----------------------------------------------------------------------
TenTen sighed as she made her way to the tower. Drake had been gone two weeks. The only contact they'd had were the brief messages he'd send with his reports, so she had volunteered to come each evening and check for the bird carrying his messages. Today she was early. She'd run out of things to do once Toki fell asleep. The message wasn't due in for about an hour. She opened the door to the roost, and noticed the hawk already perched atop it's post, asleep.
"Why is it asleep?" she thought aloud, "Did he send it early?"
The scroll-holder on its back seemed empty, and she opened it carefully. Instead of a scroll, there was a single crumpled piece of paper. TenTen read the message that had been hastily scribbled on it.
**
Found four bodies at 41, 73. Look like shinobi. Not pretty. One has red/white fan symbol on shirt. Tracking the thing that killed them. Not human. Might need a little help. -Drake
**
Her eyes widened.
*Fan symbol?* she thought with disbelief, *Could it be?*
She formed the hand-seal for a teleportation jutsu, appearing in the waiting area outside the Hokage's office. She knocked on the door.
"Enter!" She opened the door and crossed the distance to the Hokage's desk almost instantly. "TenTen?" the older woman asked, "What's..."
"Here!" TenTen cut her off, handing her the message. The blonde woman's eyes quickly scanned the small piece of paper, her eyes widening as she realized the message's implications. She pressed the red button under her desk. Three ANBU appeared instantly.
"Get me Team Kakashi!" she ordered. "Now!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Drake sighed as he flopped down on the bed. He'd spent the entire day tracking whatever it was that had left the bodies, and it had evaded him. He'd felt the hairs on the back of his neck rising several times as he went. It had felt like he wasn't the one doing the hunting. That made him uneasy, and there were few things that could boast that. In the end, the trail had disappeared on a patch of rocky ground and he'd been unable to find any more tracks. So he'd come back.
Putting his headphones into his ears and letting the music soothe his mind, he dozed. About half an hour later he snapped awake. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up again and he shivered. Something felt wrong. Something felt very wrong. He sat up and pulled the headphones out of his ears. There was no sound, no wind, no owls, no crickets, complete silence. He closed his eyes and listened as intently as he could. Breathing. Something was just outside the door, and it sounded big.
*Bastard followed me home...* he thought, a thrill of adrenaline coursing through his veins. With agonizing slowness he slid on his boots, making as little noise as possible. He repeated the pace in looping the baldric of throwing knives over his shoulder. He glanced over to where Snaga was hanging next to the doorframe, and then to where his coat hung, near the fireplace that was opposite the door.
*One or the other then...* he reasoned with a grim smile. *If I'm lucky.* He eased himself off the bed, slowly bringing his weight onto the floorboards. *So far so good.* He took a step and the floor creaked. *Fuck!*
A spine-chilling snarl sounded outside as the door was torn from its hinges. Something massive and dark rushed into the room, moonlight glinting from its bloodstained talons. Drake scrambled for the axe.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TenTen was worried as the team flew through the trees. If Drake's message was correct, Sasuke Uchiha was dead, whatever had killed him wasn't human, and now he was on its trail. The last sentence of the message had worried her the most.
'Might need a little help.'
Never since she'd known him had Drake asked for help in a fight, especially since he'd retrieved Snaga. He always just walked up and showed whatever-it-was what Snaga could do. For this thing to have worried him it must have been bad. She checked all of her gear for the umpteenth time.
*Scroll... extra scroll... backup scroll... backpack... swords... kunai pouch...* she mentally listed, *Nope, haven't dropped anything since last I checked.*
"Relax." Sakura's voice came over the radio from her position about 50 feet behind. "I'm sure he's fine."
"Thanks." TenTen said, no feeling behind the words. They kept going. It was early evening by the time they reached the cabin Drake had been staying in.
"Look at this." Kakashi said, kneeling to scrutinize the ground. There were multiple large boot-prints, easily recognizable as Drake's, but overlapping some of them were what looked like elongated wolf tracks. Except much, much bigger. With a great sense of foreboding, the four of them slowly circled the building.
Kakashi's hand signaled, and the four of them instantly jumped onto the roof. Kakashi himself drew a kunai and signaled again. They dropped down in front of the door, staggered for swinging room, hands on their weapons. There was no need. Whatever had been there was long since gone. TenTen gasped when she saw the scene. The door to the cabin had been torn clean off and thrown some twenty feet away. There were what looked like talon marks on it. She stepped into the cabin. The room was in shambles, all the furniture overturned and broken. There were more talon marks on the walls, and several large pools of blood on the floor. Drake's coat was still hanging next to the stone fireplace, undisturbed.
*Drake...* TenTen thought, panic gripping her heart. A bestial roar echoed from the distant forest, sending a shiver down her spine. Steeling herself, she drew her swords and ran in the direction of the sound as fast as her legs would carry her.
Not two minutes later, when she was entering a clearing, another roar sounded, this time much closer. TenTen saw the source of the noise emerge from the undergrowth some two hundred feet away. It was massive, easily nine feet tall, shaped like a man, but with a wolf-like head. Shaggy black fur covered its form, and fresh blood dripped from its huge talons. She noticed six of Drake's throwing knives jutting at various angles from the beast. It sniffed the air, and it's head spun to regard TenTen. It snarled hungrily, its eyes glowing red. It dropped to all fours and charged at her with terrifying speed, covering the distance between them in a matter of seconds. When it was almost upon her, a dark blur flew through the air to land on it's back.
Drake landed feet-first, forcing all of his weight down hard and bearing the beast to the ground. It hit the ground hard, and skidded to a stop about ten feet from where TenTen stood. Snaga hammered into the back of the Joining's skull, ensuring it wouldn't get back up.
"Damn... thing... just... wouldn't... die..." Drake panted, slumping to lie next to the still-twitching corpse. It took TenTen a few seconds to register what had just happened. She rushed to where the big man was lying.
"Drake?" she asked, worry evident in her voice.
"TenTen?" he asked, looking up with a sleepy smile.
"Are you hurt?" she asked, kneeling next to him.
"I could use a nap." he admitted.
"How long were you fighting it?" she asked, regarding the massive body, Snaga still embedded its skull.
"Since he tore down my door last night." the big man answered, sitting up slowly as she pulled him into a hug.
"You are hurt!" she spoke, feeling the blood coating the right side of his shirt.
"Most of it's his." the big man said, gesturing toward the giant werebeast.
"Liar." she said, eying the three talon marks on his shoulder.
"I'll survive." he said, reaching into his pocket and popping a pair of blood pills into his mouth.
"I found Drake." TenTen said, touching the headset on her neck, "He's injured. Nothing serious. We're about ten miles south of you in a clearing."
"Who's with you?" the big man asked.
"Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi." she answered. "They'll be here in a few minutes. Your... description... matched a former Konoha shinobi." He turned to regard the corpse, anger in his eyes. "Is it what I think it is?"
"I think so." he admitted.
"A Joining..." she whispered with disbelief. "How did it get here?"
"So you finished the book." he commented with a smirk.
"I'm working on the sequel." she said, reaching into her pouch to draw out another leather-bound book. The spine read The Swords of Night and Day.
"You raided my bookshelf!" he accused playfully.
"You weren't reading them." she muttered.
Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi appeared from the trees, landing lightly around the big man and the dead beast. Sakura moved to Drake's side, inspecting the wound in his shoulder. Naruto and Kakashi stared at the massive black-furred corpse. The pink-haired medic-nin told him to lie down and sheared away the cloth of his shirt, leaving a small area that had been adhered to the wound by the flow of blood. She looked to Drake, her hand taking on the familiar green glow. He nodded, reaching up and ripping the cloth off. He grunted as blood began to flow freely from the wound again. Within a few minutes, the wound was reduced to another scar, and Drake sat back up.
"How many blood pills did you use?" the pink-haired medic asked him.
"Counting the two right before you got here? 12." he answered, shaking his head to dispel the dizziness. "I'm out now."
"That's not healthy," she reprimanded him, "The body functions better on its own blood."
"What the hell is that thing?" Naruto interrupted, gesturing at the massive body.
"A Joining." TenTen and Drake answered simultaneously.
"You can fill us in later." Kakashi said, tone uncharacteristically serious. "Where is Sasuke?"
Drake nodded and stood shakily, wrenching Snaga free from the dead beast's skull. He did likewise with the various other weapons he'd left in the beast, replacing them in their respective places among his person. "Follow me." he said simply."But I'm warning you now... It isn't pretty." The four of them followed silently as Drake began to walk southward into the forest.
About half an hour later, the sun was setting as they reached a large clearing. TenTen had stayed behind to seal the body of the Joining for transport back to Konoha. The sickly smell of rotting meat rode the wind to where they stood. The sound of buzzing flies soon followed. "May want to plug your noses." Drake said simply.
Drake showed them to where the first three bodies were. The first was a red-haired girl, massive talon marks in her back. The second, a blue haired young man, his chest caved in. The third and largest of the three lay partially sitting against a tree, his throat torn out. Each of the bodies were missing large portions, scattered around the clearing. It was obvious that they'd been fed upon. He noticed there was no emotion in their eyes as they gazed at the bodies, slight recognition, but no emotion."
*Must be the other one then...* he reasoned darkly. "This way."
They began to follow two sets of tracks on the earth, one obviously a ninja, the others, tracks like those that had been at the cabin. The bestial tracks overlapped the sandal-prints in several places. "He was running away." Kakashi said in disbelief.
"Prepare yourselves." the tall man said over his shoulder, tone cold. The tracks continued until they were almost to the tree-line, and the beast's prints circled wide to intercept the ninja's from the front. They reached the body. There wasn't much left of what had once been Sasuke Uchiha.
His limbs were gone, his torso mangled almost beyond recognition by countless talon and fang marks. His throat had been torn out. His face however, was intact, an expression of sheer terror etched across his features. Sakura turned away, burying her face in Naruto's chest and starting to sob uncontrollably. Naruto held her gently, tears spilling freely down his own cheeks, unable to tear his eyes from what remained of his friend. Kakashi crouched down next to what was left of his former pupil and closed the dead boy's eyes.
"What the hell did you do to yourself Sasuke?" Naruto whispered sadly.
"Your friend had some fight in him, he hurt it." Drake said, his voice emotionless. "Running from it on open ground was stupid though. Last mistake he ever made."
"Don't talk about him like that!" the blond man turned to glare at the Drake, eyes red, pupils slitted. Drake met his gaze calmly. Sakura sobbed again, and Naruto's eyes returned to their normal color and he went back to comforting his wife. Drake turned and walked away. Kakashi stood and turned to follow him.
"He was their teammate." the silver-haired man explained simply. "The three of them were my students."
"I'm sorry." Drake said simply walking back to where the first three bodies were. He examined the ground in the center of the camp for a few minutes.
"How good are you at reading tracks?" Kakashi asked, keeping himself distracted.
"It killed the two men first..." Drake began. "The first while he slept, the second when he tried to get up. Sasuke fought it for a few minutes, threw some kind of big fire jutsu at it, then he and the girl ran. He was bleeding."
He stooped to read the tracks again, this time near the girl's body. "Sasuke was faster than the girl was, It caught her here, then followed him." he continued, moving to a position about ten feet past the girl. "It looks like he hesitated here, I'm guessing when it caught the girl. Then he panicked and ran into the clearing. If he'd gotten past it into the trees he probably could've outmaneuvered it. After it killed him, it came back here to feed. It's fed here a few times since then."
"You're good." Kakashi admitted solemnly.
"Learning what to look for teaches you what not to leave behind." the big man stated honestly. Kakashi nodded, and Drake stood and started to walk back in the direction of the cabin.
"Where are you going?" TenTen called out, finally reaching the clearing.
"To fix my door." he called back simply, as TenTen pulled out four more blank scrolls and went about her somber task. After sealing the bodies of Sasuke and his late team and sending them, along with the dead joining, with Team Kakashi on their way back to Konoha, she slowly made her way back to the cabin. The bodies would be given proper burials and the Joining would probably be reconstructed and then dissected. When she arrived she saw Drake, still shirtless, meticulously tossing pieces of ruined furniture out of the cabin.
"You guys haven't taken off yet?" he asked.
"I'm staying," she stated. "I already cleared it with Hokage-sama." She didn't miss the smile on his face as he carried part of what had once been a couch out into the sunlight. "I could use a shower though." she said absentmindedly.
"There's a stream about half a mile that way." he said, pointing.
"I'm not kidding." she glared playfully him.
"Neither am I." he said. "Soap's in the backpack." He gestured to his pack, leaning against the outside of the building.
"How long are you planning to stay out here?"
"A while." Drake said simply, carrying out the other half of the couch. "The villagers are all afraid of me."
"I'm not afraid of you." she said, moving closer.
"You're a bit of an exception." he said, arms wrapping gently around her. "You know me." She let her eyes drift shut as she returned the hug, just enjoying his presence. After a few minutes she felt him loosen his grip and move away. "We've got about another hour before dark." he said simply. "If you want to get cleaned up, you should probably go. I need to fix the door."
"Yeah..." she muttered, gathering her pack.
She returned about half an hour later feeling refreshed. All the broken furniture was piled up next to the cabin. Noticing the door was back on its hinges, she knocked.
"Come in." Drake's voice spoke from within. She opened the door and looked around, noticing with some disappointment that Drake had put a shirt on. The room definitely seemed bigger now. All the furniture was gone, save for the bed, which was made neatly, pushed against the right wall. The fireplace had been lit, giving the interior of the cabin a warm glow. A large stack of firewood, much of it the old furniture, was stacked beside it. She walked over to her scroll and summoned her pillow.
"Only one bed?" she asked mischievously.
"I'll sleep on the floor." Drake deadpanned, grabbing his own pillow from the bed. She pouted as he lay down on the floor and put his headphones in.
*Well...* she thought. *If it's drastic measures you want, then drastic you will get.* With that thought, and the accompanying smile, she lay on her side and waited for the big man to fall asleep.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Drake awoke to the semi-familiar feeling of a weight across his hips. He opened his eyes slowly to see TenTen, face inches from his own, illuminated by the firelight. She didn't say anything, she just slowly reached up and pulled the headphones from his ears, the intensity of her gaze putting butterflies in his stomach. Once he wasn't hearing anything but the crackling of the fire, she dove and captured his mouth in a passionate kiss. He returned it with equal intensity. After they broke off for air, he reached to pull her down again, but she pushed him down and sat up, still straddling his waist.
She reached up and unbuttoned the front of her kimono top, shrugging it off her shoulders. His hands moved up toward the bindings around her chest, but she gently pushed him down again, reaching into one of the buns her hair was held in and withdrawing a tiny slip of paper. There was a small puff of smoke and a kunai appeared in her hand. He looked up at her, one eyebrow raised.
"Just relax." she said, her voice soft and seductive.
She slipped the kunai under his shirt and began to drag it upwards, fingers trailing up his abs as the blade slit the front of his shirt. Once she had finished with the shirt, the kunai kept traveling upwards and gently split his headband, sending the pieces to the ground. She leaned down, before reaching up to pull her hair free of it's confines. It fell, blocking Drake's view of everything but her face. She stared into his eyes for a moment before leaning down to catch him in another heated kiss, dropping the kunai and scraping her nails lightly down his exposed chest.
The kiss broke before he had wanted it to, and she gently pushed him back down, retrieving the kunai with a mischievous grin. She began to bring the blade up over her own stomach, then higher to her abdomen, then between her breasts, slicing it slowly, teasingly, through the fabric wrapped around her chest. After what seemed like an eternity to Drake, the cloth fell to the floor, exposing her from the waist up.
Drake was at a loss for words as he stared at the most perfect being he'd ever laid eyes on. He just stared, finally managing a word after what seemed like an eternity. "So..."
"So what?" she asked huskily, leaning over him and grinding against him.
"So beautiful..." he finally managed to mutter, pulling her down into another kiss. This time his hands were exploring, wandering across all the skin they had been denied before. The kiss broke, and he slowly trailed kisses down her cheek, her neck, her collarbone, finally slowing to a crawl as he reached her left breast, his hand gently kneading her right. This time it was her turn to arch into his touch as he claimed her nipple with his mouth, tongue teasing it in languid circles. She moaned aloud, the sudden loss of control only making her more sensitive. Her hand found its way into his hair, the other clamped over his occupied hand, keeping the hand and mouth where they were. His ministrations intensified.
"Mmm..." TenTen gasped. "Bed."
He bit down gently on her nipple, earning a groan of delight, and reluctantly released it, gently moving into a sitting position and wrapping his free arm around her to keep her steady. Her arms and legs wrapped around him, neither of them wanting to break the contact. He stood awkwardly and staggered over to the bed, ultimately losing his balance and falling backwards onto it, leaving them in the same position they'd been in on the floor.
She caught him in another kiss and moved from straddling him to lying beside him. He felt her legs moving, but couldn't tell what she was doing. She swung her leg over him and straddled him again, and when they broke for air, he saw that she was completely naked.
He took a moment to drink in the sight of her body. Again, he was completely speechless. The moment ended when she smiled and pushed him down onto the bed again. She stood on her knees and looped her hands into the hem of his pants and boxers, pulling them both down so hard Drake heard fabric rip.
"Are you going to ruin all of my clothes?" he asked, his just before her hand found what his was looking for and silenced him.
"Don't worry." she said, crawling up the bed and kissing him again. "I brought more." She straddled him again, slowly lowering herself onto him. "Oh... fuck." she muttered, lowering her hips. Her hunch had been correct, it was suitably proportioned to the rest of him. She continued slowly lowering herself, until at last their hips met. She let the moment linger, just basking in the feeling of being so full and so close to him. After a few moments, she locked eyes with him and started to move, slowly raising and lowering her hips as he groaned and began to move with her, establishing the rhythm as old as humanity itself.
His hands came up to pay her breasts the attention they craved, and he sat up slightly to bring his mouth to the breast it had yet to taste. TenTen moaned, once again arching into the attentions he was lavishing upon her breasts as her hips pumped. She felt the need for control again, and pushed him once more down to the bed. She leaned over to kiss him again, but ended up just moaning into his mouth as the new angle intensified what they were both feeling.
Drake was getting dizzy, the feelings were amazing. He was fighting not to finish, and they had only just begun. His hands came up to her hips, and they both increased their pace. TenTen's hands tracing the scars on his chest. Their tongues continued battling, and she threw her arms around his neck to steady herself.
TenTen felt her climax building, and broke the kiss to stare into Drake's eyes. "I love you." she whispered, hitting her climax just before Drake and screaming his name into the night. He followed a split-second later, groaning her name as he felt her muscles clamping down on him. They rode the sensations for as long as they could, then both slumped down, seeing stars.
A few minutes later they lie under the blankets, TenTen had her head resting on Drake's chest, and his arms were holding her close.
"What about this one?" she asked running her fingers over a long jagged scar on his abdomen.
"Spear." he answered, "Guy caught me when I was fighting someone else."
"These?" she asked, gesturing toward four lines that crossed his right arm.
"Bear." he said simply. "Accidentally walked into the clearing where her cubs were. She was pretty pissed. Winged me before I got away."
"This one?" her fingers traced a horizontal scar that crossed his collarbones.
"Knife." he answered. "Woke up just in time. Bounty hunter almost slit my throat."
"This one?" she asked, thumbing a small circular mark in his right shoulder.
"Crossbow." he paused, thinking. "We were ambushed, knocked me off my horse."
"What happened then?"
"My boys saved me." he said with a nostalgic smile.
"Your 'boys'?" she asked, confused.
"I led a mercenary unit for a while." he explained. "They came back and dismounted to defend me."
"You led a unit?" she asked, "How old were you?"
"Sixteen." he replied.
"Ambitious..." she mused.
"Meh..." he muttered. A comfortable silence formed. *As good a time as any...* Drake thought. "TenTen..." he began, his tone soft.
"What?" she muttered happily.
"When we get back to the village..." he hesitated.
"What is it?" she asked, her tone becoming more serious.
"I've saved up enough for a bigger apartment." he said, his eyes avoiding hers. "I was wondering..." he hesitated again.
"What?" she asked.
"Would you come stay with me?" he finally asked, still avoiding eye contact. She was silent. "If you don't want to," he blurted out quickly, "I understa..." She cut him off with her lips. He stopped talking and returned the kiss. It continued, intensifying until the need for air forced them apart.
"...I'd love to." She said with a smile, resting her forehead against his to catch her breath.
He smiled and hugged her close, tensing again as he felt her hands trailing down his chest, then lower.
"Now..." TenTen said, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Let's see how much stamina you really have."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------