Chapter 22: Tracking mission

It was raining.

It was hard to measure how important that was for someone who wasn't in Kiba's situation. It was raining, and the rain was his worst enemy. The skies were pitch black with a thick blanked of dark clouds heavy with moisture, the clouds blocked all light from above, it erased the stars and bared the moonlight. That combined with the cover of the forest's trees made visibility and light nonexistent, it was pitch black, making sight useless. And the constant sound of the heavy drops of water pounding into the soaked ground, crashing into the tree's leaves, falling against the branches and trunks made it hard for Kiba to hear his own thoughts let alone something else around him.

He was searching for someone, a small child had been forcefully adducted by a demon, the girl's mother came to them quickly, so Kiba was able to get a few descriptions and take note of the girl's scent before he set off. But he encountered this, heavy winds, zero visibility, and rain. He was working against a horribly constrictant clock, this rain was washing away the girl's scent, his trail, and he had to find the girl before it was completely gone.

"Damn rain." Kiba lept through the trees in an uncharacteristically sloppiness, propelling himself forward nearly blind save for his senses as a ninja. His hood was down since it aggravated his ears, his black clothes were heavy with water and clung to him with every movement, Akamaru was tucked in his zipped up jacket. He moved forward, chasing a quickly fleeing scent drawing him in this direction.

Lighting flashed not too far ahead, illuminating the blanket of black clouds covering the sky with a quick, fleeting tent of light blue, followed by the distant roll of thunder. Promising that this storm would get even worse then it already was. This forest he searched through was large, this one stayed standing even during the Chakra storm nearly 2 years ago, though the trees were much fewer in number then they used to be because of it. Only the considerably old trees had remained standing, leaving behind the ones with thick trunks and tall enough to be small towers.

"Akamaru? You picking up anything?" Kiba gained a negative bark in return.

Akamaru wasn't picking up any thing anymore, and neither was he.

Kiba stopped, allowing himself to fall in between the trees and drop into a small clearing below, it looked as if several trees used to resided in this spot. "Shit!" He growled in anger. This was it, the rain had finally washed away the sent of the girl he'd been tracking, the trail ended here.

Akamaru barked again, making Kiba pause to look around. ' ?' What was that... The boy tilted his head back inhaled the wet air in deep breaths, "Hey... your right. What is that smell..."

Kiba moved slowly across the muddy ground, his nose twitched at the faint yet softly intensifying smell. The air was filled with the scent of moisture and wet foliage and plant life as it always was in the forest when it rained, but this scent he picked out was nothing like that. Which was why it was so odd when Kiba's nose led him to tree. 'Huh" He leaned forward and pressed his nose close to the large trunk... Though it didn't look like it, or feel like it from the outside, but this tree was dead. '!' Kiba drew his arm back and swiped at the large plant with his claws, he easily ripped through the rotting wood inside.

Lighting flashed in the sky, close this time, flooding the dark forest with a split second burst of light allowing Kiba to see just what was really inside of that hollowed out tree. A demon, a someone what short creature with white skin and a horn on it's head, it's upper body looked human. But it's lower body wasn't, it's legs were two hooves and everything below the waist with covered in brown fur, a horse's tail whipped behind it from it's lower back. This was a fawn demon.

The demon flipped backwards and landed on it's feet, letting out a cry that sounded similar to screech and a baby's wine.

"What the hell..." Kiba took a blind, reluctant step backwards, returning to the clearing. His ears perked, listening attentively and his nose flared, using his heightened sense of smell and hearing would be the only way to track this thing. He heard a soft splash in the muddy ground to the left of him and then the sound of something pushing hard through the air, the scent of the fawn was so close... Kiba reached a hand out and caught the demon by the fist, then pulled it over his shoulder and slammed it to the ground. He swiped at it with his claws but it rolled out of the way before he could hit.

The fawn backed away slowly, screaming loudly with that odd cry. It was so simple for Kiba to follow with out sight and he ran after it with out hesitation, growling in a low dangerous voice as he drew his claws back and slashed blindly at the creature. It jumped back to evade but Kiba still managed to connect, his claws swiped across the demon's chest, going deep enough with a single strike to fling a considerable amount of flesh and blood upon his claw's exit.

Lighting flashed in the sky and thunder rolled across the forest directly overhead, so loud that it drowned out every other sound and caused a considerable amount of pain to Kiba's sensitive ears. The half werewolf flinched and his ears pressed down hard against his head, leaving a loud ringing behind. It was a few second before he heard Akamaru barking at him, warning him. But what was he so agitated about? "Akamaru? What's-"

And then he realized it, that small scent of the single fawn he was fighting was now overpowered by the scent of many of the fawn. It wasn't screaming, it had been calling them. 'Crap!' He heard a repetition of loud crashes over the pounding of the rain as the fawns burst fort from the trunks of surrounding trees, which unfortunately caused the rest of the towering plants to fall to the ground with nothing to stand on. '!'

Kiba's ears twitched again and he dived to the left just as a severed tree from behind him crashed to the ground, causing the earth to shake noticeably. With his sense of hearing and instincts fully focused he rolled forward and sprang to his feet just as another three crashed down dangerously close behind, close enough to splash mud and rain water across his back when he landed. Then he flipped backward on to the previously fallen tree then sprang again into the air as a third one crashed on to the other two downed trees hard enough disburse a soaked burst of wind and wood... And that's when he saw the sight he'd been wishing for.

Aaahhhaaa! No! Aggaaaa!

With three contentious streaks, Lighting flooded the forest in with light from above, giving a quick snap shot of the area, and his momentary leap to evade the falling trees allowed him to see everything from above. Behind the shadows of the surrounding trees he saw a child, a very small boy with brown hair and half torn and muddy clothing being dragged screaming along the ground by the leg. He couldn't see what was dragging him though. He could also see directly under him, by now the clearing was filled with fawn demons, he roughly counted about 12 and he was sure there were more his eyes weren't fast enough to see.

'Oh man, I don't have time for this.' Kiba landed skillfully on the ground with a small splash of mud, and with out hesitation he took hold of Akamaru and abruptly tossed the small dog in the air. "Akamaru, follow him!" He barely got the words out before he felt two hooves slam into his chest hard enough to force the air out of his lungs and then another pair at his back that knocked him to the ground.

If there was one thing he could say about these demons was that they kicked hard.

Kiba fell face first into the mud with the knowledge he'd be sporting a bruise there later, he immediately rolled on to his back and thrust both feet into the air, blindly kicking another fawn that came at him in the darkness. He stumbled to his feet and just as soon he was pelted with blows. 'Damnit!' At the moment he was helpless, he couldn't see anything, his hearing was being drowned out by the rain and the excessive amounts of demons so it was nearly imposable to tell one from another, and he was surrounded by the same scent, he couldn't possibly picked out a single fawn's.

Another strong kick slammed into the back of Kiba's head and he blindly tumbled to the ground again. 'No...' He mumbled to himself, he couldn't let himself be held up here. And he was being drastically slowed down. 'I don't have time for this!' There was no way he could be beaten here, he had to move forward...

"Get out of my way!" His words drowned in a fierce, animalistic roar with a flash of red chakra that came faded just as quickly. His claws grew thicker and longer as his fingers dug into the muddy ground, clinching clumps of it into his closing fist. His fangs extended out of his mouth, pushing down his bottom lip even farther. The red lines extending down his face grew bolder with low dangerous growls pushing from deep in his throat with each breath.

Kiba's movements grew quicker, though he could do nothing but slash around wildly. It seemed to work though, he instantly felt his claws make contact with flesh, with one touch he got a general sense of the body he was fighting and immediately went for the neck, riping the fawn's throat out with a quick slash. It was working simply because he was suddenly fast enough to pull it off. His hearing seemed to heighten even farther, he could suddenly pick up and differentiate what was were, it was like a strong sense of dept was added...

"Gatsuuga!" Kiba dived forward and his body went into a furious spin, moving so fast he was nothing but a black blur in the darkness. His body moved on scent, plowing down and ripping apart each and every one of the demons before any of them knew what hit them. Kiba landed on his feet slid to a sudden stop, if there were any left they were either hiding or to injured to fight otherwise.

The rain grew harder, pounding louder and louder into his surroundings like thousands of pieces of metal, almost unbearable on his new even more heightened sense of hearing. He stood there, looking idly around the darkness, allowing the rain wash away the blood and and dirt covering him. "Akamaru!" Kiba called out, waiting hopefully for a response so that he could find their way. "Akamaru!"

Arf!

'There!" Kiba heard the small voice calling out to the left of him and he immediately shifted his path toward Akamaru's voice. He bolted across the wet ground, crossing the small clearing and heading deeper into the darkness of the forest.

Arf! Arf!

It wasn't long before he found the small doing perched in a tree, waiting for him. "Good job boy." Kiba jumped onto the tree branch, kneeling down and allowing Akamaru to climb into his usual spot in his jacket again. "Which way?"

Akamaru barked, indicating a direction only Kiba could understand. The boy nodded obediently and lept forward, flinching slightly as a streak of lighting directly over head painted the darkness of the forest in a flash of blue and allowed Kiba to see where he was going and more importantly his objective Akamaru had been tailing. It was a fawn demon, carrying the small boy on it's shoulder. 'Hey... wait...that's not the girl...who's that?'

Kiba sprang off of branch and lept forward, lighting flashed and Kiba could see he'd just leaped over a sharp downhill slope. This whole forest seemed to be one downhill slope...

Kiba landed in the tree branch at the foot of the 20 foot slope, right in front of another, larger clearing. This time the clearing looked as if it wasn't done by nature, the removal of the trees would be crude and rough, but it wasn't. There were stumps left behind from where trees had been cut off, deep holes in the ground were the tress appeared to have been ripped out cleanly by a sharp pull upward. "What the hell..." Who would do this...who would be powerful enough to clear out an area in this manner, and why? It was clearly just done recently, maybe...

Kiba saw the fawn run out of the forest below him, not losing a step in the murky ground of the clearing, the ground didn't seem to be absorbing the water fast enough so a layer of thin mud covered it like a sheet. It carried the boy on it's shoulders, crying out loudly with that strange cry. "Damnit, he's calling for help!" Kiba dived out of the tree, another flash of lighting streaming across the sky behind him followed by the powerful crash thunder sounding just as the boy landed. He nearly fell. It was loud enough to force him to stop and cringe with a though scattering pain pulsed in his ears. "Ahha..."

The ground began to quake with heavy foot steps, quick footsteps from the part of the forest across the large opening. The crude and harsh sound of buckling and cracking wood erupted as trees were broken and fell to the ground with loud crashes and equally loud splashes. It was almost fearful hearing such a frightful sound and surrounded in complete, darkness.

Lighting was flashing almost contentiously, he wasn't shore of how long this period of repeatedly discharging energy would last, but it allowed him to see 2 large, shadowy forms forcing their way out of the forest. They stood at lest 15 feet tall, tough red skin bulking with muscles over every part of their bodies and nothing more then a loincloth covering them, they were ogre demons. They approached the area, speaking in a series of mumbles and grunts in some unknown demon language.

The fawn demon ran right past them and as soon as the two demons heard it's cries they seemed to understand what it had been saying and ran towards Kiba before even seeing him. '!' "What is going on around here?" Kiba took a few reluctant steps back as he saw and heard the two large demons running at him in the static source of flashing light that made things seem like a wet slid show more then anything. At the very worst time, the lighting receded leaving everything in the familiar blanket of wet darkness. Even with out sight Kiba could hear them easily, and that's all he he needed. 'I guess I have no choice but to get past them!"

Kiba heard the foot steps cease and small sound of heavy limps parting through the air at a high speed. Lighting flashed and he saw the first ogre directly in front of him with it's fist driven into the ground dangerously close, apparently it couldn't see in the dark and was as blind as he was. "OniGijyu shinto!" Kiba clinched his hands into tight fist, forcing a blood red chakra out of his knuckles that formed into long claws extending at lest 3 feet outward. Kiba quickly dived to the left to avoid the second ogre that reached out for him.

Those ogre didn't let up, they were slow, but they were unrelentingly persistent. Kiba rolled on to his feet and took a few quick steps back, then charged swiftly forward toward the first demon under the cover of darkness. Tracking by hearing alone he sprang into the air drawing his left arm back and driving it into the ogre's chest. The ogre quickly lifted it's hand and blocked the blow, the red onigijuy claws drove completely through it's palm and came out the other side in a stream of blood. With a odd cry off pain the demon flung him away, throwing his body into the air by the claws, before Kiba could even try to recover, the second ogre demon came from behind and drove it's fist into Kiba's back with a powerful punch.

"Uff!" He was hammered into the ground, he nearly drowned in the layer of water thin mud covering it. He'd admit, these demons worked well together.

The ogre lifted it's fist and let out a surprised series of incomprehensible grunts when he found the boy he'd just crushed a second before was gone. "?"

Rooooaaaarr! Kiba roared thunderously as he broke through the soft ground behind the second ogre, leaping into the air and driving his claws into the broad expanses of it's back. Then he swiped the other claw across the wet flesh, deciding not to press his luck, Kiba kicked off the second demon's back and moved back a safe distance. He almost made it too, but the much angrier first ogre snatched him out of the air with it's uninjured hand.

The first ogre wailed aggressively as it tossed Kiba's body as far as it could, lunching Kiba to the edge of the clearing where he collided painfully with the base of a tree. He cried out in pain as his body broke through it and crashed half way into the trunk of an even larger tree, hearing the first fall to the ground in front of him. "Ughaaa..." He cringed and bit down on his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, his back was ripped open with large gashes from the objects piercing deeply into his flesh. It stung horribly when the mud and dirt covering his body finally made it's way into his wounds. "A-Akamaru.."

He could only watch the light of many flames became visible in the forest on the other side of the clearing, more heavy footsteps following behind from something large. They came in large numbers through the ruined path caused by the red ogres that came the first time, fawn demons bearing torches to light their path. They were followed by two more ogres but with completely black skin, and based on appearance, stronger the the red ones.

The disorganized precession stopped in the center of the clearing, the fawns parted out of the way as the two black ogres found the particular spot they seemed to be looking for. Then with a small quake the two demons dropped to their knees and dug their hands into the muddy ground and lifted something close to the surface, a hatch to something. Reveling a steel container of some sort that had been well buried and hidden under ground especially for it's size, as soon as the cover opened Kiba could hear an abundance of loud, pained screams and even see inside of it from where he was. The box structure was about 10 feet long and 15 feet wide, roughly 10 deep, and contained abducted children. They were small, none of them could be over the age of 5 but they were helplessly trapped and screaming so loudly that Kiba winced at the depressing sound. Hearing that was worse then the pain he was in right now... The fawn carelessly tossed the brown haired boy into what was nothing more then a fully boxed cage and the ogres closed the hatch, shutting out all of the screams into the heavy rain and isolating the children into darkness.

'Oh my god...' He couldn't believe what he'd just seen. "No!" Kiba screamed, wincing at the pain in his back as he forced himself on to his feet. This was much worse then he expected when he first came on this mission, he wasn't just looking for one missing kid, he was looking for over 20. If he failed, just one life wouldn't be on his hands... "No!"

The black ogres paid no attention to him, the demons only moved over to the other side of the container and began shoving large handfuls of saturated earth out of the way, digging for something. It was a simple manner of a few scoops with such a large size, they dug their hand into the ground again down to about the wrist, and with a word in the demon language each fished around and finally pulled out a thick steel cord. The two ogres worked with an experienced unison, pulling on the large steel cords with their strength until the ground parted like water and the steel container was pulled from it's place in the ground and steadily dragged toward the edge of the forest where they'd first come from, the fawns and the steady light of the fire went with them.

"Akamaru." Kiba took quick, stumbling steps forward, staring at the two red ogres coming directly at him again. "Can you find your way back?" He asked hopefully, Akamaru barked affirmatively in response. "Go back and get some help, it doesn't matter who just get them out here." Kiba cried desperately, Akamaru gave another affirmative bark and quickly climbed out of Kiba's jacket, sensing all of his master's haste as he dashed off uphill.

'Looks like I'm on my own for now...' Kiba looked down at his hands, noticing that onigijyu claws had been dispelled. He didn't have time to redo the jutsu now, Kiba flipped to the side in the darkness, feeling the first ogre's only good hand swipe out at him. Then with quick movements he jumped onto the same ogre's fleeting arm, growling fiercely as he sprinted up the large appendage on all fours and then sprang into the air, driving his foot into the first ogre's face with a powerful kick, pushing all of his strength behind it. Hard enough to knock the ogre to the ground.

"OniGijuy Shinto!" Blood red claws reformed on his knuckles, lighting flooding the surroundings with light as he plummeted to the ground after the falling ogre. With out missing a second subsequent to the ogre's landing on the ground Kiba drove his claws into it's head, killing it before it even realized it. '!' Kiba's only warning was the twitch of his ears at a sensitive sound his ears were naturally tuned too before the second ogre's cuffed fist slammed into his back.

'!' "Ughaaaaa!" He didn't go very far, thrown on to his stomach a few feet away from the dead first demon, but it aggravated his wounded back to uncomprehending amounts. But that only made Kiba's furry even stronger, this wasn't were he needed to be, he couldn't be held up here! And thing he said at the moment came out simply as a loud roar, licking the blood off of his upper lip as he climbed on to all fours and turned toward the demon. It was dark again, neither of them could see each other, but Kiba could hear it clearly as before.

With a feeling like adrenaline rushing through him he charged forward in darkness, in a flash of lighting he jumped on the air and landed on top of the ogre's fist at it attempted to strike him.

It expected him to attack it's head, blocking it's face with it's arm and ready to retaliate, but instead Kiba used that anticipation against it. He simply lept over it's temperately unaware head, and skillfully planted two explosive tags as he fell over it's shoulder. One on the back of it's head and one in the center of it's back upon his evading accent and then sprang off toward the other side of the clearing in a canine like manner, still on all fours.

He heard the oddly satisfying explosion behind him followed by the crash of dead weight against the wet ground.

! - ! - !

Iruka sighed, looking around helplessly at the SDI lobby filled with people desperately seeking help to reclaim their lost children. It wasn't sure what was going on but all of these people came in around the same time frame, obviously connected in descriptions of accounts. It was the same, a demon came and simply took their child, or children.

They were all parents, mothers and fathers, some simply a single mother or a single father standing idly alone in the crowed. Some had children with them, holing them close as if they were their last hope for salvation, their only thing left, fearing that they would be taken away too. But Iruka felt the worst for those who had no one there with them, he understood them a little better then those parents who stood there together with their spouses, especially the ones who were there with other children. When he saw them he felt as if he was one of them, he just hoped they understood his empathy and because of it he'd do everything possible to help them.

The room was filled with a loud uproar of too many people seeking help, too many desperate people. Iruka finally spoke up, nearly shouting to the small crowed for them to calm down, they seemed to listen to him. "Please, just hold on, I assure you we're doing all we can to find them." He said. "But you'll have to calm down, worrying like this isn't going to do anything." Maybe it was because they knew or felt he understood by how much emotion was in his voice when he spoke, or the look in his eyes that held the same sadness as if he was going through what they were. But they listened to him and tried not to worry.

The atmosphere was so oppressive, all of these people who were so sad and worried and desperate that they might simply snap under the stress. It overwhelming to watch, it was overwhelming for him to be around... Iruka quickly turned and walked with quick steps toward the door, hoping the people would think of it as nothing more then him going to help out in the search for their children, walking of the lobby door and into the familiar main hall. He closed the door behind him and leaning against it weakly with a deep sigh. "Oh man... Kiba please find something..." All of these cases were connected obviously, and so was the one Kiba had been sent on, if Kiba found something then...

He stood there for a moment, contemplating what he would do about this problem...

"Iruka?" Naruto came down the hall with quick steps, nearly running. "Iruka, I was looking all over for you!"

"What? Why?"

"It's Sasuke and Neji." He said. "A demon attacked them up stairs."

! - ! - !

The lighting seemed to thin out in favor of the deafeningly loud clash of thunder that were so painful to Kiba's ears. But he didn't need the light, the ogres had left a clear path lined with smashed and broken trees and a strait trail when they were dragging the steel cage. Following the trail ironically wouldn't be his problem any more...

'...?' Kiba didn't stop, uneasiness prompted him to move faster, but he wondered the nature of this new ominous sinking feeling digging into his stomach. A feeling that told him to run and not to look back, something so undeniably strong screaming to abandon this and go, right now. He didn't understand it until he felt a soft quake in the ground, one that wouldn't have been noticed if he wasn't so low to the ground, his ears focused inanely at a distance sound, a soft sound that was nearly indistinguishable against the rainfall. Mainly because it was so similar to it. ' N-no...no!' Kiba immediately increased his pace to a speed that made his balance unstable on the slick ground. He turned to the side and began sliding down the sharp downhill slope he came to, knowing he couldn't afforded to fall right now. 'No!'

In only a few seconds he could hear it clearly, the rubbling from the earth was undeniable, something big and powerful was coming at him and it was coming from behind... . 'Not now... Damn this rain!' The rain was his worst enemy.

It came flowing from up hill a wall of muddy water blowing through the forest with full force, a raging river that swept away the soft top soil as well as everything in it's path. It engulfed every broken and ruined tree along the path, the logs and severed plants tumbled and crashed loudly along the ground, knocking other trees out of the ground and into the mud slide. Even worse, this whole forest moved downhill, which only fueled it's powerful current.

It was dark, but he didn't need to see it, he could hear it. With no choice Kiba quickly shifted off of the path left behind the ogres and lept on to the base of a tree, frantically climbed to the canopy's branches. The mud slide struck the tree he was in, washing away the ground beneath it and tearing out it's roots with it's pull, causing it to tumble into the raging river. "!" Kiba sprang out of the rapidly descending tree, leaping into another one nearby.

He had to get to that steel container!

Lighting flashed, giving him a small glimpse of his world. With the path illuminated he dived to the right into another tree, and nearly fell out of it when the mud slide's current slammed into it and caused it to shake violently. Lighting flashed again and thunder rolled though not nearly as loud as the water, Kiba looked back in the frame of light and panicked, '!' Kiba quickly dived to his right as a tumbling log smashed through the tree he'd been holding on too, sending himself falling directly into the mud slide.

'Shit...' He growled to himself and rolled in mid air, allowing himself to blindly land on a tree caught with in the raging river, he knew it was there, he could tell by the way the water sounded when it moved around such a loud object. He landed on the tree and held on the branch desperately, using all of his balance to keep it from rolling over. 'Alright...Maybe I can make it...' He road the improvised raft as long as he could, and would have kept on riding it had not the streak of lighting from above allowed him to see what was in front of his face.

All of the broken logs and trees picked up by the mud slight had finally clumped together and formed an obstruction in the center of the muddy river. They were caught between two great trees that had to be as old as the forest itself, forming a natural dam that he was heading directly for. This would not be a present thing to crash into. "..." Kiba rose on to his heels, waiting for the perfect moment before he dived forward, his body just barely passing over the surprisingly high dam with a low jump, and landing safely at the end of the slope, the flat land on the other side.

'I'd never though I'd be so happy to see demons.' Aside from the mud that felt like quick sand the land was dry. This long section of land was like an island, the mud slid parted into two rivers surrounding the small section, reconvening at a later place. He was just in time, before him was the steel box now opened filled air with the cries of small children. The same black ogres were there, and the 12 fawn demons who had been some how scattered were now reconvening with the torches that must have been using chakra for the flames to keep them lit, all surrounding a signal demon. It had red skin, two horns protruding from it's head and below it's torso was the body of a horse with brown fur. A Centaur.

"Stop!" Kiba shouted, charging toward them full speed. What were they doing with all of these kids?

The centaur looked towards Kiba and his eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed frustration."It's those SDI bastards." The centaur spoke in a deep, hauntingly demonic voice. It could talk? "Hurry up!" Then it direct it's next comment to the black ogres. "Stop him dammit!"

Kiba was intercepted for the second time by ogres, the two black ogres spoke to each other in that demon language stood in his path. A dark Chakra formed in their hands, a jutsu that shooting outward to take shape in the form of an axe, and then cleared away to reveal the heavy steel of the very large battle axes. The first ogre slammed it down in front of him, Kiba nearly ran into a blade taller then himself. "No! Move dammit!" Kiba jumped to the air evadingly as the demon raked the axe against the ground in an attempt to strike him.

"Hurry up, before there rest of them show up!" The centaur shouted, rallying the fawn demons into a frenzied haste. The demon's poured into the box in a disorganized mass, the screams of the children grew even louder and more frantic as the demons climbed out with as many as they could carry. Kiba really became uneasy when he saw that some of them weren't moving, he hoped desperately that they were just unconscious. The 12 lesser demons could only manage to carry 2 of the children each, and one of them returned not carrying anything, so by the time the 12 of them were out of the box, the 11 who'd brought out children had captured 22 of the adducted humans, leaving 7 of them behind.

'How many kids did they take...how and the hell am I going to get all of them out of here?' Kiba fell on to his hands, crouching to avoid a swing of the axe by the first ogre demon and taking the opportunity to lunge forward and attack while it was still regaining itself. The second ogre lifted the ax above it's head and slammed it down on Kiba, the boy strifed to the left as the blade crashed into the ground hard enough to make a wave of mud rise out of the quaking earth, slipping under the handle. He wasn't fast enough even at his speed, the second ogre forcefully raked the axe backwards across the ground with one sharp pull, sending the edge of the axe slamming painfully into his side and penetrating a good deal into him before he was able roll out of the way. He'd just come dangerously close to being cut in half, escaping with a deep gash to his side."Aghhaaa!"

The fawn demons ran towards the forest with the captured human, escaping to some place deeper in the flow of trees. But they didn't make it to the end of the clearing, with a inconspicuous launch from some hidden place, a single Kunai drove itself into the back of a single fawn's head, causing it to drop the two girls it was carrying and fall lifelessly to the ground. Before anyone could register what had just happed, a full volley of kunais and shirukens came from different points, striking each of the demons baring children in the back. All except one holding nothing.

The final fawn's body went up in a burst of white smoke, quickly eaten away by the rain to reveal Kakashi, tired, and soaking wet. The man push a strand of his drenched hair hanging down out of his eyes, then from the darkness beyond the two rivers 6 copies bolted into the area and in a blur of black clothing picked up as many of the children they could carry, about 2 each and aligned themselves behind the real Kakashi.

"K-Kakashi?" Kiba stumbled off of the ground and attempted to run forward, only to be forced backwards when the second ogre slammed it's foot down and attempted to stomp on him. Kiba growled, one hand clinching his side as he lept into the air a considerable distance and then thrust his foot directly into it's face with a powerful kick, strong enough to make it stumble backwards and nearly fall. Kiba used the kick to propel himself backwards into the air high above the ground, just as he expected the ogre reached out for him. 'Not this time!' Kiba slipped a Kunai hidden in his sleeve into his free right hand, one equipped with two explosive tag tied to the handle and threw the weapon at the demon .

The Kunai embedded itself into it's hand and no sooner then it did, the tags detonated in a burst of light and flames, causing a haunting out cry of pain from the first ogre.

"Damnit!" The centaur cursed, charging at Kakashi full speed. The man's copies immediately scattered with the children in hand and the real Kakashi dived to the side as the centaur plowed at him, narrowly evading. "You won't ruin this! God dammit this is too important!"

"Kiba, are you alright?" Kakashi called back.

"Don't worry about me, just get those kids out of here!" Kiba landed on his feet as the first ogre stumbled around to reclaim itself, now with one arm blown off up the elbow it was forced to wield the axe with one hand. Maybe it was from rage but this was seemed to actually move faster. Kiba could hardly avoid the attacks of both of the demons, he was effectively being kept at bay. "How did you find me?"

"Akamaru " Kakashi uttered simply. The centaur turned towards him, glaring angrily. Then silently the demon stopped it's hooves on the ground and the ground beneath Kakashi erupted with out warning '!' An uprising burst of mud and dirt rushed out in a pillar driven by some unknown force, enough to catch Kakashi off guard and thrown him in the air. It hurt more then it seemed, it felt like he'd fallen from a dangerously high distance when it struck him with enough force to send his body clear over the steel container. But he regained himself, landing on his feet and sliding to a stop with relinquished momentum, he ended up behind Kiba.

Only when he was close up could he see clearly the extent of Kiba's injuries... There was no way he could fight 2 enemies in that condition, he'd sooner pass out."Kiba, I'll handle these guys." Kakashi announced. "You go hold off that centaur demon."

"But-"

"Just do it." Kakashi ordered firmly. "Just keep him away from the rest of those children." Keep then away until his copies got finished getting the other ones to safety and could come back for them.

Kiba nodded understandingly, and with Kakashi to distract the two ogres, he ran as fast as he could toward one of the rivers running along side of them. He lept over to the other side of the raging water, noticing it was gaining more and more current with the unceasing rains. Thunder crashed over head, forcing his body to flinch from the deafeningly loud sound and reclaim his scattered thoughts. Then with out farther hesitation he bolted past the ogres and the steel container before dropping down on to all fours and leaping over the raging river of mud and debris. He came face to face with the centaur.

"Get out of my way!" The centaur shouted determinedly, slamming it's hooves into the ground. Kiba could sense what was coming where Kakashi couldn't, he had a thing Kakashi didn't have, he had a heightened instinct he followed more often then not. Kiba lept to the right as the ground burst upward like an explosion, then dived forward as the ground burst directly under where he'd been standing for the second time. A growl pushed it's way past his fangs as he lunged forward and swiped it across the chest with his claws

Kakashi held his hands forward in front of him, waiting calmly as the two ogres lifted their large axes above their head and hammered it down on him in unison. But the axes halted no more then 12 inches above his head, despite the obvious attempt of the ogres to push them down farther. They were being repelled by an electromagnetic field Kakashi was emitting through a technique he'd learned. Sparks of electricity streaked across his body, sizzling from the heavy rain pouring on to him. He pushed outward, using that magnetic force he'd build around him to give the steel one last push strong enough to knock it from their hands and send it flying off into the distance.

"Ryo!" Kakashi clasped his hands together with a series of quick hand seals from the jutsu, then lifted his hand toward the sky. Lighting streaked out of the clouds, hammering down to the ground, crashing with force on to the first ogre who'd previously had it's arm blown off. Such power easily finished the injured demon off.

Kiba growled fiercely, holding his position defensively as Kakashi's copies returned and wasted no time going for the remaining children. The 6 replicas had no trouble getting the last 7, one of them simply carried two. "No! Dammit I won't let you ruin this!" The Centaur lowered it's head and charged forward at full speed, air flowed visibly across the very un-aerodynamic body with white streaks. The centaur was a near unstable force when it trashed like this, few things could stop it, and Kiba wasn't wan of them. The centaur came so fast that the injured Kiba couldn't hope to avoid in his state, the half horse slammed into him head on in an awkward gore. One of it's horns drove directly into his side while the other, thanks to his smaller size, slipped directly under his arm and dragged him off of the ground.

Kiba roared in pain as his body was tossed aside, skidding along the mud soaked ground and crashed against a tree residing only inches away from the river of mud flowing beside. "O-ow..." He wined in pain, wrapping one arm completely around his torso. He cringed as he streaked his other arm up and grabbed a hold of a branch. It was a struggle, moving and sliding around the mud in a weak struggle, but Kiba persistently pulled himself to his feet, he almost faltered after the first second.

By then Kakashi had finished off the ogres, though expending a good amount of Chakra doing so. "Kiba!" The man uninhibitedly ran towards Kiba while his copies began leaving, but unfortunately the centaur wouldn't allow them to do that easily.

Seeing all of his hopes fading away, the Centaur jumped into the air with a loud outcry. "Kakashi!" Kiba managed to scream out futilely before the centaur landed and a wave of dirt and mud burst out of the ground like a wall. Kakashi's copies bolted clear, all but one made it out of the way in time, the seventh copy holding two of the missing 4 year olds was caught in the wave of uprising earth. The only thing he could do was to save them, he threw the boy and girl he'd been carrying clear before he was engulfed and faded in a rise of smoke.

The real Kakashi was forced to stopped where he was in the interest of the child. "!" The man leaped upward using his whole body to catch the girl his copy had thrown. Kiba ran desperately for the boy, attempting to push through the injuries and run faster, but all he managed to do was stumble repeatedly. "No!"

The centaur watched the brown haired toddler fall to the wet ground in front of him but just as soon Kiba was there, falling to his knees and wrapping his free arm around the small body of the boy. "Damnit! Move!" The centaur whipped it's tail and clasped it's hands together, and with out delay the wet ground began to swirl around into a whirl pool, one Kiba was already halfway into upon it's creation.

"K-Kakashi!" Kiba made his final effort to save the small boy and tossed him up into the air, hoping Kakashi would be fast enough. He didn't get to see the end result, he was pulled quickly into the center and disappeared beneath the surface, even worse the whirl pool disappeared as soon as it swallowed him, burring him.

"Kiba!" Unfortunately since he stopped to save the girl Kakashi wasn't fast enough, The centaur caught the boy roughly by the neck and clinched the small, screaming body close to it's chest.

"I still have one...I still have one." The centaur grumbled, quickly turning around and bolting toward the forest to some unknown place.

"Kiba..." Kakashi lept over the empty steel box, stopping at the place where Kiba had been trapped. He was astonished to find that the ground didn't even look like it had been moved at all. 'No... no...' He had to decide, and it was a horrible list of choices. He could attempt to save Kiba, but if he did the boy the centaur took would have who knows what done to him who knew where because he'd never find that demon again, and Kiba may not have been able to be saved. On the other hand he could go after the centaur, but there was a good chance that during the fight the girl he was holding would be caught between and injured, fatally. This was not the ideal place to try and protect someone, especially someone as young as she was. Or lastly he could just go get the girl to safety, but that left Kiba and the boy to die. Either way someone would die. But could he sacrifice one to save-

...A haunting sound seeped up from below the surface, one not a particularly foreign, he'd heard it many times before, but it was different now, it was strange. A howl echoed through the air, seeping up through the ground, muffled because of it's trapped source. Kiba's howl sounded in that same calm sound that promised deep sadness, complete furry, or an absolute overriding of normal though with animal instinct . When Kakashi heard it he completely froze with out reason, stricken by some unfounded fear that made his body lock into place. 'What...what is this...' A cold sweat streamed down his forehead, mixing with the rain that fell on his stalled form, he knew he shouldn't have been afraid, there was really no reason to be. But something grew uneasily in him, and he could do nothing more then stand and watch while it became stronger and stronger.

A single ray of silver light burned through the blank of black clouds, falling on the spot where Kiba was buried. Another howl echoed from below, louder then the previous time, and the silver ray of light corresponded under the manipulative tones. The single, faint ray grew into many until they were one larger body, rain soaked winds pushed through the clouds just enough to reveal the new moon hanging in the calm sky above the storm, and flood the whole area with the shining radiance. 'Kiba's voice...This must be a kiaijutsu.' All of this was being done by Kiba's howls, his voice held some type of power. Kakashi was frozen by it in the same way Kiba had been when he was first bitten by the original werewolf.

That howl turned into a violent roar and a form burst from the ground in an eruption of dirt, rock and mud, landing with a sloppy, animal like agility on the ground. The gray furred werewolf Kiba stood completely transformed, his weak body peaking with the power of the risky over clocking technique. Growling fiercely as he rose and pushed himself on to his feet.

He still wore the same clothing, they were made out of spandex that looked remarkably close to the regular cotton. Every time he transformed he ended up ripping out of his clothing, and since it happened often and Kiba didn't like the idea of being completely naked in a bad situation it was the logical thing to do. With Kiba fully transformed the effect of the kiaijutsu finally wore off.

Crack...Crack.

"!" Kakashi didn't have time to dwell on what had just happened, he immediately looked back, turning his gaze up hill where the make shift dam that formed started to over flow. They could hear the distinct sound of wood cracking under pressure and feel the water streaming down from it intense greatly until it was small stream at their ankles. To make matters worse, a half severed tree that had been washed into the mud slide came tumbling down the hill erratically, being pushed by the flooding water's current it crashed into the obstruction, loudly breaking through the barricading wood. The water flowed freely now, plowing down hill with every bit of it's pint up force. Kakashi lept to the left and Kiba jumped to the right, Kakashi landed safely in the branch of a near by tree with his arm wrapped tightly around the girl, Kiba landed on the trunk of a tree caught in the mudslide, holding on with his claws. Kakashi had just enough time to relay one final thing to Kiba before departing to take the girl to safety. "Go after the demon."

He had complete confidence that Kiba could do it.

Kiba lept forward, diving across the ground far enough to land in front of the formerly repress section of the mud slide rapidly swallowing the path of dry land. It was pitch black again, but he didn't need the light, he could easily tell where each tree was and easily moved around them. His speed was substantial, gaining a physically strong type of agility that allowed him to weave through the entanglement of trees and heavy debris. In this form he was fast enough to temperately stay ahead of the gaining water, motivated enough to ignore his injuries to the point he didn't even feel them anymore.

There was something directly ahead, it was a light... a white light glowing faintly past the oncoming trees. He smelled the scent of a demon coming from that spot, that had to be it, that's the only thing it could be. He growled loudly as he pushed passed the trees and into the light.

The ground was marked with blood or paint inscribing a large seal, lines were glowing red while the ground radiating a soft white light. It gave Kiba a strange feeling.. There he was, the small brown haired boy laying unconscious in the center of the seal, The centaur demon standing over him with his hands clasped together in the middle of a jutsu.

His ears twitched at the incoming, gaining sound of the force of nature behind him. "!" Kiba looked back and flinched when the roaring river came spilling out of the darkness, he was sure it would wash them away. But strangely enough some invisible force kept it from touching the seal, it just parted and flowed around the glowing marking.

But Kiba wasn't thinking about that, as long as it didn't cause problems for him.

Kiba roared furiously, brown eyes shifting frantically between the boy and the centaur demon.

"What the hell!" The centaur opened it's eyes and looked almost fearfully at Kiba, focusing on the clothing the werewolf was wearing baring SDI on the black fabric of his jacket. 'It's the same guy from before...but I-'

Kiba lunged at him like a rabid dog and the same speed being a werewolf endowed him with, latching on to it's torso like a child hugging the leg of an adult. His claws dug into it's back and began tearing furiously at the flesh, bitting down into it's neck with a series of growls, roars and snarls. The air was filled with the sound of tearing, ripping and gushing, by the time he was done, which wasn't very long, there wasn't a distinguishable piece among what was left of the demon.

Finally finished with the demon that had made him so angry, Kiba slowly turned and looked at the boy laying motionlessly in the center of the seal. His gray fur now covered in blood around his mouth and claws.

He would have been sure the boy was dead had it not been for the small rising and falling of his chest. With a reluctant curiousness nature that came with the idea of learning his worst fear was true, Kiba sat down on the ground, his tail sagging limply on the muddy ground behind him as he looked down at the boy. He didn't smell alive, he didn't smell dead but he didn't smell alive...He'd never encountered anything like this. Maybe it was because of all of the rain washing his scent, maybe just because he was asleep, he'd be better when he woke up. Right? That would make him better right? It would wouldn't it? It had to.

If he'd be better when he woke up then he'd just wake him up. Kiba nudged the boy softly with his mussel, after after a few second he used his head to lightly shake the boy. It wasn't working, he wasn't waking up...Kiba gently licked the side of the boy's face, that would wake him up, that always woke people up... He still got no response.

Kiba pulled away and stared sadly at the small boy, his ears fell against his head, his tail subdued between his legs, with his fur soaked and sagging off his body he looked every bit the part of a depressed dog who'd just lost it's master. Just watching the small boy covered halfway in mud, soaking wet in ripped and tattered clothing, covered in cuts and blood, probably cold too. His face was calm with silent pain, stuck in that horrible state. He was so small... just seeing the boy like that make Kiba angry.

These glowing markings, maybe that was wrong with him! Kiba looked down at the ground between his legs and growled angrily at what he saw, taking a swiped at the glowing red lines with his claws. He began attacking every line of the markings with the same ferousness that he'd attacked The centaur with, circling the boy as he swiped, slash and dug until every line was gone and the white glow started to fade away.

Kiba wined, sitting down beside the boy again and attempting to wake him up with a few nudges from his muzzle. It wasn't working...but...but he didn't want something to be wrong with this boy, he didn't wanted him to be hurt, he didn't want him to be like this... Kiba tilted his head back and howled with his own sadness, he didn't want the boy to be like this!

...Wait! Neji! Neji could make him feel better! Neji could help him! Yeah, Neji! Kiba's tail began to come back to life, his ears perked and he lifted his head, Neji could make him all better. He had to get him to Neji.