Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do not own Legend of the Five Rings. No financial gain is made from this. This is for entertainment purposes only.
They were running so fast through the forest that they could barely keep track of the trail they were following. Sumi was on the lead, for she was the healthiest of the three, Yūgao, Haruki and her.
The first rays of Sun had a hard time passing through the foliage, but they started to warm up and Sumi felt the sweat drops in her forehead.
"There he is!" she pointed.
They could see the beast from behind, slender, a mass of muscles twice Haruki's size. Its fur was a bluish black and you could barely see the dark stripes over it. He had some scratches along its sides, a remainder of his last fight.
They launched immediately an attack, confident in the advantage of their ambush. Sumi leaped from a high branch, but as she fell down on the animal, it turned its head towards her and those red eyes pierced her resolve. In that second of hesitation, she landed in the ground a few meters from him, paralyzed.
Yūgao did lunge at him with her katana, aiming for an accurate blow, but the tiger, despite its huge size, was fast and with a movement of a paw he sent her flying into a tree.
Haruki was next and both animals circled each other before engaging in a dance of claws and fangs and growls that shook the earth.
Sumi could just spectate, frozen by fear.
"We need to do something!" Yūgao exclaimed when she reached her side. "Sumi! Sumi!" She took her by the shoulders and shook her. "We need to help Haruki! He cannot do it alone!"
Alone. Was that true? All these years she had just been repeated Haruki's solitary nature, the same fact that made him turn heads, its ruthlessness, symbol of its dishonor. Had she just taken that for granted? Were they right to think impossible to fight alongside? A lonely killer, but maybe he was more than that...
Sumi grabbed Yūgao's arm. "I have a plan."
Haruki fought for his life. It was a second chance not many others had and he did not - could not - fail this time. But the other tiger was bigger, older, a king not willing to give out his power.
Nobody had ever given a proper name to the other tiger, but he had heard human's call him a beast, a monster, a nightmare... They had come to his forest and build their cities, and when he had protected his territory, they had defended and with the force of their sheer numbers, they had locked him away, so the world was no longer his hunting grounds. Humans had defeated him because they had faced him together.
Suddenly, a projectile hit the ground between both animals, separating them, and smoke spread over the battlefield. He tried to use his other senses than vision; he could hear the steps of the girls, smell the blood already spilled. But before he could pin point the location of his enemies, a flash of orange stripes jumped towards him through the smoke, claws at the ready. He lashed out and the other tiger was dragged through the ground, a big slash in its chest. Then, it went out in puff of smoke and Sumi stood in its place, blood flowing from her wounds.
And she was smiling. Why?
He turned in time to see the real Haruki leaping at him from behind. It would not work, he thought. He was bigger, faster, older. He prepared to strike back, but the ground under his paws trembled and in a blink, the stones grabbed at his legs and even pulled him. He was bigger, and faster and older, so why was his strength not enough to break through?
Behind him, Sumi used all the chakra that now flowed through her, that sweet rush that came with her almost fatal wounds, to keep the beast in place. And it was not easy feat. But she managed to keep her Earth release technique so Haruki could finish off this fight. Then, only then, she fell to her side, exhausted. But just like agreed, Yūgao was fast by her side and started healing her.
Through half-lidded eyes, Sumi saw Haruki stand proud over his defeated adversary. The black beast's dark stripes seemed to climb up Haruki's legs and cover his body in moving shapes of unexpected beauty. She must have been hallucinating, for she would also have sworn that she saw his yellow eyes glow green, the same jade green of another tiger that had come to her saving before...
"I guess we did it..." Sumi said with a cough. She could feel Yūgao's hand easing away her pain.
Yūgao was frowning, sweating away her effort. Such deep wounds... "Your plan worked."
Sumi chuckled and regretted it, as her chest moved pulling at the closing slashes. "I have sadly fallen for a similar strategy many times before."
Yūgao smiled too.