"Let's make quick work of this, I'm tired of playing," muttered the Koiryuu, turning to face the Shukaku for the hundredth time. The hot afternoon sun was beginning its downward descent in the sky, casting long shadows across the completely demolished arena.

"Hey, kid, I need you to distract him for a sec so I can finish this," he muttered quietly.

"...Alright," said Shike quietly. They were both covered in dust and rubble, but were virtually unscathed. Below them on one side sat Raiko, leaning up against a large cement black and trying to staunch the flow of blood from his side. The Sand gennin were on the other side, breathing heavily and trying to avoid getting hit by either of the large demons.

Koiryuu shifted his front foot, chakra visible around his body as he charged at the demon for the last time. But instead of connecting with the Shukaku, he skidded sideways, Shike jumping from his back as he flipped into the air.

"HiJutsu: Tsumujikaze!" shouted Shike, bringing his hands to his mouth. He breathed in a deep breath before releasing it, sending a gigantic whirlwind towards the Shukaku that had chakra and bits of rubble embedded in it. As the Shukaku brought its arms up to block the powerful attack, Koiryu grabbed its shoulders, beating down hard and lifting off, flying higher and higher.

A moment after the Shukaku realized what had happened, he was falling towards the earth. But he wasn't alone. The Koiryuu was still grasping his shoulders, but was actually flaying down as well, beating its wings hard and picking up great speed. Ten feet before they hit, he suddenly released the Shukaku, snapping his wings up and breaking away as the other demon crashed into the ground, making a large crater. The demon didn't even have enough strength to snarl or move, it simply lay frozen in its own blood for a moment before reverting slowly back into Gaara.

The Koiryuuu was about to finish off the gennin, but Shike suddenly cried out in pain and he spun around in mid flight, looking below him. Shike stood leaning on the cement wall with several weapons pinning him there, blood leaking from various wounds. It dribbled down his partially open mouth, off his chin and into a small puddle on the ground. Before him stood a number of Sand-nin.

Forgetting Gaara, the Koiryuu screeched loudly in anger, red chakra exploding around it and crackling like electricity as it tore into the Sand's ranks, taking them out with a few swipes of its clawed hands and sending them against the cement wall where they slid down, leaving a trail of blood as they fell to the ground.

The Koiryuu roared again, forgetting about everything but the enemy. It spread its wings wide, running as it took off and pumped its wings hard, circling the arena. It spotted another group of Sand-nin below and screeched, opening its mouth wide. A ball of light appeared between its jaws, remaining small for a moment before exploding into flames, burning a bright path towards the group. They were instantly incinerated, leaving nothing but an empty, black crater where they had stood.

"Stop it! Get it away!" shouted a Leaf-nin. The Koiryuu snapped around and burned a straight path towards two Sound-nin, but one of them managed to avoid it. But the dragon's jaws found him, snapping his body around before releasing it and sending it flying. Most people thought they were watching a demon, but it was Izumi who was doing most of the work at the moment.

She had felt an anger burning inside of her that she had never felt before, and it blocked out everything in her mind. She saw only the enemy and her claws tearing them to peices. She had absolutely no clue what she was doing, but it didn't matter anymore. She was not stopping anytime soon.

The Koiryuuu grunted as it was engulfed in a column of flame shot from the mouth of a Sand-nin, but the hard scales covering its body made the flames useless against it. It opened its jaws, snapping the enemy's neck in a single snap of its jaws, pointed fangs going clen through his body and sending blood flying everywhere. A picture of Shike flashed through her mind, blood dripping from his lips, spattering his pale face, running down his arms and pooling at his feet.

The mere thought caused the demon to screech again, shaking the ground in anger as red chakra exploded around it, instantly killing another ten or fifteen Sound and Sand, and narrowly missing a few of the Leaf Anbu as they dashed aside. He went into a frenzy, snapping around blindly, lashing out with his bone-tipped tail,slicing with his wings and tearing at things with his needle sharp claws. If the arena had been destroyed before, it was soon completely demolished, save the place where Raiko was examining Shike, trying to stop the bloodflow.

Another shinobi shouted something from behind him and he was blasted back a few yards by a large column of spinning water. There were a number of shuriken and other small wepons embedded in it that sliced his wings, tearing them slightly. When the water faded, he was taken aback when he saw the user was a Leaf-nin. Looking around, he vaguely noted there was no longer any enemies, but he was still surrounded by shinobi. Leaf-nin. All forming selas and sending jutsus at him.

So he acted in self defence.

Without aiming to kill, his tail whipped around, knocking them back as he beat his shredded wings, trying to lift off. He could still feel Izumi's anger within him, and it was still powerful enough to control some of his movements, but he could not speak for some reason. Another water cyclone was sent towards him and this time he opened his mouth and blasted it back. But another came from the side and he was forced to block with his already shredded wings.

The two cyclones hit him with tremendous force, knocking the air from his lungs and completely ripping apart his leathery wings as if they were wet paper. He screeched with what little breath he had left and chakra exploded from him again, pushing the water back until it faded completely, leaving him broken and bleeding as he face the Leaf-nin. Which left him with another problem: he had no chakra left.

He stood with his legs spread out evenly, his body lowered along with his head and blood dripping form him, running out of various wounds. His wings were shredded and broken beyond hope, hanging useless and crumpled at his side. I should have made a full transformation instead of only half, but that could have killed Izumi and even myself... There's nothing I can do at the moment, I don't have enough chakra to complete the transformation...

He moved to block as a fiery whirlwind tore across the arena, or what was left of it, blasting him back and cutting his neck open. This was followed by several more, and he finally fought back, roaring and lashing out, catching one of the Anbu with a single claw and sending him flying into the wall, unconcious. He was losing blood quickly, and didn't know what to do. His mind was overflowing with the sound of Izumi screaming at him, each word laced with tears and pain, yelling at him to kill, yelling at him to stop, or just plain yelling at him.

Get out of my head, he thought, shaking his reptilian muzzle and sending a shower of blood flying everywhere. He was hit by another few jutsus until he was leaning against the remainder of the cement wall, panting and bleeding heavily. But he would rather live.

He suddenly lunged at the first row of Leaf-nin, ready to kill them all, but golden chains suddenly wrapped around his body. They curled over his arms and legs, his wings, tail and up his neck, wrapping his muzzle closed. It burned and soothed at the same time, easing the pain and making him sleepy. He slowed to a standstill, finally collapsing in a large puddle of blood. His red eyes slowly closed, his breathing becoming shallow as he let the darkness take him.

Get out. I don't want to be here. Stop fighting. Stop killing. Leave them alone. Let me out, Koiryuu! Izumi floated slowly through the back of the slumbering dragon's mind, her arms wrapped around her thin waist as she squeezed her eyes shut. The pain was unbearable, tearing through every small fibre in her body and slowly breaking her. It was cold and wet and she couldn't breathe. She finally opened her eyes, looking up.

She was floating in blood. It surrounded her completely, suffocating her, drenching her, filling her nose and mouth and stinging her eyes as she strained them to see anything other than the red. She lifted a hand, reaching out through the thick liquid to try and grab hold of something, anything, but there was nothing to grab on to. More blood gushed from her mouth and she withdrew her hand. The pain had suddenly vanished, like her body had suddenly gone numb.

"Iyasu!" she shouted, running down the street. People parted as she dashed towards the center of the city, they always avoided her.

"Over here, brat," came a voice to her left. She skidded to a halt, spotting the dark-haired jounin. He was leaning on the side of a restaurant wall, arms folded over his chest.

"Why do you always run off like that!? Dad never means what he says," she said, running over to him. He looked down at her for a moment before smiling and ruffling her raven black hair.

"I know," he said. He suddenly reached down and lifted her off the ground, sitting her on his shoulders and walking out from behind the restaurant, heading towards the center of the city. He opened his mouth to speak again, but the ground was suddenly shaken by a large explosion, followed by one more before things fell silent again. Iyasu spun around, looking up into a large column of smoke that was rising from the south, at the edge of the city.

"Whats going on?" she asked, gripping his shoulders tightly with her small hands. He gently took her down and crouched before her, at eye level with the child.

"I need you to go to father, alright? I'm going to go help brother, he's on guard duty over there. Go quickly, alright?" He said seriously, a hand on each shoulder.

"Right," she said seriously, her young face looking up into his as he stood. She smiled before turning and dashing towards the center of the city, weaving between throngs of pannicking people. There was another loud explosion and the ground shook, sending her sprawling forwards into the dirt. She pushed herself up, wiping dirt from her mouth and spitting it out, making a disgusted face.

Standing, she looked behind her and her face paled further. A body was hanging over the edge of the roof a few houses away, the man's face a mask of shock as blood dripped down from him, dripping onto the streets below. She swallowed hard before turning and dashing away again, somewhat more quickly.

A few explosions later, she finally burst through the doors of the large building, glancing around as swarms of jounins passed around her, barking orders at eachother and running messages across the room. She darted between them towards another door and burst through that as well, to find her father speaking with a number of Anbu and two Jounin..

"Dad!" she shouted, skidding to a halt and almost falling over. "What's going on?"

"The Stone is attacking again. Come here," he said, ignoring the other shinobi in the room at the time. She dusted her black t-shirt off again and stepped forwards towards her father, standing to attention before him as was expected of her.

"Are you ready for a super A rank mission?" he asked in his usual quiet, silky voice. She shook her head furiously, a smile crawling onto her face. Her father opened his mouth to speak again, but the door to the room suddenly burst open again, a young Anbu and a jounin stumbling in. They both had the same dark hair and grey eyes as her, and the younger one, the Anbu, was bleeding from his side, the blood staining his white uniform red.

"Kairi! Are you alright?" asked Iyasu, breathing heavily and moving towards her. The Anbu remained at the door, glaring angrily at her father.

"Be quiet Iyasu," ordered her father, turning back to her. "As I was saying, this is a high A ranked mission that I will need you to do by yourself in order to protect this village. I want you to fully release the Shinkirou and use it against the enemy."

"What!?" she yelled.

"What!?" shouted Iyasu, stepping back and staring at his father in horror. "But if you do that then..."

"I am fully aware of the consequences, Iyasu," said his father curtly.

"But dad, I don't want to-"

"I don't care if you don't want to, you have to. There is no other option."

"But-"

"YOU WILL DO AS I SAY, KAIRI!!!" he barked, slamming his hands on the desk and standing. She swallowed hard and shut her mouth.

"You can't," said the Anbu at the door, taking a step into the room.

"You stay out of this," growled her father, shooting an angry look at him. "I'll deal with you later."

"You can't do that to an eight-year-old kid. It would-"

"She is not your daughter! She is mine, and I will decide what I want to do with her!"

"I won't let you destroy her like you did to us!" he shouted back, taking a step forwards as he spoke.

"I chose you to success me over Iyasu, and yet you argue the most with me... I sometimes wonder why I even bother. I told you, I will deal with you later, so stay out of this. I will do with her as I please," growled her father. The Anbu stopped moving forwards.

"Keh," he scoffed, freezing on the spot and grasping his side again. She turned her eyes back to her father.

"I don't want to... It hurts," she whispered, looking down at her feet.

"If you don't, I will be forced to punish you again," he growled. She met his eyes as fear flashed across them.

"No! I... I will. Just don't do that, it hurts even more... I'll go and fight for you, like a good girl, a good weapon," she said, turning away and walking out of the room. The Anbu was standing outside and he followed as she left the building and moved into the streets, looking past the nearest houses and down into the main village. There was a flood of shadows slowly advancing towards the center, dashing along rooftops towards the main building.

She stopped and looked on helplessly as the shadows neared, swarming up the hill towards the bulding, and she slowly released the familiar power, letting it crawl across her skin and fill the air around her with it's crushing power, the raw energy licking up like flames at her feet.

The Anbu stopped behind her, standing a few feet off and looking on at the ranks of Stone-nin as they broke like waves over the village, washing towards them faster and faster. She turned her head slightly, tears running down her cheeks as she looked at the young Anbu.

"What's going to happen to me now, Daisuke-chan?"

Izumi's eyes widened and she opened her mouth, her head snapping back as a scream tore from her throat, sending bubled upwards through the see of blood. The memory flashed through her mind so vividly it had been as if it had all hapened at that exact moment. She had even felt the pain, the sadness, everything. She could almost feel the Raikage's eyes still watching her.

It's... It's not possible! She screamed inwardly, choking on more blood. It's impossible!!! Daisuke can't... He can't be... It's just impossible!

Get over it, kid, came a familiar voice, dulled by the blood around her.

No! I won't believe it!!!

I didn't want to tell you because I knew that if you remembered then we would both be reverted back to our formal selves. And look waht happened, now I'm stuck back inside that stupid, weak little dragon, the Shinkirou as they called it.

Her hands were clutching the sides of her head as she floated along in the blood. Her breathing had stopped a long time ago, but the pain was somehow still there, echoing through her dead body like a memory frozen in time. It's impossible, she thought slowly.

If you don't move soon, you'll be gone forever.

I don't want to.

I do.

I don't.

Ugh, just open your damn eyes and accept it, kid. There's no other explanation, it's the truth, everything else that I could tell you would be a lie. Daisuke's your brother, the Raikage is your father, and your name isn't Izumi, it's Kairi. I gave you that name when I tried to erase your mind so that there would be less memories to worry about.

Kairi? I can't be Daisuke's sister. We have nothing in common. We don't look anything like eachother. It's simply not possible.

There's nothing simple about it. It took me a year to kill off your old self, I had tons of memory to destroy, which was made even more difficult as I tried to save the things that I needed, such as your Jutsus, memory of me, even the simple things like how to communicate or walk. Then I had to pound your new identity into your mind and change your appearance. Changing your looks was the easy part.

When you fully released the Shinkirou that I was posessing, I managed to break through and take my true form as the Koiryuu. But when I changed forms, you did as well, you lost more of your mind, your soul, your life. Your soul was reflected in your looks, which worked to my advantage when I found that your own brother had ran to the Leaf.

Why? Her eyes slipped shut further. The blood around her was thick and dark, all warmth lost from it as it filled her lungs, eating away the remaining warmth within her. Her heart beat once more before giving out as well. Why would you do this to me?

Get up now, or we're both dead.

So sleepy...

Get up Kairi!

I don't want to.

Kairi, at least do it for Shike!

Shike'll be fine.

Kairi!! What about your brother!?

Daisuke?

Kairi!!

Shuddap.

"Kairi!?"

She felt two hands wrap around her and pull her from the cold blood, lifting her onto the hard ground instead. Her chest felt cold and empty, flooded with blood and devoid of air. She felt numb and cold, and her heart had stopped long ago, but she could hear voices echoing through her mind dully.

"Is she dead?"

"She's not breathing!"

"Good ridance, the last thing we need in this village is another demon."

"Shut up! Kairi!!"

Go away, she thought. Her eyelids were heavy as she floated in the darkness, but something was preventing them from closing.

"Kairi, get up!"

"Kairi?" Raiko? she thought. The voice echoed through her mind and her eyes opened slightly. There was a red light in front of her, shining annoyingly in her eyes as she looked past the darkness, still not seing anything.

"She's changed..." rasped another familiar voice laced with pain. Shike?

"Kairi! Move!!!"

Something connected with her chest once, twice, three times, over and over. She felt a rib snap under the pressure, but no pain came, just a dull snapping noise. Stop that, she thought vaguely, her eyes opening more. Let me sleep.

"She's not breathing! Sensei, what's happening!?"

"Ugh... Kairi!!"

It slammed into her chest again and she sat bolt upright, pain exploding through her mind along with the faces of numerous Leaf-nin.

"I said stop it!" she growled. She hunched over, coughing up a large amount of blood onto... into a puddle of blood. Her eyes fell upon a small, deep pool of pure blood in the middle of a large crater. She was sitting at the edge of it, the cold liquid drenching her completely, causing her raven black hair to stick to her pale skin... Raven black hair!?

"Izumi!"

"Kairi!"

She looked into the blood for a moment before her arms gave out and she fell back again, closing her eyes in pain. It wasn't a dream. She really had been drowning in cold blood. She almost gagged at the thought, coughing up more of the thick liquid. Some one lifted her onto another surface as instructions were barked between people, echoing through her mind with no meaning.

She opened her eyes and they focused on a familiar figure. He was wearing an Anbu uniform and his young face was strained with pain and concern, raven black locks falling loosely around his pale face. For the first time she remembered his face. Daisuke, her brother.