The two demons clashed recklessly, biting, clawing, smashing… anything to use against the other was put into use here. The dragon would lunge at Akurei, its teeth dripping with saliva as it closed down on thin air. The large crow would then flap hard, sending waves of air reinforced with chakra towards it, blowing it back and slashing it open.

This happened several times, until they began to slow. Akurei managed to plunge his beak deep into the side of the dragon, but he also received a bite on his leg, the long teeth going clean through. He clamped his beak together tightly, as did the other demon, and they remained locked together.

Rikou was about to attack Kagi, but she suddenly heard Ken cry out from his battle and spun around. He was pinned under the paw of the leader's tiger summon, one of the claws pressing through his arm and into the ground. The Gurehane lay far off, out of reach, and the tiger reared back to kill him.

Rikou was there instantly, holding her hands out and releasing the Dark Chakra in a large amount. It swirled around her as the tiger's head slowed upon seeing her, before shooting upwards, darting in the shape of a raven's head and blasting the tiger in the face, before passing completely through its head. Blood showered down on her as the summon disappeared in a puff of grey smoke and the Akatsuki's leader landed in a crouch before her, battle axe resting on the ground.

She glanced at Ken who was unconscious on the ground behind her, his blood spilling over the rocks and pooling around him at a frightening pace. Her heart froze at the sight of her friend's condition and, forgetting Kagi and his leader, she dashed to his side.

"Ken!' She propped up his head and wiped the blood from his mouth, unsure of what to do. She knew hardly any medical techniques, and she couldn't even harness the proper chakra for the use of healing. Ken's eyes flicked open for a moment before slipping closed again.

"I like your power," stated the Akatsuki's leader casually. "Give it to me."

Rikou's eyes narrowed, and she felt an anger she had never felt before building up inside of her. Her memories came back to her, her father dying at the hands of the Akatsuki, her team mates, her former sensei… She looked down at the unnaturally still Ken and her hands began shaking. They were covered in his blood. In their blood.

No, she thought. It's not my fault. It's him. It's the Akatsuki's fault that I've suffered so much, that the people around me have suffered so much…

"We'll leave this village alone once you come with us," he said. Rikou lowered her head, knowing she was going to regret what she was about to do. She placed Ken back on the cold ground, standing and turning to face the two Akatsuki. She lifted her head, the Dark Chakra swirling around her, filling the air with its crushing power.

"You said… This chakra is the most powerful thing on this earth. That if I ever managed to harness it, I would probably be the strongest shinobi ever. Well, guess what," she hissed, raising a hand. Wings of chakra spread from between her shoulders as she felt her body being taken over by the Crow's spirit. She felt her vision sharpen along with her other senses and long talons of chakra extend past her fingers, forming sharp blades.

"I harnessed it."

Yes, let me feel it… Let me take over completely… So long. It's been so long…

Take over completely?

Yes… I'll rip them apart.

What will happen to me?

I don't know… But I promise I will not stop until I kill him. You might be lost forever. You might die from the overwhelming power. You might lose your mind or your memory. I don't know. But I want to taste his flesh right now.

… Me too…

Rikou let her mind slip away completely, retreating to the back of it as she looked through eyes that were not her own. She felt incredible power emanating from her body, swirling around her and suffocating her, intoxicating her. It felt so good to let go.

"I'll kill you. I'll rip you apart. Let me feel it again, its been so many years since I was last in control of my vessel's body… This body is small, but it is fast and young…"

The voice rumbled out from within her, not from her throat, from somewhere else. She vaguely noted the look of excitement on the leader's face as she tensed. She charged at the leader and Kagi, chakra practically dripping off of her. It happened so quickly, she didn't even have time to enjoy it.

Her vision was splattered with red as she plunged her chakra-laden hand directly through his chest, followed by her other hand. The blood trickled down her arms, dripping off of her elbows and staining the snow red. Against her own will, she leaned towards the Akatsuki leader who still wore an expression of shock on his pale face.

Her tongue snaked out and licked a small amount of his blood from his cheek as his eyes began to close. The taste of blood became everything as she let his body slip to the ground, dead. Her mind seemed to explode, the blood running down her throat. She sighed in satisfaction. Kagi looked at how easily she had defeated his leader, and turned away, vanishing. But instead of following him like she wanted to, he body forced itself away, turning to the other Akatsuki.

One of them had already been killed, but the others seemed to be pushing them and their allies back into the village. Some of the Akatsuki had disengaged in their battles to see their leader fall, some of them looking almost as frightened as Kagi had.

Chakra crackled out in a large circle around her, small rocks or bits of twigs rising into the air as she prepared to fight the others.

Don't! I thought you said only the leader! Go after Kagi, not them!!!

I said nothing of the sort. I said I'd rip them apart, and them encompasses everyone.

Two of the Akatsuki charged her, still riding on their summons, and she met them with equal speed. It was the girl on the dragonfly and the Akatsuki on the giant griffin. She brought a hand towards the griffin's leg, a whip of chakra lashing out at it and snapping it, causing the griffin to fal and cry out before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Chakra crackled along the surface of the dragonfly's wings, causing it to fall from the sky as well, its master landing in a crouch and facing her as it disappeared. The rest of the Akatsuki each used a powerful attack, either trapping or immobilizing their opponents. The then turned toward her, letting their summons disappear and lining up in their original position, a gap where Kisame, Kagi and their leader should have been.

"The brat managed to kill him!" One of the Akatsuki pointed to where the leader lay in a puddle of blood. Another laughed softly.

"Good riddance," he said, stepping forwards. "Now we can kill her."

"But, He said to capture-"

"Well, he's dead now. I don't think he has much to say on the matter. So let's get rid of her."

The Akatsuki smiled, and one of them pushed another forwards. It was the one she had fought previously, the one who controlled the thunder lizard. The one who had pushed him forwards whispered something in his ear and he smiled, bringing his hands into a seal.

"Raiden no Jutsu!"

The sky suddenly rumbled with thunder, the air crackling again with electricity. But Rikou was ready this time, she forced a wall of chakra out around her, pushing away the electricity and charging the Akatsuki at the same time. She pulled out a kunai and grabbed his neck roughly, immobilizing him.

Rikou slipped the sharp knife easily into his throat, sliding it behind his windpipe, causing him to cry out in pain. Blood dripped down his neck, melting into his robes as she slipped the kunai through completely, pushing the tip out the other side.

"Please…!"

Rikou began laughing insanely, against her will again. This was getting out of hand. "Hahahaha! Die bitch!"

She pulled the knife forwards, cutting off his air supply. He slumped to the ground and Rikou lifted her hand, bringing back the kunai. She brought it forwards, into the palm of her left hand, digging it in painfully and letting her own blood mix with the thunder controlling Akatsuki.

They shifted uncomfortably, staring at her in astonishment. She grinned insanely at them, pulling out the kunai and throwing it aside. She brought up her hands and made another long string of seals.

"Tori, Ino, Inu, Ryuu, Saru, Hitsuji, Uma, Hebi, Tora, Nezu, Saru, Usagi, Tori, Ino, Inu, Inu, Uma, Oushi…"

"Kaihou Anoyo!"

The world was suddenly plunged into darkness, trapping her, her enemies and her allies in the world of the dead. Twisted creatures snarled at them from the edges, spitting and hissing. This was a combination of ninjutsu and genjutsu; it was inescapable.

This is not one of my Jutsu.

I know, isn't it great? It's one of my own creation; it reminded me of my former kingdom when I was pulled into this world. Watch me kill them.

Rikou's vision suddenly blacked out, and she found herself floating in darkness as she so often did. A vision broke into the darkness, a shape blacker than black forming in the shadow. She squinted and picked out the form of the Raicho glaring back at her with its unnerving eyes.

'Where is this?'

'You're basically in my place. This is my mind.'

'What? But wouldn't that mean-'

'Yes,' the crow laughed, its putrid breath licking up into her nostrils. She moved back slightly as her hands touched on cold metal bars.

'Yes… The seal has finally broken. I'm finally free.'

'What are you doing to them? I can't see anything.'

'I'm slaughtering them one by one.'

'What about our allies?'

'They haven't gotten in the way yet, so I haven't killed any.'

'Yet?'

'If they get in my way I'll rip them apart.'

Rikou placed her hands on the bars of her prison, looking out at the crow demon. 'Let me out.'

'Hahaha… Yeah right. You never let me out, and I'm not going to forsake this chance to kill.'

'Let me out now!'

'Why don't you get yourself out?'

Rikou looked out at the bird in frustration. Time was running out. 'At least let me see what is happening out there.'

'No. I'll tell you what's happening though. I just killed Kagi, he got in the way… or not. He deflected it somehow. The other Akatsuki are dead along with some of the other Jounin and chuunin that got in the way.'

'Let me see.'

'Your boyfriend's trying to get up and stop me, but I want to kill Kagi right now.'

'My boyfriend? I don't have one.'

'Well… That guy you like, Ken.'

Rikou squinted at the crow. 'I never said I liked him.'

'So I can kill him then?'

'No!'

'You can't hide feelings from me; I'm part of your mind. I know everything you think, every feeling that runs through your mind.'

Rikou fell silent, sitting on the floor and dropping her head. The crow cocked its head. 'It's not like I don't want you to see what's going on, I can't. You have to do that yourself.'

'Myself…' she closed her eyes, but something odd happened. Since she was already inside of her own mind, when she closed them it only brought up a picture of where she was sitting already, the crow in front of her. When she tried to open them, she found they were already open, and when she closed them again, the same thing happened. It was frustrating.

She stood, grabbing the bars of her confinement and squeezing har, concentrating on her hands. Her vision shifted between her hands, between the bars and into the darkness. She stared for a long time until the darkness began to give way again and a picture of a dark world came into view.

The sudden shock of being able to see caused her to shift slightly, which broke whatever weak connection she had. She grabbed the bars again and concentrated hard, causing the world to flow back into view.

She couldn't hear, smell, feel or taste anything, but at least her sight was working. She was gliding on a breeze, two giant black wings stretched out beside her as she circled Kagi. There were a number of Jounin and Chuunin, Medical-nin, the shinobi from the other countries, dead Missing-nin, a few remaining summons and many large craters below.

A screech erupted from within her, something that broke the silence in her mind, but she kept up her concentration, focusing on Kagi, the last remaining Akatsuki. Only a few locked chains remained wrapped around him, and several keys littered the ground.

As the Raicho began another dive towards him, the rest of his keys snapped up around him, unlocking the rest of his chains and leaving only the large lock around his neck remaining. He manually unlocked this with a large key and let the chains slip from his body silently, coiling neatly on the ground. She recognized the last key he had used to be one of her keys.

'So that's where he went, to my house so he could steal the keys…'

Raicho brought his wings whirring up, hovering above Kagi as he removed his Akatsuki robes, revealing a tight, back outfit. He suddenly began screaming, but it quickly turned into screeches as two black wings broke from his shoulders.

'This is bad… He has my brother sealed in him… I can't defeat that kind of power!'

Rikou was astonished at the note of panic in Raicho's voice. She soon found herself looking down at a replica of the Raicho, except with white, pupiless eyes. It was disturbing.

Rikou watched in horror as the bird below suddenly shot up, locking talons with its brother and spinning earthwards. The Raicho managed to break free a moment before hitting the ground, landing properly on both feet. The other bird was fast though, it was already pitching forwards into another dive, and the Raicho was caught off guard.

'Rikou, I need your help.'

'What can I do? We're both going to die here because of you.'

The demon ignored her comment and went on. 'I cannot form the seals needed to trap my brother away again. If I let you out, you have to do this.'

'Why should I?' Rikou's eyes fell on Ken, who was panting heavily as he watched the demons raging battle. Pain shot through her chest as the Raicho was blasted backwards.

'Because if you don't, you'll die, your boyfriend will die, the village will be destroyed and everything you ever knew of will go with it.'

Realization hit Rikou as she watched the dead world disappear, to be replaced by her own world, snow falling heavily. When she looked around, they were no longer on the border of the village, but instead directly in the middle with about two hundred shinobi surrounding them. The houses and other buildings around them had been demolished completely, debris flying everywhere.

She cringed in pain, her hand flying to her right shoulder and coming away wet with warm blood. She looked to where one of the Jounin had managed to hit the Raicho with a few exploding notes.

'Why are they attacking me!?'

'Rikou! Listen! You have to use your body and seal him within you. If you don't, it'll be hell on earth.'

'…Fine… But, I don't know how to seal him.'

'Okay, look… I'll let you take control of your own body again and tell you which seals to perform. I'll fly up, and leave one of my feathers behind. Use that to seal him, but do it before the feather hits the ground. Alright?'

'Sure. I don't get it, but I'll try. Now let me out.'

There was no hesitation as the Raicho summoned the rest of his strength and shot up into the air with unimaginable speed, his burned and broken wings pumping hard and raising him hundreds of feet into the air. As he pushed off the ground, he blasted the other demon back, knocking the air from him and momentarily immobilizing him.

Rikou felt her senses suddenly return, and a moment later, she felt air and ice whipping across her face as she plunged earthwards. From her current height, the other demon crow was a small speck. Her body seemed weightless, and as she looked up slightly, she saw a single, ebony black feather drifting down at the same speed as her.

Rikou, you have to start now or else we'll both be killed. Are you ready?

"As ready as I'll ever be," she muttered, bringing her hands into a seal.