Hi everyone! Sorry for the long wait between chapters. This one took a little longer due to the world building for the finals. Hopefully the rest of the finals will be a little easier to write now that that part is over with. I really look forward to hearing what you all think of this chapter, and I really appreciate those of you who have been sending me reviews in the meantime. It's been helpful getting your feedback and encouragement when I hit a writing wall. Enjoy!
A light snow had fallen during the night, which Beki would have normally considered a bad omen, but she prayed it meant that her mother was with her on the first day of the finals. A representative of Kumogakure had come to her the night before with an envelope containing the name of her opponent and what match she would be participating in. Her instincts had been right. They were culling the Getsu ninja.
Hinata had been hovering around her all morning. Bags had been triple checked, straps had been adjusted, and spines had been realigned. Beki stood before the mirror in their hotel room in her snow white uniform. She could swear it was another person staring back. To finish the Asou look, Beki had done her hair more similarly to her mother. Instead of her usual loose long braid, Beki wore it tight and pulled back from her face, giving her a more severe look. Fear and anxiety had been nagging at her ever since she received the envelope with the matchup. In the bathroom where she was away from everyone, Beki let it wash over her.
One minute, she thought. One minute where I lose control. Then it's back out there with the best game face possible.
When she stepped back out of the bathroom, Hinata shot her a look of concern. No matter how convincing Beki's game face was, she couldn't hide her black hair.
…
The walk to the arena was full of tension. Competitors were expected to be there waiting in the wings for hours before the matches actually began. Their escorts could either seat themselves in the arena or return later during the actual matches. I hope there isn't one waiting room for all of us, Beki thought.
The arena was similar in size to the one in Konoha with the main exception being that there was an actual fighting ring in the middle. Maintenance workers were busy scraping ice off of the raised platform of carved mountain rock. The stands themselves were large enough to fit at least a few thousand people, and then the VIP boxes set in the middle of one of the walls could accommodate at least twenty officials. Beki knew places like this had all sorts of service rooms, hallways, and basements for an untold number of staff. She was in the big leagues now.
The Konoha shinobi not participating in the tournament were turned away at the gate. The Getsu shinobi and the two Konoha shinobi in the finals were led to a dugout that reeked of stale sweat set into the field. Beki saw there were three other dugouts set around the arena. She detected movement in all of them.
"This is…this is uncomfortable," Daiske whispered to Beki. "I'm supposed to go up against Bo in like, the second match. I've got to sit in here with him and pray he doesn't make it look like I hanged myself."
Beki shook her head. "I think they're more gun shy after the run in during the second portion. Team Hunter will give us our space."
"Looks like Shinichi isn't fighting today," Daiske commented. "You'll get to save the surprise of your new outfit."
"You don't think he'll come watch his teammates fight?" Beki asked.
Daiske shook his head. "Not a chance. That guy has always hated crowds."
Beki could feel the heat of Yuu's gaze on her back. It was just a matter of hours until the two of them would be toe to toe in the ring fighting for honor, glory, and profit. Yuu had proven that she would do whatever it took to score the top spot in the chunin exams. She held no affection for anyone else from her village and so Beki had to prepare herself to do the same. Then again, Yuu had attempted to murder Beki's best friend inside a doll sarcophagus a few weeks ago. Beki was fairly certain she could tap into the rage and fear she felt that day and turn it on Yuu. If nothing else, Beki was going to make damn sure she busted as many of Yuu's dolls as she could. Even if Beki lost, the less of those deathtraps floating around, the better.
…
An hour or so later, a Kumogakure representative stepped down into the dugout and began explaining the rules of the tournament. It would be a "randomly selected" match up, wherein the winner would move on to the next tier. This process would continue until there was a final victor: the champion of that year's exam. During the fight, if a competitor was knocked out of the ring they would be automatically disqualified. The use of weapons and poisons were permitted, given that they were already present on the shinobi at the beginning of the match and were not time delayed in nature. He shared an anecdote of a maintenance worker losing a leg to a weapons cache someone had planted and forgotten about in the ring. It was neither interesting or memorable so Beki tuned most of it out.
No attacks were to be directed toward the stands, VIP boxes, or the dugouts. Also, any competitor that disregarded the commands of a Kumogakure representative were disqualified immediately. They all had to sign and thumbprint on a waiver that they understood all of the rules and that any infraction on these rules could be punishable by death or detainment.
After they had all signed, the representative climbed out of the dugout and walked over to the next one. My god, Beki thought. We have to wait for him to do this with everyone.
"Nervous, Beki-bear?" Yuu asked, her high collar barely covering the ugly scar Ren's bite had left on her neck. Beki tapped into Yasahiro's advice. Instead of replying Beki gave Yuu the biggest, sweetest smile she could muster. Yuu's own smile faded and she made a point of looking away.
Maybe my mom had the right idea after all, Beki thought.
…
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Kumogakure chunin exam finals!" The announcer's buttery voice blared through the speakers set up strategically around the stadium. "We would like to thank you all for joining us, however we would like to extend our deepest gratitude for the Kazekage joining us in person."
Beki leaned out of the dugout a little. Up in the VIP boxes she could barely make him out in his red coat.
"That being said, we know you have all been waiting very patiently for the finals to begin. We have a fantastic lineup this year, isn't that right, Yoko?"
"Boy, is it," the female announcer chimed in. "Multiple villages have made it to the finals this year: Suna, Getsu, Konoha, and some of our own Kumogakure shinobi. I have to admit, though, I am especially excited about a few of our participants this year."
"Could you be referring to one of the competitors in this first match, perhaps?" The male announcer asked coyly.'
"How did you know, Shu?" Yoko tittered and Beki rolled her eyes. "So that being said, let's go ahead and give our guests some of the stats on our first match up."
"Ayakashi Yuu is a fifteen-year-old competitor from Getsugakure that specializes in weaponized dolls," Shu explained. "I hear that she operates them similarly to puppeteer shinobi."
"That's such a unique blend of the feminine and the powerful! Such an elegant way to do the dirty work of shinobi," Yoko added.
"Is it going to be like this the whole time?" Beki asked Daiske. "If I have to listen to this the whole time…I think I get why they banned attacking the boxes."
"This will be really distracting if they do this during a fight," Daiske nibbled his nails. "How the hell am I supposed to hear Bo coming over this racket?"
Beki shrugged and shook her head angrily.
"Okay, I know we aren't supposed to pick favorites, and honestly it's not even that it's a favorite, but the other competitor, Tsukimori Haruka is the one I'm excited to see," Yoko said. "I was a young girl when I saw both her father and mother fight in this very same such arena. They were power players for sure."
"Yes, the sixteen-year-old Tsukimori Haruka has a lot to live up to in terms of her parent's legacy. It's said she has inherited her mother's kekke genkai, a water based ninjutsu?" Shu asked.
"That's what the reports tell us," Yoko said. "Dolls vs. water. That's not a match up you see every day."
"Well, I'm excited to see it. I'm sure our guests are. Why don't we get this started then?"
The crowd cheered.
"You two, come on," A kumo shinobi had walked in the dugout from a door in the back. Yuu and Beki silently followed him into one of those hidden arteries of the stadium. He motioned for Beki to go left at a fork and Yuu to go right. Beki followed a long nondescript hallway until it opened up into an archway into the arena. The cheering down from up in the stands was a cacophony at the end of the tunnel and the bright light of day was blinding. Beki felt her heart rate pick up speed and the familiar cold clamminess creep down her spine. She didn't need a mirror to know that her hair had turned black. Wearing white was such a bad idea, Beki realized. The lack of color would blanche her even more. She would look like a corpse out there.
She took one more deep breath and gathered her courage. It's just Yuu, Beki. You can take Yuu. Beki took a step out into the snow of the arena. The blood pounded in her ears. All she wanted to do was run for that platform and get this over with, but she knew these people wanted a show. Right now she wasn't Beki. It was like the announcers said, she had a reputation to live up to. People here were expecting something from her, something great. A great shinobi didn't run into the ring and shake like a lamb. Beki slowed her pace to a confident saunter. Instead of dropping her head, she looked dead ahead through the stands, picturing the sun rising above the clouds like she was on top of the world again. Her first step into the ring was when she realized the stands had almost gone silent.
Your mother killed their sons and daughters, Beki. Their brothers and sisters. Then she juggled their heads.
Beki would never do those things. Right now, she needed them to think she would. She needed the other competitors to feel this fear, this anxiety, and to learn from it. The more off their game they were the better she would do. The better she performed, the better Getsugakure and her father would look.
The voice of one emphatic older woman broke the silence. "BOOOO" she cried. A hush swept across the already silent crowd. Beki stared at the woman long and hard. They're waiting to see what I'll do, Beki thought. They think I'm going to freeze her solid and break her body down to dust. I can't do that, but I can smile. Beki repeated the smile she had given Yuu earlier.
The effect was instantaneous. The combination of the three quarters activated Drowned Maiden mode with the completely irrational smile was chilling. Beki was a wraith, death itself smiling up at them. The crowd broke into a frenzy of hushed conversations and the heckler fell back silently.
"They hate you," Yuu's voice broke Beki's concentration. "They see what we all see. You're a monster, Haruka. You always have been."
"Save it, Yuu." Beki stared her down. "Don't try to justify your own actions by condemning others. You'll pay for what you did in front of all these people."
"You're a hypocrite, too," Yuu smiled. "This is going to be fun."
…
"So you and Beki have met, huh?" The Raikage asked Gaara without facing him. "I've known her since she was this tall," He held up his hand down by his knee. "You met her dad yet?"
The tone the Raikage used was almost threatening. Gaara supposed that since the Raikage knew Beki since she was young he felt protective of her. He thought back to their conversation in the hopes he could find something to direct attention away from his relationship with Beki. Then he remembered the nickname.
"When we met at the café, you called her 'Moonshine'," Gaara said. "Where did that nickname come from?"
A sighed. "It was impossible to keep that girl in pants. We called her that because she was always running around in her teddy bear undies."
Kankuro started to laugh but choked it back into a cough. Gaara stared forward while keeping his face as still as possible. "She still does," He said under his breath.
"What did you say?" A asked.
"What a funny story that was," Gaara pretended to repeat. Their attention was called back to the match by the announcers beginning the countdown. The Kazekage smiled to discretely to himself. He had something new to tease Beki about.
…
"…GO!"
Before the announcer had finished speaking, Beki had extended the claws of her gauntlets and Yuu had whipped out a scroll. That's a fine loophole on the rules, Beki thought. Yuu was using a summoning scroll. Beki lunged in an attempt to interrupt the process. If she could toss that scroll out of the ring, Yuu would be unable to use her dolls and therefore would have to surrender.
Yuu didn't flinch. She watched Beki's approach with a smug look on her face while opening the scroll. As Beki entered spitting range Yuu bit her thumb and swiped the fresh blood on the scroll, her thumb making a hissing sound as it dragged across the parchment. A puff of smoke erupted and Beki had just enough time to withdraw as the dolls formed a protective ring around Yuu.
Dammit, Beki thought. The last time she had fought Yuu's dolls things hadn't gone so well. This time around Beki didn't recognize any of the dolls Yuu had summoned. There was a good chance that was because Ren had done a fair job busting up all the ones Yuu had used in the caves. The question nagging at Beki was whether or not the dolls Yuu had used in the second portion were her best or if she had saved those for the finals. Beki examined the dolls for any clues as to their purpose. When they were in the academy, Yuu had used a color coding system, red for fire, purple for poison, and gray for smoke. Beki was certain Yuu would have grown out of such a simplistic methodology as a genin, however. The only solution would be to systematically approach each doll and see what it did. If multiple dolls shared a function, Beki would have to look for shared characteristics.
"Heads up, Haruka!" Yuu chucked a fist sized kokeshi doll over her wall of dolls.
Beki's first instinct was to catch it but she dodge-rolled away just in case. The kokeshi doll Yu had thrown exploded on impact, sending a flurry of shrapnel in every direction. Beki felt the bite of splintered wood grazing the arm she had used to shield her face. She picked them out and looked up to see another doll headed her way. Instead of rolling out of the way again, Beki put her plan into practice. She lunged at the first doll.
"I guess this means Tsukimori prefers the direct approach," Yoko said.
The doll's head followed Beki's movement, and once she was in range it spewed fire out of its smiling mouth. Beki changed direction right into the path of the next doll. It reacted with lightning speed, throwing its arms open to reveal a cavity full of spinning saws on arms. Beki back flipped away as the arms struck out randomly in a cone in front of the doll. Before Yuu had a chance to begin throwing doll grenades at her again, Beki lunged for the next doll. The polka dots on the dolls kimono turned out to be barrels loaded with senbon. Beki sidestepped the projectiles as they whizzed by.
"Whoa, I would say that's a pretty dangerous strategy," Shu said. "It looks like Ayakashi's dolls are for more than just show. I have no idea how Tsukimori is going to get close enough to use those gauntlets."
"Maybe we'll get to see some interesting ninjutsu," Yoko offered.
Yuu seemed to realize what Beki was doing because she had ever other doll move backward into the circle of dolls and switch places. Beki smiled to herself. Yuu's pride in her craftsmanship would be her undoing. Each and every one of the dolls had a distinctive kimono in various combinations of colors and patterns. Beki took a moment to assess the kimonos again. No, that isn't it, she thought. No two of these are the same. As Beki avoided another flurry of doll grenades she thought about the dolls. What did they all have that was similar? She stopped in the middle of the ring and looked at them hard. The kimonos hid their feet, their hands were identical, Yuu had painted each of their faces the same, and it looked like they all had one of four hairstyles. Beki's eyes widened and she smiled. It was the hair.
Yuu had noticed Beki's hesitation and took advantage by launching a crateful of doll grenades at her. Beki dove forward toward the dolls to avoid it and Yuu smiled to herself. Now that the order of the dolls had changed, Beki would run right into the arms of her most lethal creations.
"Whoa, that's a lot of bombs!" Shu chuckled. "Bombs away! I guess you could say she's the 'bomb'!"
"That was bad…" Yoko said just loud enough for the mic to pick up.
What hair did the fire breathing doll have? Beki scanned the group until she recognized the first doll she had charged. Its hair was in a short bob. Beki bobbed out of the path of the doll in front of her, which had long straight unadorned locks in favor of the nearest fire breathing doll. Time to test my theory, Beki thought as she ducked beneath its mouth.
The doll let out a horizontal spray of ignited oil and Beki smiled to herself as she felt tiny droplets sizzle on her skin and harmlessly on her shirt. Once it's spray ended, Beki stood up and body slammed into the man sized doll, toppling it helplessly to the ground. Beki stood on the back of the overturned doll and smiled down at the slack jawed Yuu.
"She did it!" Yoko cried triumphantly. "Tsukimori broke through the dolls!"
"I figured out your dolls, Yuu," Beki's tone was so dark and threatening it surprised even her. I guess I really am pissed about Ren, Beki thought as she stepped down into the inner ring.
"Is that so?" Yuu reached into her kimono and put on a mask with a wig that looked like a kokeshi doll. The dolls began to make a grinding noise and the one beneath Beki's feet started rocking. Beki leapt backwards, unsure if there was a self-destruct mechanism. Before her eyes, the kimonos on the dolls rotated inside their wood frames and turned themselves around so they were all identical. They were all red with a pattern of white flowers. Next, the adornments on their hair, the buns, the bows, and the extensions retracted within the dolls so they all had the same black bob.
"What's this?" Shu cried. "It looks like all those dolls are changing clothes!"
"They were all so different before," Yoko added. "They were all so pretty and unique before. Now they all look the same and its seriously unsettling. Can you imagine having to look at an army of those things?"
"I think Tsukimori is having those same thoughts now. Look at her face," Shu said.
Beki's eyes widened. That was exactly what Yuu's mask had looked like. The dolls started to shake and then launched in all directions, landing all around the edge of the ring. They turned and faced inward. Beki was surrounded by murderous dolls she couldn't identify and one dangerous shinobi who now had the drop on her.
"So this is where things get difficult," Yuu's voice was muffled behind her mask. The dolls all moved forward several feet in unison. Beki whirled around as they moved, trying to detect one that was different than the others. Fighting the dolls would be useless; it had taken Ren tearing her body apart to destroy five of them. The only way Beki would get out of this in one piece would be if she could take down Yuu.
"Tsukimori is in some serious trouble," Shu said. "Before she was on the attack and Ayakashi was on the defense."
"The tables have been completely turned. Tsukimori is a close range fighter, meaning she depends on her ability to do massive damage to a single target." Yoko explained. "By giving her twenty targets, most of which will shred her on approach, Ayakashi has neutered her."
The dolls moved in closer, locking Beki in completely. There was a hiss and several of the dolls spewed smoke into the ring. Beki choked on the contaminated air and hit the deck instinctively as a flurry of saws and senbon flew through the air. At the end of the barrage, Beki heard the grinding of wood on the ground that indicated the dolls were closing in.
"I guess once the smoke clears we can send in the cleaning crew," Shu's voice was full of disappointment. "What a shame."
"I wouldn't count Tsukimori out just yet," Yoko said.
Wait, Beki thought. It wouldn't be the best show of force the chunin exams had ever seen, but she had a way of smoking out the real shinobi from the dolls. For most of the fight, Beki had been teetering on the brink of becoming the full Drowned Maiden to conserve chakra. Now that the situation was desperate enough, she let the floodgates of her fear and anxiety wash over her. Beki got back on her feet and let out a high pitched blood curdling scream. One of the dolls on Beki's left cringed and she lunged for it with her claws out. She tore at the mask, rending it from Yuu's face and leaving her with diagonal wounds across her pretty face. Yuu screamed in horror at Beki's full transformed face as Beki retracted the blades and socked her across the face. Yuu kept screaming as the smoke cleared. Beki stood over her as the dolls poofed away one by one. With her chakra expended and her concentration broken, Yuu was a sitting duck.
"There it is!" Yoko cried. "The Drowned Maiden!"
"Is that what that thing is…?" Shu's voice was soft, as though he were afraid the Drowned Maiden would turn it's attention to him. "God help Ayakashi…"
"God can't save her," Yoko sounded like she was enjoying herself. "Whether she lives or dies is up to the Drowned Maiden."
Beki reached down and picked up Yuu by the collar with one hand and held up her gauntlet, claws extended on the other. Beki really didn't want to kill Yuu, but she almost didn't have a choice at this point.
"No!" Yuu screamed. "PLEASE! I SURRENDER. I SURRENDER!"
"And that's it everyone!" Yoko cheered. "Tsukimori Haruka is the victor!"
Beki threw Yuu to the ground and looked down at her. Yuu's face was ugly now, covered with cuts and blood and twisted into an expression of terror.
"Consider us even for what you did to Ren," Beki retracted her claws. "But if you ever raise a hand to her or Daiske again, I will find you and nothing you make will ever be strong enough to protect you."
…
"They're acting all scared but she didn't do shit," A scoffed. "It looks scary and all but Beki isn't using that ability to it's full potential."
"What do you mean?" Gaara asked. "Does it have some sort of offensive capability she's unaware of?"
A shrugged. "I can't say for sure, but I saw her mother fight and let's just say based on that Beki has the potential to kill half this arena."
One of the assistants stepped in. "Twenty till the next match. Raikage sama, can I speak to you for a moment?"
A excused himself, leaving Kankuro and Gaara relatively alone. A's assistants on the other side of the room were busy with their own conversation.
"Damn, Beki's creepy when she uses that thing," Kankuro shook his head. "No wonder they were all freaked out at the beach."
"It's really not that bad," Gaara sighed. "I'm pretty sure I've looked worse."
Kankuro shrugged. "I guess so. But I tell you what, that doll chick was hot. Do you think I have a shot? We have a lot in common."
Gaara stared straight ahead. "Didn't you hear the announcer? She's fifteen. Are you looking to abuse your status as head of security by picking up jailbait?"
"Harsh," Kankuro frowned. "It's hard to find good looking puppeteers, you know."
"Oh, I know," Gaara said without skipping a beat. "I have to look at you every day, after all."
…
Beki hopped back into her dugout as medics carried away Yuu. Bo glared her down but said nothing. Daiske slapped her on the back. "Good job, Beks."
"That's one win for Team Honey," Beki said and then looked Bo right in the face with her corpse eyes. "Make it two for two."
Bo stared off ahead without uttering a word, but the vein pulsating in his clenched jaw told Beki she had gotten under his skin. He had always been close with Yuu. Arguably, she was the only friend he had, if you could call them friends. She was the only one who ever bothered to talk to him or include him in anything. Objectively one could say Team Hunter should really be called Shinichi and Team Hunter. Beki didn't know if Shinichi was watching but she was certain he wouldn't care half as much about Yuu as Bo clearly did. There was a chance that after the chunin exams were over, if they had both lost, Shinichi would never work with Bo and Yuu again.
"I have to admit, Yuu's strategy was pretty good," Daiske sensed the tension and tried to break it before a fight broke out.
"Strategy isn't worth a damn if you can't fight," Beki poked at Bo's seething rage. "Sucks to suck."
Bo walked back towards the doors that led to the tunnels to the arena. He was clenching and unclenching his fists. Good, Beki thought. He'll be good and off his game when he goes up against Daiske. Maybe that would be enough to save her teammate from an almost certain death.