I'm REALLY sorry this chapter took so long! I just had no time! Or actually I had time, I just didn't use it to write the story! IM REALLY SORRY! Thanks for the support people! I'm happy to say that I am continuing this horrible story so unfasten your seatbelts because its gonna be a very long time before it is finished. I'm not really sure where that came from but… LIGHTS… CAMERA…. ACTION!
Everyone stared at the angelic girl that landed before them.
"What exactly do you mean by 'sent him away?'" Aki asked, "And what monster?"
"I told you already…" Setsuna replied very quietly, "When I was younger, I was exiled from my family – a clan of bird demons. I told you that my tribe all had black wings, but I have white wings. But I didn't tell you, that when I first was born, I was a human – not a bird. I only turned into a bird when I was four. A giant bird, much like a dove, that had four tails and had incredibly immense power. My father, the Amethyst Crow, the most powerful bird in the tribe, was scared of my power… he was scared I would over throw him one day; so he banished me."
"Amethyst… Hey Set-chan… what color are his eyes?"
"Violet, why?"
"They're the ones who attacked us in the desert!" Aki exclaimed. Fragments of pictures of Setsuna's dad came up in Aki's mind. His piercing purple eyes haunted her.
"That's true." Kevin said.
"Setsuna." Neji spoke up, "You said 'a bird that had four tails,' right?"
"Yes…"
"Is it possible that you are the four tailed beast? The Yonbi? Just like Aki is the 10-tailed Biju."
Aki frowned, "I am not."
"Then… what was that?" Setsuna asked, "That presence that almost killed me and everyone else?"
"I don't know… can we at least name my stupid monster?"
"Okay…? What?"
"Akinekinorryseke…" (A/N: Thanks Achillea! Tried to make it start with 'A!' Dedicated to you, dude!)
"A little too long there…"
"Kino then."
"Whatever." Neji sighed.
"Well…".
Setsuna waved her arms about to get their attention, "Okay! Enough! So what is Kino?"
"Just like you have the spirit/monster of the Yonbi bird within you, I have the presence of this Biju, Kino, within me…" Aki tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Wait… I distinctly remember… something… This monster has full control of me at times when my brother is not present." Aki closed her eyes and tried to feel for Kino.
She felt herself plunging through the darkness deep inside her soul. She found herself walking forwards in a labyrinth of stairs and doors… Is this inside of me? She kept walking forwards, her long shadow in front of her. She walked on for what seemed like hours. Seeing the familiar locked door to her left, Aki finally concluded she was walking in circles. She turned left and tried opening the locked door. It glided soundlessly and smoothly on its hinges. She took a step in, testing the floor and looking for booby traps. The ground didn't cave in. She took another, then another, then another. Suddenly, the ground started collapsing. Aki tried grabbing for the edge of the hole but she fell. Trying to scream, she found that her voice was gone. She fell soundlessly amongst the many bricks, reaching for the diminishing light above her.
"What happened?"
"I don't know."
"Aki… wake up. Please wake up."
"Mmmm…?" Aki woke up face down on hard cement. She got up slowly, the many pebbles and rocks falling soundlessly from her body. She found herself staring into a room that seemed like it had no ends. The corners were dark and freakishly frightening, and the light was dim and flickering. Aki brushed the remnants of the rocks from her clothes. She called out, "Onee-chan? Se-chan? Ryou-kun? Kev-kun?" Her voice echoed and she heard her frightened words fling back at her.
Aki started walking straight; just like the labyrinth, but hopefully this time she wouldn't fall in a dark hole.
After a few minutes Aki stopped, she heard a raspy, strong voice say, 'You are Hyuuga Aki.' Aki noticed that it sounded more like a declaration than a question.
"Wh-Who's speaking?" Aki spoke out.
'It is I. As you named, Kino." A black and gold dragon stepped out from the darkness. Its scales shone with a golden light and its dark belly shimmered like the stars at night. Its crimson eyes blinked steadily and its white beard flew around without the help of the wind. There were no more words that could've described this magnificent, but evil, creature. The dragon had a long serpent like body and was hundreds of yards long. It raised one claw slowly and twitched it. Liquid chains sprung out from the floor and wrapped themselves around Aki before she could even move. She stood still for a while in her cocoon of chains and the realized that she was bound. Her legs were still free so she began to try to get loose by pulling on the chains.
"What are you doing! Let me go! What the hell? LET ME GO! THIS IS MY MIND!" Aki struggled more. Kino twitched another claw and the chains started pulling back, slowly, to the ground. Aki tried with all her might to remain standing, but the chains were strong and she was brought to her knees.
'First of all, I would like to say that technically this is my mind and that you are merely my shell. Second I wouldn't let you go until you hear what I have got to say… and if you don't then you'll just stay here for eternity leaving your physical body in a coma and eventually death." Aki immediately stopped squirming.
'Alright. Good. I would like to say thank you for letting me use your body, or rather, taking care of my body for all these years. But, over the years I see you have developed powers much like my own.' The dragon began a show of all his different powers, 'At first, I believed that you were merely drawing in my powers and using them as your own… but that time I almost completely possessed your body showed me that you had powers of your own. That is unfortunate for you because I am going to have to take them away.' For some reason the water chains began to flame and Aki felt a rigid pain in her chest; slowly enough, the pain began to ebb away. 'Now the powers are mine again.' The dragon moved closer towards Aki. For some reason the walls shifted also; that's when Aki realized that the reason the walls were so black and dark was because it was the ten tails of this dragon. Kino extended a sharp claw and touched Aki's face. Cupping her face in his gigantic claw, he studied her briefly.
He held on hard so his claw cut through Aki's skin. Aki winced in pain, and her eyes started tearing. Her seals began to appear on her face. The dark purple one slowly appeared; the eyes of Kino brightened.
'I see you have gotten yourself some more seals other than the one you have on your back.' Kino pressed harder with his claw and slid one finger steadily across the purple seal.
Something warm seeped through Neji's t-shirt. It was warm and somewhat sticky. He looked over his shoulder but found he couldn't really see anything. "You guys. Is there something on my back?" Kevin and Ryou both looked up at Neji's back. He was giving Aki a piggy back because she just suddenly passed out.
"Whoa! You're back is almost covered in blood!"
"What? Where is it coming from?"
Kevin walked closer to Neji, "It's coming from Aki's face!"
Neji carefully let Aki lie on the floor. It was true; her face was almost covered in blood. He saw three large gashes on her cheek and her jaw line. He also saw large bruises covering her arms. Neji looked worriedly upon his sister. On one arm he even saw deep black markings that led carefully to her back. Blood was also seeping through her back.
"SETSUNA!" Ryou cried to the sky. The mysterious bird girl landed on the ground shortly after.
"Hm?" Setsuna asked, "Whoa! What happened here? Did you get ambushed or something? Neji and Aki are bleeding."
"I'm not bleeding – Aki is though." Neji said matter-of-factly.
"Yes. We need you to bandage her up. Since none of us want to do it." Kevin said bringing out a First-Aid kit. He brought out a long roll of bandages and antiseptic and gave them to Setsuna.
"Okay." Her wings slowly faded back into her back and she took Aki towards some bushes.
Kino brought one claw to her neck and lifted her chin, leaving a thin line of blood. 'I see you were also finally marked with the Byakuugan cursed seal." The dragon backed away. Then, he began to shrink. Kino glowed purple and shrunk. He shrunk until he was about Aki's height and then he stopped glowing. Aki found herself looking into a mirror image of her. Except, this image had evil eyes and all the seals were activated. The counter Aki flexed her (or his because this actually Kino) fingers to make sure they were working. Then she began testing out her powers. In one hand she activated fire, in the other dark. Next, it was wind and earth. Next it was light and time, and then water and metal, until she finished testing each and every one. "I see you still have not mastered all your powers.' Aki was expecting Kino's normal rough voice to speak through her mouth but it was actually her voice – other than the fact that it sounded pure evil and had a sickening smoothness about it.
'Well. I must be off to destroy your friends and anything else I don't like.' Aki-counterpart extended her newly found arm and used the power of time (literally). Aki-real found herself in a huge, fancy hour glass. She was still kneeling and chained up so she couldn't move. Aki saw Aki-counterpart pull something from the area where the two parts met. Black sand fell through the new hole. Aki felt the sand land heavily on her head. She shook her head like a dog.
Unable to do anything Aki knelt in the center of the hourglass as the glass began to fill up with sand.
"Aki? You're waking up. That's great! Aki!" Setsuna smiled at her fallen friend. Aki, or supposedly Aki, sat up and looked around. Snickering, Aki looked at her friend with glaring eyes.
"Setsuna are you done yet?"
"Setsuna? Who is Setsuna?" Aki stood behind Ryou holding Setsuna by the neck. She struggled but couldn't over come Aki's power. Her body grew limp. Aki threw her body away like it was some rag doll. A wind picked up and a tree sprung from no where and Setsuna was pinned to the tree with some metal shuriken and tree roots. "Now, who's Setsuna?"
Finally IM DONE! Im sorry it took so long! Please Review for my ideas... more reviews -more support - more confidence - better chapters/faster chapters!