Red. Blood. Pain. More pain. More blood. On her hands. On the ground. All over. She screamed again. Too much. Too much. She couldn't hold it in. She had to release it. 'Don't! Koumei, not now! Hold it in!' Kuro's voice cut through the blood, but did not register. It was too late.
She cried out again as her hands grew larger, turning black and pointed and curving wickedly. Scales spread up her arms, past her elbows and onto her shoulders. Coal black feathers spread from the base of her wings, and spread completely over her body, over skin and clothing alike. She felt her chest and stomach muscles convulse as they enlarged. Her legs changed, becoming more powerful, and velvety black fur spread over her short pants. He feet grew much larger, into paws with huge sickle-shaped claws curving from them. A black, whip-like tail also melted from her body and finally her head and face grew longer, with ear tufts, beady black eyes, and a snout that ended in a diamond hard point.
She opened her mouth to screm in pain again, and an unearthly shriek peirced her unusually sensitive ears. Two pairs of wide eyes looked out from the trees in astonishment at a large black griffin, struggling in the place where the Moon-nin had once lain. But then it stopped and stood. It's talons dug into the red snow as it looked around. A Kuro flew by and the black griffin swatted at if playfully, but with enough force to have killed him had it not missed. It was good to be out for once.
Suddenly, the playful cat-like nature of the griffin was replaced by the nature of an eagle. Sharp eyes spun around to the place where the two unbeleiving jounin were hiding.
"Who's there?" asked the griffin in a deep, animal-like growl. It began walking towards them. It was no longer Koumei, but a completely different entity. The two ninja realized this just in time and snapped out of their daze. taking one look at the fierce black eyes, they simply turned and ran, followed closely by their birds. And by the griffin.
The Koumei griffin caught up with them just as Kasei was thinking about how fast Genma could move if he really wanted to. The Griffin pounced cat-like onto Kasei and brought him to the ground, pinning him with its talons which scraped painfully against his shoulders. The weight was suffocating. The griffin lowered it's head towards his, tracing a talon from its left claw across hi neck lightly, but still drawing blood.
"It's been awhile since that kunoichi bitch let me out, and awhile since I last tasted blood. Ever since her pathetic brother died, she stopped letting me out because she was afraid of the blood. But now I'll put on a show for her. Let me see red rain," it breathed, leaning further forward. But before it could do anything, three forms hit it. One was Genma brandishing two kunai and slashing out at its beak. The other two hit it in the chest. It was Kuro, and his own bird, Rey. And, although there efforts seemed pathetic, the griffin was knocked back, if only from suprise.
Kuro was emitting waves of red chakra as he flew into the creatures feathered chest. Then, the bird actually spoke out loud, chakra coming to his beak and forming a familiar human sound.
"Koumei! Listen, hold her in! You'll kill them if you don't! Do you want to see more blood?" The griffin didn't seem to hear him, but the words registered in Koumei's mind. She had thought she was dreaming, but her raven, Kuro, was speaking to her. She saw Kasei on the ground in front of her, and Genma standing before her. It was bliss in here, there was absolutely no pain. But she had had enough of this nightmare. She found her mind again and lashed out with her arms and legs, tearing at an invisible barrier, forcing it slowly back.
The griffin looked as if it were about to attack again, but then it suddenly screeched and crumpled to the ground, thrashing about like before. Then, it simply exploded into a flurry of black feathers which fell slowly in the snow. In its place stood Koumei.
She wasn't looking as bad as the two ninja had imagined she would look. The only blood on her came from her mouth and she seemed unscathed and able to stand. She noticed Kasei on the ground at her feet, and ran over.
"Kasei! Gomen, did I hurt you? I'm so sorry! I couldn't control it!" she said helping him up. He rubbed his neck and looked at her questioningly.
"This is akward..." said Koumei biting her bottom lip nervously.
"You can't escape giving us an explaination for that," said Kasei after he caught his breath.
"Right..." she said casting her eyes aside for a moment. "Maybe we should head back."
"No, here's fine," said an annoyed Genma. He leaned up against a tree, replacing his kunai. Kinu was asleep at his feet. Kasei joined him, leaning against another tree and folding his arm as Rey landed on his shoulder. They looked at her expectantly.
"We're not moving until you explain at least that part. What just happened? Why did you try to rip out my throat? And why are you afraid of blood?" questioned Kasei. Koumei turned away and crouched down, playing with the snow like a small child. She sighed.
"It's a curse, from Orochimaru. When I was little, I trained under him along with an older girl, her name was Anko. Mitarashi Anko."
"You grew up with Anko?" asked Genma.
"Hai. Orochimaru taught me, honed me into a killing machine. He kinda kidnapped me when I was three. My brother, Haku, was only a baby, and my real father didn't know about our bloodline. I was force to train under the sannin until I was thirteen. Then many things happened. He gave me this curse, sealing an actual griffin inside of me. He then began forcing me to work for him, threatening me with unimaginable pain or saying he would kill my brother, so I was forced to do as he said. The only way I would be able to free myself from his command, was to beat him in a one-on-one battle. So I waited until he showed weakness, and I fought him. He made the mistake of activating the seal himself, and I beat him in that griffin form."
"You beat the Legendary Orochimaru when you were thirteen!?" Genma was actually impressed, and being older than the other two, and having fought him before, he knew alot more than Kasei.
"Hai... but he ran off and left me incredibly weakened. I basically would have died after, but a passing Anbu squad in the area managed to heal me somehow. They had watched the whole battle and were impressed. They brought me to the Kage of their village, the Tsukikage, and he adopted me as his daughter. He forced me into giving him my bloodlimit, something Orochimaru had not thought of. I retained my title as an Anbu captain, but for the Hidden Moon instead. I was promoted to Hunter-nin in a short while.
"I spent the next six years as another weapon for another person. I did special jobs for other villages, but rarely accepted any against the Lightning or the Leaf, and all the money went to my adoptive father. I barely ate, and was always low on energy, but on top of that, many people saw me as a monster, and sent ninja after ninja to try and kill me. Eventually the Akatsuki came, and after a few confrontations, managed to completely destroy my home. So I ran here, and decided to listen to the Tsukikage and train more Wing ninja."
Koumei stood up, "As for being afraid of blood, I'm not. It's just that I see it on everything, when I close my eyes or when I sleep, It's all I see. It's all I dream about. The same memories just seem to like following me around." she walked away, leaving the two jounin speechless. This girl was more powerful than Orochimaru. She had the power to probably defeat all of Konoha if she wanted to.
When she had gone, Genma spoke up. "I-I think we should go report to the Hokage, Kasei. Kasei?"
Kasei snapped out of it. He had been looking at where Koumei had been crouched moments before. In the snow was a red handprint, accompanied by a wing on either side. It was her blood.
He followed Genma back to the Hokage's house, Genma actually leading for once as he did the lagging behind. The people on the streets pointed and stared at the two colourful birds with them, one on a shoulder and the other walking on the ground
When they reached Tsunade's office, they reported the days events as the Hokage stared at the two beautiful birds. When they had finished, she released a yellow bird out the window. The two jounin waited patiently for further instructions, Genma eventually falling asleep.
Soon there was a loud crash outside, followed by a mumbled 'oops' and a loud knock on the door. Kasei opened it and his mood darkened as he stared into the face of Mitarashi Anko.