I do not own anything.
POISON DOVE & MAELSTROM FOX
Chapter 11 - Promise of a Lifetime
Semiramis told herself over and over again not to panic. It did no good as fear and shock quickly overtook her body, freezing every muscle she possessed. Ironically, it was like she'd been poisoned, poisoned with the trusty reliable toxin of them all - fear. Talk about a turnaround, usually she was the one freezing others in their place with nerve-biting terror. Perhaps what was happening to her now was karma for all the misdeeds she'd done in her life. If so, then who better to carry out the act than this titanic mass of pure evil and hatred that stared back at her from the confines of a pair of iron bars. Semiramis had a gut feeling those bars wouldn't keep the beast's evil from touching her, far from it. Matter of fact, the more she looked at them, the greater the feeling in her gut became any second the gigantic fox before her would break the metallic and somewhat rusty-looking bars on its cage and go straight for her.
Immediately, she attempted to force her mouth to operate in some way that was acceptable. No matter what, she refused to whimper. She was a queen and if this would be her end, she'd meet it with dignity. As much dignity as being mauled, stomped on, or eaten by a giant fox would allow.
One look into the gate-sized crimson orbs of the beast told Semiramis her death would not be gentle. Far from it. Try as she might, she couldn't look away from the red harbingers. So many things she saw reflected in them: death, pain, hatred, spite, jealousy, and perhaps most terrifying of all - amusement. After a brief second, she realized the demon before her had every right to be amused; if things were reversed, she'd find it laughable too. Before this titanic existence stood an ant that had arrogantly walked in thinking it could exercise its will then leave without much trouble. The price of that arrogance was now being collected in the form of Semiramis' never-ending sweat and the barely-visible shivers rocking her body. Through it all though, she attempted to keep a straight face; Semiramis knew at the very least she had to make an effort to stand up for herself.
The monster before it found her attempts laughable. "It's been quite some time since I've met a human this bold and uppity. I'd applaud your attempts at trying to save face, but you've angered me too much for that, Assassin."
Deep, bellowing, inhuman yet oddly manly, and dripping with thinly veiled malice. Everything she'd expected from a demon with a reputation as a natural disaster. When the fox's mouth opened, it felt as if the gates before Irkalla had been unlocked thus allowing the hellish air of the realm to flow outward. Semiramis now had an idea of what her poisons and acids did to those who slighted her; of course, knowing that wouldn't change how she dealt with those that crossed her. Provided she survived this little encounter. At the current moment, it felt as if her chances of doing that were dropping, and dropping fast.
Thunder-like laughter rolled off the giant canine's lips. Semiramis was sure the entire complex was shaking, just from the corner of her eyes she spotted the multiple ripples in the water, fanning out as if to mock her. "You may have that little idiot fooled, but not me. Oh no, I've been watching you, 'Wise Queen', I know what you've been up to. Quite a naughty little girl, aren't you?" Behind its cage, the orange-furred demon rumbled with laughter seeing the Servant's controlled yet still furious expression. While nowhere near as stupid as his host, this woman was a tad smarter, not to mention she possessed a ruthlessness that the Nine Tails couldn't help but admire a little. A shame it was held back by a royal ego befitting one born to a crown and a throne.
Plain as day was the bait, and foolishly, Semiramis took it leaving herself hooked and caught. If she didn't do something fast, she was going to be reeled in, sliced open, and eaten. There was no way in hell she was going to let that happen, not after coming this far.
And there was no way in hell she was going to leave her Master with this…thing hiding within him, manipulating him like a puppet on a string.
As his now devoted Servant, that was her job, to her own playful yet non-malicious ends.
Even if the air was tainted, she still breathed it in. Unbearable as it might have been for most, Semiramis inhaled as much of it as she could through her nose. Her inwards tighten by reflex finding this foreign energy was both deeply invigorating and quite toxic. The divine blood she carried within her mashed against the foul power this creature's existence carried. Pushing the discomfort down, she forced the rush of power to run its course through every fiber of her body. At last, her body was her own again as were all of its functions. First, she flexed her fingers, feeling relief when she found they could be moved again. Immediately, they tightened into fists. Semiramis spaced her feet apart and tightened her shoulders. Defiantly, she stared directly into the crimson eyes of her Master's inner demon. "The Nine-Tailed Fox, I presume?"
There was a bestial snort that rolled across the mental world like rumbling thunder. "You see another giant nine-tailed fox in here? Don't tell me your eyes are just as poor as that runt's."
"I'm merely trying to be cautious." She fired back, keeping her voice and emotions level. In encounters like this, Semiramis knew the first to show emotion would be the first one wounded. Fatally wounded possibly. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized almost a month ago playing this game would have been second nature to her. Now, she was having to work to get back to "normalcy"; all because she'd begun letting that little blond fool in. "Foxes are known for being tricksters, even as away as my homeland. For all I know, what I'm seeing could be nothing but an illusion conjured up by some pathetic shell of a creature."
Her words struck a nerve. Right before her eyes, the same crimson tendrils that had conspired around Naruto manifested from within the dark confines of the cage, only in greater number and three times bigger than those that had entrapped her Master. The demonic energy quickly exploded from the cage and blasted the massive corridor in which Semiramis stood in. Just when she was beginning to feel safe and confident, the heat wave caused a curtain of sweat to materialize upon Semiramis' body. To her credit, her knees didn't buckle. Standing upright, she faced the crimson wave with all her might, like a tree standing defiant in the face of a coming storm. With great intensity, the storm blew, yet she did not bend, she refused to.
"I see…either you are indeed the beast I have been seeking…or you're the largest and strongest rodent I've ever met."
In retrospect, it probably wasn't the greatest idea she'd ever had. She did it anyway if only to get back at this demon fox a little for messing with her.
Said fox immediately responded.
"RAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Semiramis had been wrong in her earlier metaphor. What she'd experienced wasn't the storm, it was the prelude. The moment the Nine-Tails opened its mouth, the gates of the underworld were well and truly thrown open. No, not thrown open, blasted open. It was futile to resistance as the stormy gale evolved into an outright cyclone that uprooted everything in its path. Still, she threw her arms up if only to protect her face. It did little good as Semiramis felt her entire body being forcefully pushed backward; her heels attempted to dig into the water-covered floor, but it was no good. The feral growling she'd heard before was nothing compared to the explosive roar that she was being blasted with, it felt as if the fox was trying to blow out her eardrums. Regardless of rather or not she was in physical form or spirit form, the war cry of the demonic beast before her was filling her entire body with an ever-growing sense of dread that weighed heavily upon her entire existence. Her right knee finally let the flooded ground, which was shaking like a leaf. Wave after wave of yellow-colored water splashed against her, dampening her hair and threatening to undo the ponytail she'd kept her black strands tied up in.
Almost as quickly as the storm began it ended, sudden and without warning. Its after effects remained though. Throughout the metallic hallway, the echoes of the beast's declaration of rage could be heard, bouncing off the walls like a spirit unholy wail. Semiramis herself felt the roar echoing in her head which rung like a bell that had played with by a toddler. Thinking was hard as her train of thought had literally been derailed, and time was of the essence. It wasn't just her head that hurt, her whole body seemed to reverberate as well as she struggled to calm her racing heart. Through the veil of confusion, she dared look upward finding the cackling face of the demon fox.
Control returned soon enough, and with it came anger.
"Not so high and mighty now, are you, your highness." Spat the Nine-Tails, caring nothing for the venomous glare the black-haired woman gave him.
Rather than try to make a fool of herself by rushing upward, Semiramis placed a hand to her knee and kept it there. A moment to recover, that was all she needed. "You seem to forget, demon, only one of us is locked away behind a set of prison bars."
Her attempted jab failed, worse, it was turned back on her. A split second warning was all she got. Sucking in a breath while cursing in the same moment, she jumped backward. Three claws, each one large enough to cast a shadow over her body, burst forth from the darkness of the cage and past the cell bars. Were it not for the metal bars, Semiramis knew the claws would have continued stretching beyond their boundaries, hell, if the Nine-Tails could have it'd have sent its entire arm at her. Semiramis would fight, but the odds of her being crushed like a bug were high. Each claw left a deep imprint in the floor, sending hundreds of ripples across the flooded chamber. Heart-racing, she stared at the massive appendage, silently calculating the distance between her and the demon's prison. Behind his cell the demon fox did likewise, reading every motion made by Semiramis' body no matter how small.
Golden eyes met crimson red in a silent battle of wits and will. The pupils of both were slitted, showing it was not a struggle between a human and beast, but between two beings capable of near limitless cruelty if angered. On the fox's end, he'd already been angered enough. Equally so, the human had more than enough reason to dislike the Tailed Beast before her.
What separated them was not a set of bars and a sealing tag though, it was a blond-haired human whose fate had become inexplicable tied to theirs.
"You think because I'm bound by this seal I can't get to you, don't you?" Rumbled the fur-covered entity.
Semiramis snorted in part disgust and part arrogance. "If you could, I believe I'd be nothing but a bloody smear being washed away. The fact I'm still here proves that seal is doing its job, even if it has been cracked a little."
Again, the fox demon laughed. The Servant felt a cold chill run up her spine, the likes of which told her one thing. Seeing her guarded expression, the Nine Tails grinned, revealing its sharpen fangs. "How arrogant you are, little queen, this is my domain. It's time you well and truly learned your place in it!"
Her restraint vanished as quickly as her sense of superiority. Out flew her arms along with a pair of poison-tipped chains that lunged into the darkness beyond the cell bars. The beast's maw opened and out came a wall of visible sound waves that shook the flooded hallways. Like crusted leaves, the Servant's weapons were blown away. Her done-up hair came undone, allowing the pitch-black strands to lash about in a wild frenzy. Realizing her time to attack had come and gone, Semiramis reverted back to defense threw her arms up summoning her aquatic scales for extra protection. While gritting her teeth, the pressurized soundwave made it feel like every corner of her body was being assaulted by a steel mallet. Even her inwards felt as if they were being pounded away at, and that included her spiritual core.
No, with a face of grim horror, Semiramis realized her spiritual core was exactly what the Nine-Tails was targeting. IMPOSSIBLE!
The laughter of the nine-tailed demon was carried on the soundwaves he was blasting. "Why so surprised, your HIGHNESS? We are both spiritual entities, are we not? Not to mention I've been around for quite a while! I recognize a spiritual entity when I see one, you're strong, but far from the most fearsome of creatures! I can see it, that marble-like glow at the core of your being! That said, I'd like to get a closer look at it!"
Semiramis felt her mouth open in a scream of rage and terror, yet she could not hear herself. Her legs and arms kicked and clawed at empty air, and yet she still felt immobile. Either by luck or cruelty, her eyes were still functioning properly. What she saw almost made her wish she'd gone blind as well as deaf and immobile.
The crimson chakra that seemed to make up the fox's being was spreading, and spreading fast. Semiramis would have screamed out a line of curses if she didn't have more immediate concerns. Just as she'd seen earlier, the red-orange-colored energy fanned out, twisting and snapping as if it had a mind of its own. She'd now met the dark existence behind said movements, and succeeded in making it angry. Racing through the gaps in the cage bars, the demonic energy quickly encircled her ankles before beginning to rise. At first, she felt absolutely nothing, there was no pain, just a simple emptiness as if her entire bottom half had been erased. A second passed, then Semiramis felt something - pain, unholy pain that had her screaming her lungs out. Adrenaline now pumping through every fiber of her body, Semiramis tore at the crimson mass. It was like attempting to grasp molten lava. Fueled by pure survival, she continued to claw at the crimson mass, keeping the pain the action brought her repressed to nonstop hisses. She clawed and tore at it, and yet the demonic energy continued to eat away at her, sending a never-ending wave of pain up her spiritual body.
Half a second later and Semiramis realized the pain was just beginning. Feeling a tingle in her neck, she dared glance upward and found a literal wave of the crimson chakra was heading straight for her. There was no time to scream or curse, not that doing either would have done much good. The tree was uprooted from its place on the ground and washed away in the tide of murderous hatred and vice.
With her resistance having been completely and utterly decimated, the Nine-Tails' power surged into every corner of her body. Semiramis felt as if a hundred superheated needles were being rammed into her entire body, every nerve and organ, all of them coming under unified assaulted. Just as before, Semiramis was sure her mouth was stretched open in an uncharacteristic scream of pure terror, but there was no sound. It took her a second to realize her screams were being drowned out by those around her.
Semiramis could not see but she could hear, and what she heard nearly made her want to rip off her own elfish ears. Screams of terror and rage, mournful wails of the damned and dying resounded like a giant bell being rung again and again.
Cries of rage.
Declarations of vengeance.
Whispers of envy and longing.
The female Servant had been thrown into a sea of negativity as bottomless as the primordial waters that had spawned Tiamat herself. There was no hope of escaping as she couldn't struggle, her entire body had become little more than a human-shaped mass of stone too heavy to be moved even an inch. That said, she could still feel everything, and that was the problem. Semiramis felt as if her body were hot and cold at the same time; as if she were being pressed against the flames of hell while being soaked in the frozen waters of the far northern corner of the world. She felt as if any second the duality would become too much and her body would break down from the stress. Semiramis actually welcomed an end such as that, she even almost prayed for it.
Vision returned when she least wanted it to.
Mud-like darkness molded into the shape of faces - hundreds of wailing faces contorted in and out of existence. The queen herself wanted to scream, partially in horror and partially out of revulsion for what she was seeing. And yet her body did nothing, it could do nothing.
"Do you see it? How powerless you are? This is why I despise you humans. So weak and pathetic, always clawing at yourselves and each other. Not even the pillars of nature are safe from your disgusting, greedy little hands. Listen to it, listen! These are the fools who in their mad quest to satisfy themselves found only ruination awaiting them! Hundreds! Thousands! Do you see now how pathetic you truly are? It matters not that you carry the blood of the divine, you are still human! Still nothing but greed and treachery incarnate!"
Somewhere, in the recesses of her mind that were still functioning properly, Semiramis realized she'd grossly underestimated this demon. She'd agreed to this procedure believing it'd be an ordinary spirit, nothing but a canine no different than a stronger than average Monstrous Beast.
How wrong she'd been, and it was about to cost Semiramis her life.
I…I…I can't…I can't…hold on, not like this. How…how…
Stupid, foolish, completely and utterly disgraceful. Those were the words that came to Semiramis' mind, and rarely were they aimed at her and not at someone else. While she'd had her moments, times when she'd privately chastised herself for slipping up, they were nothing compared to this. Sure, she'd been around rather vicious and wild animals, Phantasmal Beasts that had been the stuff of nightmares for not just children but even the learned and world-wary. Semiramis was in the latter camp and thought she knew what she was in for.
This fox, if I didn't know any better, I'd almost swear it was spawned from Tiamat herself, all of her malice and rage at being overthrown given form and barely contained within…within…
"Na..ru…to…"
"You will NOT have him, witch! Understand that, the boy's body belongs to me and no one else, got it!"
The "logical" thing to do would have been to immediately blame the blonde-haired idiot that'd gotten her into this mess. It was his inner demon currently about to either tear her limb from limb or drive her to insanity. But that same idiot was her Master…and the first person in years to show her anything resembling kindness. The kind that was reserved for friends and loved ones, not people like her. And yet the boy had done just that.
He'd shined light into her dark existence.
First, it was her fingers. Starting as near instinctive flinches, eventually, it became both her hands up to her wrists. They instantly began to struggle against the invisible force holding them in place.
"Hmph! There it is, the hypocrisy ingrained into every human being from the moment they're able to speak."
It was either by sheer luck or cruelty that Semiramis was able to feel a shiver run up her spine. As bad as her situation was, she had no doubt it could get worse. This fox may have been demonic, but it possessed a sharp and wicked mind similar to her own. That meant there was always room for things to get worse. Semiramis struggle against the maelstrom of lost and tormented voices become greater, and it ended with her making the exact same gains - zero.
The Nine-Tails laughter came from all directions. For a moment or two it seemed able to drown out the chorus of wailing it'd tossed her into, but a second later and Semiramis found something worse. The laughter and wails were syncing up, as if they were mere music being coordinated by a single wicked conductor. There was little doubt in what remained of her mind that when the song ended so too would her existence.
But before that, the demon fox was going to make her contribute to the twisted symphony it had going on.
"You may have fooled my scatterbrained host, but you never fooled me. From the moment you appeared from that accursed summoning seal, I knew you were trouble." Sudden and fast, a single eye appeared before the immobilized Servant. If her lungs were working properly, she would have gasped in shock being so close to the ocular nerve, which was no less bigger than the last time she'd seen it. Just the pupil along was seemingly the entire length of her whole body, making her feel like the ant she was in the demon's domain. "This seal IS bothersome, but not without its merits, especially given the way that idiot Kage designed it. To think he believed his runt would be able to fully enslave me and bend me to his whim! Never again! I can see through the seal, hear through it, smell through it, almost TASTE through it. All to much greater degrees than Naruto could hope to at his current level, and probably ever will. It's those senses that has allowed me to keep the brat alive, and keep him out of the clutches of people like YOU, witch." The feral edge in the voice, the near snarl that the last few words turned into, all told Semiramis that if the fox wanted to it would manifest its jaw and snap her up in one gulp. A second eye appeared beside the first, together, they placed more invisible constraints upon Semiramis' upside-down body. "You think I'm willing to allow my host to become a slave? Allow him or anyone else a bigger slave than I already am? Forget!"
Though the situation was grave, Semiramis still tried to analyze things in order to decipher a way out. Naturally, the largest thing she honed in on was her captor. The Nine-Tails was angry, very angry. Right before her frozen eyes, the reason why seemingly unfolded itself as she listened to the beast rant and rant, all while continually using a few eye-catching words.
Slave.
Chain.
Bond.
Freedom.
"There are so many wonderful things I could do to you, but there's one I can think off that'll be quite…satisfying." Malevolent laughter echoed all around Semiramis, causing her skin to crawl. "You act all regal as befitting of a queen, but let's see how you stand when you're the one put on trial!"
At last, the mouth manifested, and from it came yet another near invisible soundwave in the form of a bestial roar. Like a ragdoll Semiramis flew, darkness whizzing past her. Bit by bit, the dreadful voices faded away though that did nothing to put Semiramis' heart at ease. She could hear it pounding in her ears. Having regained at least a fraction of control over her body, she gritted her teeth and internally braced for when things would end. Her lips broke when she felt her back hit solid ground, then she was on her side and rolling across the ground like a damn marble. Semiramis tried to open her eyes, but the ringing remained making it hard to tell what was happening beyond her getting her ass kicked. Through the haze, that thought reigned supreme, and boy did it leave a bitter taste in her mouth. Once her rolling came to a stop, she was forced to still hug the ground. It felt as if her stomach was a pot of vile that was rapidly being steered and churned with reckless abandon.
She was on her hands and knees, her night-black strands in disarray around her. It felt like she was trying to breath with sand in her lungs. Darkness slowly drained away from her vision, though not before blurring what lay before her into a mass of swirling colors and mismatched shapes. It was like staring into a painting that had just had water splashed all over it, turning what might have been a wonderful image into a multi-colored mess that grew worse by the second. Biting her lip, she attempted to make sense of the mess. Her right hand balled into a fist, the knuckles were placed flat against the ground, afterwards she began pushing herself to her feet. Rather annoyingly, her legs felt like straw.
Semiramis stumbled twice before she was able to stand upright. Doing so had taken almost all the energy she'd accumulated, leaving her feeling like she was on the verge of falling down. At the very least, she was free of the storm of wails she'd been thrown head-first into. For what felt like the first time in hours, she could hear herself think. As her senses came back in full, she took stock of her new surroundings. A black marble-like floor lay beneath her feet, it's dark shine reflecting Semiramis' disheveled appearance. Above her lay darkness, a black blanket that could have been confused for the night sky, a sky without any stars. Though danger was out of sight, Semiramis kept her guard up, she had to.
A single step backward and she felt a tingle at the back of her spine. Quickly spinning around, Semiramis couldn't believe what she saw, "Naruto?!" Almost immediately, she ran toward him with her arm stretched out. An invisible force suddenly grabbed her by the ankles and froze her where she stood. Gods dammit, not again!
The marble-like ground beneath her changed. Commanded by the nine-tailed demon she'd arrogantly challenged, its features changed, becoming something akin to a recorder. What it was playing made Semiramis' heart grind to a complete halt.
Since their…talk, she'd been attempting to formulate how best to address her attempted poisoning of Naruto. Well, it was more like brainwashing but the root was still the same. It wasn't exactly a topic Semiramis could bring up out of the blue and expect things to be smooth sailing. Still, from what she'd seen of Naruto, he'd at least be willing to listen to her if she started out small and well-meaning. The Nine-Tails had effectively taken that option off the table as she and Naruto watched that dreadful night unfold before their eyes. Semiramis shut her eyes, silently cursing not fate or Zelretch or her Master, she cursed herself. What was playing before her was just another reminder of what kind of person she was, and why she'd never know what it felt like to be trusted or wanted by another.
Whatever sympathy Naruto might have had for her was about to go out the window.
"Do you see now, runt? That woman is evil, she is poison! You're better off ridding yourself of her! You can make her do anything with those Command Seals, right? Order her to kill herself! Do it before she attempted to poison you again, because next time I promise, I won't be there to save your pathetic ass!"
Here in this dark realm, the Nine-Tails may as well have had a voice of a god. Naruto remained still as a statue staring downward at the images before his mind. His silence spoke volumes about what was to come next.
Semiramis would have liked to say she had a good run, but she hadn't, not if she was being honest with herself. The boy before her had done something few others had - he'd been honest with her. He was so unfailingly honest and kind that Semiramis wanted to believe it was all a lie. In what little time they'd shared together, she'd discovered it all to be true, Naruto was true.
He was decent.
And that was exactly why he was going to cast her out to the Throne of Heroes she'd return, another black mark on an already dotted record.
Resigned, Semiramis shut her eyes and stood tall and regal. At the very least, she'd meet the end with dignity.
Naruto's audible inhale was the calm before the storm. "Hey, give me back control of my body, you stupid fox! And leave Semi-chan out of this!"
A pin dropped.
"H-H-HUH?!"
The crimson eyes and fang-ridden mouth manifested before Naruto, a look of pure rage on the nonexistent face. "Are you really THAT stupid! This woman was planning on making her into your slave! Doesn't that bother you! Are you already under her spell?!"
She would have asked the same thing if she wasn't too stunned to speak.
As per usual, Naruto stood defiant. "Yeah, she may have tried to poison me," Sadness tinged his voice, making Semiramis curse herself once more. Almost just as quickly, her pointy ears perked up hearing the resolve that colored his next words. "But that was before, she told me she'd stick with me after that! I believe her! Now, give me back control of my body! We've been through this before, haven't we?!"
The inner realm shook with anger, though Semiramis couldn't tell if it was from Naruto's or the Nine-Tails. Without warning, the hold on her body was released nearly causing her to fall face-first into the ground. Her startled cry reminded Naruto of her presence. The second he spun around to face her, joy manifested on his whiskered-faced; it almost brought a smile to Semiramis face as she could instinctively feel her lips twitching upward. He moved to her only to freeze as crimson tendrils coiled around his ankles then stretched upward to restrain him as they'd done to her. Semiramis screamed for her Master, but the demon once more had her in an invisible hold.
Behind Naruto but to her front, the face of the Nine-Tails manifested in full as a swirling mass of flame-like energy. "You may be willing to be this bitch's slave, but I'm not! I refuse!"
Struggling against the crimson restraints, Naruto directed his words towards his inner demon. "Dammit, nobody's talking about enslaving you! I just want a little of your chakra, do you want those two to come back for us again!"
Air rushed inward when the monstrous jaws opened, whipping at Naruto and Semiramis along the way. Whatever the demon fox was about to say next was interrupted by the ear-popping cracking noise that erupted from around them. The Master-Servant pair looked around them, finding white-colored cracks and fissures forming in the darken field they'd been summoned to. Semiramis gasped as she found her body was freed, and this time she fell, only managing to land on her knees. Naruto, on the other hand, had to kick and struggle against the crimson energy binding him. Glancing past him, Semiramis saw the demonic vintage of the Nine-Tails was growing weaker and rockier.
Jiraiya! She made a mental note to thank the old sage when she saw him again, thank him and possibly smack him over the head. A fissure formed between Semiramis' feet causing panic to rush up her spine.
"Semiramis!"
Glancing upward, she saw Naruto. Most of the crimson chakra had been torn away, though what remained was still attempting to hold him in place.
"Naruto!" Caution was thrown to the side and strength returned to her in spades. Ignoring the ground splitting apart beneath her, she made way to her Master. In the background, the Nine-Tails screamed in continued rage as its form began to grow fainter and fainter. Semiramis didn't focus on that, she focused on her Master. His arm was outstretched towards hers.
Semiramis threw out her arm as well.
Smell was the first of her senses of return to her. The always familiar scent of blood hit her square in the face, causing the female Servant to snap her eyes open. From the corner of her eye appeared a trail of smoke stretching upward to a white-dotted blue sky. After spending what felt like an eternity in the dark confines of her Master's mind, she welcomed the sun shining down upon her. Speaking of her Master, he was the first thing she searched for.
"Naruto? Naruto?! Naruto?!"
The ground looked like it'd been the victim of a repeated assault with a hammer, and a catapult barrage. Slabs of rock lay in all directions while fissures snaked their way outward in all directions. The walls of the arena had been blown apart and in some areas she saw what were clearly claw-marks, big ones. Moving through the debris, her golden eyes frantically searched for her Master, hoping like hell he was unharmed. How much damage had been done while she was out cold? What had that accursed demon made her idiot of a Master do?
She spotted him lying nearly flat on the ground, a dazed expression on his face. Alarms blaring in her head, she made a mad dash for him, jumping over rock and rubble alike. With tenderness she believed she'd completely lost, the Servant cradled the jinchūriki in her arms; the first thing she checked for was a pulse, once she found it, she breathed a sigh of relief. Naruto looked horrible, parts of his skin were a sickening shade of dark red, almost resembling dried blood, or burns. As she scoured his battered body, she caught sight of the sealing tag on his forehead, a faint glow being emitted from the black lining.
"Gl…Glad…to see you're…alright. I-I…was worried…I'd…lost you too. Hehe, and to…think…you barely look like you…got your hair ruffled." Came a drained male voice Semiramis instantly recognized.
While the thought of hurting him in ways that would have caused nightmares always existed in Semiramis' mind, to actually see Jiraiya mortally wounded caused her to pause and stare in silent horror. Blood gushed through his chest, courtesy of a wound she knew Naruto had inflicted in his demon-induced rage. From the looks of things, Jiraiya had further aggravated the injury by attempting to place the sealing tag on him. She could only imagine how difficult that had been while Naruto was lashing out at everyone and everything in sight. Semiramis looked between her Master, who was beginning to stir, and the Toad Sage that was barely able to remain upright. Biting back a scream of frustration, she gently laid Naruto down and moved to Jiraiya.
"I…knew you…were developing a…soft spot for the kid." He coughed.
"Just be silent, don't give me reason to finish the job that was started." Once more, what little healing magecraft she knew was put to the test. "What happened?"
"Naruto…made it to…two tails, then you…blacked out."
Glancing at him then at the damage around them, Semiramis cursed. A single miscalculation and this had been the cause of all of this. It was they were going to have quite a bit of explaining to do once the dust settled and Jiraiya was able to talk without fear of further injuring himself. And Naruto was coherent.
Semiramis looked back at her Master as her ears picked up the sounds of panic and calls for medical teams. Through it all she remained focused on Naruto, who's steady breathing mighty as well have been a cool wind blowing through a hot desert.
As the medical teams arrived, she faded away, but not without some reservations. In spiritual form, she watched them place the master and student pair on stretchers and hustled them out of the ruined complex. Not once did she allow Naruto to leave her sight.
It took two days for him to wake up, and of course, Naruto barely remembered a thing of his external rampage. The mental struggle between him and the Nine-Tailed Fox. Semiramis was able to tell that from the way he looked at her; she saw so many things in his eyes, but what stood out most were the pain and shame. He blamed himself for what had happened, never mind the fact he'd been shown undeniable evidence of her attempting to betray him.
Staring into those blue eyes, Semiramis realized a grave mistake had been made. What possible use was there for someone as wretched as her meeting someone as selfless and kind as this?
She let Jiraiya do most of the talking when Naruto was awake, and when in private he conversed with her. Not once did he ever let it slip that he knew she was there, listening in, privately recording every piece of information. It was when Naruto dozed off, weighed down by the dark revelations did she appear. All the humor and jesting was cut from their conversations as the subject matter was too serious for that. Finally, she learned what really happened.
Time was an interesting thing. Coming from an age of Mystery herself, she knew one's perception of time and space could be easily distorted, that was apparently what had happened to her. Semiramis had gone deathly quiet when Naruto's seal was undone, as Jiraiya had stated, after the second tail she blacked out; there was no doubt that was when she'd been pulled into the depths of her Master's inner world. From there, apparently a third tail had manifested, and that was when things got nasty. Naruto's rampage had lasted for what might as well have been five to six minutes tops, yet while she was trapped in his subconscious, it felt like hours had passed. As she explained her experience, Jiraiya's face remained darkly passive, there was no doubt he was processing the information she gave him just as she did his. In the end, he agreed with her - they'd drastically underestimated the Nine-Tails' power, and it'd cost them.
"I don't suppose once we've official gathered all of our notes, we can try this again, can we?" She kept her voice low as not to awake the sleeping Naruto who lay beside Jiraiya.
The Toad Sage grunted as he attempted to sit up. Quite a number had been done to him and it was going to be a while before he was up and about. Semiramis made a mental note to enjoy what peace and quiet she was going to get. "I think…it might be best if we hold off on that, at least for a little while. It's obvious the Nine-Tails is onto us, and it's not happy with being used as what amounts to an energy battery. All we did was uncork the seal a little, and look at what happened. Any more and I have a feeling we'd make what happened at Komaki City look like a child's temper tantrum."
Her eyes drifted over to her sleeping Master. "Then we'll figure something else out. For now, we rest and recover."
"That'll go a lot faster if you sit down and talk with Naruto." It was irksome he never seemed to shirk from her death glares, at least not when Naruto was involved. In a way though, she realized that show the white-haired sage well and truly cared for her Master. "I know you've 'phased out' whenever he wakes up, it's because you're scared, scared of confronting him. Don't you think he might be a little freaked out too? Because that demon inside of him, he's lived his life barefoot of any kind of warmth of affection, he's terrified he's going to scare you off."
His words were piecing like arrows, and the sharp glare he aimed at Semiramis nearly caused her to flinch. The fox hadn't been the only one she'd underestimated. "It's…it's not that easy." She whispered. From the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto stir and felt the immediate urge to shift back into spirit form.
Deep down though, Semiramis knew Jiraiya was right.
This entire mess was unlike her, meaning it was time for her to reassort herself as the Wise Queen of Assyria.
It was time to resort who she was.
Almost day later when Naruto was up and about, she chose to make her move.
"Meet me on the hilltop to the left of the hospital, come alone, and don't strain yourself getting there."
Lingering on a second longer than normal, Semiramis could see her words had put the fear of death in him. Jiraiya had apparently been right. It was a little…comforting to know she wasn't the only one frightened. Granted, Semiramis was far better at hiding her emotions than he was. After realizing that, she retained physical form for a few seconds longer if only to observe the dumbfounded dance he fell into upon hearing her words. She doubted he saw her soft smile before she disappeared in a shower of light particles.
It seemed almost mocking how calm a day it was. Most of the water from the storm little over a week ago had dried up, combined with the dazzling rays from the sun and it seemed all the plants were in full bloom. Semiramis sat atop the bench, looking out at the sea of greenery bathed by in the light of the sun. It was beautiful, tranquil. All of it just made what was about to happen all the harder for her to cope with.
Perhaps she found pleasure in the sheer ridiculousness of it, here she was dreading confrontation with a man like some love-struck maiden. Originally, she was going to assort herself as a queen, but those plans had gone awry as she silently counted down the time until her Master arrived. It seemed with Naruto, everything she planned went off course, far off course.
"Um…hey, Semi-chan?"
Swallowing the lump in her throat, she turned to face him. His arms were still covered in bandages, speaking of which, a rather large one had been stuck to his right cheek. At the very least he looked a tad bit better than Jiraiya, Naruto was able to move at the very least and do so without groaning in pain. According to the sage, Naruto possessed a natural healing factor that allowed him to bounce back from almost any minor or minimal injury. A white hospital shirt and teal-colored pants adorned his body. Once he laid eyes on her, he immediately attempted to look away out of partial shame and embarrassment. Forgoing any teasing, she scooted over and waited patiently for him to take his seat.
Separated by only a few inches, silence instantly took hold of both of them.
Semiramis decided she'd break the ice, it was the least she could do. "This view is…nice I suppose."
Naruto almost immediately picked up on her trail and took the bait. "Y-Yeah, b-but it's still not as nice as the view from the stone faces. O-One day I'd like to-uh, never mind."
"Show them to me? I'd be grateful." She immediately responded. Semiramis didn't have to turn her head to take in the surprise that manifested on his face. "What? One day you plan on returning to your Hidden Leaf Village, don't you?"
His mouth managed to work once the initial shock had run its course. "W-W-What?! Y-You s-seriously w-want to see the Hidden Leaf?"
In response to his question, she shot him her typical annoyed stare. "Of course, I want to. It's your home, and your home is my home since I'm your Servant." Her expression broke and her shoulders sagged. "That is…if you're…willing to…put up with me."
Naruto stared at her as if she'd grown a second head. She was torn between wanting to slap him and just disappear back into spirit form. "What wouldn't I want you around? Sure…I…" His right hand moved to his neck while his eyes glanced away from her. There was mistaking the fact he was doing everything in his power to look anywhere but in her direction. He inhaled once, "I…had a feeling you were trying to poison me that night." Glancing to his side, he wasn't surprised to find Semiramis was now looking at him with moon-sized eyes. "Hey, I know I'm a little slow…but I'm not that stupid."
Ah, yes, those rare moments when your brain actually works.
Shut it, furball!
The Servant sat there in shock, staring agape at her Master. First the fox, then the sage, and now him. Will the surprises ever end? Odds were fate would throw her a curveball at some point, one she really didn't need. "T-T-T-Then w-w-why did you-"
"I wanted to give you a chance! I mean, I had a feeling you didn't like being stuck to me so I…I just decided to…I hoped I would be able to…change your mind." He admitted shyly.
Something warm was spreading in her chest, something warm and unfamiliar. It reminded her of a flame, starting as a spark, it set the straw and kindling around it ablaze. "Why…why…why would you…Naruto, I'm-"
"I'm not in any position to abandon anyone." He cut her off, looking dead serious. "I already lost one friend because I wasn't strong enough, because I…didn't try hard enough. If I can help it, I don't want to make the same mistake." Then his expression softened into forlorn. "That said, I can…understand if you…don't want anything to do with me because of the fox."
Oh, how things had shifted. She sat on this bench patiently waiting to be rejected and cast out. Now, she was the one with the power and Naruto offering himself to her judgement. Gloating or haughtiness was the farthest thing from her mind. Besides, this boy had shown he wasn't deserving of those things. He deserved to know the truth.
Sighing, Semiramis reached out and gently stroked his cheek, causing him to look up. She spoke softly to him. "You know, I'm not in any position to abandon you either, especially since you and the fox are two separate entities. You've shown me nothing but respect, respect I can say I haven't entirely earned. Since being with you, I've been shown greater generosity…than even my mother gave me."
"H-Huh?"
Tucking a strand of hair behind her pointed ears, Semiramis began the first of her rarely spoken and deeply personal origin story. "Naruto, my mother, the goddess Derketo, when I was born she…abandoned me."
"WHAT?!" He nearly jumped out of his seat, rage and shock coloring his features. "B-But why? Was she forced-"
"It was of her own free will." Her words only caused the anger on his face to intensify. Truly, she'd been bound to a stupidly honest and decent Master. "Sometimes…motherhood is pushed upon those that are either not ready for it nor desire it. My mother was of the latter, she sent me down the river, my dove familiars as my one and only guide. That was the extent of our relationship, parent and offspring…the womb…and what was created within it."
Daring to look his way, Semiramis was treated to the sight of Naruto's mouth staring at her in gaping shock, horror, rage, and pity fighting for dominance on his face. Gradually, pity won out, it morphed into sympathy that caused him to lower his head.
"Don't apologize, it's not your problem nor is it something for you to concern yourself with."
"But you deserved better." He grumbled, his fists gripping so hard that they're almost white. "No parent should ever…it's just…it's unforgivable."
"Life is harsh, I simply drew the short end of the stick being born to an uncaring mother. At the very least she gave me divine blood from which I've made great usage of." A wind blew across the forest rustling the hundreds of trees. It created a tranquil little symphony she found enjoyment in, one that was exactly opposite of the demonic maelstrom of Naruto's inner world. "Naruto, I've seen a great many things, while I've had something of a…checkered history with men, I can say you are one of the kindest I've met. Almost as serene as my first husband, the only man I can say I ever truly loved. What I've seen of you, what's in your stomach and in your heart are two different things; I'm willing to say the latter matters more than the former, in my opinion at least."
The wind filled the space between them. Semiramis took momentary pleasure in the odd limbo that was created from her confession. What came next, she had no idea.
"…Then I won't abandon you either."
Sensing something, she snapped her head to him.
One of the Kitsune-ken had manifested in his hands, his left hand. Raw determination burned in his blue eyes as she stared back at her. Glancing at the weapons, she breathed a sigh of relief seeing the poison within them had been defused, then gasped in shock when she saw Naruto grip the bladed edge with his right hand. Blood dripped from his cut palm, which he directed her way as her now widen golden orbs continued to stare at the iron resolve rising almost impossibly from those fierce, blue whirlpools.
"I swear, no matter what happens, whatever secrets come out, I'm not going to abandon you like your mom did. I give you my word, and once I give my word, I never go back on it. That's my Nindō." Declared the genin.
Semiramis blinked at him. "N-Nindō?"
"My ninja way," He grinned, reverting from a man of stature and dignity back to the childish lad she'd grown somewhat fond of. "What I'm saying is, no more lies or secrets from here on out. I'll trust you all the way if you're willing to trust me. Like I told you, you're not just some tool to me, you're my friend!"
She stared at him.
She stared at this boy who'd accepted her despite knowing of her attempts to poison him.
She stared at this boy who'd shown her kindness in spite of being undeserving of it.
She stared at this boy who showed more concern for her well-being than her own.
She stared at this boy who'd just sworn loyalty to her and asked for next to nothing in return.
She stared at this boy who'd completely and utterly shattered everything she thought she knew about the world and its people.
Slowly, she took told of his hand. The sweet smell of mana, no, chakra, entered her lips sending her into a controlled hungry frenzy. While the fox's chakra had been spicy and sizzling, Naruto's was different. It was…delectable. "Very well then, as your…partner, I'm going to hold you to that promise." Suddenly, one of her golden eyes glinted.
Naruto jumped in his seat feeling Semiramis' pink lips and eventually her tongue make contact with his skin. A shiver ran through his body as she eagerly sucked up all the blood made from the cut on his palm. Eyes wide and mouth gaping, red tinted his whiskered cheeks and remained there when she pulled away, eagerly licking her lips before shooting him a devious smirk.
"What? Your blood reeked of chakra, you wouldn't expect me to let it go to waste, huh?" Proclaimed the Assyrian queen.
Looking down at his palm, he was a little surprised to find the wound had been cleaned and healed completely. Recovering himself, mostly, Naruto blinked then looked upward from his hand to smile back at her. In seconds, her smirk went from devious to almost…blissful, happy.
"If possible, we would like to swear an oath of loyalty as well."
Going on full alert, Semiramis shot to her feet, bringing Naruto with her. She stood protectively in front of her Master, her arm outstretched and her other laid out before him. Semiramis' slitted eyes gazed into the green bushes that had previously sat at their backs.
"Reveal yourselves, now!"
There was a rustle, then they emerged.
"You two!?"
The Ōkubi heads had healed their injuries rather nicely. Moving into the open, the two heads that had survived the attempted kidnapping shot Semiramis a brief glance before turning their full attention to Naruto.
"Please." Began the male head.
"We mean you no harm." Echoed the female head.
Semiramis looked ready to dispatch the two demons, only to be stopped by Naruto placing a hand on her shoulder. She didn't allow him to move out from her protective bubble, but he stood at attention.
"What is it you guys want?" He began.
"What we want-" Started the female head.
"-Is to witness that which shall tear the land asunder." Stated the male head.
"He who shall split the skies and seas with his awesome power." Added the female.
"The one whose power is equal to the storm gods of old." Implied the male head.
Right before the flabbergasted blond and his equally stunned Servant, the two heads lowered themselves as if bowing. "Jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox, we humbly ask to become your personal heralds."
"…Huh?"
"…HUH?!"
I figure that's a good place to end it. Obviously, this chapter marks a major turning point in Naruto and Semiramis' relationship. Special thanks goes to BlackWarGreymon X for blood oath scene, and really this whole story in general.
Also…I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Stan Lee.
You give me the best heroes I could ever imagine, especially my all-time favorite in Spider-Man. You forever helped change the face of not just comics, but story telling in general. You left behind a legacy that will carry on so long as there exists true believers, and I'm one of them.
R.I.P Stan. Excelsior!