Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'Blah' – Thoughts

'Blah' – Kyuubi Speech

Non-Jutsu Translations :

Kiseichu – Parasite

Senpai – More experienced (Also can be used as suffix)

Now on with the show!

Chapter 11

Last Time on Kisses from a Rose!

Even blinded I could feel the forest receding quickly, I could barely feel the wind tugging at my clothes as I plummeted down the side of the chasm.

As this happened I came to three conclusions.

One; being a Shinobi just plain old sucked.

Two; Sasuke was a complete idiot for leaving and getting us all in this mess.

And three; this was really going to hurt.

////////////////////////////// Jimi's PoV //////////////////////////////

I tumbled and rolled through the air, bouncing off the partially sloped walls of the chasm occasionally; I couldn't control my descent, my balance had been completely thrown off by the explosion and the sudden distance from the plants outside of me threw the one in me off completely.

Even though my eyesight was returning, I couldn't orient myself and without my Kiseichu to orient us for me, I was stuck in free fall in the chasm.

The next thing I was consciously aware of was flaring pain in my back and the cracking of several ribs; pebbles and bits of gravel flying into the air from beneath me, stone crumpling from my weight and velocity.

As I took my time to shake off the impact I could hear the Sound Nin landing a ways ahead of me.

I blinked furiously to regain my vision but didn't move an inch; I was unworried about him seeing my eyes due to my shades still stuck upon my nose but I wanted… no, needed him to think I was dead so I had time to at least get up. With his speed he could have a kunai in my skull before I was up good…

I was tough but not that tough.

Fortunately I didn't even have to guess what his following "Hmph" meant; he practically told me.

"Trash like that acts all tough but can't even land properly. I can't believe they got the container away from us for any amount of time."

I moved the instant his footsteps started away, flipping forward from my reclining position in the boulder I landed on my feet bringing my arms down, pouring chakra into the backs of my wrists I felt the thorns burst from the skin, I knew they caught another of the exploding tags hidden in my sleeves, I had instilled within them enough chakra to set the tags off two seconds after leaving my flowing sleeves.

In the end I just watched as two brown streaks flew from my sleeves only to miss the other Nin who had probably moved upon hearing me, but I had the satisfaction of watching him stumble as the blades exploded mere yards past him.

I didn't have the luxury to just sit by and relax though, I wasn't fast enough; I was moving almost as I flung the exploding thorns.

I had hoped they would get him, not expected them too.

My opponent spun with a look of momentary surprise on his face as I charged straight at him, my hands clenched into fists as I held my arms out.

His surprise faded quickly and he shifted stances into a considerably more solid stance, perfect for stopping a charging foes momentum and throwing them open for subsequent blows.

Too bad for him I wasn't getting that close.

I spun to a halt within two yards of him, my arm following the motion and flicking a thorn into the ground right between his feet.

His surprised eyes followed the brown blade into the ground and widened even further when he noticed the already mostly burned exploding tag attached to the blade.

The explosion forced him back, he was looking around furiously for me, his face scrunched up in anger; it definitely wasn't a good look for him.

Too bad he was looking in the wrong place, I wasn't above the ground.

I burst from the ground just beneath his direct line of sight, the vines already free of the skin on my palms.

As I flipped over the startled Sound Nin I circled my arms around and around, entangling his arms and binding his wrists together.

I landed behind him, thorn blades bursting from the backs of my wrists, accompanied by droplets of my blood; I grabbed the vines in my palms and jerked the helpless Nin back towards my blades which I thrust towards him once he was coming back.

The blades never reached him.

A pair of hands had caught my clenched hands.

My eyes followed the hands up the arms to another torso sticking out of the back of the one Nin I thought I was fighting. What had appeared to be a lump of hair had actually been another head!

This only barely had time to register before the second head grinned and spoke, his voice only slightly different from his… twins '?', "Eh, Sakon… two on one just might be fun if he keeps fighting like this."

The other head chuckled, "Right Ukon."

I could barely do more than think a couple curses as the first twin pulled his body into the others; my vines rendered useless as they fell free, and then burst out of the chest of the second holding my arms to hit me in the chest with a powerful punch.

The blow sent me flying through the air; I was stopped when my back slammed into one of the stalagmite/boulders that dotted the ground.

I could feel the rock behind me crack as I slammed into it uncontrolled, my head jerking back; pain flared as my weakened ribs cracked even further.

I fell to my feet, pulling my head back down to see.

When I did I sorta wished that I hadn't.

My head had come down just in time to catch a glimpse of three fists blurring their way into my face.

My skull slammed back into the rock hard and my shades cracked.

I was vaguely aware of the Sound Nin 'tee hee'ing for a moment before pain exploded in my side and I felt myself tumbling and rolling across the ground.

I eventually righted myself and skidded to a halt, standing in a low crouch.

The guy was bragging about something that he and his brother could do, I ignored him.

I could feel blood dripping from my fingers to the dirt below, I realized that I had not had a chance to seal the holes in my hands and wrists after firing my thorns and vines; I ignored the pain.

The front of my undershirt was wet, blood was oozing out of the gaping hole in my chest and sternum, I ignored that too.

I had to think of something that would put my opponent(s) off balance again and put me on the offensive or I was dead.

Then it happened, Ukon, the internal brother grabbed Sakon's mouth to stifle his monologue; but when he looked at Sakon, Sakon looked back at him.

I slapped my hands into a ram seal and sunk straight into the stone beneath me.

They both looked back over where I had been and stopped whatever they had been planning, something or another about level two.

Two brothers looked around quickly, this time their eyes were flicking towards the ground beneath them as well.

Too bad they were still looking in the wrong place.

I soundlessly pulled from the cliff-face above them, only one of my thorn blades still intact.

Even though with two pair of eyes they were considerably harder to sneak up on, they still had a blind spot directly above them between the two heads.

I dropped straight towards it, rearing back my blade, ready to plunge it down into where I guessed they had a shared spinal column.

Then I heard it and I knew they had to as well; my flowing sleeves fluttered.

The conjoined twins leapt back several feet just before I reached them, my blade plunging uselessly into the dirt where they had been.

I jerked my head up only to get a face full of foot, three to be exact.

My weakened thorn blade, normally as hard as steel, snapped off in the ground as I was knocked flying again. My eyes snapped closed as the glass of my shades shattered.

I rolled across the ground until I skidded to a halt in a crouch once more; the broken glass fell from the frames of my shades as I stood and reached for them.

I gripped the broken frames and had to use a small burst of chakra to loosen them and get them off.

My eyes snapped open and I glared at my opponent across from me, speaking out in a low voice, "Those were my favorite shades you bastards."

The twins both jerked from surprise at the sight of my eyes, I was used to the reaction, it's not every day you see a person with greens instead of whites.

I knew what my eyes were like, what should have been white was a grass green, where there should have been an iris and pupil there was just a dark circle of forest green in each eye.

I might have been used to the reaction but I still found it funny that the two brothers who were conjoined like that would find my eyes to be startling.

Wait till he saw the rest of me.

I came to a decision, my kimono tops' stealth impediment wasn't worth my two remaining exploding tags.

I reared back and tossed my shades at the twins, the frame becoming a spinning disc as it cut through the air.

Sakon, the more confident of the brothers moved to grab the shades, but unfortunately his more careful twin Ukon stopped him just in time to not loose a finger. The spinning shades still were able to give him a sizeable cut along the back of his hand though.

The brothers looked up in time to see me toss my kimono top aside and move to rip the wrappings from my forearms and wrists.

I grabbed a bundle of the cloth on one arm and ripped, tossing the bloodied bandages aside as I did the same for the other arm; I was treated to a look of pseudo-horror/disgust on the Sound Nins face.

I couldn't blame him really; my forearms were covered in vines that had burst from the constraints of my skin only to burrow back inside in another place, blood was dripping down the vines and my arms from using them in combat.

Now I spoke up again, "Now that that's out of the way… I have a question for you two… I just have to know…" I had their honest attention, good; I relaxed some and let my hands talk with me, "Since you two share a body, when you two do it is it incest or masturbation?"

This had the desired effect of pissing them both off considerably, the black dots on their skin flared red and expanded, soon all of their skin was this boiling red, their bodies shifting and changing.

When the red faded their skin was a dark brownish red, their faces considerably more demonic, fangs and sharp teeth were visible between their lips; they actually looked like a two headed monster now with a head on each shoulder. Then I noticed that they each had one off-center horn.

Before they could even move I opened my mouth, then closed it, the opened it again, "You know… actually… nevermind… the horns make it way too easy…"

Okay, now that got them mad.

They ran straight for me several times faster than before; as they moved I poured chakra into my right arm and could feel it being encased in a single, solid thorn.

I pulled my right arm; now terminating in a serrated cone, back, holding out my left as if to deflect what he threw at me.

I'm glad I didn't really plan on stopping them; they ducked under my still extending left hand and plowed a fist into my gut with extreme force. Pain rippled through my stomach and up my body, I could feel as much as see blood fly from my mouth.

I could hear them laugh as I slumped over the fist; they stopped pretty fast when my left hand grabbed the front of their shirt.

I jerked my head up and grinned at them as I plowed the serrated thorn up through their body, letting go with my left and tossing them over my shoulder even as I split them down the middle.

I poured some more chakra into the thorn that encompassed my arm; molding the steel hard wood as it grew into a smooth cone that started at my elbow and extended twice the length of my forearm.

And I watched as organs and flesh poured from the torn sides of the brothers. I had been worried about this. I had split them in two but they were two in one.

Sakon, the brother with the left horn, had regrown his right side while Ukon, the brother with the right horn, had done the opposite. The side they had regrown was black, scaly, and demonic.

Ukon spoke, "Sakon… we're not holding back anymore are we."

"No… we're not Ukon…"

"Good! You two shouldn't hold back against your senpai…" I grinned as they glared at me.

But I grinned even wider when their faces showed surprise as I raised the massive thorn, pointing it between them and launching it from my arm.

The two of them dodged behind some rocks before the thorn was halfway to them, "That won't work!" I slapped my hands into a dragon seal and the thorn exploded into thousands of splinters, launching the harder than steel projectiles even faster at the Sound Nin.

The next thing I saw was a burst of smoke and a massive gate rushing up between the needles and where the sound Nin were hiding.

The cloud of needles slammed into the gate, but instead of piercing it like I expected them to it only put a dent into it. A considerable dent to be sure, but just a dent.

Then the summoned gate exploded into smoke and I realized I was generally screwed; I had been staring at the gate even as the twins had come charging at me.

I kicked my kimono top up off the ground as I leapt back, forming a seal.

The first brother got entirely around the cloth and kept coming for me; the second one was just getting to it as the two exploding tags still hidden in the sleeves ignited.

I unconsciously flinched as the blast went off, unaccustomed to bright flashes without my shades; but I still saw Sakon get knocked flying by the blast.

'Wait!' I looked around frantically, fully expecting a kunai in the back, 'Where's the other?!'

Suddenly I heard a scream of pain from behind me.

I spun to see Ukon sliding away from me as if knocked back.

I leapt away from him and turned so both of the prone twins were in my view.

Sakon yelled to his brother even as he himself got up, "Ukon! What happened?!"

Ukon's voice was trembling and stuttering in pain, "H-He- he hurts!" he gasped wheezed, coughing as he stood up shakily, his twin running to his side. I watched as Ukon's 'Level 2' faded, leaving his skin clear and his body normal once more.

"What? What do you mean?"

I knew this was the perfect opportunity to attack, I knew that I should be moving, running, throwing kunai… anything! But I was just as curious if not more to know what had happened.

"His body… it's in such pain… I tried to fuse with him… but…" Ukon looked at me with what looked to be both fear and the slightest touch of disgust, "His body is in so much pain I could hardly break the jutsu…"

Sakon looked up at me, glaring as he pulled his brother close into a hug, Ukon slipping inside of his twin's body.

That's when I had an idea.

I didn't let it show on my face, but I had an idea.

As my body shifted I couldn't believe I hadn't done this before.

The two brothers as one once more charged at me again, Ukon having had a chance to recover from the shock that had been induced from what I assume was fusing with me. They were fully 'Level 2' once more with all the horns and ugly to go with it.

I threw a punch at them as they approached, unsurprised when they dodged it easily and placed several blows into my stomach.

I put a stop to that when I wrapped my arms around the two of them in a massive bear hug, pulling them tight against me and forming seals behind their back.

They struggled and cursed, trying to get away from me; they didn't know what I was doing, but they knew it wouldn't be good. I was actually stronger than they were and had no trouble holding them, they couldn't split themselves apart to get away, and to top it all off they couldn't fuse with me safely to get out.

I stopped making hand seals and grinned straight into their faces, "Just for the record… you two hardly stood a chance… because I'm Jimi Barakuchizuke, bitches, and this is my thorn armor."

I felt the thorns burst from my chest, ripping into their shared bodies.

I held them there as their struggles weakened, blood dripped from their mouths, their eyes glazed over and they slumped against me.

I could feel their blood dripping down my chest, when I let go they didn't fall off though; I had to take a hold of their shoulders and push them off of the thorns, they made a sickening squelching sound as I did.

I watched them drop to the ground with a thud and looked up.

It was a distance away, but I could still feel the forest above me resonate with the Kiseichu inside of me; and I could feel two familiar chakra signatures through them, moving away at high speeds.

Naruto and Sasuke.

My opponent was dead and Sasuke was hauling ass away from Konoha.

Call it instinct, call it the plant sensing the storm, but I knew that Naruto wouldn't win, I just knew he would need help and I just happened to be available.

And with that, I leapt.

////////////////////////////// End Chapter 12 //////////////////////////////

A/N.) Bwuahahaha!!! I updated soon! Okay, I've forgotten to do this but thank you! Thank you to all those who have reviewed! Thank you to all my readers who put up with me! And sure as hell thank you to my two beta-readers! This would be a shitload worse without you two!

Ah well, till next time, this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off