11 Minotaur and Pegasus
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I can only hope the author approves of my work.
As always : R&R my fellow Naruto fans
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Last Time: We learn the meaning of the scroll, and we learn what Tanar can do in her fighting skills/ She successfully performs the Forbidden Seed Scroll (loud cheering)/ The Hokage is ready to perform the scroll/ These are the requirements: Nuna is the enemy that must be present/ Iruka is the greatest friend/ Kakashi is the fire of the fellow human/ We learn what Kakashi will do for Tanar (Kakashi loves her)/ Gai is there to restrain Nuna from killing Tanar/ Tanar is dying as a result of performing the scroll in such a drastically obscure way/ And so the dramatic ending of Animal Oxymoron is hereby begun/
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Is the night the deepest darkness? Is the sun the greatest light? Can an animal really change its nature? Can a monster really fit in a human's body? Can I live to find out these answers? Wondered Tanar. The Assassin, the girl, the ninja, the woman all in one soul but not of one mind or heart gazed around the circle she stood in. The Hokage was inspecting her work. Gai was standing over Nuna. Nuna was sulking in a corner. Her back to a tree. Iruka was mixing the salve. Kakashi was staring at her. She had refused to return his gaze ever since they got there. She liked having the small moonbeams dance around her. It seemed there was a small finger nail shaped space of protection. Nothing could puncture her lighted space. Not the tension of the other ninjas, not the hate that was directed toward her, or the compassion that had flittered across Kakashi's face. She only wished she could have left her own feelings in the darkness as well.
Iruka coughed to get her attention. She shook her head to banish the trance. She stepped out of the moonlight. "Ready," he said quietly. She nodded determination danced in her eyes. Iruka took out a small brush. He dipped it in the rusty paint that held his own blood to complete the requirement. She kneeled down. He began to paint the symbols in a circle around her. The Hokage spoke "Into your positions." Nuna took one end of the crescent moonbeam light. Kakashi at the other. Tanar in the center of the circle. So it began. Iruka painted the borders of the circle and the lighted crescent. He then painted on the clothing of Nuna, the Hokage, and Kakashi labeling them for what they were. Seeing the words written in blood it seemed more True. Kakashi was labeled fire. His proud figure would not take his eyes off of her. What did he want? Repentance from her. He would not get it. She was a swirling mass of unfocused conflicting thoughts. She hated him for not being there for Line when he lay butchered on the fire. She remembered the number of beautiful sunsets they had watched. She remembered the first time she had seen him fighting. It was time to stir up the past. She stood firm as she faced Kakashi. "How was the book?" she asked. As before the question caught him off guard. Iruka stopped painting. The Hokage shifted gazes from Kakashi to Tanar. Gai was giving confused looks.
As what seemed so long ago he said "Hugh!" Only this time she had no book to steal. She couldn't throw anything at him. She couldn't break his nose. She had been the cause and effect of many trials with him. "Are you done yet Iruka?" she asked not willing to complete what she started. Iruka finished painting. Kakashi nearly stepped out of the circle. The Hokage stopped him with sharp words. Tanar faced the Hokage "Let us begin my master" she bowed low. The Hokage began to chant. His voice low and steady. It was to slow for her. So she helped. Her voice was higher then his. It was smooth and slick like running water. The Chakra began to leak out of Nuna and Kakashi. Iruka lit the circle with raw energy. The quiet whisper of wind blown energy slipped in the air.
"You will forget me Kakashi, I will only be a bad dream like your Uchiha clan friend" She said. It was the closest thing to an apology she could muster under her limited time. She could already feel the energy swirl around her. Her body felt like sheets of her life were being ripped from her slowly like a bandage. She continued "That is my gift to you, I caused you too much physical pain, and your memory of me will fade" "Not here Tanar this needs to be a private conversation" Kakashi muttered. His ignorant tone was as infuriating as ever. The stupid ninja was so conceited. She wanted this man to understand her. She was sorry for what she had done to him. She was grateful for his help. But she was a monster her life had been to kill, her life was about to end. "Sharingan" Kakashi spoke heedless to the Hokage's orders. Kakashi needed to understand what the woman was saying to him. He needed for her to understand him. If any one at all could know him. She was the one he wanted to understand. He entered her mind. The chambers of a mind took the form of a blue wood. The pulsing life in her conscious was easily seen as he walked on the grass of the forest. His body seemed to freeze. She did not want him here.
He had to make her understand. He had too. "His name was Obito, Tanar. He was my greatest friend and a member of my team along with Rin the medical ninja. Kyuubi was partially responsible for his death. He gave me his Sharingan Eye as a death wish. I think of him every day and thank him every sunset. You are like him Tanar. You will forever stay in my soul. Torturing me if you die, because I am unable to change your fate. I want with all my heart to change our fate." Tanar stepped out behind him. Her footsteps were soft. His body was still frozen. She placed her warm hand against his shoulder. The invisible chains that had held him fell to the ground. He turned around. Her blue eyes questioned him. "You said our fate ninja, I have done everything that should make you throw me away in disgust like every other one of your kind." He answered solemnly "Well I'll admit kissing the Sannnin was a bit much. I was jealous" Tanar was taken aback. But she was wary "You admit to being jealous?" Kakashi answered shuffling his feet "All I wanted from you is gratitude for giving you the mask, and to let me know if we could start over" Tanar pulled down her cloth blue mask. The woods began to shake. Leaves began to fall.
Blue shreds of wood began to fly in different directions. Tanar screamed in pain. Kakashi instinctively clung to her. She yelled into his shirt muffling her cry. He felt her body shake. The technique was killing her something was wrong. He had to fix it. He tried to let her go to fix his mistake. But it was she who now held him in the iron grip. She looked up into his face. Into both his gentle and angry red eye, but she saw Kakashi the man. She saw the fear, the pain, the hope, the fate. She smiled "There may be a second chance for me to forsake the monster I am Kakashi, but there is no second chance for you to live, and I will not have you die for me even if I am as you say worth changing our fate." She pulled his face to hers. She touched her fingers to his lips and gently kissed him on the cheek. "You will get no more Kakashi, for the forbidden seed has bloomed only to wither on the branch, Goodbye my ninja and thank you" She lifted her arms. And in one sweeping arc a wind of terrible power rushed Kakashi back to his body. The wind howled in thousands of animal voices. Each brayed, screeched, or howled. The voices mingled with the single final note of a woman's.
Kakashi felt his mind re-enter his body. Only to be crushed again as he felt massive paws trample him. In his fading consciousness. He heard the roar of a giant tiger mix with the scream of Tanar. The flame that had grown into a fire was blown out inside him.
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For the epilogue however wanted or unwanted it is called Bow Down to Belief.