Guardian Bay
Chapter Twenty-Six
The corridor was alight with candlesticks, lining the stone walls and sending small statues into shadows. Sasuke's right had felt along the wall, rocks falling as his fingers swept over. Itachi kept his mallet held firmly in his hands, dark eyes scanning ahead for movement.
"You think he's still down here?" Sasuke muttered, pausing in his steps and peering back at his elder brother. Itachi didn't reply, only walked past him and forward.
"If not, we find the entrance or go back the way we came-"
Hushed voices sent their bodies into a small alcove near a candlestick. They pressed into the dark corner, hoping their feet or clothes wouldn't be noticed. A man, half-black and half-white, came into view down near the end. He opened a door without knocking.
"They have escaped; Pein, Konan and Tobi have been captured." The white side muttered, but the black side's eye rolled, "What do you suppose we do?"
There was a heavy sigh, a rustle of cloth and a red-haired man appeared out of the doorway. He swung a cloak around his shoulders, but froze before his released the hems. Crimson eyes swiveled to their hiding spot, studying it with scrutiny before settling the cloak and following his multi-colored teammate. "The Kyuubi has escaped, but not without wounding his Shells friend, find her. She can be our bait."
After the footsteps faded, Sasuke let out a shaky breath. His hands shook as he stepped away from his brother and pressed a hand to his forehead. "He hurt Sakura."
"Kyuubi hurt Sakura." Itachi gripped Sasuke's shoulder, "Remember, Kyuubi was Madara's Guardian, and Madara went mad so it is only right that he see Sakura as a threat." He started walking forward again, dragging his brother behind him, "We just need to find her before they do."
It seemed like hours to Sasuke, opening every doorway and finding nothing. The hall just went on and on and on, turning only every fifty feet or not at all. Itachi stopped in the middle of another right turn, putting his hand out and peering around the corner. His eyes narrowed, "I see blood."
Sasuke moved out when Itachi's hand waved him forward. He knelt beside the puddle that tracked from a doorway, down the hall. He opened the door, eyes widening at the sight of caged Guardians. Itachi covered his mouth and nose to block out the stench. Some were dead already, others trying to claw their way out of cages. There was a large chain on the spacious right side of the room, broken and mangled.
"Naruto was in here." Sasuke muttered, stepping inside, and turning towards a blood splattered wall. "And so was Sakura." he ran his hand over it, the pale flesh returning with crimson liquid painted on his palm. His nose wrinkled, "And that means she escaped before those men got to her."
"But where did she-"
The metal door behind them creaked on its old hinges, but it was not the sound of the door that had their bodies tensed; it was the low, lethal growl. Itachi turned his head slowly, nudging Sasuke so he could do the same thing. A black panther stood in the doorway, lowered to the ground, blood dripping from its muzzle and a gash on its shoulder.
"Holy shit." Sasuke muttered, fingers gripping tight on the torch in his hand. "Which one of the Akatsuki was a panther?"
"How the hell should I know?" Itachi hissed, "For all we know, Orochimaru kept a pet cat."
"Something tells me he's not a cat person!" Sasuke snarled, glaring at his brother from the corner of his eyes. He took a menacing step forward, brandishing his torch like a sword. "Good kitty..."
The growling stopped and the big body lifted slowly, head tilting. It let out a small whine before turning tail and running out the door. The brothers followed it out, watching as it dashed down where the blood trail led. They exchanged looks before nodding and following.
It had been so long since he'd seen the moon this close. He could smell Deidara and Gaara following close behind him, but paid them no mind. They were honed with instincts far greater than his would be in his old age. Iruka always had teased him about it...
He shook his head, both eyes scanning the expanse of land that reached the peak of Deidara's cliff. If he hadn't known any better, staring out at it was like looking at a bridge. It was almost as if the cliffs stretched out just far enough for you to hop from one to the other.
"You think Itachi and Sasuke are okay?" Deidara whispered, pressing a hand to a tree trunk and peering out to where Kakashi stood in the moonlight.
"They can take care of themselves." Gaara snorted, "Our main focus is finding where Orochimaru is. Something as nasty as him can't hide for long."
Deidara swallowed, "Gaara, what exactly...is Orochimaru's Guardian form?" Teal eyes never moved off Kakashi's figure. The man let out a sigh, turned to where half of him was facing them.
"They called him, 'The Great Creature'." He ran a hand through his white hair, his voice haunted and slow. "I never saw it up close, but it was dark, shadowy, and big. Really big. Almost as big as the cliffs themselves."
Deidara gasped, "How on earth-"
"Madara's madness was so contagious, it infected Orochimaru's soul. It had been his one true wish to be Madara's Guardian, but Kyuubi had drawn the Uchiha in like a moth to a flame. He radiated power, like no other Guardian could and Madara craved it."
"Orochimaru just wasn't strong enough to attract an Uchiha as mighty as Madara." Gaara rolled his eyes, "So when Madara found out of his price, it was the perfect opportunity for Orochimaru to extract revenge. He would take Kyuubi's powers."
"But why?" Deidara whispered, shaking his head, "Madara died, why did Kyuubi live and why is Orochimaru still trying to take him, where's the prize?"
"That's what we're going to find out." Kakashi said, taking another step forward. He hardly got a foot ahead before a black wolf leaped into his path. "Karin!" She charged forward, jaws open. Behind her, from the brush barreled a bear. His brown fur rustling in the wind as he charged as well.
"It's Juugo!" Gaara shouted, motioning to Deidara to go. The blonde nodded, pushing off the tree and landing in the long grass as a wolf. Kakashi was already at Juugo's neck, teeth sunk deep. Deidara darted for Karin, but before he could get there, she was pounced on by a large black mass.
"Deidara!" Itachi's voice called out as both he and Sasuke emerged from the trees. Gaara left his tree, running towards them.
"What the hell-where's Sakura and Naruto?" He snarled.
"Naruto escaped, we couldn't find Sakura. He injured her and the Akatsuki found her, the panther lead us-" Sasuke began but a blood-curdling howl broke the air as the panther's teeth exited the wolf's neck. Karin fell limp against the earth, blood pooling beneath her as her body morphed into the human form.
Kakashi pinned the bear down, paw on its esophagus. "If they are here, Then Akatsuki won't be far behind. Suigetsu is a water Guardian, he will be waiting to release Kisame and Konan from Mhercy's traps. But that won't stop the others."
"Is that a Guardian?" Deidara whispered, leaving his wolf form slowly and brushing blonde hair from his eyes. Itachi shrugged, stepped forward as the Panther stepped away from the lifeless body. Its head lifted, teeth bared and a growl forming low in its breast.
Gaara intercepted him with a hand, then pointed to Sasuke, "As the youngest Uchiha, you must check if it is friend or wild."
Sasuke swallowed thickly, walking around his brother and the raccoon before kneeling a few feet from the Panther. It eyed him critically, claws elongated and curling into the damp earth. He shook off his fear and stretched out his hand, the Panther's body relaxed once again before it touched the tip of its nose to Sasuke's middle finger.
Itachi felt Gaara relax and leave his side, moving around Sasuke to grab the beast's jaws. "Good work, Uchiha." he smirked, "A wild Panther would have snapped your hand right off." he turned its head to the side, "Now the only question is if it's on our side, or theirs."
"It's just saved our lives." Kakashi muttered, "We should be thanking it."
Gaara nodded, but froze when a paw lifted and curled around his forearm. His eyes narrowed, as the wind picked up and smooth white skin replaced black fur. He faintly heard Sasuke form a string of words that need not be mentioned, but was solely focused on the strands of oddly colored hair blowing around a very naked, very female body.
"Fucking hell, my hair is long again!"
Kakashi morphed back into his human form, "Sakura?"
To Be Continued...
TA-DA!
I bet all of you are very, very happy. Ashamed, I am, that for six long months, I have denied myself and you the right to read this. But it has felt like years to me. I have been so busy, that I couldn't write at all! It was all inside my head, but I couldn't form any of the words. On paper or on computer.
But after a couple of unwinding nights out on the town, the stress fled and was replaced with the will to WRITE! Praise be!
Hope you All ENJOYED reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Blessed be,
Angel
