A/N: Well, I have to say that I'm really disappointed that NO ONE reviewed on my last chapter, would've been nice to have at least one person to tell me how I did since that chapter was done from scratch with no layout like most of these. Not sure why I'm bothering with this story to be honest, but I guess I want it finished because I like to complete my stories, no matter how long it takes me. Also, I'm aware that Shinko may be rather Mary-Sue(ish) but do you guys honestly think I care at this point in the story? I'm trying NOT to make her that way, but I can't help it if she comes across like that. Once I start typing, I can't stop, lol.
Summary: Tadashii Hoshi; a royal Vampire was in debt to Akatsuki. As well as money, he gave them his granddaughter, begging them to take her away for her safety. Now, four years later, Shinko is a subordinate to the criminal organization, but, something isn't right. As the past of her grandfather and her real parentage catch up to her, who can she turn to for help?
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own or make any profit from this story; I only own the plot-bunny and my own characters (those being; Shinko Hoshi, Tadashii Hoshi, Jarl and his sisters, Arata, the Kinzoku clan, the Youchi clan and the Gekkou clan). Seriously, if I owned Naruto it would make a heck of a lot more sense.
Part Thirty-Six: Lost and Found
The distinct pitter-patter of Shinko's boots made little to no noise amidst the fog due to her heightened speed, it'd always been considered a gift of sorts to her as it'd enabled to sneak upon her prey more easily.
It'd only been that morning that she, Hidan and Kakuzu had stepped into the last mile of Demon country that rested beyond the great sea that separates the five large countries.
Now that they were closing in on the borders of Void country it was in the confines of Shinko's mind that made her ultra-aware of how dangerous it was to even step onto the mystical land, but then, there was also a sense of belonging and homeliness that she didn't even feel when travelling with her peers elsewhere.
She was finally going home after all these years and she had so many tales to tell her grandfather, he'd be so delighted to see that she'd grown into such a strong and independent woman without having to rely heavily upon others.
She just sincerely hoped that Tadashii would accept Hidan into the family, but she had no doubt in her mind that he would, after all, why would he allow her to mingle with the humans otherwise?
Of course, she never told them that she'd felt more at home since getting closer to Void country, she knew it would probably hurt them to know of her thoughts after they'd practically helped raise her for the last four years. And so, she kept it to herself as they'd walked quietly; even Hidan was obediently silent.
And yet, somehow-somehow they'd gotten split up during their travels.
It'd been late morning on the eighth day that Shinko had gone ahead to scope out the area, telling them to remain where they were until she returned.
After ten minutes, she'd ventured back to the same spot where they'd been sat previously, yet they weren't present.
She'd tried sensing them, but she couldn't feel their chakra or the pulse of their still-beating hearts which immediately panicked her, if she couldn't sense their heartbeats, then that could only mean one other thing and she really didn't want to think or deal with that at the time.
She tried sniffing them out, hoping that their scent would lead her straight to them, but to no avail, their scent had completely vanished. She tried in all directions but still she couldn't smell them; it also didn't help that she couldn't see through the ever-growing thick fog and she didn't dare call out to them just in case she were to alert unwanted attention.
And yet, that was her only option, or was it?
There had been something she'd been working on for a while and wasn't sure if it would help given the unknown distance between them, but she had to try!
She closed her eyes-something which in normal circumstances was not such a great idea, considering the Werewolves and possibly the Demon hunter's roaming the area, however, her eyes were practically useless in the fog and knew instinctively that she had to rely on her other senses to get her through the country.
She focused on Kakuzu first, knowing that if a random voice-or rather her voice were to enter his mind, then he wouldn't be so outspoken about it, or at least not as loud as Hidan.
It took some minutes and focusing entirely on Kakuzu wasn't so hard, but it certainly didn't help when she was worried for the safety of her mate.
'Kakuzu? Can you hear me?' She pushed the thoughts out, feeling a slight drip of sweat roll down her temple due to the vast concentration she was exerting, due to the fact that this wasn't a complete ability. She knew it would drain her more quickly than it would if she'd already attained it, much like with her ability to read minds and numb or paralyze a victim's body just by looking into their eyes.
Only it was in this moment, did she realize that although she was capable of sending her thoughts, she hadn't practiced or gained enough experience to receive thoughts in return, which meant she was pretty much screwed over.
'If you can hear me, it is me; Shinko, I don't have much time, this ability to talk telepathically is limited, I am safe…for now, but we somehow got split up. I need you to meet me at Tadashii's castle, understand? Do not come looking for me, you'll only get yourselves lost and to be honest, I don't think this fog is natural, I can't sense and smell either you or Hidan. Be on your guards, there's definitely something out here. I'll try and contact you both later, but this drains my energy and I can't hear your thoughts. Shinko-out.'
She broke the connection and her entire body sagged for a moment, a long sigh escaping her lips, she wiped her brow with a shaky hand.
Clearing her throat, she decided to go with the plan and meet them there, if she wasted her time searching for them, she'd either get herself lost or even worse-walk straight into a trap.
Luckily for Shinko, she pretty much knew her away around most of the land surrounding Tadashii's castle, she'd revised the outlay many times when she was younger, when she used to go hunting with her grandfather, but that had been a long time ago. She was going by memory alone, yet that might not be enough.
For the next half an hour, Shinko took to walking and fell into her thoughts, but kept an ear for any sign of trouble, so far there was none, but she was not taking any chances.
The heady scent of smoke mixed with some type of incense burned her nose and she knew her suspicions had been proven correct all along.
Someone was conducting the fog, of course she could bend the fog to her will; clear the area of it, yet somehow she was being prevented from doing so which was why she hadn't done so in the first instant of stepping on land.
Whoever was controlling the fog was old and experienced and had to be of Vampire blood, which was odd considering that Vampire's had gone into hiding centuries ago.
Although the land was usually foggy, it was rare for it to become so thick, whichever Vampire it was, he or she was being incredibly reckless, Demon Hunter's and Werewolves patrol the area and would sniff out any source of their next prey.
Shinko decided that the only Vampire that could be powerful enough was Tadashii himself.
Her heart would've skipped a beat if she were living and she couldn't help but smile tenderly at the memory of her grandpa; she'd longed to see him for the past four years, now she was getting her chance.
Although she was uncertain as to why he would blatantly show off his abilities needlessly when he knew of the risks, she figured that he may well already know of her presence upon the land and was lying in wait for her to come to him. He was no doubt using the fog as a way to keep an eye on her movements.
Eventually, she came across the much thicker, dead forest that populated the entire Land of Void, here; in the heart of all chaos was where Tadashii was waiting.
Without any hesitation, Shinko took to the trees and jumped along the branches of the dead, black trees as quietly as she could, occasionally sniffing the air, though she knew at this point it was futile, whoever was controlling the fog, was making it so that she couldn't use her sense of smell and possibly her psychic connection to those closest to her had been rendered useless. All that she had left was her hearing and even that was limited.
Shinko growled low in her throat, she could barely see past a few meters, she was lucky enough to be landing upright in the trees considering that the fog stuck to her like glue, if anything it had thickened considerably.
The fog held an eerie glow to it, as though its mere matter was alight with pure energy, it made Shinko bare her fangs at it in a short hiss, no doubt about it, the fog was weakening her, this was definitely not the work of her grandfather, as soon as the fog would touch her, the conductor to the fog-jutsu would be aware of who'd entered the moist cloud and would be able to monitor their prey's progress and direction.
So, if Tadashii was the one behind the jutsu, then why hadn't he called it off yet? Or even stopped the jutsu for taking affect of her?
So many unanswered questions almost made it impossible to understand the situation she'd gotten herself into, what was certain was that she'd definitely be having words with her grandfather when she saw him.
Shinko halted suddenly at a speedy stop upon a branch of a tree, when she heard a piercing howl vibrate the air, it echoed and carried off into the dark night sky that was the only thing she was able to see clearly up above herself, apart from a few trees literally a few centimeters away from herself.
Fear struck her cold heart, for despite everything else that could possibly scare her, only Werewolves dug deep into her fears, for only a Werewolf had the ability and power to kill a Vampire.
The 'Gekkou' clan was known to have the ability to shift into a Werewolf state or form whenever they wished too, and because of this, Vampires and Dhampir's alike became wary and frightened of their power.
Werewolves were by no means controlled animals, they were starving beasts, the Werewolf host wouldn't even recognize friend or foe in their other form, but that wasn't what scared her frigid.
Werewolf blood should never enter inside a Vampire's body, to a Vampire; Werewolves blood burned them very much like acid, whereas Vampire blood poisoned Werewolves should they so much as have one taste.
It was complicated, but each race had a defense mechanism that they were born with.
Should a Werewolf be dumb enough to attack a Vampire, the blood of said Vampire would poison its attacker, so even if the Vampire died, the Werewolf would surely follow despite its usual extreme healing abilities.
Werewolves were definitely worse than Demon Hunter's.
The mindless beasts were incredibly sneaky, they picked a prey and chased it until it'd killed and feasted upon it, whereas Demon Hunter's were more open about their intentions and attacks.
Shinko felt a shudder move through her stiff body as she then heard another howl and another echo all around her, as if it were a chorus.
That made three.
She held her breath as her eyes widened considerably in fright.
Shinko had three Werewolves in the vicinity, they were standing between her and Tadashii's dwelling, there was no way around it and she especially didn't want to have Werewolves tagging along behind her when she would finally be reunited with her grandpa.
It all seemed impossible.
Shinko let out a shaky sigh, she stared up at the sky, watching the moon, she wondered for a brief moment how Hidan and Kakuzu were holding up, surely they must be nearing the mansion now?
If her heart had been beating it would've stopped dead at that moment.
Oh dear God, if they were coming towards Tadashii's home, then that meant their lives would be in danger, it would only take one little scratch from a Werewolf to make Hidan and Kakuzu turn into an exact copy of the beast and if they were incredibly unlucky, they'd never be able to turn back to their human forms.
No, she couldn't let that happen, she wouldn't!
She hadn't been fighting to stay alive all this time just to have the ones she cared about most be ripped away from her, she'd rather die than let that happen.
It no longer mattered how petrified she was of these monsters, she needed to push that to the back of her mind and destroy the beasts before they destroy her future.
But she needed a plan; she couldn't just go rampaging in there without thinking of a few ways to kill them.
In that split second she heard something flying through the air, wind brushing against metal, her head jerked up and she jumped up high into the sky, twisting her body round as she heard and just managed to spot the five-bladed boomerang that belonged to none other than Henshin Youchi imbed itself into the tree where she had been mere moments before.
Shinko landed on a branch a few trees away from where she originally was, she took in a deep breath and calmed herself at how easily they'd managed to catch her off-guard, they had indeed been going easy on her before, now it seemed they were getting serious.
Ever since arriving in Demon country she'd been aware of other presences, she'd realised that her and her peers had been walking upon a knifes edge when it came to concealing themselves.
However, it seemed that they must've at least caught onto her tracks and not her companions.
Shinko growled to herself, she hadn't meant to draw so much attention to herself, her biggest worry at the moment were the Werewolves, she needed to get rid of them before they picked up on Hidan and Kakuzu's scent.
The last thing she needed would be another distraction.
But maybe…this could work to her advantage.
A howl from the Werewolves broke her from her thoughts and she realised with rising panic and adrenaline that the beasts were closing in around them.
The fog cleared slightly as the Demon Hunters stood opposite her, she'd barely noticed the heavy presence on the fog had disappeared; this had given the Hunter's the perfect opportunity to shift the fog away from them so that they could see where they were going.
This also meant that the Werewolves would have better chances of catching their scents.
They were all glaring at her; she could tell that their anger from Shuiro Youchi's death had not abated in the slightest.
Shinko stared back at them, her eyes bright blue once more, trying desperately to reign in her annoyance.
Henshin jumped over to the tree she'd been originally perched on and ripped his lethal boomerang out of its trunk, he turned to face her and holding the boomerang towards her, he stated "I am Henshin Youchi, a Demon Hunter, tonight I will be one of your executioners, you've injured two of our own and killed a former member of ours and my lover. You will suffer a worse death than hers; it is only what you deserve."
The girl with fuchsia hair, whom she remembered was Henshin's younger sister, took out her sword as she too pointed it at Shinko and snapped "You gave me cuts and bruises and drained me of all energy and chakra, I couldn't move or eat for four days straight, I'm going to do a lot worse to you, you Vampire-bitch!"
"Enough. Don't forget what we're here for, watch yourselves, we have company." Mogoi commanded from next to Ao, looking ever more like the commanding leader than he had the first time.
He thrust his arm outwards and shouted out his orders "Henshin, Hiebei, Ao kill the Werewolves, I will see to this one."
"Mogoi, I want to fight this one as well. I have been longing for a strong opponent for a very long time." Ao stated in a dark murmur, his voice almost pleading as his eyes met that of his incestual lover.
Mogoi looked between Ao and the others, it seemed they all wanted a bit of the Dhampir, yet there was the matter of the Werewolves, they also couldn't be left to roam around freely.
Mogoi relented, nodding at Ao, making Henshin and Hiebei's eyes widen in disbelief and fury.
"Very well, Ao, you may kill her, but I want to join in before you finish her off, understand?"
Ao nodded in agreement; this seemed to satisfy Mogoi some, for he turned to the other two and commanded "Let's go!"
They took off into the fog, leaving Shinko alone with Ao.
"Are you going to give me a long-winded speech about how you're going to avenge your comrade?" Shinko rolled her eyes in slight annoyance, noticing that her plan was going as she wished; she didn't even need to worry about the Werewolves for now.
The Hunter's will do all the work for her and then once she'd finished up here, she'd be on her merry way to see her grandpa.
"No. Fight me." Ao stated as he drew his long katana.
Shinko shrugged, rolling her shoulders a few times each before shifting her hands into claws.
They both jumped up high into the air almost at the same moment, blade met claws, as they tested to see which would prevail.
They both rebounded off each other from impact, once their feet touched the branches; they once again jumped up and met each other in a battle to see who'd slip-up first.
Shinko was secretly impressed at his increased strength, the last time they'd met, she hadn't had the opportunity to test his skills, but now that she had, she was starting to understand why Mogoi held him in such high regard.
Shinko landed down upon normal ground, Ao swiftly followed her, Shinko quickly jumped at him, he swiped his blade up, attempting to cut her in half, though she somehow dodged it completely by moving to the left, he swung his blade to the left, following her, aiming to cut her head off.
Shinko dodged it by ducking low and kicking out her legs aiming to trip him up, Ao jumped back from her to his right, determined to make some room so that she didn't gain the upper hand.
Shinko followed him, fangs bared, she raised her left claw to scratch him across his face, except he lifted his sword aiming to stab her through the stomach, instead her left claw grabbed the sword, holding it in a strong grip that Ao couldn't comprehend.
He wriggled and found that it was impossible to remove his blade from her iron grip; such was the amazing yet terrifying abilities of the undead.
He was impressed by her sheer strength, but that didn't stop him from wanting to kill her, whether Mogoi was there or not.
Shinko swung her right claws down, aiming to scratch him, but because Ao shifted away from her a little-unwilling to lose his katana, she managed to leave five long, shallow cuts across his left arm.
Blood seeped out of the wounds quickly, seeing this, Shinko felt rather pleased she'd landed a hit on him and let go of his sword, allowing him to move away from her.
Ao took a couple of deep breaths before he charged at Shinko, determined to stab her through the gut.
Instead of waiting for him to move closer, Shinko did hand-signs and from her palm came Chidori, she held it to her side as she took what she hoped to be the final plunge.
Ao noticed the jutsu and used one of his own, it was a jutsu only known to the Youchi clan, but it could only be used with a sword.
His blade emanated a green glow, Chidori met the shining, green blade and a piercing white light broke out from the contact.
Two screams broke out from the light.
It all happened within a few seconds, for almost immediately afterwards, the dust settled and the fog cleared slightly.
Shinko lay sprawled on the floor, she was burned all down her right side and she was in absolute agony.
The smell of her burnt flesh made her stomach heave a little in shock of the pain and in protest, though held it back with the thought that she would eventually heal.
Behind her, Ao was also laid on the floor, he had scratches along his whole body that bled shallowly and his muscles felt numb, he also couldn't see clearly, his eyes were blurred from the light that'd emitted from their attacks clashing together like two warring Gods.
Shinko took in many deep breaths, she didn't know if she could move, she was in a very dangerous position, she needed to get up and move as soon as possible.
She had to move, Hidan and Kakuzu were counting on her, her future depended on her resilience and she would not die before seeing her grandfather for one last time.
"Dammit…Hidan…" Shinko muttered helplessly, staring off into the fog, wishing he was with her, she longed to be held in his arms again, to laugh and argue with him as if nothing else mattered.
Though that would only ever happen again if she fought back and triumphed, that meant she had to get up and fight and fight until she was positive her safety and that of Hidan's and Kakuzu's would not be in any threat what so ever.
Ao somehow managed to sit up, he hissed through gritted teeth as he moved each part of his body, wanting-no, needing to stand up and finish this battle they'd started.
He would not let down his love, Mogoi was counting on him to win and he planned to do so.
He watched the Dhampir with a glare, knowing that she'd probably come out worse than he had in that attack and this was his advantage.
He blinked once to rid himself of his blurry eyesight and found to his amazement that she was gone, she'd disappeared from his view almost as if she'd never been there in the first place.
He panicked slightly, but reminded himself to remain calm lest he wanted to create mistakes, he took in a deep breath and painfully looked about himself, searching for her, but strangely not finding her anywhere.
She couldn't have recovered that quickly…could she?
The question flittered across his mind, but as soon as he looked into his blade he saw her reflection of her from behind himself.
He let out a gasp, jumping up and twisting round to meet her head-on.
He suddenly felt pain rushing through his body as it protested to the sudden movement, though luckily managed to dodge her fist that smacked down where he was originally sat, a crater formed where her fist was.
Ao stood glaring at her, however his eyes widened when he noticed her burnt skin, just from one look he could tell it was painful, it appeared that she was struggling as much as he was in this battle.
Her skin was red raw with blisters already fully formed, if she were human, she wouldn't be able to move and would be unconscious from shock and agony-possibly on her way to Death's doors, yet here she was, moving albeit with a little difficulty but still fully awake and alert nonetheless.
He raised his sword and standing up straight, he charged at her once more, Shinko stared at him, taking in deep breaths, she pushed herself back from him, determined to not be stabbed like she had been before with Shuiro's arrow.
In this case, she couldn't be certain if the katana had holy water smeared on it or not.
With her hands still formed as claws, she twisted round, punching her clawed-fist into a nearby dead tree, she ripped it from the ground. Holding it above her head with both hands, she twisted round and whacked the huge, thick tree into Ao's side, he let out a loud grunt from the sudden impact that left him speechless since he hadn't seen it coming. She'd been too fast for him.
Shinko watched him fly across from her before hitting into another tree behind him, a short pained shout escaped from his lips as his body slumped forwards and he crumpled to the floor in a heap.
Ao's senses came back to him slowly and he attempted to move after a few moments of lying on the ground, though it was impossible.
He felt-rather than saw that his right arm was completely smashed to pieces; he let out a low groan of pain, wishing he'd seen her attack in time to dodge it, but it'd happened so fast that it'd all been a blur to him.
Shinko rested the huge tree on her right shoulder idly, as she walked over to him slowly, she saw blood coming from a huge gash on his arm, she also noticed that his right arm was completely useless, meaning that she'd won the battle.
She stared down at him with glowing blue eyes, his own piercing green ones glared back at her, they were full of pain, she watched him struggle and fidget as he tried desperately to move, to get up, but was failing to do so.
Shinko watched him for a moment, "You should've killed me when you had the chance before. Why didn't you use your clan's special jutsu?"
"I don't waste it on scum like you. You will all die someday, rot and return to the hell you're spawned from." Ao spat at her, causing her eyes to narrow at him.
"You cannot get rid of my kind so easily; you're all wasting your time, pathetic humans. It matters not anymore, especially since you'll never fight again with that arm; I think I shall put an end to your suffering now." Shinko muttered as she stepped back slightly, she watched his face turn to shock as she raised the tree ready to slam it down and crush his body, what took her by surprise at that moment, was that she heard her name being called.
Shinko looked over to her left and through the fog she saw two figures, as they came nearer her eyes widened as she recognized them instantly.
Hidan and Kakuzu were here, but how they'd found her was anyone's guess (though she gathered it had something to do with how loud her battle had been) and she was surprised that they'd avoided the Werewolves.
Relief was instantaneous and she almost forgot about Ao lying on the ground before her.
As they came into view, Shinko saw their faces full of terror and concern, she was about to drop the tree to run to them and demand what was wrong until Kakuzu shouted "Shinko, behind you!"
At the command, Shinko whirled round, she swung the tree round with her and to her utter shock she found it was a Werewolf, though this was not just any Werewolf, this one was huge and it's fur was a shade of dark brown, it must've killed one of the others or escaped from them and came over to the fight between herself and Ao.
No doubt it'd heard their battle and had smelt Ao's blood.
Shinko aimed to crush the Werewolf, but because it wasn't a human like herself, it saw her attack and jumped up high into the air, towards her, its claws ready to strike her across the chest.
Shinko jumped back from its path, immediately dropping the tree, deciding to not waste her energy by holding onto it, she just barely missed its attack by mere inches.
Her feet landed onto normal ground, adrenaline rushing through her as well as pure fright, she'd never fought a Werewolf before and would certainly have never picked a fight with one as large as this. It must be the Alpha of his pack.
Within a second the Werewolf was in front of her, she gasped, her eyes going wide from shock-only realising that it was somehow a little faster than her!
She could hear Hidan calling her name, but she paid no heed, she couldn't afford any distractions, her plan had failed and she needed to kill it or at the very least get it away from them.
It opened its jaws wide and let out a piercing howl aiming to intimidate its prey.
Shinko backed away from it as it followed her, it launched towards her and once again had its claws ready to strike, Shinko saw this and quickly did hand-signs.
She used the 'Dragon Flame jutsu', sending masses upon masses of fire at the werewolf, in the midst of the crackling heat of the amber flames she heard it's howls of pain, still she ignored it, determined to also ignore the pain running through her entire right side that was burnt and finish the jutsu.
She straightened once she was done, gasping a little as she regained her breath, she watched the fire for some moments and found no movement or noise signaling it was still alive over the roar of the flames.
She limped away calmly from the crackling flames towards Hidan and Kakuzu that stood there staring at her in awe.
"You both shouldn't be here, it's too dangerous, you have no idea what you're getting yourselves into!" Shinko snapped at them angrily, it was a good thing she had control of the situation or else it could've gotten nasty real quick.
Judging by Hidan's frown and Kakuzu's unhappy stare, they didn't know how lucky they were that she was able to get rid of at least one Werewolf; they certainly were not the easiest creatures to kill at least that's what her grandfather had told her.
Even he had been willing to admit that Werewolves were one of his deepest fears; apparently he'd fought only a handful during his long, long life and had come away with ugly scars that'd been hidden beneath rich clothing.
He'd told her that there'd been many times he'd come close to death where the raging, mindless beasts were concerned. And this, coming from an ancient Vampire that was many millennia years of age and an experienced fighter often gave her nightmares as a child.
"A simple fucking 'thank you' would be great; we just saved your fucking life!" Hidan snarled at her, his frustration getting the better of him.
However, his anger died away swiftly when his gaze landed on her burnt skin, it was red and looked very painful, he reached out to touch her cheek gently; once he did so she flinched away from him and hissed.
"What the hell happened to you?" Kakuzu demanded in a deep voice, his eyes narrowing at her burned skin as well, trying to make out the cause of it.
"I was burned, it will heal." Shinko muttered calmly, she didn't want them to feel that she was ungrateful for them saving her, she just didn't want them to get involved, she didn't want them to get hurt.
"Heh, don't be so sure of yourself! You do realise there are more of those things out there? This country is full of them and us, you'll be lucky to survive tonight." Ao called from where he was now kneeling, he was glaring at them but also wore a sick smirk across his face.
"Shut the fuck up! She could've let you get killed by that shitting wolf-thing, show a little fucking respect arse-hole!" Hidan shouted at the injured man, giving him a hard glare that promised a good beating if he so much as raised that sword of his at Shinko once more.
Shinko ignored their bickering and upon feeling a wave of nausea, she moaned slightly, swaying a little, she moved over and leaned onto Hidan's arm causing him to stop mid-sentence in his spewing of harsh words and more threats to the Demon Hunter that Hidan suddenly recognised.
Hidan stared down at Shinko with a curious gaze, placed an arm around her and asked "Will you be alright?"
"You have eyes idiot, use them." Kakuzu growled, glaring at his partner thinking the answer to be pretty damn obvious.
Hidan was about to snap a retort back at him, when a noise came from the now dying flames, it caught all their attentions, including Ao's, Hidan felt Shinko stiffen against him, he wondered if it was from shock or pain.
However, he realised that was not the case, for what they saw next should've been impossible.
The Werewolf that was supposedly incinerated by Shinko's fire jutsu was suddenly alive and moving freely once more.
It was growling and climbing out slowly from the ditch where the flames had produced, its eyes glowed bright yellow, its glare was menacing, it bared its teeth at them all, though due to its full body burns, it'd no doubt be slower than before.
Shinko looked round slowly; her worst fears were coming to life.
She thought she'd killed it! That jutsu was one of her strongest yet along with her lightning techniques, obviously that hadn't been enough.
Suddenly, she remembered Tadashii mentioning using its one weakness against it to gain the upper-hand.
Silver.
"Go on then Demon, go and fight to your death like a good little Dhampir, now you will get a taste of what it's like to be hunted, are you scared? You should be!" Ao taunted, he was still kneeling in his little ditch, his good arm holding onto the handle of his katana, using it to keep himself upright and smirked as he watched the many different emotions spread across his face.
Ao was feeling bitter about his defeat, but there was no way he wasn't going to make the most of this, if taunting was the only way to get some semblance of his pride back, then he'd shout until his lower jaw drops off.
"What the fuck is he spouting now?!" Hidan groaned in confusion, as he looked from Ao to the Werewolf and then to Shinko's panic-stricken yet stiff form.
"Is there something you need to tell us Shinko?" Kakuzu glanced at her with questioning eyes.
Shinko lowered her gaze slightly realizing she had to tell them, she had no choice, but she also had to get them to safety, for they didn't know the risks of what would happen if they were bitten or scratched by a Werewolf…
A/N: Finally things are starting to pick up in pace, we're finally coming towards the end of the story, not far to go now, maybe just 5-10 more chapters now and yes, I am aware I said the same thing about 15 chapters back, haha! But this time I really mean it XD
PLEASE REVIEW!