Zael vs. Cross

Hmm, you've gotten stronger too." Cross said, looking unaffected by all that just happened. He quickly appeared right in front of her. "Now what makes you think you can stand against me this time?"

Zael froze again as she looked him right in the eyes. Her train of thought went and crashed as she forgot how to respond. Cross smiled maliciously as he slammed his fist into her stomach. She was thrown about five feet, but was already coughing up blood. Before the others could do anything, the other three appeared out of nowhere and pulled the out of the room. This was to be a one on one fight.

Cross kept slamming her against walls, throwing her all over the room and dealing blow after blow. Zael would keep getting back up, but refused to fight back. She would block or dodge the best she could, but Cross was faster than she could catch on. Her body was bruised up and cut open, his body was perfectly fine. Zael whimpered as Cross hit her in rage and fury. She whimpered because he was beginning to look like his and Shade's father, Kaos. And she had been frightened by him.

He threw her against the wall with extreme force, the impact would've have broken her spine. Luckily a thin layer of sand cushioned the blow right before she had hit. Her friends had made it back to her. Naruto was snarling at Cross, Sasuke scowling and glaring daggers at said demon while Gaara went to check on Zael.

"Are you ok?" He asked her quietly. She whimpered as she sat up, but nodded. "Zael, please fight back. He's going to kill you."

"I can't, Gaara." She whimpered.

Before she could continue, Cross slammed Naruto and Sasuke into Gaara knocking them into the wall. Naruto whimpered, Sasuke groaned and Gaara coughed up small bits of blood. It didn't help that they were still injured from their fights. But it did give Zael a reason to fight back. Cross didn't have time to block as she quickly collided her fist into his chest. He caught himself and snarled at her, but he stopped for a second when her saw her eyes were violet and the pupils were thin crosses. That was all that had changed though.

"Stay away from my friends." She snapped. "They have nothing to do with this."

Cross continued to fight, Zael still not really fighting, but her blocking and dodging was more effective. He was getting irritated since his attacks were no longer landing. Once a second pause between them appeared, Cross let a black aura coat his hand and punch her hard in the chest. She was thrown so hard that she actually went through the wall. She landed in the village and after catching herself, she ran out towards the oasis.

'I am not going to put innocent people in this.' She thought as she could smell Cross following her as well as her friends.

She just made it out of the village when Cross caught up to her. She dodged most of his attack, but sand got in her eyes. She couldn't see as she tried to rub the it out, just lucky she had demon senses or Cross would've been able to kill her. She was just able to dodge his attacks as she was temporarily blinded. He almost landed a fatal blow to her heart, but Gaara got there in time and blocked it before removing the sand from her eyes.

"Tell your friends," Cross hissed at her. "That this is our fight."

Zael said nothing, but whimpered in their direction. Astonishingly, all understood her as they took a few steps back. Each had somewhat of a worried look as Cross began to attack again. She dodged most, but his claws landed a few blows on her arms. It was obvious that he was tired of her moving around as he growled and snarled. Zael just kept on, but when she landed on some spots of blood, weird looking vines sprung out and stopped her in her tracks. The vines wrapped up all the way to her thighs and held her still.

Cross chuckled darkly as a black energy sphere began building in his hand. Zael's ears flattened against her head as she whined quietly. Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara recognized the sphere from her story. That was the attack that killed her father. The red head tried stopping him with the sand, but Cross moved fast enough that it had no affect really. Naruto and Sasuke rushed towards him in hopes of stopping him before he got to Zael, but he was too far a head of them.

Zael didn't even try to move anymore, she just stood there waiting for it to end. Cross was right in front of her when a few tears escaped her eyes and he threw it at her. The sound of ripping flesh and spilling blood was heard. Her eyes were wide in shock and back to being green. Cross didn't look to happy anymore as Shade had taken the blow instead of Zael.

"Shade? What the fucking hell?" Cross screamed as he back up a bit.

He didn't answer right away as he coughed up tremendous amounts of blood. He went to fall to the ground when Zael caught him. She had ripped right out of her trap.

"Cross, this…isn't right…" Hr wheezed. "We've hated her for all the wrong reasons. Kaos hated her, we shouldn't have let that affect us."

"Wha…what?" he snarled back.

"Naru..to's right. Our father… hated her because mother… loved the desert demon, not him."

"You're going against our own father's wishes of this monster being destroyed?"

Shade didn't respond so Cross kicked him in the neck and sent him flying. Zael appeared right behind and caught him before he hit the ground. She looked at him in shocked as she tried to heal the wound he received instead of her. Tears ran down her cheeks as she realized she couldn't save him. Shade looked at her and grimaced.

"I'm…sorry I was not a very good brother." He whispered. "But maybe you'll forgive me…sister."

The life went out of his eyes as he faded into shadows. Zael, being completely in shock, howled in pain and grief. Cross did nothing, it didn't even seem to affect the demon as he started to approach her. Unfortunately for him, she was ready to fight. Blocking his first attack, she sent him flying with a kick to the ribs. Speeding after him, she followed it up by slamming him into the ground.

Cross quickly regained control as he snapped at her arm after hitting the ground, near biting her arm in two. She retreated before attacking again. She responded in the same way, snapping her jaws and clawing at him fiercely. It was another animal fight, but wasn't that bad yet.

"Did you feel nothing," She growled. "That you killed your own brother? The one who followed you around and did whatever you said?"

"He was in the way!" He snarled back. "He decided to go against father, the alpha's, wishes."

"You're alpha now! You don't have to follow his orders anymore."

He started building up another energy sphere and threw it as fast as he could. Zael barely dodged it but froze momentarily when she realized who was behind her. She turned hoping to see them move out of the way only to see them trapped by the same weird vines she had been. She raced towards them as fast as her legs could carry her. Worry and pain filled her eyes as she didn't think she would make it. Growling/yelling, she sped up.

She didn't make it to them, but a wall of moon white sand blocked the attack and buried it. She had used her father's abilities and protected them, unfortunately for Cross, it also made her snap. She quickly went animalistic as she turned back towards him, her consciousness gone. She resembled Tsuki no Suna now more than ever. Her eyes became so dark violet, they were almost black. Her pupils were exactly like the Shukaku's, her incisors, as well as her canines, grew in length and got sharper and her claws additionally. Markings similar to Shukaku's also appeared on her skin, just slightly different in pattern and width.

Cross instinctually took a step back. He had really pushed her now. He tried not to show the fear he felt, but he had never seen a desert demon close to their half demon form. He didn't have time to think as she sped towards him ferociously. Her eyes completely filled with rage and bloodlust. He had no chance to defend as she continuously slashed and clawed at him. The look in his eyes was pure fear as the cuts and slices became deeper.

She was about to slice right at his heart when sand wrapped around her, freezing her in her tracks. Gaara had stopped her as he fast approached them. Cross just stood there in shock. The red head stood behind Zael, head slightly bowed, as he gently took her hand in his.

"Control yourself, Zael." He said quietly. "I know you can. After everything you told us, I know you don't want to kill him."

She growled and snarled as he talked to her. Naruto and Sasuke was beside him now.

"Come on Azaelia." Naruto said. "You always say that you can't blame him for his actions, so control yours."

"You'll regret this if you don't come too." Sasuke muttered quietly. "He is your brother."

Zael kept snarling, but it slowly turned into whimpers. Her eyes lightened in color, her fangs and claws shrunk in size and the markings faded. She was back to normal, but changing like that had a price on her body. She was weak, exhausted and could barely stand up. Gaara caught her as she fell back.

"Thanks, guys." She said as she slowly past out from fatigue.

Cross finally came too his right mind as he jumped up and aimed to attack. All three actually growled back and had their strongest attacks at the ready. The demon male realized that he was low on energy and didn't have much left to go. He growled threateningly and they all kind of growled back.

"She may not want to kill you." Sasuke snarled.

"But that doesn't mean we don't." Naruto growled.

"You have one chance to leave, or we won't hold back." Gaara said emotionlessly.

Cross growled in return, but knew he couldn't compete at the time. Snarling in frustration, he ran and disappeared as the three took Zael back to the village. They were all fine now thanks to Naruto's energy healing them all during her fight, but she needed rest more than anything. Gaara carried her the entire way there.