aroma found herself no longer eager of looking for anymore of the beast. Almost regretting her question of the snake's head. 

The snake's head adjusted to where it was just level with Aroma's view, it's eyes never moving from her position. How ironic would it be for the Viperis to become a reptilian's snack. Gobbled whole within this red snake's belly. 

For some reason, as Aroma daringly glared back at the red snake, she felt some sort of connection. As if the snake was somehow admiring the vibrancy of her eyes, and her unusual lavender hair. It was an odd thing to assume from a large, monstrous snake, but somehow it seemed right. 

Just then there was a new sound, a sound of twigs rustling and snapping as something else really large parted through the charred forest. Aroma turned her chin to the direction of the movement, which was to her far left. It couldn't have been the red snake making all that noise, for it was silent and still as a statue. 

To Aroma's misfortune, there was another monster in the terrain. A beastly green body appeared within her line of sight. This one nore terrifying than the scarlet beast that held her in place. A huge green snake, lined with wicked spines all over his body and especially his enormous head, was making his way over to investigate the red snake's treasure. 

This definitely wasn't going well. There was no escaping this situation, she was as good as dead. 

The green snake raised his head, which ended up being higher than the scarlet snake. His mighty blue tongue tasted at the air, before his massive mowl began to open. Revealing deadly rows of teeth within, and then a set of two lengthy fangs. Aroma awaited for her fate to finally be delivered. To be swallowed whole or pierced through by those massive fangs, at this moment she couldn't determine which way would be more merciful. Closing her eyes for a moment, hoping it passes through quickly. 

But nothing happened. After a few drawn out moments, Aroma a finally reopened her eyes. The green snake no longer had his fangs bared. Instead his head was now turned towards the red snake, as if they was exchanging some sort of conversation to which Aroma wasn't able to hear.

"Well well- A summoner with no summons. Are we not good enough to you?" A voice echoed sharply within Aroma's mind, the question sounded more like a threat. "It wouldn't be the first time I fed on an ungrateful individual."

---

{WC: 923}