Yay! Not only did we make it to 100 reviews, we broke it with 107! Thank you all so much! And a special thanks to Kakashi-sensei for being my 100th reviewer; he reviewed anonymously, so I couldn't thank him by replying to it, so here you go! Oh, and here's the cookies I promised! -passes out cookies- Also, I went back and did some quick editing to chapter five; when writing it, I forgot that Gaara's 'Subaku Kyuu' is followed by 'Subaku Soso,' so that had been fixed.
Sorry for the late update; we've been having a lot of thunderstorms and my dad doesn't like me on the computer when they're going on.
And now, I present, Unusual Encounter, chapter 12!
Disclaimer: Well, after almost raping Hinata and practically drowning most of the characters, aren't you glad I don't own Naruto?
Kankuro picked himself up from the ground, rubbing his throbbing head. Well, that went well, he thought, thinking back to what had happened. At the last second, the two shinobi had managed to just barely dodge a direct hit from the dragon's blast; but they had been caught up in the explosion and sent flying in two different directions. Kankuro didn't know where the Konoha genin had landed, but since he didn't seem to be anywhere close by, he figured he was somewhere in the surrounding forest.
Or rather, what was left of it. The blast had disintegrated most of the surrounding trees; those that were left standing were either on fire or permanently disfigured. Had Kankuro been an ordinary bystander and not a ninja, he would have most likely suffered the same fate as the plants around him.
Standing up, he brushed himself off, glancing at his surroundings. The only thing he knew about his opponent was that its element was fire; and, judging by the state of the forest, it obviously knew how to use it. Adjusting the puppet on his back, he began walking in the direction that he thought he had been before being blown away by the attack. It took him a moment to realize that something was missing.
The dragon.
Shit. Stopping in his tracks, Kankuro whacked himself in the head for forgetting about his opponent. He blamed the large bump on his head that he got when he hit the ground. Alright, so where is the damn thing? As if to answer his unspoken question, there was a large explosion in the direction he had been walking. The brat! The realization came to him as he began running.
The dragon had obviously gone after Shino.
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Hinata let out a soft scream as she was carried into the air by Rai, the dragon of thunder. It had caught her completely by surprise by sneaking up behind her, grabbing her in its large talons before she even noticed it was there. With her arms also caught within Rai's claws, the shinobi couldn't perform any hand signs for jutsus. She began struggling to free her arms from the dragon; she let out a startled cry as a bolt of electricity flowed through her veins.
"Don't even think about it, sweetie," Rai said, looking down with a large grin on her scaly face. "Unless you want to die by my electricity, that is. Besides, even if I were to let you go, you would only fall to your death. You're really in no position to be trying to escape, are you?" Hinata looked down to see that they were already high in the air; there was no doubt that if she were to fall, she would surly die.
Back on the ground, Gaara was watching the dragon's movements carefully. It had been surprisingly quick; so fast, in fact, that she had temporarily disappeared from his sight. Before he could fully comprehend what was happening, the thing had grabbed Hinata and lifted her into the air. He cursed silently to himself when he heard the girl scream, electricity wrapping around her body. After a few seconds it was gone, but not fast enough to cause him to flinch as he watched.
The thing was, he didn't know what to do. The dragon had proved just moments ago that she was too quick to get hit by his hand, and he wasn't sure how to get Hinata down without hurting her. The only thing he could think of to get rid of the dragon was to make some kind of distraction, then entrap it in the sand and use his Subaku Soso to kill it; of course, this was out of the question, since he would inevitably kill Hinata as well.
Gaara briefly wondered why he was worried so much about saving the other shinobi. He had never cared about who he killed before; still, he found himself thinking that he had to save her, no matter what. In order to do that, however, he needed to think of a plan; and soon, for he never knew when another blast of electricity would come his way.
Electricity…Gaara thought back to the dragon's earlier explanation of her attack. My attack was charged with tiny electric particles. Once they attach themselves to the iron, they adjust their makeup and make them ten times as heavier, causing the body to become heavier as well…So, if I were to direct the attack back at her, it would make her body heavier as well…As he thought, a thin smile crept onto his face.
He had a plan.
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"Damn it, Kiba, why'd you have to go and make it mad?" Temari yelled as she and the Konoha genin ran across the sandy beach, dodging various blasts of water aimed at them. Temari was referring to Kiba's attempt at attacking the dragon; his Gatsuuga had hit, but had only put a scratch on some of Mizu's shiny scales. You would think that after living as long as he had, the dragon wouldn't care about a couple of scratched scales. Apparently he did, however, seeing as how he was chasing them along the beach while yelled, "You brat! How dare you do this to my lovely scales!"
"How the hell was I supposed to know he'd get this angry?" Kiba yelled back, jumping over a fallen tree branch. "The guy's a thousand years old; I thought my attack would do more than just scratch him!" He shot her a quick glance. "Besides, I don't see you doing anything!" This got him a rock thrown at his head.
"You idiot!" Temari shouted, another rock in hand. "I'm a little busy running from the damn thing because your attack was too weak to hurt it!"
"Shut up!"
The two were too busy arguing to notice that the dragon was no longer behind them, but had flown in front of them instead. Akamaru was paying attention, however, and gently bit Kiba's hand to get him to notice; he looked up just in time to see a huge blast of water in the shape of a snake coming towards them.
"Watch out!" He cried, pushing Temari out of the way and getting hit instead.
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Shino dodged yet another fiery attack from his opponent. He was trying to summon enough bugs to surround the red dragon, but had no luck so far; the thing was just too big for the bug-user to handle alone. Although he was certain that Kankuro wouldn't be having any better luck in the same situation. He doubted that the dragon would fit in the Sand shinobi's deadly puppet.
Still, he couldn't help but wish his companion was fighting with him. He was at somewhat of a disadvantage fighting the large dragon alone. He leapt from the few trees remaining to the ground, turning to face his opponent. Running wasn't getting him anywhere, and it was obvious that the dragon was faster than him. Besides, he didn't even know where he was running; everything had been turned around when he had got caught in the first blast.
"Aw, is that it?" Kaji asked, a tone of disappointment in his voice. "That was hardly any fun at all. Sure, the chasing part was amusing, but you gave up so easily! Come on, run around some more! Please? At least until your friend gets here. He's much more entertaining than you are."
"No," Shino said, silently summoning a swarm of bugs. If he could keep the dragon's attention long enough, then…
"Ow!" Kaji said, turning around angrily; Shino saw a small needle poking out from the shiny scales, which seemed to be the source of the dragon's sudden pain. Behind him stood Kankuro, one of his puppets at his side. "Yo!" he said, running over to Shino.
"What the hell did you do to me?" The dragon said, trying – and not succeeding – to reach the needle with one of his small arms. Kankuro smirked. "That's one of my special poison needles. I'm not sure if it'll be deadly, like when it's used on humans, but I'm sure it'll still have some effect."
"You bastard!" Kaji said, lunging at them. Shino then let loose the army of bugs he had been gathering, and they formed a wall in front of him. "Come on," Shino said, turning to his fellow shinobi. "We should leave and think of a plan."
"Damn it, stop bossing me around!" Kankuro muttered, but followed anyway.
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Timing was everything.
In order for Gaara's plan to work, not only did his timing have to be right, but his opponent's as well. He was counting on the fact that the dragon would use its lightning attack again; but, knowing nothing of its power, he didn't know if there was some kind of limit to the amount of times it could attack. Of course, he was also hoping the thing wouldn't kill Hinata between now and then.
The dragon was only flying in circles, taking her sweet time before doing whatever she was going to do. Hinata glanced up. "W-what are you going to do with m-me?" she stammered, trying her best to be brave. Rai seemed to think for a moment. "I'm not sure yet," she said. "Eventually I'll kill you, I suppose, since that's what I was ordered to do. But it really wouldn't be any fun killing you right away. Besides, I want to give your friend a chance to fight back, however futile it may be."
Gaara-kun, Hinata thought, looking down at the blob that was the Sand ninja. I'm only causing him trouble again. It seems like that's all I ever do. She felt pathetic. She had gotten herself captured not once, but twice in front of Gaara. Not only that, but it seemed that she couldn't even use her Byakugan correctly. Byakugan…
"Oh, your friend isn't doing anything," Rai said, disappointed at the lack of resistance from the shinobi. "I guess I'll just have to take care of him first." Hinata's head snapped up as the dragon began to gather electricity in her mouth for another attack. The kunoichi activated her Kekkei Genkai in hopes of finding some sort of weakness in the seemingly perfect attack. Her eye's widened; then the blast was let loose, headed straight for Gaara.
Finally, the Sand genin thought, quickly doing a number of hand signs and sticking his hand into the sandy beach. Once again, a wall of sand appeared in front of him, only much darker; instead of the normal dry sand, this had come straight from the water's bottom: mud. When the blast hit, it didn't break through the defense like it did the last time: it was absorbed. As soon as the last bit of electricity had been absorbed by the mud, Gaara gathered it up and sent it flying back at Rai. It all happened within a matter of seconds, and the dragon, which was suffering from a bit of recoil from her attack, couldn't move in time.
A lot happened in the next few moments. The ball of electrified mud hit her right in the stomach, making her gasp in pain. She was so startled by the sudden counterattack that her grip on Hinata loosened, and the small ninja was falling quickly towards the ground. Gaara, who was ready for this, had a soft blanket of sand waiting for her; she landed softly on the bed and was swiftly carried to the ground.
Hinata, just as shocked as Rai, looked shakily up at the towering Gaara. The Sand shinobi stared back for a moment before slowly reaching his hand out to the panting girl. Hinata managed a weak smile and took it; Gaara helped pull her up from the ground, and she was soon standing next to him.
Now, dragons are quite heavy. It's really quite surprising that they can fly without crashing to the ground. When hit with an attack that makes your body heavier, however, said dragon would most likely have a lot of trouble staying airborne. Such was the case for Rai. Having been hit by her own blast of electricity, the petit dragon could not remain in the air, and landed with a loud THUD on the sand, panting slightly and glaring at the two shinobi.
"What the hell did you do?" she snarled, taking a threatening step forward. Hinata flinched, but was soon comforted by the fact that Gaara was still holding her hand. The Sand ninja, however, was unaffected. "Water conducts electricity," he explained. "With the sand covered in water, it was easily able to absorb your attack, which I then directed back at you. I'm sure even you know the rest."
Rai growled angrily. "You're both dead!"
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"Ow…" Temari sat up, rubbing her head. It took her a moment to realize what had happened. "Crap. Kiba?" She looked around only to find the Konoha genin lying on the ground, blood leaking from a large wound on his leg. "Kiba!" She shakily stood up and went over to him. Akamaru, who was whimpering worriedly, looked up at her as she walked over.
"Hey, Kiba!" Temari said, gently shaking him. Kiba groaned and slowly opened his eyes. "Oh, hey Temari," he said with a smile. "What's up?" He tried to sit up, but winced in pain. Akamaru whimpered again and nuzzled against his hand.
"You idiot!" Temari yelled. "You could have been killed! What were you thinking?" As she talked, she tore off a piece of fabric from her clothing and began wrapping it around his leg. Kiba smiled again. "I was thinking that I didn't want you to get hurt. Besides, you did the same thing earlier, didn't you?"
Temari turned slightly red. "Y-yeah, well, at least I didn't get my leg nearly blasted off!" She said, turning away so as not to let Kiba see her ever-reddening face. "There, done." She had finished wrapping his leg and was reaching her hand away when she felt something grab it. Looking down, she saw that Kiba had taken her hand in his. "Thanks," he said, sitting up.
"Aw, how it must be nice being so full of youth." They both looked up to see the dragon towering over them. "I'm afraid that I still must kill you, though. Like I said, those are my orders."
Temari stood up. "You said that earlier. Tell me: who does a mighty thousand-year-old dragon like you take orders from? It seems to me that you could go around and do whatever the hell you want." While talking, she reached to her side and grabbed her fan, opening it up and placing it in front of her.
"Ah, that I can not tell you," Mizu said, stretching. "I suppose you could say he's the one who…created me, for lack of a better word."
"Fascinating," Temari said, bringing her fan up. Behind her, Kiba struggled to stand. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked, Akamaru barking next to him. Temari shot him a quick glance. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to kick his ass." She smiled. "Just stay there and don't do anything stupid."
Just as she was ready to wave her fan, they heard a loud roar coming from the forest on the cliff above them. Looking up, they saw two shinobi running to the edge of it, a blur of red behind them.
And so, the plot thickens! Ok, not really, since this really wasn't an exciting chapter. Once again, I'm really sorry it took me so long to get out! -stabs weather- I also apologize for all the jumping around in this chapter. I guess it creates suspense or something. I think that I'll wrap up the battles in the next chapter, then reveal what's really going on with the dragons after that. Also, I know I've gotten a lot of reviews, but I'm not quite sure how long I should make this story. Any feedback on how long it should be is greatly appreciated! Do you think it should be nearing the end, or should I continue with something else? Please review and let me know!
Ja ne!
