Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to Daystar Clarion

BOTTOM INFORMATIVE- EXPLAINS AND ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS

Warnings: Human eating, violence...gore..things of that nature. Also, this chapter is un-beta'd. I'd apologize for all the errors, but I can only say sorry so many times before someone demands I get a beta reader.

Chapter Twenty

Down Deep into the Darkness

Gaara woke with a jolt, immediately aware of his surroundings, and that he was lying in a nook between branch and trunk. He took a deep, shuddering breath and blinked rapidly up into the canopy as he sat up, the grating feeling of coarse bark pressing into his back. The air was scented with peppermint, and the leaves rustled in a gentle, cool, wind that he wasn't used to back home. Above him, crouched on a thinner branch, was Sunny, staring down at him with eyes vermilion and orange. He was motionless, except for his jaw, that was no doubt chewing on the peppermint he smelled of. He wondered how long his friend- yes, friend- had been watching him sleep, and then it hit him, that he had indeed been asleep. He looked down at his arms, expecting them to be malformed- monstrous, but they were his arms, and felt almost shocked that he had not suffered from a possession.

\I tried to wake you- but you were resting so deeply.../ Sunny's voice was soft, and puzzled. \I wondered if you would ever awaken.../ His voice drifted off and he lifted his head and gazed into the leaves thoughtfully. Gaara returned to his feet and immediately noticed the brown skinned demon Tsorn crouched not too far from them, yellow eyes unblinking as they stared at him. He didn't know how to feel about the larger demon; he seemed standoffish- which he was well used to, but at the same time, so much more interesting than he had imagined. Sunny, who was beautiful and alluring, was clearly the opposite of Tsorn, who was hulking, with blood encrusted, muzzle-like jaws, and large clawed hands and feet that seemed at odds with his lean muscular body. He smelled of rusted blood, a scent that was very familiar to the sand ninja, but his presence seemed at odds with the surrounding nature. It felt as if he didn't belong.

Gaara watched the claws flex into the tree that the demon held on to trunk and spied an animal's leg, most likely a deer, hanging from its massive fist.

"You...will be..go do...umans?" Tsorn's jaws and throat seemed to be working hard to form proper Japanese, and the demon looked frustrated as Sunny swiveled around, beaming at the brown demon.

"How- what is the word..delightful?" Sunny looked at him inquiringly, and Gaara nodded. "Yes, delightful. Now you can speak human tongue too!" Tsorn looked decidedly pleased at Sunny's praise, though he tried to hide it with a ghastly scowl that put his own to shame. "But yes, we must go to the Semi finals." Sunny turned crimson eyes toward him, and they settled with an unblinking gaze. "You are fighting Sasuke boy? I hope you kill him- they will allow that, yes?" Sunny's pink lips turned up in a rather vicious leer, baring sharp teeth, and he felt his own face reflect Sunny's, a thrill of excitement run through him.

He was among his own kind here, and he was accepted, and no one made him feel like a monster.

--

Natsu tried to look as calm and collected as Sasuke managed to look as he waited with the few other ninja, watching miserably as the stadium began to fill with citizens and ninja alike. Sakura and Ino were conversing in hushed, excited tones as he resisted the urge to pace, knowing that Sasuke would probably antagonize him if he showed 'weakness'. Instead he stood near Shikamaru and Shino, wishing he was as uncaring as Shikamaru and as self-confident as Shino appeared to be. His nose was still stuffed from his self induced fever- but beyond that, he had made a full recovery- or at least ninety-nine percent recovery.

Kakashi-sensei dropped a hand on his shoulder, completely startling him, and gave him a smile behind the mask. "Relax Natsu. You'll do fine."

"No I won't," his shoulders sagged in reply as he ignored Sasuke's scowl. He couldn't imagine why Sasuke wasn't worried about fighting Gaara of the Sand- but then, Sasuke was known- at least in his own mind- for being a bit...bullheaded. Natsu was sure that Sasuke believed that there was no way he could be beaten by Gaara. "Neji has a full year of experience on me."

Sasuke sent him a sidelong look of disapproval, but Natsu just sighed and leaned his elbows against the railing and stared out at the soon to be spectators. His eyes turned, and he spotted the Sand siblings- the painted boy and his sister, looking distressed as they stood next to their sensei, eyes darting about, as if searching for someone.

"What happened to Gaara?" Shikamaru asked lazily, lifting his head from where it had been buried in his arms as he leaned against the rail. Natsu regularly delighted in how observant Shikamaru really was without looking it, and he peered at the siblings again. Sabaku Gaara was missing. He peered up at the box where the Hokage and visiting Kazekage would soon be sitting, looking for Sunny, but the box was only occupied by Konoha ninja inspecting the area for exploding tags. It was highly likely that Gaara was with Sunny, and even as he thought this, Sunny came gliding toward him, ghosting through the crowd fluidly, his face set in a pleasant smile- a smile Natsu did not trust. At his side, was Gaara, and there was an audible sigh of relief from his siblings, who had moved toward them upon sighting the third member of their team

Though he was relieved to see the blond, to his dismay, Sunny must have forgotten to put on a shirt this morning, for he was back to wearing just pants and jewelry...his mother's jewelry, and Ino's delighted squeal was disturbing.

"Sunny," Kakashi-sensei greeted. "Where have you been?"

Sunny stopped before them and gave a misty smile. "It was a full moon." His eyes fluttered strangely, with a look of ecstasy in them, then they focused on him, sharp and unblinking. "Natsu feeling better?" he inquired as Gaara moved on toward his siblings, though he did pause to stare coldly at Sasuke, who sneered in reply.

Natsu sighed in response to Sunny's question and gave a smile. "I'm all right. But Sunny, what happened to your shirt? My mother gave you several." He noticed Kiba and Akamaru appearing, looking worried and wary, sending dark glances toward Sunny as he passed and sat down next to Chouji.

"It was torn," was Sunny's disinterested reply, as he was watching Kiba pass, eyes that intense, predatory look.

"You should go sit down- the Semi-finals are about to start." Sunny turned to where he pointed, eyes falling on Sakura and Ino, both of which gestured for him to come and sit. "Uh, Sakura?" Natsu called, and beckoned. "A word?" Sakura frowned, but looked curious as she got up from her seat and moved toward him, following him away from the others, far enough that no one would over hear them.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, concerned as she watched Natsu glance toward the others nervously. "Look, you're going to be fine Natsu. I looked up the requirements of this Exam, and it clearly stated that a genin could be promoted to chuunin whether he wins or loses." Natsu's eyebrows rose in surprise, and she smiled at him and patted his arm affectionately. "So don't worry about winning, just do your best and stay safe. That's all that really matters."

Natsu looked so relieved, it was actually cute, but then the cheer came right off his face and he was back to looking nervous.

"Actually- though that really helped- that isn't why I wanted to talk to you. It's actually about- uh- Sunny."

"Huh?"

"Listen," Natsu was whispering now. "Don't go anywhere uh...alone with him, okay?" Sakura's face reddened, and her hands turned into ominous fists, and Natsu waved his hands at chest level quickly. "Wait-wait! I don't mean it like that! It's just that he- er..." Natsu was starting to sweat, and the embarrassment fled from her veins as he leaned toward her. "He...eats people."

Sakura jerked her head back, staring at him incredulously.

"I'm serious! He admitted it to me- quite naturally too."

"You're saying...he's a cannibal?"

"Yes-wait no. Well...not really. Auugh!" Natsu pulled at his hair in frustration. "Forget it. Just, don't go anywhere alone with him, cuz' if you go missing, I'm so gonna think he ate you!"

"Well," Sakura couldn't quite believe what she was hearing, and as her eyes darted away from Natsu's frustrated face, they fell and froze on Sunny, who was standing three empty seats from Ino, staring back at her. He was smiling wide enough to show his straight white teeth, but something didn't seem right about that smile, or that hint of pointedness about them. Sakura paled, and she believed in Natsu's warning.

Natsu, seeing Sakura's frightened gaze, turned to see that Sunny was staring at them, smiling, and the boy lifted his hand and pressed it to his lips in a 'shushing' motion, grinning at them, eyes dancing in what appeared to be malicious amusement.

"He's not human, is he?" Sakura asked in a shaky voice, and before he could answer, the smile disappeared from Sunny's face, and his head swiveled fluidly around, and watched as a tall pale man with spiky blue hair approached him, walking with that same grace that Sunny held. He immediately noticed what looked like blood stains sprinkled and splattered across his pale blue shirt.

Both Natsu and Sakura felt chills run through them as the man stopped beside him, and everyone in the area seemed aware of him. Kakashi-sensei, who had been slumped with disinterest, was now straight-backed and staring, Sasuke was looking alarmed, Ino had shrunk in on herself, Chouji had stopped eating, Kiba looked like he wanted to crawl out of his skin, Shikamaru was leaning heavily on the railing, dark eyes, for once, intense. Shino looked-well-composed, Neji looked contemplative, and the Sand group looked agitated- and that included Gaara.

The man hunched fluidly over so that his head was near Sunny's, and thin gray lips moved. No one could hear what was being said, but a look of amusement flashed through Sunny's face, and the two moved, facing the arena and sat down gracefully, in unison, as if the move had been choreographed. They seemed for a moment to flow about the seats, before utter stillness descended upon them, and they were like two exotic statues.

"Welcome everyone," a voice boomed over the intercoms, and the few of them jumped, and Natsu saw that the Hokage and Kazekage had arrived. "Please be seated- the Semi-Finals are about to begin-" and the announcer began to thank all the villages that had attended.

Natsu sighed and turned to Sakura. "Yes, well...just be careful." Sakura nodded as he moved away, heading towards the other contestants. His eyes drifted toward Sunny's friend, and he froze. The man was looking at him, with frightening black eyes, eyes that bore into him and stole his breath- he could not tell what those eyes were saying- what they were thinking- he wasn't even sure how he knew that the man was even looking at him, but he was aware when the attention was pulled away when Sunny lifted his frozen gaze from the arena and looked up at the Hokage's and Kazekage's box, and he knew by the slight turn of his head that the blue haired man too was looking at the Kage's.

Both of their faces remained empty, but the focus of their eyes were alarming. Which one were they staring at with such anger, the Sandaime or the Kazekage?

--

Sunny decided, quite promptly, that he was going to kill this Neji human, who drew Natsu's blood (he could smell it from up where he was seated) and seemed to make a fool of him. He talked nonsense through most of the fight, some type of advanced goading that Sunny did not understand, but from the occasional grunts of amusement that Dyadem gave off, meant it was clearly stupid. And Sunny didn't want to waste his time on stupid. But to avenge Natsu, who was getting beaten, he would deal with stupid. Three seats from him sat the female who smiled like flowers- though right now she smelled like frightened flowers- ever since Dyadem had shown up, and Sakura, who was wringing her fingers and biting her lips as she watched the fight. Her fear was a gentle flavor that seemed to hover about him, and he'd seen Dyadem glance over at her once or twice.

"Winner: Hyuuga Neji!" the man- the referee, Dyadem had murmured, called out, and there was a roar of approval from the humans. Several of the ninja in the crowd peered at Natsu as he limped from the arena, and he caught snatches of words like, acceptable, and candidate here and there. He was familiar with the first word, but the second, he knew nothing of. As Natsu approached them, Sakura jumped to her feet and made to hug him, but stopped herself as she seemed to notice his cuts from renegade kunai.

Natsu looked tired, and a bit grim as he slumped down on the nearest seat next to the human Kiba, and jumped when Kakashi-leader dropped a hand on his shoulder. "You did well Natsu. I'm proud." Natsu's frown turned up, and he seemed to drown in relief, taking a deep breath and rubbing a gash on his forearm. Sasuke boy stood on the steps near them, eyes following someone, and Sunny turned his head to see that he was glaring at the human Neji, eyes promising payback. Sunny turned a considering look towards the dark-haired human, surprised at his anger, that he apparently cared about his pack.

\So tiny- so pointless/ Dyadem murmured, watching as the human named Shikamaru trudged reluctantly down into the arena, followed by Gaara's strange sibling. \Why do they exist? Why so many of them? What could he see in such insignificant creatures?/ Sunny stared at his face, watching as grayish blue veins appeared at his temples and at the corners of his mouth. \Their whole lives, played out in the time of one resting./ The contempt in his voice was heavy, and his black eyes narrowed as the fight below began. He'd heard of the resting that Dyadem was talking about- it happened sometimes to the really old demons, the Masters. Though resting was normally six hours, some Masters were known to fall into it for centuries, something having to do with boredom-though he couldn't imagine anyone being so bored that they would fall into an extended resting. That would be centuries of being vulnerable!

The scent of blood was stronger, and he saw out of the corner of his eye that Natsu was approaching, apparently having decided that he wanted to sit next to him and not the agitated human Kiba.

"Well, that's over and done with," Natsu whispered to him, though he didn't know why since no one else was trying to be quiet. Sunny turned and smiled, patting his hand.

"Don't worry Natsu. I kill him for you."

Natsu sent him a startled look and gave an amused grin. "Don't be silly Sunny. He has the Byakugan."

Apparently his pretty eyes allowed him to see in all directions. He patted Natsu's hand again. "No worries Natsu. He will be able to see me well when I eat out his heart."

Natsu seemed to choke on something for a moment, eyes darting from him to Dyadem, before deciding to watch the fight.

\Foreign humans gathering in the forest, from a human village called Otogakure. They plan some type of attack. Be wary/ came Tsorn's abrupt call, and both he and Dyadem lifted their heads toward the west, ignoring Natsu's inquiring gaze. Clearly the humans could not pick up the call over all the noise they were making, and they were lucky to even hear it.

"Winner: Nara Shikamaru."

The humans were amused and delighted, and both turned their heads back toward the arena. The female from Gaara's pack looked disgruntled while the human Shikamaru looked ready to lie down somewhere, face drawn in boredom.

A little time passed, and it seemed that the painted male in Gaara's pack declined to fight the buzzing human, and soon it was time for the fight between Gaara and Sasuke-boy. Natsu was chewing his fingernails as Sunny folded his hands in his lap and settled in, a slight smile on his face.

"Ah Kakashi- my Eternal Rival," a strong, rich voice greeted, and Natsu turned to see that Maito Gai had come down to see this fight. There was an air of anticipation about the humans- some even leaned forward in their seats. Sunny lifted his nose to the air as the scent of snakes wafted toward him.

The fight began, and Sasuke was faster than Sunny remembered- as fast as the green-clad human had been, and he seemed close to hitting Gaara before the sand flew up to protect him. Natsu watched in silent awe, stunned that Sasuke had improved so much in one month- forcing someone Natsu thought to be indestructible into a ball-literally- he must congratulate Kakashi-sensei on doing such a superb job, and he glanced to his right to see Sunny's reaction. He thought the violence and blood would have excited the self-proclaimed demon, but Sunny didn't seem excited- in fact he was like a statue in his seat, hands in his lap and unblinking eyes focused on the battle, face devoid of any emotion. The frightening blue haired man that Sunny had neglected to introduce mirrored him in every way.

There was a gasp of awe and he turned his attention back to the battle. Sasuke had run up the side of the arena, right hand toward the ground, left gripping his wrist.

"So, you taught him that technique, eh Kakashi?" Gai seemed vaguely amused. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

Before Kakashi-sensei could reply, Sakura piped up, "What technique? What's he doing?"

Kakashi-sensei patted her head and murmured, "Just watch."

Natsu watched as light formed under his right hand, chakra, and a loud shrieking as the chakra formed in his hand. There was a heavy groan to his right- or he thought it was a groan, and he darted his eyes to look at Sunny and his companion, but they were still statues.

Sunny and Dyadem watched as Sasuke-boy raced down the side wall of the arena and charged toward Gaara, who had reverted into a ball of sand. Dyadem was agitated with Gaara's performance, going so far as mentioning how pathetic he was- though he had called him Shukaku- and he hadn't bothered asking who that was as he watched Sasuke-boy slam the ball of screaming chakra into Gaara's sand barrier. His hand sank into the sand, and Sunny watched in concealed glee as he tried to pull his hand from the ball. When he managed to jerk it back, a misshapened, clawed extremity followed him out, reluctant to release his hand. The humans around him gasped, Dyadems' lip curled up in wry amusement, and then...feathers floated down from the sky, pale white feathers- all very pretty, and he stared up at them, puzzled and awed at the same time. Was someone killing a very large bird somewhere up in the sky? And, where was the blood?

"Kai!" Natsu said next to him, putting his fingers together and releasing a small bit of chakra, and that's when Sunny noticed that the humans around them began to slump forward in their seats- falling into sleep. Dyadem straightened his head from staring up at the sky just as a loud boom shook the arena, and the ground trembled.

Still sitting in his seat, he turned to see smoke rising from where the Hokage had sat and there were Konoha ninja jumping toward it. A body flew over his head, and Sunny looked to see that it was a ninja, kunai out, attacking Kakashi-leader.

And then chaos ensued. Foreign ninja began to attack the Konoha ninja, the ground shook constantly, and beyond the arena, smoke began to arise into the sky, and all the humans seated remained asleep- except for a few that were clearly ninja.

"We're under attack!" Natsu gasped, and he looked down to see Natsu crouched down between the seats with Sakura, kunai in hand, eyes wide, smelling of fear. The flower female and the round one were asleep.

\Sunny. Come./

He turned to see Dyadem jumping over chairs and humans, heading toward the Hokage's area, where the smoke had cleared and snake-human had the dying human in front of him with a kunai to his throat. Sunny growled and leaped after him, jumping on several human's heads as he went. The feathers had stopped falling, and all around him was the scent of blood, and the screams of the wounded, the dying, and the enraged. It was all terribly exciting. Ahead, it seemed that snake human had taken the Hokage on top of a long dwelling, and as the Anbu followed, they were thwarted by a large purple barrier that surrounded the whole dwelling. One Anbu crashed into it, and fell away screaming, body burning in purple flames.

They stopped on the roof of a dwelling close to the Hokage, and that's when Sunny turned and looked about, eyes falling on the...giant snakes that crashed into dwellings. They were the biggest anything he had ever seen, and for a rage-filled second he thought they were invading demons, that was until Dyadem's voice echoed behind him, filled with disgust and contempt. \Spirits. Pathetic./

He watched as they purposefully crushed dwellings and snapped at the ninja who attacked them, and for a second hoped that Tsorn was unharmed in the forest.

\Look/ came Dyadem's voice, and he turned back to see what was happening behind the purple barrier. He watched as the snake human, Orochimaru, peeled off the fake face he was wearing, revealing his normal face that Sunny had seen.

Then, he did a strange jutsu that began to summon three strange boxes from the roof- but then the Hokage called out, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," and hundreds of the sharp objects flew at Orochimaru and destroyed one of the boxes. But the other two remained, and opened, revealing two humans, one with white hair and the other with black, and they stepped out.

Beside him, Dyadem leaned forward from where he clung to the side of the dwelling, trying to hear what was being said over the ruckus of the snakes and the fighting of the humans. The two men from the boxes seemed to say something, and then the Hokage attacked, blowing billows of fire at them, but the white-haired one counterattacked with a wall of water, then the water took the shape of some kind of reptile and attacked the Hokage.

Mud came from the Hokage's mouth, forming a wall and stopping the oncoming water, and Sunny remembered to swallow, eyes wide as he watched real jutsu at work, reminded of his pack's attack when he saw all of the mud.

The dark-haired human moved, and both demons watched as thick branches and roots grew from the wall of mud and grabbed the Hokage. The human smeared blood on one of the branches in a pattern, and suddenly, a large human sized monkey appeared, garbed in human clothing.

\Enma/ Dyadem hissed in disdain- apparently he knew the spirit, and he watched as the monkey turned into a large red pole and broke the Hokage free from the branches. Smoke reached Sunny's nose, and he glanced back to see that the snake spirits had managed to cause a fire, and some of the humans were attempting to put it out as they tried to battle the snakes.\Look at how far the spirits have fallen, servants to the humans./

Orochimaru, who had been watching the fight, now moved forward, opening his mouth wide, and a snake shot out with its jaws open wide, and from its mouth came what looked like a sword. He took the sword from the snake just as the Hokage attacked with the red pole, deflecting his attacks, and the white-haired and blacked haired human attacked the Hokage from behind.

\He's going to lose/ Sunny proclaimed anxiously, and Dyadem's head swiveled to look at him, those black eyes appraising.

\So?/

In that moment, the branches and roots grew more, crowding the barrier, and both Dyadem and Sunny leaped onto the roof, startling the anxious Anbu that hovered before it. They pulled out kunai, ready to attack, but one recognized Sunny and he lowered his kunai. Sunny reached out and touched the barrier, jerking his hand away as purple flames engulfed it, giving out a small screech, waving his hand frantically until Dyadem reached out and snuffed out the flames by simply fisting his hand around Sunny's. His hand smoked for a moment before it began to heal, and the pain faded, only to be replaced by a familiar dread, that came from the barrier, and his head darted up, peering through the gaps of the branches to spy a frightening creature, about twelve feet tall, with tusks jutting from its mouth and wild gray hair. Sunny stepped back with a gasp, and Dyadem stiffened.

\That fool of a human has summoned Death. Who has given him the power to do such?/

Darkness filled the barrier, a darkness so complete that they could only see vague shapes in it. There was the sound of fighting, and what looked like Death grabbing the two humans from the boxes. Sunny wanted to leave- he did not want to be anywhere near Death, who made him feel queasy, who frightened him. Sunny backed away again just as Orochimaru's voice breeched the barrier.

"What technique is this?"

The Hokage's voice came, pained and thick with blood. "This is a Fuuin Jutsu, the Shiki Fuujin. You should have heard of it, my wayward apprentice; it was the same technique Yondaime used to seal the Kyuubi."

Sunny choked on his horror as Dyadem reared back, radiating rage. He threw his head back and gave a howl of pure fury, his black teeth long and sharp, his pale skin tinged blue. The Anbu jumped away from them, a miasma of fear, for Dyadem was a sight enough to make Sunny retreat, and he turned and headed back to the arena where he had left Natsu, leaving Dyadem to his fury.

The humans were still fighting, blood smeared their pathways. He dropped down beside a dead human and touched its body. Cold- it would not be a joy to eat, and so he leaped back onto the rooftops and and hopped into the arena. The humans were still asleep, unaware that there were bodies strewn about. The arena floor, littered with craters, had bodies down there too, and instead of grabbing one of the sleeping humans, he dropped down into the arena and grabbed the closest dead human to him, ignoring several of the ninja standing nearby.

The body was still warm, and he quickly tore a leg off, pulling off the pants leg, and took a quick healthy bite, chewing and swallowing quickly as he inspected the area where he crouched and dined. One of the standing ninja he recognized, being of Gaara's pack, and the other was the referee. The third he knew, if only by smell since he was wearing an Anbu mask- Kabuto- Snake-human's pack member. All seemed to be staring at him as he stripped the meat from the leg, and they blanched in horror as he crunched down on the bone- but neither seemed to want to interfere and so he devoured the bone of the leg and moved on to the second leg, which was still warm.

--

Kakashi disposed of the last sound-nin, dusting his hands in grim satisfaction and watched in mild amusement as Gai sent a sand-nin through a wall. Gai turned and gave him a thumbs up, grinning brightly, and he turned to inspect the arena. Earlier, he had sent Natsu and Sakura after Sasuke, who had run off after Sabaku Gaara, and they had both dragged a reluctant Shikamaru with them. No doubt, they had headed for the forest.

A Konoha chuunin dropped down before them, pale and sweating, and rushed up to them. "Hatake-san. I have a report. There is a large squad of sound-nin escaping into the forest through west gate. Jiraiya-sama has just arrived, and the Hokage is fighting in the South district. The summons are doing heavy damage, but with Jiraiya-sama here, we think they will be stopped."

Gai stepped forward. "I'm going to go help out the Hokage," he proclaimed with a serious face, and then he turned to Kakashi. "Didn't your team go into the forest west of here?"

Kakashi paled. Natsu and Sakura were no match for a squad of sound-nin. Natsu hadn't gotten medical attention for his wounds and Sakura only knew the basics of jutsu.

"Asuma went after Shikamaru," Kurenai assured as she peered out over the arena. "He'll..." Her voice drifted off as her eyes caught sight of Uzumaki, the boy Kakashi had returned to Konoha with. He was crouched over the body of a Konoha nin, eating his legs. Gai moved to see what had caused the look of horror on the kunoichi's face, and felt the blood drain from his own as he watched the small golden headed boy crunch through the man's femur like it was a stick of pocky. Even from up there, they could hear the constant crunch of bone, and the boy's vermilion eyes darted about him as he ate, as if he expected someone to try to stop him at any moment.

"Oh shit..." Kakashi breathed, taking in the scene and seeing the frozen look on Genma's face as he stood there, oblivious to the fact that he was standing near a traitor. As if hearing his thoughts, Yakushi removed the mask and grinned at him. Sunny looked up from the man he was eating and glared at Yakushi, who bowed almost mockingly to him, then both he and the sand-nin Baki disappeared. This seemed to snap Genma out of his shock and he stepped toward Sunny, who lifted his head and straightened his shoulders, remaining in the crouch, staring at Genma with large crimson and orange eyes, still as a statue. Genma froze, senbon needle still in his mouth, wary of the boys' unnatural stillness, and the way those large unblinking eyes held him, waiting for him to make the next move. His mouth and chin were smeared with a fallen comrade's blood, and he could still hear the sound of his bones being ground down.

"Sun!" Kakashi called, and life seemed to return to the boy, and his head swiveled up in response to his name. "I need you to go after Natsu and Sakura, they'll need your help." Sunny looked west, to where Kakashi pointed, then he blinked almost owlishly at him, as if he were having trouble coming back to himself, then nodded. He dropped what was left of the leg and leaped up into the stands, stepped on a few heads, then made one single leap over and disappeared.

"That was Kyuubi," Kurenai stated flatly, and he shrugged in reply, and headed for the direction of their beloved Hokage.

--

Dyadem paced outside of the purple barrier, rage pouring through each step, and for a second he thought he was going to lose his human form and revert back to his natural form- for such was the rage that ran through him. Death, was an incredibly final state of being- and for all that this human called Orochimaru had summoned two humans from the dead- they were still- in fact- dead. So for this Yondaime to seal Kyuubi away with Death made it all feel very final. He grit his teeth and glared at the surrounding humans-who were stuck between being frightened of him and worried for their human Hokage. Just like Sunny had been worried. He hissed and stopped pacing, pulling his millenniums of patience down upon himself and waited for this battle to be over.

As if on cue, the purple barrier fell, and the branches crumpled away, the darkness lifting. The human Orochimaru called out to his four human lackeys that had pulled up the barrier and they jumped away. Several of the Konoha Anbu leapt forward to attack, but one was quickly knocked down by one of the humans with four arms.

Dyadem stepped forward, eyes immediately falling on the fallen Hokage, who was clearly dead as Enma pulled a sword from his back. The monkey spirit hovered over the body as Dyadem approached, then his furred head darted up, dark eyes alarmed.

:Dyadem: he spoke in the tongue of the spirits, voice laced with sadness and anger. :What are you doing here in the realm of Man?:

:Go on fool: Dyadem snapped. :The human doesn't need you anymore. My, how the mighty have fallen- you and all your kind:

The Anbu approached, some crying out at the sight of their fallen Hokage, and he spotted the one named Kakashi arriving along with more humans. Enma stood up, but not before he put a hand on the dead human, and its skin instantly turned blue. Dyadem snarled; the brain, which still had been good, was now ruined.

"Begone Demon, there is nothing for you here," he commanded in the human tongue for the benefit of the surrounding humans, who gasped, and the nearest one threw his hands together to create jutsu, but Dyadem gave him a swift kick to the chest, feeling the bones crumble under his foot as he dodged a kunai and leaped from the building, dashing away.

The humans were so distraught over their Hokage, that they made no attempt to follow, and he headed west toward the forest, pausing only once to see the spirit toads battle the snakes. He shut his eyes and breathed deeply and headed for the crumpled west wall, only to be stopped by a Konoha ninja.

"Hey! Where's your hitai-ate? What village are you from?" the human looked like a youngling. Dyadem bared his teeth menacingly, and the human male paled, but it gripped its kunai and rushed forward. Just as it reached him, Dyadem dropped his human form, flashing into the blue flame, and the human ran right into him. Connecting with the human's chest, he melded into it, rushed through its body, and crushed its small mind, pushing it to the side and locking it away.

It was the first time he had ever bothered to possess a human, and as he straightened from the crouch and turned toward the west wall, he suffered a shock. The human eyes! They were so weak, they barely saw anything, and the colors! So few of them. He gasped, then put his hands to his chest- or the human's chest really, and remained stunned. There was pain in his body, small minute nagging pains that the human felt probably all the time, he ran through pieces of the human's mind and discovered that it had shattered it's knee three years ago, and it still ached! Something that would have only lasted seconds for him. He lifted the human hands to his face, staring at the tendons in the hands, feeling the blood rush through them. He felt weighted down by gravity- heavy, tired. The was a distant crash, and he turned the poor, practically colorless eyes toward the muffled sound, and realized that the human's hearing was incredibly pathetic. He couldn't hear much- the world was almost silent- his sense of smell was limited to the scent of smoke in the air.

He felt isolated. No wonder the humans gathered in big areas together; they were not attuned to anything!

He blinked watery eyes and squinted at the west wall before leaping toward it, and coming short, his leg protesting- his human legs, and he snarled, shoving his chakra through the human's body, wanting to get beyond the gate as soon as possible. As he soared toward the wall, he felt the human's chakra coils bursting- unable to handle his chakra, and this caused the body pain. He was on the wall, and one of the Konoha ninja's shouted orders to him, but he ignored it, instead taking a nose-dive toward the ground, watching as the dirt approached. Instincts told him to twist about and land on his feet, but he ignored it, and crunched head-first into the earth.

Immediately, the body felt strange, empty and foreign, and he searched for the presence of the human that occupied the body, but the mind was nothing more than oozing matter in the dirt. He floated away into the forest, having released himself from the body, but he did pause to look back at the human, taking in its crushed head and broken body. Then he floated on in search of Sunny and Tsorn.

--

Sunny surged through the forest, weaving through the trees and listening to the cries of dying humans of the village, spotting a body here and there, lying about the forest floor. He dropped down before a pile of bodies, touching and sifting through a few to find a warm one, and pulled off an arm. He spotted movement, and his eyes darted up, connecting with one of Natsu's friends, the bored one, standing with an older human male with hair about his face. Both were in the cover of the trees, staring at him as he bit into the arm.

"You seen Natsu?" he asked after he had swallowed, and watched as the bored one seemed to work up to pointing ahead.

"They went after Uchiha and Gaara."

Sunny nodded and leaped away, soaring into the trees, stopping once to call for Tsorn. \Tsorn! Where are you?/ His call echoed throughout the forest, which had been mysteriously silent. He turned his head about, picking up what sounds he could hear; the rustle of leaves against one another, the sound of the branches bending in the gentle wind. The snap of a twig.

His eyes zeroed in on a ninja slowly easing his way down a tree, kunai out and dark eyes focused on something, and as he followed his line of vision, saw Natsu crouched down near the roots of a large tree, head swiveling about, no doubt searching for the ninja that was stalking him. Sunny grinned, and slowly eased his way down the tree, pulling a few leaves with him and sticking them in his hair.

\I'm way out here-but I come!/ came Tsorn's reply, and indeed he was far from the village if he was just replying. The ninja was almost on Natsu just as Sunny's foot touched the earth. He sent his chakra racing toward the human, sneering as the human froze, looking about as he sensed the chakra approaching but could not see the source. The human moved back into the tree, but it was too late as his chakra hands burst from the ground and grabbed his legs. The human screamed and slashed at the hands with his kunai, his legs crunching and burning under the strength and heat of the chakra, but the other hand wrapped around his shoulders and tore him apart.

He saw Natsu jump up from his poor hiding place in shock just as a sharp pain sliced through his back, and Sunny spun to see another ninja approaching, shuriken in hand, the other tossing exploding tags around him. Sunny jumped into the air just as the tags exploded, the force knocking him clear through the trees. He managed to grab a branch as he crashed through a particularly large tree, and swung around it before landing in a crouch, twisting about so he could grab whatever was stuck in his back.

Natsu shunshin'ed toward him, face pale and covered in smoke and dirt. He stopped next to Sunny with a pant and inspected his back. "There's a shuriken in your back. I'm going to pull it out, 'kay?" His eyes darted about the area as he spoke, and Sunny looked back at him and nodded. Natsu grabbed the shuriken quickly and yanked it out; Sunny let out a sigh of relief as the wound healed, ignoring Natsu's gasp of astonishment. He tilted his head about, listening for the sound of the foreign ninja, but Natsu was panting too loud and there were trees burning from the explosion. Fire was a noisy thing.

"I don't know what happened, Shikamaru stayed behind as a decoy- I don't know if he's even alive- and we were supposed to go after Sasuke, but then we were ambushed by sound-nin." He wiped his sweating face, smearing the dirt and soot more, and grimaced. "I don't know what happened to Sakura, and we never-"

"Shh!" He smelled foreign blood, and his head continued to jerk around, crimson eyes darting through the trees, ears tilting here and there.

Suddenly the tree lurched, the ground around its roots roiling like something was trying to surface, and the tree toppled over violently. Sunny darted from the tree and latched onto the one next to it, turning back to see if Natsu had jumped away, but the human had gotten tangled in the branches and crashed down with the tree, crying out as a large thick branch landed on him, pinning his chest and stomach to the earth.

Sunny's eyes darted about as he heard and saw glimpses of the sound-nin sneaking about, towards Natsu, towards him. Sunny opened his mouth and shrieked as loudly and angrily as he could, sure that anything with ears from miles around would hear him, and several of the sound-nin's froze, their terror reaching him, and backing away.

Pinned under the branch, his breath impeded by the weight, Natsu managed a fake small cry of fear as he watched the long sharp canines in Sunny's mouth grow. The faint silver marks on his cheeks darkened as his friend turned and looked down at him, like a young devil, and gave him a nod. Then he gave a deep, half growl- half roar that trembled through the earth, and for a second he was in awe that such a loud, terrible sound could come from Sunny's twelve year old chest when it sounded like it belonged to something at least twenty feet tall. He gave another fake cry of terror, understanding that they were surrounded, and that Sunny was attempting to intimidate the sound-nins. He felt like several of his ribs were broken, along with the growing pain in a leg and arm that he could not see. He could barely get a proper breath, and knew that if Sunny didn't get help pulling off the branch, he would suffocate. The self-proclaimed demon with sharp dagger-like teeth (and he clearly had more in his mouth than the normal human) slowly slinked down the side of the tree, showing superb chakra control, before touching to the ground and whispering, "Kage Bunshin no jutsu."

The forest was suddenly filled with golden blond flying everywhere, and between his weak gasps he could hear the screams of fighting, and it became clear to him that there had been more sound-nin in the forest than he had originally thought. He'd thought most of them had been in the village, but perhaps they were retreating-

There was a blast of heated wind, and fire roared over him, so close that he he felt the heat roil over him, and parts of the tree that was crushing him caught fire. He was so dead. Sunny- crashed down near him, his body on fire as he watched him roll to a stop in the heated dirt. Everything was cast in a smoky orange glow- and he thought this was hell as he called out Sunny's name, and crimson eyes looked at him rather calmly despite the fact that he was on fire, and then he puffed into chakra smoke. A bunshin, he thought as smoke invaded his lungs, and he thought this was a terrible way to die, crushed by a tree, burned and suffocated by fire.

Another Sunny appeared, covered in soot, and he darted over to Natsu. He tried to say something, but he couldn't breath, couldn't even cough to get the smoke out of his lungs, but he was aware that Sunny grabbed the heavy trunk, and he wanted to tell him that he wouldn't be able to lift the tree off of him, but suddenly the pressure was off his chest, and he was able to take a deeper smoke filled breath only to cough and hack, sending ribbons of pain through his chest.

He turned over and began to drag himself away from the tree that Sunny was holding up, miraculously, might he add, and then a sound-nin appeared. The ninja lifted his hand, and to Natsu's horror, he saw a small gray ball in his hand: poison gas.

It all seemed in slow motion, large chakra hands burst from the ground, snatching at the ninja, but he jumped out of the way, tossing the ball of death at the ground. The tree went sailing over his head and crashed into the surrounding trees with a deafening crack just as the poison gas ball exploded, yellow gas engulfing them. He covered his nose with his good hand just as a powerful hand gripped his ankle, and then he was airborne.

The world tilted, leaves, and branches, all twirling and swirling about so that he was dizzy for a moment before he crashed into what felt like a thorn bush. He cried out and coughed in pain, eyes rolling about in his head before they focused, and he realized he was lying in a thorn bush, on his side, with a perfect few of Sunny, though he was a distance away.

The blond was staggering about, coughing into his hands, ugly wet coughs, and saw blood through his fingers. "Oh God," Natsu wheezed in horror as Sunny tripped into a tree, gurgling as he stumbled back, something lumpy and bloody falling past his lips, and Natsu knew it was his lungs. Chakra hands, violent reds and browns burst from the forest floor, waving about in terror and confusion, dozens of them, mirroring Sunny, who coughed and hacked up his lungs. In between came inhuman shrieks, and crimson eyes darted about in terror, grabbing at the bits of his lungs that were coming up.

The sound-nin appeared after the danger of the poison had passed, dodging the wild chakra hands, and swung a shuriken at Sunny's chest. Sunny must have seen him through his pain and terror, for he lifted an arm to block the shuriken, and his arm spun away, severed as the shuriken lodged into his chest. And Natsu could do nothing but watch.

"You bastard," the sound-nin hissed, pulling out a kunai as Sunny dropped to his knees, remaining arm reaching out to grab the severed one. He was covered in his blood, the stump from mid forearm gushing blood while pieces of his lungs oozed from his mouth and slid down his chest. He couldn't even believe Sunny was still alive, and he watched as the sound-nin walked casually behind the blond and pressed the kunai right under Sunny's left ear. "This is for my team mates!" he hissed, and Natsu opened his mouth in a silent scream as Sunny's eyes connected with his own, bleeding into blue as the man dragged the kunai across his throat, holding him up by his hair. Even above the cackle of fire he could hear the grate of bone against kunai and watched him fall face down into the earth. The chakra hands flopping down onto the dirt then disappearing.

The sound-nin stood over Sunny, dark eyes examining the body, then looking satisfied, that was until he was grabbed by one of the chakra hands that burst from the earth and grabbed his leg. The sound-nin screamed and stabbed Sunny repeatedly in the back, until the hand released his leg and and shrank back into the earth. Then the ninja aimed for his head- though through his tears he didn't know why- Sunny had stopped moving after his throat had been slit, but before the kunai could sink into his brain, something large, and brown landed behind him, and massive jaws wrapped around the man's skull and instantly crushed his head and face.

Natsu watched numbly as the man's eyes popped out of his head, and brain matter gushed out. The beast grabbed the man's arm and tore it from his body like it was a piece of cotton candy, then did so with the other arm, and so on until the sound-nin's body was all over, and only the head was left in the monster's mouth, and then it tossed the head away, and it landed in front of Natsu and rolled to a stop a foot from his face.

Natsu shut his eyes tightly and focused on trying to breath over burning lungs, muffling sobs lest the creature find him. There was a sound, like a poorly played violin, and he opened his eyes to see beyond the brutalized head that the brown creature hovered over Sunny, anxiously with what seemed like concern, and its massive brown hand nudged Sunny and then turned him over. Natsu lifted his head to see Sunny's face, his blue eyes were staring emptily at the burning canopy. The creature leaned down and licked his bloody throat, and horrific sounds- some that he had heard Sunny make, erupted from its throat. Was it talking to him?

There was a blue flash and he watched in numb silence as a large indigo wolf- the size of a pony, glided into the clearing, silently, as if walking on air- or maybe it was the deafening roar of fire that made it seem so silent. The wolf approached the monster and Sunny's body, sniffed at Sunny, then looked up at the brown monster. Both did not move, and Natsu wondered if they were going to eat his fallen friend, until movement appeared beyond the smoke, and to his continued shock Sabaku Gaara appeared. His face though, seemed wider, morphed and strange, and the only way he knew it was him was that his hair was still red and he wore the same cloth and gourd on him. But his eyes were black and yellow, and he looked at the blue wolf, his face twisting in what looked like pain, taking a step toward Sunny, but the wolf's lip parted, and onyx colored teeth bared in a clear warning. Gaara stepped back with a glare, and then the glare moved, and it fell on him, where he lay in the bushes. The indigo wolf's head turned, and familiar black eyes fell on him- and he knew, it was Sunny's blue haired companion at the Semi-finals.

Then Gaara turned and disappeared into the smoke, and the brown creature- no- demon, wrapped a massive hand around Sunny's small torso and tossed the body over a muscled shoulder, leaping into the smoke and disappearing. The blue wolf sauntered over to Sunny's severed fore-arm and picked it up in his mouth, and he too slipped away, only glancing back once, those black star-lit eyes seeming to accuse him, and he closed his eyes tightly in response.

For a while, there was only smoke, and the sound of falling and burning trees, and the pain of his coughs, but he had no energy to move, even to turn away from the head that lay before him. Then, "Oh shit."

Natsu opened his eyes, and Sasuke was standing over him, staring down at him in alarm and concern, black eyes darting around to take in the scene, eyes falling on the mutilated head, and kicking it away with a foot before he crouched down over Natsu.

"Sa...Sakura?" he slurred and wheezed, finally thinking on his pink haired team-mate as his vision darkened.

"She's fine-"

Then there was no pain, or guilt, or horror. There was only spiraling down deep into the darkness.

--

Hatake Kakashi sighed, heading for Konoha hospital, walking away from the Sandaime's funeral, seeing the black garbed mourners as he passed. Sakura gave him a weak smile, flowers in her hands, standing next to Konohamaru, who was sobbing quietly but harshly into his fists. He was mourning a beloved grandfather, and a friend. He sighed again as he moved onto the streets, staring at the damage as he passed. Dozens of buildings had been crushed by the snake summons, dozens of lives had been lost protecting this village. But the villagers were already rebuilding, he noticed as he entered the hospital, people were ready to move on.

He moved down halls, shoulders slowly becoming more tense as he moved toward the ICU, toward his favorite student. Sasuke and Sakura had returned fine, along with Shikamaru, but Natsu had returned in a chuunin's arms, limp, pale, bloody, and seemingly dead except that his rasps alerted everyone to life.

He suffered three broken ribs, a fractured clavicle bone, his right leg broken in three places, torn ligaments in his left arm, a ruptured spleen, a cracked sternum, and severe smoke inhalation. The medics had worked hard on him for what seemed like hours, and even then he was still in the ICU. Then there was the delirious rants, in which he and Jiraiya discovered that Sunny had saved Natsu's life, sacrificing his own and dying horribly. He'd searched for Sunny's body himself, and Jiraiya had even accompanied him, unusually silent during their search, but they hadn't found his body, and he imagined it had been burned up in the devastating fire that had engulfed acres of the western forest.

From what they managed to gather, Sunny had saved Natsu from the sound ninja, had pulled a tree off of him, which explained the crushed ribs and broken leg. After that, there was poison gas, and monsters, and something about a head, but they couldn't be too sure with the fever they were constantly fighting. He did know that Natsu would have to suffer with survivors guilt for a while.

Kakashi entered Natsu's room, and immediately spotted Natsu's mother and father, Kazuya Yoko and Kazuya Naota. Yoko's face was swollen from constant tears, and Naota's face was pale and lined, with shadows under his eyes. He bowed politely to them, and watched as Yoko mopped her face with a tissue, then wiped Natsu's sweating forehead, pushing his damp dirty blond hair from his forehead.

"He keeps talking about poor Sunny," she hiccuped, and her already red and swollen eyes filled up with more tears. "he keeps saying horrible things, like how his l-lungs dribbled from his throat, or h-how he stared at him as his own throat w-was cut like some kind of a-a-animal." She dissolved into miserable tears, burying her face in her tissue, not unlike Konohamaru, who had been similarly crushed upon hearing of his new friends' death. "H-he was such a sweet boy," she sobbed, and her husband patted her shoulder gently.

Yoko's head snapped up suddenly, and her miserable eyes turned fiery. "I don't want Natsu to be a ninja anymore- I never wanted him to be a ninja-"

"Yoko-" Naota began but she cut him off angrily.

"My boy's going to need therapy after this! He almost died, and he watched his friend be m-murdered..." she went back to crying. "That poor, poor child."

Kakashi sighed. He didn't want to be the one to say this, but, "Natsu is a shinobi now, and considered an adult. You can no longer stop him if he so desires," both their heads shot up in horror. "You're chance to pull him out passed when he passed his gennin test and got his hitai-ate and ID." He bowed his head again. "I'm sorry."

--

Tsorn crouched uneasily in the dark cave, peering up at the craggy ceiling far above him. Dyadem had brought them down into a deep enormous cave that smelled so much like Sunny- minus the peppermint, that he had made a face.

\This is where Kyuubi stayed when he was down from the Spirit Plane/ Dyadem had murmured in his mind, and as they touched the ground, he was startled by the feel of soft-fur? Tsorn had looked down, and sure enough, the ground was covered in reddish- brown fur, single strands longer that he was tall. He walked on Sunny's fur and marveled at the sheer size of what Sunny had been, and then a gurgle and the feeling of blood running down his back caused him to remember his pack-member and he slowly placed Sunny on his fur.

The youngling was a mess, trembling and coughing up pieces of his lungs, his throat having healed by the time they had arrived. He was covered in his blood, and as he inspected the lump of his arm, could see the bone beginning to grow back in a process that was slow and painful. Dyadem's paw reached out and turned Sunny over onto his stomach, as he was drowning in his own blood, and they watched as his small body spasmed and more pieces of his lungs came up. The stab wounds on his back were still there, as his body had other serious injuries to take care of.

\What did they do to him?/ Tsorn asked, burying his clawed hands into the thick layer of fur they crouched on.

Dyadem sniffed the blood and gave a snarl. \It's infected, and it will take many weeks- even months for it to heal./ He moved and sniffed Sunny's stump. The severed hand he had brought along was starting to turn black. \This will hinder the healing. Look, he is already falling into the healing rest./ And indeed, Sunny's glazed eyes stared at nothing as his breath gurgled.

Quite suddenly, the blue eyes sharpened and bled to crimson- except they began to glow, and Sunny's body seized, his lips peeling back in a vicious snarl and the air about them became heavy with a presence that made Tsorn cower and the fur to rise on Dyadem's back.

\Kyuubi?/ Dyadem whispered in question, mellow voice unsteady, black eyes going wide, and there was such a look in those eyes, that Tsorn was forced to avert his eyes in obedience. Those alien eyes were focused on Dyadem, who seemed unable to look away, and then Sunny's body slumped down into the fur, and his crimson eyes hollowed out with the healing rest, the lids lowering but his eyes stayed open.

\We should bury him/ Tsorn suggested after a time, and at Dyadem's grunt, he pushed a thick layer of fur aside, picked Sunny's limp body up, placing him in the center and covering him up with his fur. If he could have his way, he would never see Sunny turn to Kyuubi.

TBC

You'll find out next time what happened with Gaara, since he didn't transform.

I felt that Kakashi would not make an entrance with Sasuke because Natsu is his favorite, and he would at least be on time to see his fight- unlike cannon Kakashi- who didn't think it was important to show up for Naruto's fight. Bastard.

Unfortunately, I have to address a frequently asked question. There will be, no pairings in this fic. No yaoi, no yuri, no het. Some reviewers alluded to the brief interaction between Ino and Sunny; that wasn't a hint at any future relationship. My reasons for this choice are simple. One, of course, the character Sunny/Naruto is clearly unfriendly towards most humans, does not see them as sex objects, is too young first of all- to see them as such, and I think it silly to create an original demonic character just so I can stick her to him.

Another reason, I feel that most readers are under the impression that if one writes a fanfic, it must have romance in it. I'm strongly against that expectation; there are many writers that can write fantastic stories without the need to place the characters in a romantic situation.

And lastly (and most likely the main reason for no pairings) though I am a female...I am absolutely abysmal at writing romance. I've tried it- it didn't work out, so I'm sticking with action, pain, and misery (my attempt at romance did have all three of these things in them- which wasn't very romantic.)

This is not me complaining about the contents of my reviews- it's simply that it is a frequently asked question that I honestly posted an answer to many chapters ago, but I guess I should remind readers that there will be no pairings between Sunny and anyone else- human or otherwise.

On a less informative note, I humbly thank all that have taken time out of their day to show appreciation for my story; it is very kind of you all.