Chapter 21
Neji vaulted over the corner of the Raikage's bed as Karui slid underfoot, diving for the dead guard's sword. He collared Mabui, yanking her back as the intruder's blade screamed through the air in front of her. She shrieked in pain. Was she hit? The intruder snapped a low kick at Karui's ribs and she grunted, tumbling away with weapon clasped against her bosom. Before Neji could attack the opening, the intruder was jackknifing back around, blade hand leading. With the bed rail blocking off a retreat, Neji had no choice but to fling Mabui aside as he jerked the other way. The impaling stab slammed against his outstretched wrist, spinning him onto the floor.
A! But the next attack came at him; a guillotining downward slash. Neji crossed his arms overhead and the edge screeched across the metal of his bracers, showering him in sparks, and smashed down into the tile between his legs. For an instant, he was face-to-face with the intruder's pale visage and perpetual smile. He grabbed at the lodged blade, but was sent skidding back by a crushing mule kick. As he slid, the Hyuuga seized the leg of a chair and rose swinging, opening enough breathing room to heave his makeshift weapon at the window behind him.
Come, then! Neji hurled himself after the chair, amidst a cascade of broken glass. The hospital floor vanished abruptly, and there was a minute of horrifying vertigo as the street spun dizzily below. His body cleared the gap and crashed to a rolling stop on the next rooftop. On your feet! The Hyuuga righted himself, though not without difficulty. He estimated that he was operating at less than ten percent his normal capacity, if his ungainly flight was any indication. It didn't feel like coincidence, this sudden attack. Survival now, thoughts later.
"All alone now," the intruder beamed, rushing forward. Neji met him with the twisted remnants of the chair, wrenching to the side as the intruder's blade bit deep into the metal frame. It clattered away, temporarily out of the picture, but the Hyuuga had no time to breathe as he was forced to defend against a sharp knee to his ribs. The next attack – a reversing kick at his temple – sent him reeling back, though he maintained his balance well enough to hop over the follow-up sweep at his ankles.
The intruder was fast, but Neji had fought faster, and without the benefit of his bloodline, as well. He sped in and ducked under the intercepting roundhouse, swiveling as he did so to drive the point of his shoulder into the intruder's stomach. The Hyuuga's legs fired from their crouch in an explosive upward movement as he brought his left elbow up and across that smiling face, pistoning his right palm forward to impact bodily against the intruder's ribs.
"Not bad," the intruder cajoled, wiping black blood from the corner of his lips. His hand snapped out, and the droplets deformed and sharpened in midair into whirling shuriken, hissing past Neji's ear as he jerked out of their trajectory.
More droplets splattered against the ground, bubbling white and expanding into the form of a fanged lion. Neji braced against the charge, his feet finding enough purchase on the rough rooftop to throw the beast aside, though it was on him again just as quickly. He threw himself back, flattening his body under the pass as he stabbed up with stiffened fingers into its exposed underbelly as it sailed over him. There was an instant of resistance before it burst open, showering him in inky blood.
He bucked up onto his feet, swiping the obscuring liquid away from his eyes with one hand with the other thrust out defensively, but the intruder had made no attempt to capitalize on his temporary blindness. Instead, he had opted to retrieve his weapon, and had his open hand in a mirror of the Hyuuga's, extended out with fingers spread. His smile widened at Neji's uncertainty.
"Have a seat," the intruder invited cordially as he clenched his outstretched hand into a fist. The tendrils of blood Neji was drenched in wormed into loops, clinking into iron links. He struggled, but to no avail as the chains anchored themselves into the ground and dragged him down to his knees, binding his arms behind his back. The intruder wasted no time on further words, lifting his weapon in both hands like an executioner. Efficient, Neji thought grimly as the blade came down.
Steel smashed against steel overhead.
"You're not yourself today," Karui grunted, her sword quivering in its deadlock against the intruder's. She barged against the intruder, fending him off with a backhand swipe as he leaped away lightly.
"Be careful," Neji warned, straining against his bonds. The redhead smirked.
"You just stay put," she grinned savagely, "I'll take care of this."
o
Sakura knocked again, her frown deepening. Where could he have gone? The only place she could think of would be the hospital. That left her stranded outside, and it was getting late. The medic circled around the house. Would it be better to go back to C's apartment? No, it was better to leave him alone for a while. She needed time to think, anyway.
The thick tangle of bamboo was easy enough to move through. She wondered how many people knew of Neji's preternatural eyesight, or maybe it was reputation alone that kept the curious away. The medic paused. There was movement; flickering shadows cast from the low light of Neji's bedroom. Had he not heard her knocking?
Her steps softened as she crept through the brush, careful to keep her approach quiet. It was a person she didn't recognize, hunched over something. A body, she realized. For a moment, she feared the worst. But no, it seemed too large to be Neji's.
"Who's there?" The shout shattered the silence. It was a female, and an angry one, from the sounds of it. How had she detected me? In the low lighting, Sakura could see that the woman's eyes gleamed an uncanny red. "Show yourself," the woman hissed.
Sakura slipped on her gloves as she stepped clear of the verdant fence. This is about to get messy. Was she the other intruder? C had made no mention of the outcome of his skirmish, and Sakura hadn't had time to get a good look in the confusion of the engagement. The woman's eyes widened as the medic came into full sight.
"It was you, then," she snarled, her voice distorting inhumanly as blue flames began to roll off her form, "Madara's little medic turned infiltrator."
"I'm not a spy," Sakura said, her fists clenching, "Neji brought me here."
"You want me to believe that the Hyuuga invited you over for tea?" The woman's body shimmered like a mirage, growing and warping. "You're a shittier liar than you are an assassin. Stay very still, little mouse, and I might even take you in alive." With an unearthly roar, the ghost cat lunged.
o
Karui struck, and struck, and struck again. This was where she thrived: on the brink of life and death with a sword in her hand and an enemy in front of her. The tip of her sword scraped against the ground as she flew into a vertical spin, raining down blows from above. Bit by bit, the intruder was giving up ground, forced back by her reach advantage.
He darted in, but she was ready, locking hilts with him and throwing his jab out wide. The intruder's shin collided against her shoulder as she unleashed a body blow into his side. I can trade with you all day, motherfucker, she exulted. The pommel of his weapon crashed into her cheek, and she responded by planting a boot into his gut, toppling him backward. As he fell, he threw out another salvo of shuriken, but she plucked each out of the air with the tip of her sword.
The intruder grabbed a handful of broken glass, sweeping his bloody palm to paint a broad stroke in the air. It took shape as a white serpent, coiling and launching itself at the redhead. She met it head-on, bisecting it from mouth to tail in one clean stroke. Blood washed over her skin, twining into solid cables. Seen that trick, she sneered, stabbing the tip of her sword into the rooftop. Electricity exploded from her weapon, liquidizing the wires and blowing the intruder back.
He was up again in the blink of an eye, but so was she. She lashed out, and he parried, weaving his blade in an intricate spiral to rip her sword out of her hands.
"Knew you'd do that," she crowed, letting go entirely. The redhead grabbed a hold of the intruder's lapels and headbutted him in the face. His legs buckled, but he remained standing, so she did it again, for good measure. This time, he sagged against her, collapsing face-down as she let go. She turned to see Neji extricating himself from the last of his fetters, an exuberant smile on her face.
"You can tie him up," she grinned.
Feedback is appreciated.