"RUN!!!" Metsuki pulled off her bandana and threw it aside where it burst into flame. The surrounding Akatsuki had all summoned a different creature and were sittin upon their backs, protecting her.
Her father sat on the back of the giant, black bat she had seen earlier. Beside him stood Shoku on his eagle summon's back, and Itachi on his other side on top of a mean-looking, black weasel. Kisame was on the back of a giant, serpent-like laviathan, and Zenji was riding a white wolf to match the byakugan in his eyes. Closest to her was a man from the Rain called Dante riding a compact, red dragonfly, beside him was Testu of the Sand on a large rattlesnake, Ryuu from the Grass on a large green dragon and the last, to the left of him, was Inu from the Stone on a large, black dog.
"Stop it, father!" she yelled, disregarding completely her promise to not loose any of their information.
"Stay back, Metsuki-sama," said Shoku, the only one to take notice and acknowledge her. The Akatsuki had not made their move, but were simply staring down the Leaf-nin around them.
"What do the Akatsuki want in Konoha?" questioned the Hokage calmly. "We have done nothing to deserve this sudden appearance."
"We have decided this is too dangerous for Metsuki. We are taking her back and disposing of you, for you know too much than can be good for you," said Houtan in the same, calm voice the Hokage had used. The Leaff-nin tensed at his words and Metsuki was looking around frantically. Her blue and pink eyes hardened, she would not allow them to do this again.
"Get away. Leave Konoha alone. I won't let you attack them," she said, clenching her fists. She no longer cared about blood or pain, but for the lives of the Leaf-nin. And that was exactly what her mother wanted.
Mother, she thought, closing her eyes. Her hand wrapped around the jewel on her necklace. Mother, lend me your power. I need it now. To make father understand that what he is doing is wrong.
"What are you trying to do, Metsuki?" asked Houtan, finally turning to look at her clearly.
She straightened and opened her eyes, glaring out at her father. He moved a second before the earth beneath him shot up in a large spike. The bat took to the air a second before its belly was impaled on the earth spike.
"Metsuki! We don't have enough time for this! Quit fooling around and sit still!" shouted her father, landing a few feet away. But he knew she had changed by just looking in her eyes. They were still pink and blue, but they were not cold and cruel, not how he had brought her up to be. No, her eyes were brighter, niot dead, and shimmering with fresh tears. It suddenly struck him how much she resembled her mother, and had it not been for her size and the streak of red in her hair, it would have been impossible to tell them apart.
"Leave this village or else I'll fully release it," she warned, still glaring at him. There was dead silence, but Houtan finally grinned. The bat vanished and he dropped to the ground, facing her. His gap was filled by the Akatsuki on either side which moved to cover for him.
"Then do that. You've never done that before. I would like to taste that power."
He was slightly taken aback at his willingness to engage her in battle with the seal fully released, but she knew she could take care of him. There would be no attacks, no side affects after this battle. She had her mother protecting her, and her mother would not let scum like him to harm her.
The patterns of the seal crawled across her skin, the intricate clouds lacing over her face and burning red as they melted into a new pattern. The ground around her shattered with the pressure of the building chakra, running outwards in a spiderweb pattern and sending pieces of stone and dirt fling around her. And as the pattern burned black and took its final, solid form, her eyes burned brightly, suddenly flaring to life, the red one burning blood red and the blue one shimmering a dark, navy blue. She had never felt so much power.
"The rest of you, deal with the village," ordered Houtan, preparing himself.
Before they could move, the earth began to spin, throwing them off balance as the earth split and spikes shot up all around, trapping the Akatsuki momentarily inside of a ring of earth. Metsuki moved quickly, dashing at Houtan and throwing her hands in front of her. The air spun around her arms and she skidded to a halt, throwing the balls of air towards her father. He fell into a crouch and they passed over his head.
Clouds began slowly gathering overhead, blocking out the moon as Houtan charged the girl, aiming to knock her out. But she was prepared, and the entire radius around her exploded into flame. The other summons had broken free from her barrier and were engaged in their own battles with the Leaf-nin.
She caught a glimpse of the two Uchiha's clashing with eachother, three giant dragonflies fighting with the black weasel as their masters clashed a little ways off, sharingan with sharingan. Neji was fighting with Zenji, his eagle summons diving over and over at the other Hyuuga's white wolf. Iyasu was nowhere in sight.
Explosions were happening everywhere, taking out many ninja at a time as the Akatsuki ruthlessly tore apart their ranks, moving with incredible speed and with killing intent. The battle had become so intense that nearby houses were being levelled completely, leaving this part of the village completely open.
Metsuki cursed the fact that there was no water around yet, as the clouds were still building, but she charged her father again anyways, sending shards of stone towards him as if they were senbon. A wall of pure chakra exploded around him and the needles shattered. He dodged another barrage and suddenly sped up. He moved so quickly, that to Metsuki's eyes, he was in front of ehr one moment, and behind her the next. She had no time to react before he had an arm around her neck and her arms pinned behind her back.
A raindrop fell on her cheek, followed by another and another until it began rauining steadily. Houtan realized this just in time to release her and jump back as teh water concentrated into a tight cyclone that was sent straight at his stomach. His bat was there in a moment, being summoned just in time to take the blow and vanish in an instant. Metsuki paused, dodging another blow from her father and deciding it was time to get serious.
She jumped back onto a cushion of compressed air that allowed her to hover above the ground as she began forming a long series of seals. She was now going to fully release her power.
The earth around her shot up and completely surrounded her along with a whirlwind of air. Before it completely covered her, a bolt of lightning struck from above and her body absorbed it, drawing from its power as her entire body was covered by the earth. As the rain fell from above, it began to harden into ice, making her appear as if she were a statue. She remained for only a moment in that state before the back of the statue bulged and shattered, two, long white wings shooting from beneath it. The rain began to melt the ice covering her and turned the earth to mud that slid off of her small body, revealing a new Metsuki.
She wore a curved, metal helmet, pure white embedded with gold designs and no eye slits, just solid, ivory-white metal. Her arms and legs were plated in the same metal, along with her chest, back and shoulders. She wore long, elbow-length gloves, and her necklace hanging out in the center of her chest, glinting in the faint light. She wore high, tightly-laced boots, unstained and perfectly white. She finished the transformation as the sides of her helmet glinted and two, metal, white wing designs shot out from either side, replicas of the softly feathered ones that were held behind her.
But her eyes unseeingly met Houtan, who had also made a change. He had an outfit to match hers, a green gem hanging on his chest and an equally elegant helmet. But his outfit was ebony black, and his wings had no soft feathers, but were dark and leathery, like a bat's. Instead of wing designs on his helmet, the bottom edge was lined with black spikes that resembled teeth.
The two shinobi faced eachother, and, reading eachtother's movements perfectly, both fell ito a crouch and shot into the air. A few heads below turned to see light and dark dancing across the sky above in the rain, bright flashes of chakra, Houtan's dark purple and Metsuki's light blue, shooting between them. Houtan had finally began acting seriously, he would aim to kill now. But so would Metsuki.
She dove from above as he winged up from below, and each brought a large amount of chakra to their bodies, forming drill-like points in front of them. They hit with incredible force, which was followed by a large explosion that threw them both backwards into the ground from high up. Metsuki hit the ground hard, skidding back for a long time before she rolled to a halt in a puddle of mud. She caught a glimpse of Zenji and neji fighting a bloody battle, but her eyes snapped back to where Houtan was standing slowly. She stood as well, facing him in silence.
This time when they charged, their bodies exploded with chakra. Light flooded the area around Metsuki and a dark, purple light overwhelmed Houtan, both cracking the air around them and weighing down the air with tremendous pressure. They met again in silence that was cruelly shattered with an atomic explosion that shook everyone, causing many to fall to their knees or be blown back a few feet. Metsuki grunted, thrown through the explosion, but her wings snapped opwn and she dived back in, spotting Houtan at the same time he spotted her. There next meeting caused another, larger explosion within the first which had not yet died down, followed by another and another.
She built up a tremendous amount of chakra to execute the next attack, her chakra burning throu Houtan's like a knife. But his swarmed over her blade and both were still affected by the others, and the force sent them back tens of feet where they skiided to a halt again, both breathing heavily in exaughstion.
Metsuki stood again and clenched her fists, her eyes hardening further under the helmet. Pain was burning through her body, but she ignored it. The light eminating from her condensed at her right hand, shooting out into a long, smooth katana. She rustled her wings and charged Houtan again, meeting his blast of chakra with her concentrated sword of light.
"Hikari no Yaiba!" She crouched low, one leg out to the side as she dragged it through the dirt, spinning up into the air and folding her wings about her thin frame before plunging earthwards directly towards him. Her wings unfurled elegantly, sending a shower of damp feathers raining down on him as her blade of light shot from its concealment.
It plunged directly through his chest as she collided with him, blood lightly spattering her downy feathers as the light around her faded. It was a clone. It vanished in a puff of smoke along with her sword of light, and she immediately spotted Houtan tearing apart the Leaf-nin on the other side of the flattened village square. And what was worse, he was charging directly at Neji who could not see him being preoccupied with Zenji. She took flight in a flash, darting towards her fasther, but she was too late. He was upon Neji in seconds.
A shimmering, silver-furred wolf suddenly jumped between the two, snarling and launching itself towards the Akatsuki. It took him down in a single leap, pinning him to the ground. On its back rode a small figure wearing a blue vest that was hanging open to show a blue shirt with blue flames on it. He wore black shorts and the exposed part of his legs were bandaged.
"Iyasu!" she shouted elatedly, breaking sharply.
"Who are you?" he asked, the wolf jumping back and letting Houtan up as he blasted it away.
"Metsuki!" she managed before confronting Houtan again. There was a drawn out scream as one of the Akatsuki fell to the ground in a puddle of blood, which distracted her long enough for Houtan to catch her in the stomach with a chackra-laden fist and send her flying backwards. She flipped in mid-air and wasted no time launching herself back at him. She slammed a foot into the ground and met him in mid air, bringing up her leg and delivering a spinning kick to the side of his head. But his attack hit home as well, and he hooked her foot, spinning her around. She landed hard on her back but her wings shot out with incredible strength, flipping her back to her feet.
The Akatsuki had underestimated the Leaf-nin, they were slowly being pushed back, although they had taken many with them. As she met Houtan again and they were both knocked back, she caught a glimpse of Sasuke, covered from head to toe in blood, sending a blast of fire directly at his brother, Itachi. She caught a glimpse of Neji as he delivered a fatal blow to Zenji, plunging his hand directly through the other Hyuuga's chest. Kisame was fighting with a number of shinobi, including Naruto, the fox kid, who was basically going berserk on the Akatsuki, red chakra flying everywhere.
Shoku and Ryuu were both fighting the Hokage, and although she kept getting injured, it healed immediately, unlike their wounds which were slowing them down now. Inu and Dante lay dead in the center of the square, and as she looked away she caught a glimpse of two green blurs she assumed to be Gai and Lee doing Tetsu in. Tetsu was incredibly fast, as fast as them, but he was no match for both of them at the same time.
Although the Akatsuki were being beaten down quickly, a number of Leaf-nin lay dead or dying, bodues scattered everywhere, even those of the innocent, villagers and even a few children who had not been able to run fast enough. The sight of a young boy sobbing onto his mother's body jolted Metsuki into a frenzy. But the sight of his men falling also jolted Houtan into a frenzy.
As they clashed with a new hatred for eachother, the battles around them began to die down, and finally, after another half hour of fighting, Sasuke ended the Akatsuki along with Naruto, both blasting Itachi back into a builing where a pool of blood spread out slowly from the base of his neck. The Leaf-nin were breathing heavily as they watched the two winged shinobi going at eachother with no less killing intent.
Neji recovered quickly and tried to step in to help Metsuki deal with her father, but he was thrown aside with incredible power by another explosion, where he skidded to a halt as if he were a regdoll thrown by a large dog. Despite the shouts form the Leaf-nin telling Metsuki to let the Akatsuki be dealt with by the jounin, Metsuki continued to duel with her father, the real one this time.
There was no going back for either of them. If Houtan died he would obviously no longer exist, if he won, he had no Akatsuki and he would be surrounded by Leaf-nin. If Metsuki lost she would be dead as well, but if she won she would be killed. She was the one who had brought the Akatsuki to the village in the first place, she was the cause of all the problems and the deaths of everyone that had died today.
She was blasted back into the wall beside Neji as her father was blasted in the opposite direction, Leaf-nin keeping their distance.
"Metsuki, are you alright? Let the others deal with the Akatsuki, they've already lost," argued Neji, trying to keep the fear from his voice. She pushed herself up and pulled off her white helmet, viewing the burning world in colour. She placed it on the ground beside her and pulled off her necklace, the key to her soul, her only restraint, and gave it to Neji.
"I'm going to kill him, please take care of this. It contains my half of the soul I share with my mother, I was sealed there at birth."
She jumped up and charged Houtan again, taking to the air and dancing across the flaming sky. They danced through the flame in a complicated pattern, but she was at a disadvantage. She smelled something other than wood burning, and when she tried to take off to meet her father again, her wings did not billow with wind. They were on fire. She flapped harder and eventually took off with dificulty, letting out a yell as she clashed with incredible force that sent her back into Neji, knocking him back into the wall.
"Metsuki! Please don't, you're going to get killed!" it was useless to try to keep the fear and concern from his voice as she forced her battered body to move again. He reached out and grabbed her wrist as she took a step away, her wings still smouldering. She did not resist as he pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her thin waist. She was crying, she tried to hold it back, but it was no use. Tears stung her eyes and burned familiar paths down her cheeks as she ground her teeth in frustration. She didn't want to cry anymore.
"I...I have to kill him right now. Let me go," she whispered, her ears picking up the shifting of rubble as her father also began to force himself up. But she pressed closer into his chest, she did not want him to let her go. Neji leaned forwards and brushed the hair from her face as she looked up. he leaned closer until he was inches from her, mouth hovering before hers before he pressed his lips into hers.
It stole her breath away, and her hands tightened, gently holding onto his shirt as she choked back more tears. I, she thought, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. I shouldn't do this. It will only hurt him more. Her eyes fell to his chest as she broke away and she saw her trapped soul swilring in a melee of colours within the jewel that was now a pure white colour.
"Thank you for everything," she whispered stepping back. She could hear her father readying to attack and she turned, strangely calm despite the fact that what she was about to do was insane.
She charged at him one last time, forcing out all of her chakra and calling all of the elements around her. Fire, water, earth and air charged behind her, nipping at her heels. The red and brown mess of elements behind her swirled around and took the form of a dragon, snapping its teeth at her heels before she jumped into the air and it hit Houtan full in the stomach. But a second before it hit, he forced out a barrier of purple chakra, sliding a few feet back but holding his ground.
Metsuki flipped over him and landed in a crouch behind him, charging forwards and slamming a foot into the ground to launch herself fearlessly towards him. He spun around to meet her and blood spattered the ground. She gasped in pain, blood flying from her mouth as she looked down.
"Metsuki!" shouted Neji. She had her sword of light drawn and it was running clean through Houtan. Blood was dripping from his mouth which was curved up into a cruel smile.
A sword, black as ebony, ran clean through her breast and out between her shoulders. Blood was slowly dripping down the blade and pooling in the handle momentarily before spilling to the singed ground. Her wings were sagging behind her, vibrating slightly, but eventually falling still, the singed feathers brushing the ground as she relaxed her muscles, slumping to the ground along with her father. She was staring in horror and shock at her chest, eventually raising her free hand to touch the hot liquid as it flowed unstoppably from her. There was little pain, and she felt slightly better to see her father completely slumped forwards, unmoving.
"Metsuki..." Neji was beside her in seconds along with the remaining Leaf-nin. She was staring blankly forwards at the blood pooling around her, her own blood, and she eventually moved to pull the sword out. More blood gushed from the wound, staining her white outfit further. She could feel the lifeblood and heat leaving her body at an unpresidented rate, and was too numb to notice Neji cradling her. It's not that bad, she thought, slightly clouded eyes turning slowly to meet Neji's blank, white ones. That was a lie. She was simply trying to deny what was happening.
"I'm... dead," she whispered. Her vision began darkening until there was only a small amount of light entering into her dark mind. It was the light from the stone around Neji's neck, burning brighter than ever. She closed her eyes finally and the relief was instantaneous.
Neji was in shock at the blood covering his hands. He squeezed his eyes shut to try and block out the image, but all that did was bring a picture of Metsuki's faintly smiling face to mind. The jewel shimmered brightly once and Metsuki's voice, the happiest he had ever heard it before, exploded into his mind. Goodbye Neji.
AN: eh, sorry about the endin...I might continue the story, but probably not. Sorry if it's kinda depressing, butI wasn't feeling too happy whenI wrote it. Which was awhile ago.