Dog, dragon, boar, bird, tiger, monkey, hare, serpent, rat, ox, horse, ram, bird, dragon, dog, boar, hare, rat, rat, serpent…
"Inu, Ryuu, Ino, Tori, Tora, Saru, Usagi, Hebi, Nezu, Oushi, Uma, Hitsuji, Tori, Ryuu, Inu, Ino, Usagi, Nezu, Nezu, Hebi…"
Rikou began falling faster, but that wasn't the bad part. A moment later, the crow demon hundreds of feet below noticed her and regained his senses, spreading its wings and darting upwards. Rikou noticed the hundreds of dead shinobi around this part of the village, the snow stained red.
Her hands flew into seal after seal, her frozen fingers being forced to comply with her as the wind whipped across her face. She was now falling at a normal speed, and the dark feather beside her had somehow sped up, darting down along with her. She felt no fear of death, which was strange, since she was staring it right in the eyes.
Rat, dragon, bird, tiger, tiger, serpent, boar, dog, horse, dog, monkey, rat, ram, ox, ox, tiger….
"Nezu, Ryuu, Tori, Tora, Tora, Hebi, Ino, Inu, Uma, Inu, Saru, Nezu, Hitsuji, Oushi, Oushi, Tora…"
Her heart began to speed up as she looked into the blank eyes of the demon crow looking up at her with killing intent, It knew what she was doing. Her hands began to fly faster and faster and it took her total concentration to keep up the string. One mistake would mean her life and everyone else's.
Her skin began to burn, every inch of it feeling as if it was on fire. The skin on her bare arms began to blister, peeling away as if it were covered in invisible fire. Rikou ignored the new pain and continued forming the seals, the demon crow growing dangerously close.
Take out a kunai and cut open your hands.
Rikou did as she was told, digging the dagger deep into her palms and casting it away, letting the warm liquid fly into her face and sting her eyes.
Hold the feather to your chest with your left had and place your right hand forwards toward my brother. Hurry.
Rikou did this quickly, the demon less than a hundred feet below her. She grabbed the feather from the air, badly burning her hand in the process. She place the feather to her chest and threw out her right hand towards the demon.
Repeat after me: Menuri Itashikata: On wo ada de kaesu Anoyo.
"Menuri Itashikata: On wo ada de kaesu Anoyo!"
Symbols exploded from her hand, and as the crow tried to pull away, they encircled it completely, white markings burning across its feathers. She landed on the demon's neck as it fell earthwards, taking her with it.
The crow demon screeched as it began melting into her body, flying into her stomach painfully. She gasped at the fresh pain, but it ended quickly. A moment later, tears streaming down her face, she threw her hands out, releasing chakra to stop her fall. It exploded from her arms, burning them further and creating a crater before her.
She hit the ground hard, but the chakra broke her fall. She felt some of her ribs snap on impact along with her left arm, but she could still breathe. As the chakra faded away, she twitched, pushing herself up… only to find herself looking into the angry face of Kagi.
Before she could react, his foot connected with her jaw, sending her flying backwards. He was there in an instant, placing a foot on her chest and leaning forwards. He was holding her ninja-to in his hands, and he raised it. But something darted between him and her, knocking him back.
Rikou's eyes focused on Ken, who had the Gurehane running completely through the last Akatsuki's stomach. Kagi dropped the ninja-to, grabbing onto the blade. Ken released whatever chakra he had left, sending inside of Kagi's body and destroying him from the inside. He sried out with his last breath, eyes wide, but they soon went blank.
Blood dripped from his mouth, splashing into the snow as Ken pulled out the sword, letting the body fall to the ground. Kagi's handsome face was pale and strained in pain. His glossy, black hair fell about it as he coughed once more, blood dripping into the snow, before he stopped moving.
Rikou pushed herself up shakily, forcing her torn muscles to move so she could face Ken. He smiled and took a step forwards, but she gave him a look that said to keep away. She lifted her head and looked him in the eye, and more Jounin joined him, facing her.
"Rikou, you have to-"
"Kill me now."
There was complete silence as Ken staggered a few feet back at the blunt request. The other Jounin and Chuunin around her looked on in silence.
"Wh-What?"
"Kill me."
"Why?"
"If I cannot live a normal life with one demon within me, how can I possibly survive with two? I cannot control it, I am a threat to the village."
"I couldn't do that."
Rikou's shoulders slumped forwards suddenly, but Ken was there instantly, catching her before she hit the ground. She closed her eyes in an effort to deal with the fresh pain of two demons quarreling in the back of her mind. It buzzed annoyingly, but eventually stopped. She opened her mouth to say something to Ken, but the world suddenly warped and went black, and she found herself floating through darkness again. But this darkness was not the same as it had been before. There was a deep burning within her mind, flashes of light caused by the quarreling demons. She knew her mind would never be calm again. It was simply impossible now. She would never be able to live normally. Ever.
A/N: HA! In your face you stupid fic! Eh, what a lame ending. Why is it that when I write something, I can do the entire fic fairly well, but when it comes to closing it off it gets messy and confusing? ARGH! So frustrating. But I have no incentive to properly finish this fic off, so that's that. If this isn't the last chap, then the only other thing will be an epilogue or something. BTW, for anyone who cares in the slightest, I finally made a FictionPress account for all my non-fanfic stuff, under the pen name Chirakka (heh, you can find me on anything by looking up that name- don't ask where it came from, kind of an inside joke)