N/A: Er ... I know this one is really long. " Bear with me. I had no idea how to split this one.
Moriko felt nothing but the hotness of her rage pumping through her body. There was no sense of justice as there was when she had morphed into the wolf. This was pure rage, pure anger, pure hatred. Everything was red in her sight but the man that stood before her. This man ... who had caused the death of her parents, the destruction of her clan, and the deaths of two hundred plus people. Power surged through her and she felt as if she could take on anything. All she wanted right now, was to destroy the monster standing before her. She crouched, storing power in her back legs and, without warning, she pounced.
Hayato saw the jump and nudged the hawk to the side, narrowly avoiding the claws of the tiger. The young man was amazed, shocked – he had never seen such power ever before. Even from where he was, he could sense the hatred radiating from its body and the ferocity of the slash; he marvelled. If he killed her, he could use a technique he had developed to obtain her spirit. He gave a smirk, and nudged the hawk to ascend. Without a second thought, the bird kicked at the tiger, who had leapt for its underside with its claws stretched, and flapped upwards, soaring upwards into the dark blue sky. Hayato looked below him, seeing the carnivour get onto its paws from the hit. It's fast, but its not that intelligent.
At three hundred meters above where the tiger was pacing, the bird of prey turned sharply and flapped twice. Its wings folded and he shot towards the tiger with a screech that echoed through the entire forest.
The feline bared its teeth into a snarl as it readied itself. The red mist in its vision slowed the attack and she leapt upwards as the talons of the hawk scraped a long gash down its back. There was a sizzling as the chakra broke, then another loud screech when the claws ripped open the backside of the hawk, causing it to take flight in panic, ignoring the tiger hanging onto its back.
Hayato spat, enraged at seeing his summon injured. No one had ever layed a hand on it. His hands flew to begin a chain of seals when he doubled over in pain. It was as if someone had taken a spear and tore open his own back.
Perhaps the human form of Moriko would have stopped from the guilt of her conscience, but not the one who was possessed by her tiger spirit. The cat saw none of the pain, but only an enemy and she lunged, claws unsheathed.
The man looked behind him and saw the sharp nails of the tiger and rolled aside with great effort, giving the tiger an extra kick as she soared by. There was a whimper as it fell over the side of the hawk. Hayato put his hand on his back and withdrew it with a flinch – his hands were soaked with blood. Another searing jolt of pain ran up his leg and he watched, in horror, as nothing spliced his leg open. Hayato leaned over the wings of his summoning to find himself staring straight into the topaz eyes of Moriko. She snarled at once and swiped at his face, only to miss and nearly fall off as three shurikans buried themselves into her shoulderblades.
Hayato was heaving from the lack of blood and he leapt off the hawk onto the plateau where they had first arrived, shocked, yet exhilirated – he had forgotten the excitement of an evenly matched fight. Drawing in a deep breath and filling his lungs with the chilly evening air, he turned around, watching the tiger whip its tail, following his every move with the topaz eyes.
"Our parents would have been proud to see their daughter going through a second sealbreaking." he murmured loudly, his turquoise eyes unmoving. He felt the air around him, making sure that his summon had disappeared. He didn't want to be afflicted with injuries from his summon without reason.
Moriko growled. She didn't want to hear any of this; she didn't want to know anymore. Her clearing vision was clouded again and she leapt for him, aiming her claws at his face. Her rage was further raised as she remembered what she had told the two Intou before – that her sealbreaking had destroyed an entire forest when, it had only caused her to kill four ANBU. I brought this upon myself! The fire below flared again and she let out a snarl, her anger rising.
Hayato grinned – this was what he had wanted. The display of power was over and he would now take the lead. He spun around, ducking underneath the claws and gracefully sliced the side of the tiger open, spraying blood everywhere. The man watched stonily as the tiger fell over, unbalanced. He sneered as he walked over.
The girl blinked, smelling the blood-filled air. She couldn't move – it was as though he had completely paralyzed her. The chakra covering was slowing fading and she could feel her own human anatomy again. Taking a glance upwards, she could tell that Hayato had a couple more feet to walk and she closed her eyes, concentrating on the nerves that had been split. Remembering the words that the healer had taught her during her time in the Country of Rice, the girl felt a warm sensation overtake her back and she felt the nerves slowly repairing itself.
She opened her eyes and saw the tip of Hayato's okatana. A split second later, she heard his quiet toneless voice.
"Since you have conveniently exhausted your supply of chakra, let's talk this over peacefully," A breeze whooshed over the plateau, adding to the nostalgic moment. Moriko tried to block out the words, but her mind didn't seem to be working properly. "Ten years ago, there was a man who tried to sell the Intou to the Sand. Unfortunately, the Sand were killed by an ambush while on their way there. Somehow, information of the deal leaked out to the village leaders and he was put to death. The Intou still lived in peace after that, but there were always some conflicts inside the village. The villagers," Hayato's voice grew loud, seemingly vengeful. "Played favourites. They would discrimate others for the spirits that they had, and perhaps even their personalities. I was teased, shunned and neglected all my life. Even when I had my sealbreaking, I thought everyone would accept me for who I was when I passed it, but it was worse – they acted as if I didn't exist. Even my own parents were too busy to care for me because they were busy with six others. When I received Tatsuo as an apprentice, the others discriminated him as well. I would accidentally walk in on a play session and find a group of other apprentices whipping him or throwing stones at him. I even had to beg the elders to let him have a part of the forest for his sealbreaking," Moriko stole a glance at her fellow clan member and was amazed to see him looking upwards towards the stars that were appearing. He looked so sad; his voice brought her back to the story, the true version of the history behind the Intou. "The incident with Tatsuo enraged me the most and it brought me over the edge. I spent the next several months trying to extract the spirit from me, trying to do what the Akatsuki were trying to do, but without killing myself. Two weeks before Tatsuo was due to have his sealbreaking, I did it; I invented a way to safely extract my spirit and control it. It was then that I left the village," Hayato paused for a breath and looked at her, face ashen as he was reminded of his terrible deed. "The night that Tatsuo was assigned for his sealbreaking, I covered my face and summoned my spirit. It was then that I brought devastation to the village. I fled after that and no one ever found out the truth about the disappearance of the Intou. Tatsuo believed that it was the man who betrayed the village and he never knew of what I did. So," the insanity in his eyes lit once more. "Now that you know, it's not possible for you to go around and tell others. Besides, you were supposed to stay with me anyways."
The girl grabbed her kunai, feeling the tip of the blade cut her cheek as she rolled over and she threw it. Hayato moved his head, smiling with satisfaction as it missed him by centimeters from where his head just was.
"Oh? You can still move?" He asked as he pulled his blood-crusted blade from the ground.
Moriko panted – her chakra was very low, but the wound on her side had healed well enough for her to move. She looked up, eyes determined. "I'm surprised you can still move." She grit her teeth as he appeared behind her, the blade at her throat.
"And why wouldn't I be able to?"
There was a clang of metal as dagger parried the okatana. Moriko knew she was at a disadvantage – she had dropped Haruki on the airstream when she had picked up Tatsuo and she only had one kunai knife left in her pouch. Delivering a swift slash that Hayato dodged, she twisted out of the hold.
The girl felt blood in her mouth as she bit her tongue while parrying a swipe from behind. Her mind raced furiously as she thought of a plan while ignoring the sharp clangs of the weapons. Her eyes judging the distance from the two sides of the cliff, she felt something click in her head.Got it.! With her last reserve of energy, she parried in a circle, making sure that it didn't seem as if she was doing anything suspicious and jabbed three times inside it at her opponent, dragging her foot behind her. Ducking underneath another slash, her heart raced as she leapt out of the circle, performing a series of seals that not even Hayato's eyes could follow. Come on ... she gritted to herself, work!
Hayato didn't even have the chance to scream before he was pelted with needles from every possible direction.
The wind howled loudly as the technique progressed. For Moriko, who had leapt onto a rock to watch, it was the longest thirty seconds of her life before she released the ninjutsu and fell onto her knees, dropping her weapon with a clang, exhausted. Finally!
For a moment, there was a relieved pause, then her eyes widened with pain as her entire back exploded in a torrent of blood.
Just before she hit the ground, she heard the sound of a body thud beside her and she looked – it was Hayato.
Moriko opened her mouth, but a bloodied finger stopped her. Hayato was worse off than her, but his expression seemed to hold too much for her to protest. "I was clearing land to start a new clan," he was breathing like the bellows and sucking in breath greedily, "And now you know why," he looked at her. "I killed off the previous one. What else could I do? Tell me, what else could I do?"
He looked so desperate, the girl couldn't do anything else. The hatred that she bore before was forgotten and she pushed herself up with extreme effort, giving the Intou a blank look. "Why couldn't you just live your life like a true Intou instead of destroying everyone else and tainting its reputation? It just doesn't makes sense."
Hayato's eyes closed. "I don't know ... it just ... seemed right at the time I suppose... what would you do if you wiped out your own village?"
The girl shook her head slowly, realizing that she had no answer. What would she do...?
The remaining Intou opened his eyes, staring at the starry sky. "Moriko, there's one thing I want to ask of you. It'll be the first and last thing I'll ask from family. Please..." He was whispering now and they knew that he didn't have long.
Family... she closed her eyes. The girl knew it would come down to something like that. Why her?! She opened them and nodded. It didn't matter anymore; it was the last chance for her to do something for her family as well. "What is it?"
Hayato turned to look at her. "Kill me."
The girl blinked. She understood. She understood his pain, his guilt ... but she couldn't ... already having killed a clan member, she would have to kill him too? No! "No."
As if she had said yes, he grabbed her hand, placing the dagger onto her palm. He placed the point above his heart. "I'd rather die by your hands than by anyone else's," he smiled faintly, "Goodbye, little sister. Our parents would have been proud of the way of life you've chosen; and never let anyone tell you otherwise. That's a fact." Moriko couldn't bear to watch; she squeezed her eyes shut. As his hand went down, Moriko felt something fall onto her lap. It was only after the dagger fell from their hands that she opened her eyes.
Little sister ...
Tears fell from her eyes. She was sorrowful, that was given ... but her heart; it felt as though someone had taken a hundred pounds of gold from her chest and freed her. It felt as though that cage she had been in for so long; the cage that had held her to her past, the cage that burdened her with thoughts about her biological family, the cage that prevented her from being the person she truly wanted to be, had finally been smashed; she was able to fly.
Her eyes closed again as blue chakra leaked from her, filling her with energy and she felt herself being lifted up into the sky. The wounds she had attained no longer hurt, but it was the last thing she thought about. The first and foremost thought in her mind as she soared through the night sky was, I'm free!
