Maggie: Greetings my compadres!!!! The next chappy is starting!!! We are getting to the exciting part!! Ooooo-ahhhhhhhh!!! So, now to the plot line.
The Seventh Tail
Chapter 12: First Mission Failure.
"Fuck it!" yelled Kankuro as he got overly angry at his opponent. This enemy was annoying. Kankuro went all out and got all three of his puppets out. The artificial beings swarmed the person challenging their master.
As Kankuro's puppets went into intricate attack formations, the rest of the new Sand crew was having troubles of their own.
Temari was having a match of who-is-the-best-wind-user showdown. Her opponent also bended wind to their advantage. And Temari hated losing. The two would blow gusts at each other from the tree tops and most of the time, the gales would make the other cease to be.
Gaara was in a fight with…. Someone who threw rocks. They were from Iwagakure, so it makes sense. This was going easily for him. He was finishing up now.
Then we have Natsuki. She was fighting with someone who wielded a katana. This katana conducted electricity. And heat, so most of Natsuki's fire jutsu were ineffective.
"God, damn! How long is this gonna take?!" Natsuki yelled in frustration. She had had just about enough of this person absorbing her jutsu. So, she decided to pull out the big guns.
"Explosive Kunai jutsu!" the red-head shouted. She grabbed a kunai from her leg pouch and as she touched it, it was covered in a layer of ice. Once the coating of frozen liquid was complete, it burst into flames. She threw it.
"Ha, you really think it'll do anything? Idiot," the enemy Natsuki was fighting chuckled. But as he laughed, the kunai hit his sword and… exploded. Right in the guy's face. He was knocked out. (For us non-science kids: when you change temperatures from extreme heat, to extreme cold, you get an explosion.)
An exhausted Natsuki collapsed to the ground and sighed. She had been fighting this guy for about 3 hours straight. It then hit her. The others were still in trouble. Our heroine leaped into action. She sprinted to Gaara's side and pulled out another kunai.
"Miss me?" she asked.
"Always," Gaara whispered under his steady breath. This guy was too easy.
"So, you're good over here?" she reassured herself.
Gaara nodded.
"Good, I'll go help Kankuro," and Natsuki began her run to her friend. The girl clad in blue ran over to her other friend to see him cursing at the enemy as his puppets were getting scratched and slashed by kunai.
"God damn!!" the brunette man yelled.
"Need help?" Natsuki panted. Running from one battle to another was not easy.
"No! I'll deal with this bastard myself!!" Kankuro was way too stubborn and full of himself to let someone else assist. So, she was off again heaving herself to the aid of her blonde friend.
"Please, tell me you are open to assistance, Temari!" Natsuki yelled as she approached the battle.
"Never! This is a wind battle, and I'll finish it!!" Temari was just as stubborn as her brother.
"Oh, my god, here!" as Temari prepared to throw her next blow, Natsuki stuck several kunai and shuriken into the gust. This proved successful as the opponent was then nearly incapacitated.
(Lori, feel free to fix up the fighting scenes. I suck at this stuff.)
"I hate you." Temari growled. She was jealous because she hadn't thought of it first. Natsuki sighed and walked towards Kankuro, who was the only one still in battle. Gaara was also approaching, but on the back side of the enemy.
As Kankuro continued to curse, Gaara whipped out a kunai and stabbed the enemy in the back. Kankuro began to yell, "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!? I had him!"
"No, you didn't." Gaara stated as if a fact.
"Yes, I was about to get him, and…" just then, Gaara gave his brother a look that said, 'I'm Kazekage, and your badly tempered brother, shut-up.' And, so the brunette obeyed.
"Ok, so is this mission a success, or what?" Natsuki said while using her hand to cut the tension between the two guys.
"I suppose so, we even got those two arguing," Temari joined in to lighten the mood.
"Alright, making fun of me time is over," Kankuro grunted as the team began their way back to their camp.
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It was night. All were asleep, except for Gaara. He was out on a little walk searching for the next morning's breakfast, so he wasn't at camp. And one member of the team was having another nightmare.
"Brother, brother!" the voice of a little girl said as said child skipped out of her house.
"Stay, back 'Suki!" the older child said. He was about age 8, and had messy brown hair. There were three adults in front of him, all bore kunai and shuriken, and wore black cloaks with little red clouds. "Go get Dad!" he ordered.
"Who are they, Taro?" the little girl, no older than 3 asked.
"Just go get Dad, ok?" the boy once again commanded.
"No! I want to help!" she stated stubbornly.
"Do you think that's the one?" one of the men asked another.
"Must be." The other agreed. At that, they all nodded at each other and started running at the two children. Two jumped up, and landed next to the girl, while one began to fight with the boy.
The girl screamed and crouched into a ball while gripping her necklace like it held her life. As she heard her brother running back to try and help, she began to feel extreme heat. Suddenly, all she could see was orange flames around her, she closed her eyes; she heard the cries of help from the attackers. But something was off, she didn't feel the heat, and she felt something jutting out of her back.
When she opened her eyes she saw scorched ground and four people lying on the ground. Three of which were the attackers. The other, was the girl's brother. She rushed to him.
"Taro! I did it! ... Taro?" she repeated while shaking her brother's body. "Taro, stop playing, it isn't funny!" she said angrily.
As she continued to poke the boy's limp body, her mother rushed out after seeing the high flames. The woman stepped out of the house in awe. As she came over to her daughter, she saw what had happened.
"Mama, make Taro stop playing! It isn't funny!" the three-year old whined. Unfortunately she was too young to understand that her brother wasn't playing. The mother dropped to the ground and hugged her son's dead body to her as she cried.
"Mama, why are you crying?" the little girl asked and she pulled on her mother's sleeve.
"Honey... Taro is… he's… dead…" and as the woman said it, she bawled out again, not even wanting to hear the words.
Natsuki bolted upright in bed with a sharp inhale of breathe. Her pupils were wide and she was sweating cold fear.
"Wh-what did I do?" she whispered to herself. "I didn't kill him, did I? It was those attackers!" she kept telling herself. "Suzaku…. What happened that day?"
For once in Natsuki's life, the demon was silent.
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During the trek home, Natsuki was abnormally quiet as she tried to arrange her thoughts. Gaara would slow down and walk with her, occasionally asking if everything was ok. She always said she was fine, just thinking. And her boyfriend empathized, having been the quiet one for a long time.
When they arrived back in Suna, the siblings went home, well, Gaara casually came up with some 'Kazekage business' excuse to not go with them as he walked Natsuki home. She had found another apartment to stay at.
"First mission was a success." Gaara stated in order to make conversation.
"Yep…" Natsuki agreed dully. As they approached the building, the couple went their separate ways. Gaara was a bit put out when he didn't get a good-night kiss, but he figured Natsuki must be deep in thought.
That night, Natsuki had another dream:
"What did they say?" the mother asked her husband. Their daughter was listening from the closed door.
"Well, he had taken a lot of fire wounds and had scorch marks on him. And we've determined that the attackers are from an organized group, but there haven't been any other reports of these assailants," the father informed.
"But… did she…" the worried mother asked.
"We think so," he said with a sad tone.
"Oh God… should we tell her?"
"No. She doesn't need to have this on her conscience. It wasn't her fault. She's three," he concluded.
Outside the door, the little girl they never told understood that it was her who had caused the death of her brother.
"No!" Natsuki yelled as she once more bolted up from her sleep. "I-I-I…. how could I have…." The girl began to start and stop her sentences.
"How did I forget?" she asked herself.
"I need to go. I have to leave before I kill someone else!" and as she finished the thought, Natsuki ran out her apartment and began to flee in fear of herself. She was afraid of her own capabilities.
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During Gaara's nightly patrol, he noticed that the sun was begging to rise. He smirked at the new day. It was in this faint orange light that he saw a figure running as if for their life. He jumped to a closer roof top to get a better look and found it to be someone he knew. Actually, someone he knew very well, and had feelings for.
Why is Natsuki running so fast? … Wait… are the fangirls… No, it must have something to do with all that thinking she did.
Agh, and I was enjoying our little walk.
So, the red-head set chase.
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Natsuki ran. She ran until her legs ached and collapsed in a small clearing away from the village. Tears streamed down her face. She was alone. Her vision became blurry and she covered her face with her hands.
I'm a monster! No other words can describe what I did!
Little one, why do you cry? Asked Suzaku, awakening from her slumber at the tears she felt.
I killed my own brother! I'm nothing but a monster! Tears began to pour down Natsuki's face.
There is only one monster here, and that is me.
No…they're two of us.
Small trees blew gently in the wind and dark clouds filled the sky. It began to rain.
How am I supposed to live after this?... How? HOW?! The last words bellowed through out her mind. Natsuki was on her knees clutching her head in pain. Her eyes were wide and her pupils became only small dots. Orange charka suddenly burst from her. Her hazel eyes turned a flaming orange and her hair began to whip around her face.
This is not good! I can't control it! NATSUKI!!!
Orange charka bubbled over her skin and it began to change. It consumed her body and made Natsuki gasp for air. Then she let out a scream of pain as two, red, feather wings burst from her back. Tears continued to flow down her face. She looked like an angel from hell.
Pure fury and hatred consumed her and she lashed out at anything she could find. The once calm field turned into pure chaos.
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Gaara had just arrived to see what was happening. He watched, frozen to the spot by what he saw.
She is truly like me…
It seems so. She must hold Suzaku, the Seven Tailed Phoenix within her. No other demon has flame chakra like that.
The Seventh Tail…?
This is bad. This girl has only awakened a third of Suzaku's power. But even that is enough to wipe out a village. I can feel Suzaku trying to keep too much chakra from seeping through.
Gaara's eyes widened in amazement as he watched the destruction. Only one third!!
Then Gaara realized something. Natsuki was headed straight for Suna!
Noooooo!
Gaara began to run faster than he ever had in his life. And he was headed straight for Natsuki.
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Natsuki couldn't think. Her tears were gone. They didn't matter. Only her anger and fury mattered. Nothing else.
Wind whistled through the trees and the rain came down in buckets. A full blown storm.
Then Natsuki sensed something coming at her, fast! She made a flip, backwards, through the air. Growling, she turned sharply to see who had dared to get in her way.
It was Gaara.
G-Gaara…?
"I don't want to hurt you, Natsuki. I know what you must be feeling right now, but I will not let you hurt Suna," said Gaara warningly.
Natsuki snarled. Who was he to claim to understand her pain!? How dare he?!
Flaring her wings, Natsuki lashed out savagely and orange chakra shot from her arm.
"Bastard!"
Gaara's sand wall tried to protect him. But it wasn't quick enough and Gaara was thrown aside like a discarded doll. As he struggled to stand he saw Natsuki kneeling on the ground with a hand to her head.
She groaned in pain.
Gaara felt the need to go to her, to comfort her. But right now that would mean death.
This is not the real Natsuki. This is a demon.
Orange eyes flashed dangerously as he stood. She rose and jumped into the air, opening her fiery wings. Once she was a good twenty feet she stopped her ascent.
Wow… Gaara couldn't help but stare at the fiendish creature before him.
With a roar she plunged toward him. Gaara didn't have time to react as she thrust her fist into his stomach, and was sent sprawling.
She's as fast as Lee…!
He winced as he stood up, trying to ignore his pain. As he looked up he noticed her staring at her fist in surprise. It was covered in blood. His blood
"Why do you not fight? Are you to afraid?" she asked mockingly.
"No…I fear nothing." Gaara made a quick set of katas. "Absolute Defense: Shukaku Shield!" A giant form of Shukaku formed in front of him.
"Absolute Defense, huh? Let's see if that's true!" Natsuki growled. "Steel Wing no Jutsu!" Orange chakra spread over her wings. After it disappeared her wings looked like they were made of pure steel.
"Die!" And she rushed forward, cutting into the miniature Shukaku. But it still held.
Then the sand began to wrap around her wing. She tried to pull it free… but to no avail.
"You damn Bastard!" she spat. "FIRE ERUPTION!!"
Geysers of flames shot up from the ground and engulfed the field in flames. It was exactly like what happened in the memory.
When the flames finally dispersed, Gaara lay still on the ground with numerous burns.
Natsuki's face paled at the sight.
"No…no! Not again!" she screamed. She cried out in pain as the orange chakra began to disappear. Her wings receded into her, and she fell to the ground, whimpering.
"I-I'm s-s-sorry, G-Gaara," she cried. A single tear fell down her cheek. Then she collapsed, exhausted. She fell unconscious onto Gaara's numb body, still crying.
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Maggie: bum bum!!! Remember, review, or I'll come after you with a stick, and also, if you have any questions about this chappy, review us a question. I know, the whole flash back dream thing really can be confusing.