Chapter 17: Combo! Airi and Hinata

"It's been three hours!" Naruto whined. "Are we there yet!"

"No we're not, you annoying brat!" Airas shouted. "You've said that fifty-three times already!"

"You kept count?" Aurion asked.

"…You shut up too!"

"Airas gets mad too easily," Airi said with a sigh.

"I don't blame her," Sakura said. "Naruto's annoying."

"I don't think he's annoying," Hinata said shyly. Airi smiled at the statement.

"Hey Shino," Aurion said. Shino looked at him. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You're the silent type, right? Let's walk a little slower."

"Why?" Shino asked.

"Cuz I wanna talk to you!"

"…Fine." The two began to slow down until there was a reasonable distance between them and everyone else. "What do you want?"

"I just wanna talk about my baby sis."

"…Airi? Why?"

Aurion sighed and looked at the sky. "Airi…She's been through so much. I worry about her a lot, you know?"

"Aurion…"

"She's hurt pretty badly."

"She…She doesn't like me, okay?"

"Yes she does. I don't know why she acts like this. She's always lying to herself and denying herself of things. That's how she used to get in trouble back when we were kids. Sometimes I think she's such a fool, but then I remember everything that's happened to her."

"Aurion, what is it that you want me to know about her?" He gave Aurion a curious look.

"You already know that when she failed to create that seal, our entire village shunned her away. My sister Airas, even our own parents, didn't want Airi. I was all she had. But when you…er…when your clan attacked my village, Airi was truly alone. I died trying to protect her, and so did my parents. Airas told me that everyone blamed Airi for the death of two-thirds of our village. Airi grew up with that and she now actually believes that she killed me, our parents, and that percentage of our village. This only made her habit of lying to herself even worse." He winced. "I hate it when she's sad. I love her so much and she's my baby sister. I'm supposed to understand her. I'm supposed to take care of her and protect her. I'm supposed to be there for her. I let her down, so she has no one." He took a deep breath to stop the tears. "Listen Shino, I'm not telling you to get with my sister or anything but…please be there for her. Protect my sister when I can't, and make her happy. I want you to take care of her."

Shino looked at Aurion in shock. All of that…it must have been painful for him to say that. There's so much suffering for everyone right now. "…Alright Aurion."

"Good. I know that you don't fully understand her yet, but in time, she'll open up." He smiled. "Be good to her, she's sensitive."

"…I will, don't worry."

"Aurion, Shino, come on!" Kurenai said. "We can't leave you behind."

Aurion looked at Kurenai. "Coming my glamorous beauty!" He danced off to Kurenai's side.

Shino tilted his head. You gotta be kiddin' me! I thought this was supposed to be a serious conversation! He sighed and shrugged. "Oh well."

"Shino?" Airi walked up to him. "Come on Shino, we don't have time to play around."

Airi? He nodded. "I know." They walked back to the group. "Airi, I'll always protect you, alright?"

She looked at him. "Shino…?"

"Stop!" A woman suddenly appeared before the group.

"Heads up everyone!" Airas shouted.

"Whoa, who's this amazing female!" Aurion asked.

"How could you be trying to flirt at a time like this!" Naruto asked.

The woman smirked. "Well, I guess I finally found you, Tengoku Saru."

"Do you know her?" Sakura asked Aurion.

"I wish!" Aurion said with a dreamy sigh.

"Do you know how much I'd like to hurt you?" Sasuke asked.

"Watch it brat," Aurion said.

"And you must be Tengoku Kitsune," she said as she pointed to Airas. She looked at Airi. "And you're the precious Tengoku Taiga." She blinked when she saw Shino. "Aburame Shino?" She smirked again. "This is great. All four of them are in one spot!"

"Who are you!" Kiba demanded.

"None of your business. But since my four victims are all here, prepare to die!" She jumped backward.

"Everyone, get ready!" Kakashi said.

"Hmph, I see that some of you are ninja. Well, no matter." She held her right hand out and strings shot forth.

"She's mine," Sasuke said as he charged at her. "Foolish woman, you actually think you can stop me with strings?" As the string headed towards him, the ground began erupted in flames. "What! The ground's melting!"

"What!" Airi looked at the strings. "Those aren't ordinary strings…" She gasped. "Sasuke, get out of there! Those are acid-spider webs! They'll burn your skin off if they touch you!"

Sasuke stopped and did a hand sign. He used a substitution jutsu and the string hit a log. "That was close." He came back to the group.

"Hmph, so you know about acid-spider webs, Tengoku Taiga," the woman said.

"Acid-spider webs are made in my village!"

Aurion said. He drew his sword. "This ends here!"

"Go ahead and try, just don't lose you skin!"

XXXX

"Hinata, look out!" Airi shouted as she tackled Hinata. One acid spider string just barely missed the two. "Aurion, now!"

Aurion quickly appeared but the woman and cut her strings. "Take that!"

"Agh!" She jumped backwards again. "Damn…" She crossed her arms in an 'X' across her body. Her arms suddenly burst in flames. "I'm not done yet!" She pushed the fire at Aurion.

"Yikes!" He jumped out of the way.

"Hinata, I have an idea!" Airi said.

"What is it?" Hinata asked.

"Use your Jyuken Taijutsu!"

"Okay then!" Hinata focused on the woman. "Byakugan!"

"Alright Hinata, here we go!" Airi held up her cards. I'll use my status seal. "S. Seal, Lighting!"

Hinata looked at her hands as they began to glow a bluish color. "What?"

"Now Hinata!"

I get it! "Okay!" Hinata ran forward at the woman and threw out a punch. "Gentle Fist Lightning!" She hit the woman in a certain spot, then jumped back.

"You little brat, that did noth--AAAHHH!" A surge of electricity ran through the woman's body.

"Let's keep going Hinata!" Airi shouted. The two girls kept up their attacks.

Naruto watched in amazement. "Wow, Hinata's a really good fighter!"

"One more time Airi!" Hinata shouted. "Byakugan!"

Airi suspended her cards in midair. "Mimic Seal Absolute!"

The two girls stood next to each other. "All Seeing Seal!"

Small veins popped out underneath and next to Airi's eyes. "I can see! I know where I should hit her!" She charged at the woman and did a forward flip. "Raging Dragon!" She threw out her foot and landed a kick on the woman's chest.

"ACK!" Blood spurt out from the woman's mouth. "D-Damn you…" She pushed Airi away and disappeared.

"She's gone!" Sakura said.

Airi shook her head and the veins disappeared. "Ow…"

"Airi, we did it!" Hinata said as she hugged her friend. "We beat that woman!"

Airi leaned on Hinata. "Phew, man. That last combo used quite a bit of my vital energy. It was a good thing that I used Mimic Seal Absolute. Just Mimic Seal alone wouldn't have been enough. W-Wow, I probably shouldn't try to copy something like your Byakugan for while, Hinata."

"Are you okay?"

"Yep!"

Naruto ran over to Hinata and Airi. "You guys were awesome! You combo attacks were so powerful, that lady didn't even know what was coming!"

"Thanks Naruto," Hinata said with a smile.

Airi stood on her own feet and rubbed her eyes. "Aah…"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Shino asked.

"I'm fine. That was just a weird thing for me to mimic, that's all."

"Man, we should've just let those two fight from the beginning!" Kiba shouted. "We would've saved time!"

"That woman was an assassin, no doubt," Kakashi said. "So she'll be back."

"Well, at least we know what we can do if we combine our attacks," Sasuke said.

"Hinata, Airi," Sakura said, "you guys are really strong."

Hinata and Airi smiled as they high-fived each other. "Yep! Those were special combos, Airi and Hinata style!"