Chapter 26: That's Not Her

Airi fell backwards and hit the wall. "Ugh!"

"Shino, what the hell's wrong with you?" Naruto shouted.

"Shino, how could you?" Hinata demanded.

"Shino, you bastard!" Kiba punched Shino, but he blocked the hit.

"Why did you hit her!" Sakura asked.

"Sh-Shino?" Airi whispered. "Why?"

Shino pushed them out of his way and grabbed Airi by the hair. "Where is she!"

"Sh-Shino, what're you talking about!" Airi asked, obviously frightened.

"You know what I'm talking about! If you don't tell me, I'll kill you!"

"Shino, stop it!" Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, and Kiba grabbed him.

Kakashi and Kurenai looked at each other. "…She's…"

Aurion held up his sword to Airi's neck and Airas held up her staff to her chest. "Where is she?"

"You guys too!"

Sasuke looked at Airi. Are they all that blind? "If you don't tell them, they really will kill you."

"Wh-What's going on?" Kiba asked.

"Airi's eyes don't look like that," Shino said. "She has emotion in her eyes! Next time you want to want to use a jutsu like that, give your appearance a soul!"

"Hmmph…" Airi smiled. "Give the boy a prize. I never could get emotions right…" With a bright flash, Kitari sat on the floor.

"K-Kitari!"

"What?" she asked.

"What're you doing?" Kurenai asked.

"We thought that Shinji-"

"That was Shinji's plan all along. He never actually meant to give Airi back and I never meant to help you. This is what I was supposed to do! You all fell for it too!"

"Grr!" Shino grabbed her and pinned her against the wall. "You bitch! Listen, I'm not playing games here! If you don't tell me where Airi is, I swear to God that I'll kill you!"

She stared him right into his eyes. "Oh yeah? Well…" She froze. Something about him scared the crap out of her. H-His eyes! Why…Why do I feel like this! "…Okay! Okay! She's in that bottom floor! Please don't kill me!"

"What's Shinji doing to her?"

"He wants to use that book to remove the Garnet from her body!"

"What does that mean!"

Aurion and Airas froze. "WHAT? No! Shino, forget her! We have to get to Airi right now!"

He looked at them. "Wh…What's happening?"

"There's no time to explain!" They ran out of the room.

"Aurion?" Kurenai shouted.

"Airas?" Kakashi called out.

"Agh! Dammit!" Shino ran after them.

"Shino, wait for us!" Hinata and Kiba yelled as they ran after their friend.

Kitari smiled. "All according to plan."

"You!" Sasuke hissed as he grabbed Kitari.

"Nice try Sasuke, but not good enough." Kitari appeared in the doorway as the person Sasuke held turned into sand. "I'll be seeing you guys really soon, okay?" She disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"What's her game!" Naruto asked.

"That's not important right now! We need to catch up with Shino and them!" Kurenai informed.

"Right!"

XXXX

"How much further down can we go!" Kiba asked.

"I don't know!" Hinata answered.

"We're getting close!" Aurion said. "I can feel a strong presence!"

Shino ran without saying a word. Airi, I hope you're alright.

As soon as they burst into a hallway, Airas stopped them. "Guys, stop!"

"Airas!"

"Look!" She crouched down behind a pillar and pointed to the room below. "Look down there!" They knelt beside her and peered into the lower room.

"What? It's…It's Shinji!" Hinata exclaimed.

"What's he doing?" Kiba asked.

----

"I'm sure by now my loveable traveling band of fools has discovered that Kitari was posing as Airi. No matter." Shinji looked down at Airi. "You, my lovely ill-fated priestess, are going to be one less of a Summon Spirit." He looked at the book he held. "Hmph, this says that the host body has to be twenty one to undergo the process of extracting the Summon Spirit from the body. Let's see, this girl is sixteen right?" He read on. "Oh! How dreadful! It says here that if the host body isn't of age, it will die…" He smiled. "How morbidly wonderful! Time for the extraction process!" He held the book in his left hand and put his right hand on Airi's chest. "Death to the condemned…" He began to chant some words.

----

"I knew it!" Aurion shouted.

"That bastard wants to take Airi's Summon Spirits!" Airas added.

"But what does he want with them?" Hinata asked.

"I have no idea, but we have to stop him!"

"I won't let Airi die!" Shino yelled as he continued down the hall.