Warnings: Things get a little graphic…I contemplated making this chapter a little less violent and gory and sexual but I think I'll just leave it as it is and wait to see what you guys think about it. I really, really, really hope no one under sixteen is reading this….Also, please try to really envision everyone's positions because I feel like the picture I'm trying to paint for you guys will get confusing after a while. I unfortunately need some practice in writing hectic scenes in a way that is clear and easily comprehendible.
Danse Macabre
IX: The Battle
Ki…Kiba?
There was no doubt about it. It was Kiba, looking strangely stronger than he did that time Naruto was in his apartment. He was clustered in the front of the line with two others that were just like him – slightly smaller than the rest of the group.
"Gaara, Gaara, Gaara…" started one man, coming forwards. "What a pleasant surprise! It's been so long since you've come to our negotiations in person." He had a cane in one hand, and bandages wrapped around his face and body. He was the frailest of them all, but people shifted to the side to let him through.
"Danzō."
Naruto jumped, startled when he heard Gaara's voice right behind him. When he turned he saw the man standing a few feet away, with the others standing behind him in a horizontal line, facing forwards. They all stood like soldiers, even the woman named Rin who Naruto hadn't even realized was conscious again. Blue-face also stood beside her, arms crossed the way Gaara had his crossed, and Kankuro and the new Sine-anima that had come instead of Temari stood beside him, looking amused.
Naruto felt like a pathetic child on the floor next to them, cowering in his confusion.
"Well you're getting a little cocky, I see. You've brought so few people." said the man on the other side. He must have been the leader, Naruto thought. The leader of…what was it they called them? Lycans.
Is that what…is that what Kiba was now? It seemed his friend had yet to realize his presence. And with good cause, considering the blonde was on the ground, crouching by what seemed to be the biggest tree he'd ever seen. The first tree he'd ever seen – in real life.
"Where is your army, pray tell?" asked the leader again. He laughed and turned to his men behind him. "It seems we've come a little over-prepared."
"I was told this was a negotiation." Gaara replied calmly. His arms never uncrossed from his chest, as if mocking the threat the Lycans wanted to seem as.
The other leader laughed. "Ha. Of course. A negotiation. Then let us negotiate." He turned to look to his side. "Bring the Deviants forwards."
"Of course, Danzō."
To Naruto's surprise, Kiba and the two behind him were brought forwards by a man who was even larger than Blue-face. Kiba and the two others stumbled through, looking angry as all hell. They growled and shifted and squirmed, swiped angrily at the air in front of them in an attempt to reach the Malésems who stood several meters away. The large man behind them seemed to be holding them with one collar that connected to all of them.
"Look at them." began Danzō, pityingly.
Naruto was staring at them too, eyes wide. Was that really Kiba? Growling like some kind of beast?
"Most of them start all right." Danzō continued. "The beginning stage of any transformation is always difficult. And as always my men detected the newborns and took them in. But then of course…the Malésem blood began to sink in, and now they're nothing more than hungry beasts, nearly uncontrollable and desperate for a taste of human flesh. What's more is that they can barely stand the sun. Sure it doesn't kill them but a Lycan without the sun is nothing more than a guard dog." He spat.
"Then why the hell have you kept them around?" asked Kankuro, scoffing. "Just kill them and we wouldn't be here."
Danzō chuckled. "Don't play games, Kankuro. How long did you think this could go on without us knowing?" asked the leader with a crazed smile. "It's quite ingenious actually. I didn't think you had it in you, Gaara." He admitted, turning to the redhead. "Infecting humans with both Lycan and Malésem blood? It's perfect. And I suppose you were hoping for our acceptance of these…mutated species since they have our blood? Perhaps hoping that we would eventually mate with them, and have our descendants suffer the same sunless fate the Soulless face?"
"I had nothing to do with this."
Danzō laughed, shaking his head at the redhead. "Yes, of course. It was that wretched woman. Beautiful – but wretched. Then why isn't she here?" he asked, making a show of looking around.
"Who is he talking about?" Kankuro asked, sounding apprehensive.
"You haven't even told your own brother?" Danzō asked, eyes wide in amusement. "What kind of operation do you run, Summi? Your father never kept secrets from his people."
"You never knew my father."
"Well no, but I've heard—"
"You never knew my father."
Danzō blinked, genuinely surprised he was interrupted. "So then…" he continued, once he'd patched up his pride. "How do you expect to repay me for your treachery? Temari-summa isn't here to offer her apologies so—"
"It was Temari?!" shouted Kankuro, interrupting the Lycan leader and turning to his brother. "Are you fucking kidding me? She's the one who—"
"Please," Gaara breathed, closing his eyes, efficiently cutting the brunet off.
Kankuro stopped talking, gritting his teeth. "How could…" he insisted lowly. "How could you have left her in one piece after this?" he whispered harshly.
"I wasn't sure." answered the redhead calmly.
"Wasn't sure?! Every time you get so much as hint that I've done something wrong you take that sand and decapitate me for days, but with Temari—!"
"You know in the old times," Danzō called out, tired of being ignored. "…crimes like this were solvable with a simple exchange. If one of yours betrayed us, you had no choice but to hand over the criminal to our peop—"
"In those days the Lycans and Soulless had an alliance." And that was Gaara, speaking again. Even out here the air seemed to stand still when he spoke. "No such alliance exists between us now. Not since your coming into power."
Danzō frowned. "So you're protecting your sister, is that it? Because we disagree on a few points you wish to completely destroy tradition? It's decisions like those that lead to even more bloodshed, you know. We could settle this quite easily if you just hand her to me."
"What will become of the Deviants." Gaara asked, ignoring the statement.
"What can we do with them? They're useless to us, and they will never be allowed to breed within our clan. They will be complete outcasts in our society. They will only find meaning if we enslave them and abuse them the way you abuse your precious Malésem army."
"You're going to kill them."
"Precisely. Or rather," Danzō added, smirking. "You are. They might be mutations, but they are strong. They will fight with us in this battle, and the survivors – if there are any – will be disposed of."
Naruto's eyes widened at that. Disposed of? What? But Kiba…!
"Then there is no need for us to fight." Gaara surmised, his body relaxing. "We came here to make sure you disposed of them, made sure they had no chance of carrying the mixed blood to the next generation. If we allow their kind to thrive they'll eventually separate from the Lycans, breed with each other, and declare war on you. On us. Everyone. Much like the Demis did."
Danzō hesitated, staring at Gaara for long moments with disbelief. "I don't understand. Why have you shown yourself here then? Simply to discuss terms? I haven't seen you in a century, you never aid your army in combat, and today you show yourself simply to deny battle?"
"You wish to fight me that desperately?"
"Desperateness has nothing to do with it!" shouted suddenly, and his voice rang in the air for long moment afterwards. " It is…" he continued, trying to calm down. "…my right to exact revenge—"
"Revenge for what? None of your people were harmed—"
"One of our best fighters mated with one of the filthy Deviants!" Danzō shouted, interrupting the redhead. "In order to terminate the offspring we had to terminate her. You owe us a life."
Gaara's eyes narrowed. Somehow it seemed everything had changed. He kept silent for long moments. "I see." He said finally. "Then whose life would be sufficient?"
"I already told you whose life would be sufficient."
"Temari will destroy everyone in your territory before you manage to so much as lay a scratch on her – much less kill her."
"I'm not changing my mind! It's her or we fight!"
Something that sounded like a soft sigh emitted from the redhead. "Why must all negotiations with you end with battle…" he murmured.
"You dare ask why? Are you afraid? Is that it? I understand now," Danzō patronized, "It's Sol. Now that you know the sun is rising in six minutes you're desperately trying to run away from me—"
"Ha!"
Everyone except Gaara turned their heads to the sound.
Blue-face was giggling from his place in line.
Danzō blinked at him, eyebrows raised in surprise.
Blue-face shook a hand in front of him, as if to ask everyone not to mind him. "I-I'm sorry, I just…" he giggled a little more. "I just can't take it anymore." He finally managed to get out. "Who do you think you are?'" he asked Danzō, still laughing. "Have you ever seen a Summi in battle? Oh, that's right – you haven't. You're much too young."
Naruto, who was cramping up in his position on the ground, raised an eyebrow. The Danzō person looked ancient with wrinkles all over his ghastly face. He was anything but young.
Danzō glared at Blue-face. "I don't see how that—"
"Your existence is a privilege, you do realize that, don't you?" Blue-face jeered, raising an eyebrow. "Six minutes is about how long it will take Gaara-summi to eradicate your entire species." He laughed again, holding his head in wonder.
"What?'' Danzō sneered. "And I suppose the previous battles we've won mean nothing, then?"
"You've used the sun to your advantage every time." Kankuro growled, stepping forwards. "Those battles were all illegitimate games you played to build your pride and force these Lycan scum into thinking they have a chance at beating us on an equal advantage playing field—"
"It's not my fault Sol damned you." Danzō interrupted, stepping forwards as well. "We are simply using Him to our advantage. On an equal playing field as you say, my people would destroy you just the same."
"Pfft—hahaha—!" That was Blue-face again, raising his hands and turning around to hide the almost violent laughter that came from him.
Danzō took a step back, eyes wide and angry. "Are you mocking me, boy?"
"Boy, he says!" exclaimed Blue-face, knocking the shoulder of the Malésem next to him. "Did you all hear that? He called me boy. How old are you, Danzō?" he asked, turning around, grin still in place. "One hundred? Three? You're nothing but a toddler."
Danzō grit his teeth and clenched his fists.
Kankuro was smirking himself, and the white haired man next to him still had the smile on his face.
"Look at him." Blue-face continued. "I've ruffled his baby fur—"
"Enough, Kisame." Gaara murmured, finally uncrossing his arms.
The Lycan side took note of the gesture, and all of them braced themselves, crouching down and clenching their fists.
"Let me get this straight." And that was the new man speaking again. "We're going into battle five minutes before the sunlight…because we won't hand Temari over to them?" he turned to Gaara waiting for answer.
When the redhead didn't answer, the white haired one laughed softly. "There's obviously something you're not telling me. You and I both know Temari would destroy them anyway—"
"I didn't bring you here to run your mouth, Kakashi."
The man chuckled. "Of course not."
"Enough of this!" Danzō shouted. "You want your equal advantage playing field? Fine! Show us that you can defeat us before the sun rises!" He stalked over to the three growling men, Kiba included, and smacked them all so hard the leaves on the tree next to Naruto shook.
Naruto gasped inwardly as they all but barked at Danzō, eyes suddenly blazing and baring their sharp teeth at him. Danzō took a few steps backwards, before he faced Gaara and his men again.
"Four minutes until sunrise. Perhaps you will destroy the Deviants but their mindlessness will debilitate your army, and then the real Lycans will strike…"
"It's the mindlessness that I count on." murmured Gaara, stepping forwards.
Danzō started, and he glared at the redhead. "Jakor!" he called out. "Release them at my command!"
The one who held onto Kiba and the others clenched the collar tightly – but instead of trying to charge ahead at Danzō who hit them, or Gaara and his army, Kiba and the others fell to the ground, convulsing.
There was a shift in the energy in the air suddenly, and Naruto felt a strange weight fall on his shoulders, like gravity was pressing against him.
He watched, his pupils shaking in their sockets, as Kiba's shoulder blades seemed to pop outwards, revealing white bone under shredded skin. The blonde flinched when that seemed to happen all over his friend's body – a sickening pop on all of his joints. The three of them seemed to contort and grow in size, their skin stretching to reveal veins and tendons pulsing inside, their flesh bubbling and expanding in a desperate attempt to contain and later accommodate the sudden growth. Canines that put Soulless teeth to shame bulged out of their mouths, forcing their gums to bleed and their eyes to squeeze shut with the massive facial takeover, deforming their features.
Naruto put a hand to his mouth as Kiba became completely unrecognizable. His clothes were in shreds and even his genitals took a different shape, becoming an impossibly long and black mutated mass, standing out against the pale, almost blue, bulging, muscular thighs.
By the near end of it Kiba's five foot seven was a staggering six foot four, and his massive build, along with the others was nothing but a grotesque thing, a face that was all teeth, a deformed snout, and barely any eyes.
"This is what happens when you mix blood." Kankuro spat, obviously disgusted.
"Everyone drink." Kisame suddenly announced, pulling out the flasks and taking his own swig. He made a face and passed it down. "Two good gulps each." He demanded.
Naruto on the other hand could barely keep his eyes off his still convulsing friend.
Shaking himself, he turned, ever so slowly to look behind him, facing Gaara and his army. They were passing the flasks of his blood down the line. When it came to Gaara, the redhead did not sip, and simply handed it back to his brother. Kankuro seemed not to care, and took the rest of the blood for himself, throwing the flask away when he was done.
Naruto squinted at that. Wouldn't Gaara burn in the sun then?
"They get bigger every time they transform!" Danzō shouted, his eyes crazed and mouth white with his grin.
"Can the Malésem really take them?" Kakashi murmured to the redhead. "They're bigger, more unpredictable. Maybe we should just give in and show them our power. That way all of this will be done before the sun."
Naruto squinted. Wait? They were going to make the Malésems fight alone?
"We will not have to fight them. And neither will the Malésem."
Everyone on the Soulless side turned to face Gaara.
"And why's that?" Kankuro asked his brother.
"Because the Deviants will be distracted."
Kakashi and Kankuro shared a look.
"What the hell are you whispering about!" shouted Danzō, and Naruto turned back to him. "You people have mocked me for the last time! Jakor – Release them!"
The one who held onto the monsters let go of the rope he'd been holding them with, and in an instant Kiba and the other two were dashing forwards with monstrous growls from their mouth.
Naruto screamed, scrambling from his spot on the ground, before he suddenly found himself in the air, being lifted by something that didn't feel quite like a hand. "Gaah!" he called out, waving about the way Rin had when she'd been lifted by Kisame. "Wh-wha—"
Then things happened very quickly.
Kankuro who'd crouched down, ready for battle let out a surprised, "Gaara, you're a genius!"
And then Naruto, who'd been spinning in the hold of the redhead caught a glimpse of the white haired man – Kakashi – who was looking at him with pitying eyes.
Then Naruto was thrown.
Gaara threw him.
In the way of the mutated Lycans coming at them.
Naruto's shock had not even had a chance to settle when he'd crashed onto the dirt twenty feet away from Gaara. His eyes stayed wide, staring at the redhead and the men who stood behind him.
And it was like everything was going in slow motion. The sound of gurgling and growling was inching closer and closer and closer and closer until Naruto felt the sound right by his ear, felt the slobber dripping down his face, felt the teeth that were suddenly clamping on the entire left side of his body—
"Kkchh—guh—AAAAAAARRGGHH—"
– his mouth stretched wider than he thought it could ever stretch when what felt like one hundred blunted knives tried to pull his shoulder clean off. Almost unconsciously his body fought back, violently kicking at the pairs of teeth that tried to snap at his legs—
"What the hell!?" And that was Danzō who seemed to have come over his shock. "What are they—Who is that?! What have you done!?"
"Your—"
Naruto couldn't hear Gaara's reply, because his left ear was suddenly being pressed against the ground, while his right one was being lapped by a giant tongue –
All he could hear were his own shrill cries, muffled now and again by the wet dirt that clogged his mouth until the force of his screams pushed the soil away and there went his right foot, not evading a snapping mouth quickly enough before being bitten so hard Naruto saw white—
"Huurghh-!"
Naruto choked when something punched his stomach, but that was nothing compared to when that same thing began to eat at his stomach, biting away at it like it couldn't find the right position to access his skin the most efficiently—
Vomit came pooling out of his mouth. Not food of course – because when was the last time he ate – but blood, falling freely onto the already wet dirt like a waterfall.
The tongue at his ear turned into teeth at his ear, effectively destroying the skin on the side of his face.
He was shaking, eyes rolling into the back of his head as he began to drift – but then what felt strangely like a human hand with claws was pulling his face towards the sky, and Naruto didn't know what he expected to see, but it certainly wasn't a snout dripping with a mass of mucus, breathing harshly into his face like it had just run a marathon.
And right above the grotesque nose were…were eyes. Deep brown eyes.
In the distance, with his still working left ear, he heard someone call out, "Lycans attack!"
And there was a sudden rush of wind in the cold forest, tossing his bloodied blonde hair and the fur of the hand that clamped on his chest in the wind. From behind the brown eyes of the beast that hovered over him, Naruto could see dark masses jumping over them, towards the Malésems.
There was screaming. The sound of ripping flesh.
But Naruto found the brown eyes the most captivating thing of all. Staring deep into him, shaking in their sockets as if trying to understand.
Kiba?
The beast reared backwards, huffing as if in shock.
Had Naruto said that aloud?
Impossible. Because he was choking on his own blood.
Brown eyes seemed to narrow, coming closer and closer, until Naruto was snot to nose with the beast.
And Naruto wasn't sure but…
Was that his right arm…? Somehow still intact…. reaching to touch the face of the mutated monster?
His hand almost reached the monster's contorted cheek, his bloodied fingers hovering over the growling lips, and the taut grayish skin, stretched so far to reveal the pale veins beneath it.
The sounds grew more frantic in the background. Beastly screams shifted into human wails and were punctuated with the sound of tearing limbs that Naruto was becoming so familiar with. More than once a body fell beside him, shifting the ground and splashing dirt on the beast that hovered above him and the side of his tan face.
The hand that had managed to survive the relentless biting of the other two mutated Lycans finally fell upon the beast's face, and his fingers found themselves squeezing the fur he felt there, squeezing so hard he didn't realize when the dog-thing began to moan – a high pitched whine – as if it was in pain.
And Naruto just kept squeezing, his eyes dim and distant, his mouth partly open and slack with blood no longer coming out. He vaguely accounted for the teeth that were still mauling his lower body, but the pain was distant now. Even his screams had stopped. All that was real was his hand on the one beast's face.
His hand that squeezed, as if pleading its last plea. The last gesture he had left in his dying body.
The Lycan above him began to vibrate, and the brown eyes disappeared, rolling to the back of its head as if it was having some kind of seizure.
But Naruto never let go. Something in his mind – which was barely still intact – told him to keep holding on, to keep crushing the side of the monsters head with his feeble hand.
And the blonde watched the thing vibrate, convulse, howl, whine – and shrink.
It was shrinking.
Had Naruto any energy left he would have gasped, or widened his eyes – something. But he could only stare distantly at the scene above him, the slow and equally grotesque shrinking of the monster – bones popping back into place, teeth stabbing backwards and into a stretched mouth—
It looked and sounded painful, but the monster stayed right above him, letting the transformation violently regress until fur was fully receded, leaving nothing but a dark patch of wild hair, pale glistening skin, and a familiar face.
"Na…Narut—?"
"THE SUN, THE SUN IS RISING!"
"STAY IN YOUR DAMNED POSITIONS, THERE'S NOWHERE TO RUN!"
"GAARA-SUMMA, I BEG OF YOU, TAKE US BACK – THE SUN! THE SUN!"
"FUCKING INBREEDS, STOP RUNNING AWAY – YOU WON'T BURN THIS TIME—"
"HOW CAN YOU KNOW FOR SUR—"
Naruto twitched in his position on the ground. He could hear the shouting, but he couldn't comprehend it.
Kiba's human eyes still looked a little animalistic as they stared down at him. He looked down at his friend like he didn't know what to do, like he was having an internal panic attack.
"Naruto? Wh…what—?" he clutched his head, and leaned down groaning in pain. "Naruto….what have I—uuuggh—" he gagged once. Twice. Then another strange sound came from deep in his throat—
And he vomited. A generous steady stream of red liquid poured out of his mouth, dirtying the soil and splashing onto Naruto's face.
It was Naruto's blood, Naruto's flesh, that Kiba was vomiting out.
Naruto tried to swallow, but the blood already in his mouth was too thick. He could literally feel the skin inside his body healing, and then being ripped away again by the two animals who were still gnawing at his stomach and legs.
"K…Kiba," he gurgled out.
His friend had stopped vomiting, but wasn't looking at Naruto. His head was down and to the side, and he was holding himself, shivering.
Naruto lifted his head up to look at his lower half. The monsters didn't even see that he was still somewhat conscious, and continued with their business. But it wasn't really the monsters that he was paying attention to. It was the way the flesh that they ate was constantly being repaired and replaced, his intestines disappeared into their mouths and then somehow grew and replenished right before his eyes.
He could no longer feel his legs, but the stabbing in his stomach was growing unbearable again, as Naruto's mind seemed to rebuild itself, reviving his nerves.
He clenched his teeth, the excruciating pain rising and rising, before—
The pair of teeth at his stomach suddenly stopped. Even the one at his legs. Naruto paused, staring at the sky and breathing harshly for long moments before he dared to look down.
The two beasts were both on their knees, sitting so still as both their enormous heads looked towards the sky.
It seemed everything was silent then. The screaming had stopped. The panic was no more.
And that's when Naruto saw it. To his left—
The sun was rising.
Patches of sunlight shone through various parts in the air, revealing infinitesimal particles hovering within it. The morning rays were barely making it passed the giant tree trunks, but the small rays that did make it through were enough to make both sides hold their breath in silence.
Finally someone who Naruto had trouble seeing from his position on the ground extended a shaking arm, and held it to one of the feeble rays. Everyone took a sharp intake of breath when his skin finally touched it—
But he didn't burn.
"He's not…" someone was saying. "H-he's not…"
"Danzō!" Even Kankuro's shout didn't break the tranquility of the moment. Everyone else was either still on the Malésem who'd extended his arm to the sun's rays, or hesitantly extending their arms to one as well.
Kankuro's laugh started low and then grew monstrous as he stood with his hands to his hips. "I hope you're quite prepared for your people to be completely annihilated!" he exclaimed with a grin.
"Wh…what is this?!" Naruto heard the Lycan leader shout from behind him, shock and horror in his voice.
"Oh, this?" Kankuro asked mockingly, making a show of looking around. Slowly the Malésem army began to gather behind him, their open mouths bearing sharp smiles and wide, crazed smiles. "Only the dawn of a new era." Kankuro answered, shrugging his shoulders. "Attack."
He didn't even shout the words, but the Malésems behind him suddenly dashed in every direction, heading towards the hundreds of wolf-like things that also loitered the large area.
Then it became an all-out war.
The Malésems were jumping around at speeds Naruto didn't comprehend, taking the heads of every wolf-looking thing everywhere they jumped. And the Lycans were helpless in the middle of it all despite their numbers – crying out when something out of nowhere took one of their limbs, or howling when a punch in their stomach put a hole in their torsos.
And the sun. It had barely risen, but Naruto knew that this was somehow a monumental moment for the Malésem team. They were all cackling, screaming, reveling in their bloodshed, and not burning when a hint of the sun's rays brushed against their exposed skin.
They were having fun. And the one's who were hurt would simply regrow their torn limbs, wouldn't they? They looked like kids, running around freely, without worry. He saw an armless Malésem running around, fighting a giant wolf-man with his legs alone, a grin so wide Naruto thought his face could split.
It became obvious who the stronger species was. The Lycans never had a chance. Not without the sun on their side.
Naruto tore his attention away from the battlefield when he heard growling in front of him again. The Deviants were swiping at the air, touching a ray of light there – then one began swiping at the other, using it's clawed paw-hand to scratch the other's face. The assaulted Lycan roared back, but did nothing when the large Deviant came behind it, positioning it's groin so that it was directly behind the other one.
Naruto wanted to spit, he was so caught off guard. Were they…were they really going to have sex right there in front of him, with everyone watching?
It seemed that way. Because the Lycan directly in front of Naruto began to howl as the one behind it mounted him.
"Wh…what—"
Naruto's whimpers seemed to bring attention to him, and the bottom-Lycan growled up at him, pain evident in its eyes as the Lycan behind him began to move. Naruto tried to push backwards with the one hand he had, staring in horror as the Deviant lifted itself along with the one mounting behind it, to reveal it's own pulsing sex organ visibly throbbing from between it's legs.
And then he came at Naruto, moving forwards so its giant body was directly above the blonde, casting it's long dark shadow on him.
Now Naruto was face to chest with the four-legged beast. The beast with clear intentions to…to—
Naruto was so scared he couldn't even scream.
His clothes had been torn completely when he'd been feasted on, giving no protection at all from—
And what protection would the clothes have given him?
His working arm feebly came up to push the Deviant's chest, but what did that do but make the beast growl irritably?
When Naruto dared looked down, his body shaking to his very core, he saw that obnoxiously long thing – not as dark as Kiba's had been – coming at him, aiming for the space between his legs that had been ravaged by teeth and his panic was become more and more frantic, little bubbles of whimpers turning into curt wails turning into frantic screams as he pushed against the monster that was trying to rape him it was trying to rape him while it was being raped itself—
"Get o-ff of me-e!" Naruto's cry didn't sound like him, and his voice cracked like a smoker and his eyes couldn't leave the pulsing phallus that slowly came at him, bobbing wretchedly and without aim as it tried to find the blonde's hole and Naruto couldn't move he couldn't move his legs were still nothing but bloody stumps revealing white bone and he tried to shift his body but the pain from his stomach was like white hot fire on his body and he could feel his heart literally feel his heart pumping it's irregular pumps as it wondered if it should beat faster in panic or simply die from the pain and Naruto was screaming, he was screaming because the phallus had reached its destination and would only need to push to push to get what it—
"Gaaah!" someone who wasn't Naruto screamed.
He barely caught the moment when a figure to his right came and shoved against the two beasts.
Kiba!
But the gesture was essentially useless, because although the monster trying to mount Naruto found itself distracted, it only had to violently swipe a paw to knock Kiba back to the ground. Then the Deviant was turning to Naruto again, growling in pleasure or distaste or annoyance – Naruto didn't understand anything that was—
The body of an animal suddenly came crashing against the two Lycans on top of Naruto, violently knocking them to the side and a few feet from him.
Kiba jumped, startled, from his positon on the ground. It seemed he was getting ready to attempt to shove the beasts off of Naruto again. The blonde let his head fall to the floor, letting out a sigh that was almost painful. He tried to move his legs, he tried to move his right arm – but they were still non-existent, choosing this day of all days to not regenerate like he knew they could.
He turned to the side to face the two monsters. The body that had crashed into them lie on top of one but not the other. It was the body of another kind of wolf monster, only it was easier on the eyes. The Deviants were shaking their heads and snapping out of their shock. They both growled at Naruto when they came to, and prowled towards him again.
"Wa-Wait!" Naruto panicked. He didn't know what he would do if that thing tried to rape him again. "Pleas—" but the blonde's words were swallowed by the the beast's sudden yelps. When the two dogs pounced for him again, a thin whip of sand came out of nowhere and swiped through them like a blade.
Naruto stared at the two mutated Lycans for a full two seconds, taking in the confused horror on their contorted faces, before their lower halves suddenly slipped from their top halves, separating slowly like ocean water receding backwards from a shore.
When their split bodies fell to the floor, with blood steadily gushing outwards onto Kiba and Naruto who lay wide eyed at the whole thing, the sand that struck through them retracted back to the left, and Naruto's eyes followed it in a daze.
And there it was. The pulling and pushing feeling.
The floor above his head was steadily shining with sunlight, but the floor to his right him was shadowed – not with the silhouette of a body but with the shadow of a huge large unclosed dome of sand that hid Gaara's back from the rising sun.
Naruto felt his breath catch as he stared at the man.
Who was also staring at him.
His eyes were passive, unbothered, as the dome of sand hovered, shielding the entire back of his body.
"We're leaving now." The man said, and small tendrils reached for Naruto.
The blonde blinked at the things, apprehensive as they came closer.
"Naruto!" Kiba suddenly appeared in front of him, and he saw his friend's hand swipe up at the tendrils of sand. Kiba growled up at Gaara – a sound that wasn't human at all, coming from his non-animalistic body. His bare backside was in Naruto's face as he bared his teeth at the redhead, but the blonde couldn't find it in himself to care – not when his friend was suddenly taken in the air, held by the neck by the same tendril of sand that had cut the Deviants in two, squeezing until Kiba was choking—
Naruto's lungs seemed to expand so far with the breath he took, and the hand that was still intact reached for Kiba so fast he thought he would break his shoulder joint. "No!" he shouted, his voice shrill.
Kiba was screaming, and shaking in the hold, and Naruto felt helpless on the ground.
He couldn't see past Kiba's floating backside, but he could see the way the way his friend's legs convulsed and he could hear the terrible sounds of him choking and swiping at the sand that seized him. "N…Na—kuk!—Naru…to!"
And it was that cry for help, the plea hidden in his name, that made Naruto see red.
Not from anger but from the agonizing pain of the sudden stretching of his limbs. He recognized the feeling now – it was the regeneration.
He was regenerating right before his eyes. It was almost as grotesque as Kiba's transformation. Fingers appeared right at the joint of his torn arm, and extended further to reveal a wrist, then a forearm, until he had a new limb gushing out of the socket of the original. The same thing happened to his legs, and he didn't even want to look at what was going on with the intestines that were still spilling from his body.
His body seemed to move on his own then; before his new leg had even finished pulling out of the bleeding socket, he was using his right leg and both of his hands to turn and hoist himself from the ground—
But when he was standing, assaulted by how different the world looked with this vertical vision, and staring at Kiba's nude back being held captive by the tendril of sand around his neck, he—
He didn't know what to do.
The screaming, the tearing, Kiba's chokes—
What could he do?
"Stop!" he screamed, grabbing his friend from behind and pulling. "Stop, Stop!" his voice was thick – not only with the blood still in his mouth but the phlegm slowly building in his throat to accompany his scared tears. He wondered why the tears were coming now instead of when he was being eaten alive—
But the sand that held onto Kiba never let go, and Naruto held onto his friend helplessly as his body continued to shake, the convulsing becoming less and less frantic as the life was literally squeezed out of him—
Then Naruto was suddenly holding onto a limp body. His friend flopped forwards like taffy, the sand disintegrating from his neck. The blonde wasn't strong enough to hold him, so he fell to the ground with Kiba, eyes wide in shock as they both collapsed on the ground, one obviously alive and the other one…
"Ki…" Naruto blinked hard. "Kiba…?" he breathed.
The sagging nude body did not respond, only drooped further onto the ground, giving Naruto a generous view of Kiba's pale neck and the harsh red marks that appeared there and all over the joints of his body.
"You…" Naruto felt himself stiffen, letting Kiba just roll off of him. "You killed him." his words were barely audible. He faced the ground, unmoving.
From the corner of his eye he could see tiny tendrils of sand, coming to touch him again.
"We're leaving now." It wasn't a demand, or even a harsh statement, but Gaara's voice had a natural finality to it.
Naruto would have sat there for an eternity, if it weren't for the sandy string suddenly touching his shoulder.
"Don't touch me!" he glared up at the redhead, eyes crazed with tears still falling out. The sand came at him again, and he swiped a hand against it, only half surprised that it simply broke away into tiny little floating, indiscernible particles when he did.
He stood up, legs shaking and still glaring at the man. "You killed him!" he shouted, fists at his side.
The dome of sand that hovered above Gaara and shielded him from the sunlight had a shadow that extended as the sun rose behind him. Even the trees couldn't prevent the rays from shining in—
But Gaara stayed hidden underneath his dome. Alive and breathing—
Unlike Kiba.
Naruto was charging forwards before he thought about it. The six feet distance between him and the redhead was closed in just two steps and his fist extended backwards to come forward and sock the redhead in face.
Kunch—!
The sound of his knuckles to the man's cheek was audible.
Then everything was suddenly quiet.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Except for Naruto, whose breath was coming harshly and his glare still going strong –
Because Gaara hadn't moved.
His punch had had absolutely no effect. The man had a face of steel. And he stared at Naruto. Passionlessly.
"Arrggh – fuck you!" Naruto came at him with a battle cry, banging two fists on the man's chest, stalling only for a moment when he realized how incredibly rigid it was, but the anger replaced the shock soon after, and he banged on the chests again, using his fists with all his might, then when that had no effect, smacking the man's left cheek repeatedly with his reddening palm, and when that still didn't work, smacking the man's hard chest again with his desperate human hands all the while screaming and cursing through gritted teeth and – "Fuck you, fuck you – ass hole, dick, piece of shit, you fucking killed, you fucking killed—!"
He didn't even realize when he was sobbing the curses out, banging and banging on the hard chest and slapping the unmoving face. His futile attempts at the hurting the man became more feeble. The sounds of his sobs became louder than the smacks on the man's face, until finally his arms fell limp to his side, and his mouth closed shut. His head fell forward, spent, and landed on the same chest he'd been trying to hurt.
But he didn't care.
He didn't care about anything.
"What's wrong with me…" he whispered.
Because that's what this all was about, wasn't it? The confusion, the fear, the pain. All pent up.
And now Kiba was dead.
What was he?
What was he?
He didn't jump when the tendrils of sand touched him this time. Didn't even flinch. They wrapped around his legs, his torso, and Naruto felt the inability to move weigh over him just like it did back at the fortress.
He pulled back, lazily, and stared up at the redhead.
Gaara stared back. Still as a statue, unaffected as the gray skies.
"We're leaving now."
End of Chapter
Authors Notes:
Update Next Week (I think). Also The Burning Mines.
So there it is. Sorry if things were too graphic or too confusing, or if anything was unacceptable in this chapter. I'm still practicing action scenes.
As for the small sexual bit, I was watching the Discovery Channel and these lions were mating, and it was so violent it was almost like rape – but apparently it's a natural process and the lionesses usually just accept their fate the way that Deviant did.
Curse me out for killing Kiba if you so desire, haha.
Anticipate Sasuke, and the long lost Hinata in the next chapter.
I'd like to say thank you thank you thank you thank you to all of those who gave me the names and the bios of various mythical creatures! It helped a lot and you've made my job 500x's easier!
Questions!
1. Did you guys all raise an eyebrow when you read that that tree was the first one Naruto had ever come into contact with in real life? That will be important later. Don't forget that this story is a kind of post-apocalyptic setting (I only mentioned it a little in chapter two or three).
2. Were the icky parts too much? Too little? I'm talking about the particularly graphic parts (Violence/Sexual). I planned on this story being really, really over the top sexually and violently but I'm beginning to reconider...
See you later!
