Author's Note: SWEET!! I finally have a different Windows on my dinosaur of a computer so I can use my flash drive on it!! I can transfer files right from my computer to the internet and stuff!! WHOO-HOO!! OKAY! Now, we can have a White Wings of Darkness explosion!! YES-NESS!! :D
- Ryu
To Catch a Tiger
Ryu nervously tapped her foot up in the waiting area. She had gone up after seeing that were only five minutes left of the hour intermission Sirym had called for earlier. She had wanted to go look for Guy in the stands, but then the five minute thing happened, and Temari suggested that she go up and wait or else they might start to worry that she had gone missing. So now she could only pace back and forth, and squint over at the waiting area across the arena. A loathing for Aki start to boil inside her.
A sliver of purple started in her eyes as she started to plan out a strategy in her head. If everything went right, that poison weilder wouldn't know what hit him until he woke up in a bed next to Gaara and Kiba. For some reason she found that image funny, and laughed to herself, imagining the fun both Kiba and Gaara could have with him. Sirym then seemed to come out of nowhere, interrupting her musings.
"Ryu Akihara and Aki Yotsuba!! Come down here please!!"
Ryu's stomach freezed over like it had when she had called her down for her match with Hinata. She bit her lip, and walked down the stairs, into the bright sunlit arena. She looked around, seeing the sand everywhere and senbon sticking out of the ground. Her eyes landed on her opponent, who stood a little ways away from her. Two monsters roiled in her chest, roaring for some kind of revenge.
This was it. The last fight.
Sirym looked from one determined teenager to the other.
"Are you ready?" she asked. They both nodded, exchanging death glares.
Sirym held her hand up, and then swung it down.
"START!!"
The sudden roar and stamping of feet from the crowd nearly deafened her.
Ryu stood stalk still as did Aki, both of them just staring at one another, waiting for the other to flinch or make a move. A flicker of movement near Aki's side and senbon were suddenly coming her way. Another flash and Ryu had appeared a few feet behind him with a light trail of dust tumbling at her feet. Aki whirled around with matched speed, and Ryu zoomed away on wind quickened feet. She air-slid backwards, sending sharpened wind at him in quick slashes, using her hands to direct the attacks.
With the usual nimble gymnastics, Aki flipped into the air, dodging the glimmering slices of air. He landed on his feet, in a relaxed position. He smiled at her for missing. A purple braid then fell to the ground from his head. The boy blinked at the fallen piece of hair then looked up at Ryu. The dark-blonde smiled then put a hand out like Lee usually did, a wicked glimmer in her eyes. Up in the stands, Lee went nuts when he saw her do it.
"I taught her that!! Me!!" he hooted as he jumped in his seat.
The two teens were back to staring at one another silently. Ryu then sighed, deciding to use one of her strategies. She started to quickly form hand signs, the sleeves of her tan long coat flapping from the movement. Aki rushed forward with ready kunai. The wickedly smiling Ryu disappeared before he could get to her, melting away in the Silver Wind genjutsu.
Aki stopped where she had disappeared and looked around the area. There was nothing anywhere indicating where she had gone. The boy warily stood up straight, listening intently to everything around him. A hush seemed to have fallen around him. Where could she have gone?
Someone suddenly blowing in his ear made him whip around, throwing the poison-painted kunai. They hit the ground with a few thuds. He heard echoing giggling around him, seemingly coming from nowhere.
I've got you... A voice whispered in his head, sounding like Ryu.
He looked around himself, trying to figure out what in the world she had done.
Are you ready for it? My Siren Song?
Aki put his hands over his ears. Get out of my head, you crazy wretch! he thought at her as flowing music startle trickle in his head from unseen places.
Oh, sorry; I don't listen to name-callers!
An exceptionally sharp note shrieked in his head, making him cringe and nearly cry out.
Or sadists!! the voice snarled in his head.
The music came in a euphoric rush, making Aki lose the control he had been building. It all sounded so nice, like a warm wave of relief spun out of soft syphonies... Wait, wasn't he supposed to be doing something? Something about a release... He could hear faint singing in an etheral distance...
If you want to live, then live...
If you want to go, let go...
Not afraid to dream...
Just sleep, sleep forever...
His eyelids were getting strangely heavy, his body warming enough so he felt really loose. Aki tried to shake himself awake, but the it was all so soothing... Sirym watched with a nearly open mouth as the boy fell asleep on his feet. Well, that's different, she thought. Everything looked peaceful on the battlefield.
Guy held his breath, his hands squeezing the edge of his seat. What was she going to do? TenTen smiled at both Lee and Neji. This was it!
An invisible Ryu crept closer to the dozing Aki, carefuling walking a foot above the ground to make she didn't disturb the dust beneath her. She looked into the side of his face. That had almost been a little too easy. In an instant, his mismatched eyes snapped open and he struck out at the air next to him, the wind giving a shout in pain. A thin slice of red appeared in the middle of nowhere.
"Why you little-!!" the wind growled, not caring if he heard her.
Aki started to throw all manner of weaponry at her, undoubtedly coated in some kind of poison. All he had to do was follow the line of red that had started to drip just a little. Ryu ripped the genjutsu off of herself and caught his weapons in the air, throwing them back at him by catching them mid-air or just sending them back via wind control. Metal clashed against metal, sending bright red sparks in all directions. Ryu had decided to just stop catching the poisoned weapons and set up a thick wind barrier.
The kunai and senbon were caught up in an invisible mesh. Aki stopped when he saw what was happening and decided to get some distance between him and a coming weapon attack. Ryu grabbed the thickened wind and threw the entire thing at the retreating Grass ninja. He skidded to a stop, making hand-signs as he did, and vines suddenly thrust themselves out of the ground, the poisoned metal landing with dull thuds. Ryu flew down to the ground, throwing cutting winds at the thick growth.
She started to attack it with wind sharpened punches and kicks, Guy attentively watching. He was glad to see that she had improved, and he smiled at Lee.
"Great job there, Lee," he grinned at him. Lee smiled back.
"Thankyou! It's nice to see that work pays off!"
"SSHHH!!"
The savage hiss had come out of nowhere but had sounded like it had come from the direction of Neji. His teammates looked at him, and he looked back.
"What?" he said reproachfully. "I'm watching something important."
Back on the battlefield, Ryu felt like giving up until the vines suddenly submerged themselves and five different Akis threw themselves out at her. She quickly launched herself into the air, thinking quickly how to get rid of the clones and find the real Aki. She spun on a foot, quickly creating a whirlwind of wind and sand from Gaara's battle. She then expanded the whirlwind as quickly as she could. The clones and the real Aki were instantly swept up in the fat tornado as she spun like a top in her whirlwind.
She sharpened the winds inside as thin as needles, and placed them everywhere in the roaring element. She thought she heard snippets of pain, but didn't really pay attention. She was too busy concentrating to make sure the tornado didn't decide to go in a different direction then where she wanted it. Like towards the stands.
She then came to a sudden stop, dispersing the wind into glimmering slices of air. She didn't have time to hear the reaction from the crowd as she looked around; Aki was nowhere to be seen. A hand suddenly came out of the ground, grabbing her ankle. Ryu squeaked as it tried to drag her under, and she immediately tried to take off from the ground. The hand held on, and a dusty Aki was pulled from the ground like a silent mandril.
He had several painted senbon in his other hand. He went to stab her with them, but Ryu's violent twisting and turning made it only possible to try and scratch her calves with them, rending her fishnet knee-highs to shreds. Ryu felt like she had a rabid dog stuck on her, and went in as many different directions as fast as she could to get him. It didn't feel like it was working though; it felt more like he was cuttng of the circulation in her left leg.
Konkuro was watching with rapt attention through the window, standing on a chair in Gaara's room to look out. Temari was still sitting by her brother's bed-side, holding his clammy hand. She looked up at her other younger brother.
"Well? How she doing?" she asked.
"Not so great..." he said, sounding anxious.
Ryu was finally able to fling Aki from his hold on her ankle, who rolled onto the ground. The girl followed him down, but then saw purple colored marbles being scattered from Aki's inert form. Purple smoke suddenly erupted everywhere around her.
"Ah!" Kankuro grabbed the top of his head in a quick panic. "No, no! Ryu! Get out of that smoke!!"
Gaara suddenly sat up in bed.
"Get out of what smoke?" he demanded. Temari thought she might faint from his sudden movement.
She quickly wrapped him in a bear hug, and Gaara let her, quickly hugging her back. He then gently pushed her away.
"Is Ryu fighting Aki?" he asked. Temari bit her lip, and nodded.
"Yeah, but..." She looked to Kankuro. "Well?"
Kankuro hadn't answered as his attention was being held captive outside.
"Yeeeea- NO! I mean, yes! Yes! She's doing better now!!"
The boy practically sounded bipolar as he watched anxiously outside the window. Gaara got out of bed, and stood on the chair next to Kankuro.
He saw a whirlwind of purple smoke reaching up to the sky then suddenly disperse into crystal clear air. Ryu fell to the ground on her knees, breathing heavily. Her legs were starting to tingle from the scratches of the senbon. Aki came at her in a quick frontal charge. Ryu forced herself to get up, and launched herself into the air.
She sent slices of sharpened wind his way, which he deftly dodged, the slicing hitting the ground, throwing screens of dust up into the air. The world suddenly soun violently to Ryu's senses, and she quickly made herself land. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Man, what's he put in this stuff? she thought. Aki was suddenly in front of her again, and she made herself get up.
With senbon in both hands, he started to punch and kick at her, throwing combinations at her as she blocked and dodged all of it. She flipped backwards, aiming her feet at his head. He pulled back just enough that her toes grazed his chin. But at least she had gotten some distance between him and her. She gathered her wind to throw a blast at him when a sudden stabbing in her legs stopped her.
The blinding pain blew her concentration away, and in that moment, Aki was in front of her once more, wrapping one of his hands around her neck. The other quickly stuck senbon along her left arm. Ryu's eyes snapped from purple to yellow to mauve in an instant, and she would of snarled a string of curses at the bot if it weren't for his choking her. She grabbed hold of his strangling arm, ignoring the pain in her left arm and the scramble in her body for air. She sent chakra to her arms in a giant rush.
Black steam started to come off of her covered arms, and a phantom tiger was suddenly pulling itself out of the khaki covered arms. It growled and snapped at Aki, and launched itself at him as soon as it was able. Aki fell away as he struggled with the spirit tiger, and Ryu collapsed to her knees once again, gasping for breath. She didn't bother to hurry and get up; the summoned spirit tiger would keep him occupied for a while. The roars of the tiger accompanied by the grunts of Aki was all she heard as she pulled the senbon out of her arm. Her entire body was starting to tingle. She would have to finish this quickly or else she wasn't going to last. She stood up, seeing that the summoned tiger was starting to fade back into the world it came from, and she took her long coat off.
"Yow!" Kankuro said when he saw the sight. He then jumped down from the chair. "Temari, I think it's your turn!"
He didn't feel like getting reprimanded today for thinking Ryu was hot. Temari stepped up, and thought she might fall over when she saw what Ryu was wearing underneath her long coat. It was a black, strapless bra with fishnet attached to the bottom that went down to her belt. She was covered to an extent, but it was a little risque. It served a purpose though; Ryu was covered from the waist up in inked writing.
There was a blank spot on her right shoulder. The spirit tiger finally faded to nothing, and a bloody Aki shakily stood up. There was a scrawling scratch across his right cheek and he was covered in gashes across his chest and arms. She could tell he was in a lot of pain, but was forcing himself to stand up, just like she was. Well, a 'D' for determination, she thought.
Ryu crouched low on the ground, putting as much concentration into the summoning as she could. Black steam started to come off of her in small billows, claws and fangs flickering in and out of the steam. Aki whipped out a small scroll and opened it, another katana appearing in a cloud of grey smoke. Seven spirit tigers then sprang forward, roaring as they came off of Ryu's body from the ink. The writing was starting to fade as she sat cross-legged on the ground.
Six of the tigers ran forward to Aki while one stayed behind, curled around Ryu protectively. A fight between ghosts and a mortal erupted in the arena. Aki flipped and spun, hacking at the tigers as much as he could. The sword seemed to be having no effect on the whispy cats as their claws and teeth dipped in and out of the circle they had formed around him. They could cut him, but he couldn't even touch them.
The tiger curled around Ryu purred as it licked her wounds with an etheral tongue. The pain from the poison was starting to spread and she couldn't really feel her legs anymore. The spirit tiger rubbed the side of her face as she concentrated on keeping the other spirit tigers from killing Aki.
Dear child, do not fear; I will keep you standing for as long as your foe has strength to attack. But you have taken in much strong poison, and I can only do so much. You are own your own as soon as he falls...
Temari was nearly screaming for joy in Gaara's room, her brothers cheering with her as they watched Aki be torn to shreds.
"Whoo! Go, Ryu!! Put that viper on his ass!!" she shouted as she jumped up and down on the chair.
A medic nin poked his head in and saw that Gaara was standing on his own.
"Ah!" The spooked medical ninja hurried in. "What are you doing out of bed?! Sit back down!!"
"No!! Wait!! She's about to finish I think!!" Kankuro protested as he stood on tip-toe to look out the window.
The ghostly cats had started to fade, turning black to grey to grey-white smoke, barely there at all. Aki started to fall, blood trickling from his many wounds, and one of his hands went to his back pocket as he fell foward. His head had barely touched the ground as a ball stuffed with senbon rolled out of his outstretched hand.
Your enemy has fallen! I bid you farewell!
The tiger around Ryu vanished, and she stood up. Her eyes landed on the ball, and in that instant, panic and poison rushed forward. The ball exploded and the senbon flew in a metal rain. Ryu put up her wind barrier as quickly as she could, but the pain raged in her veins and she was stuck with senbon everywhere. Aki finally fell to the ground, and Ryu fell forward, catching herself if only to keep her head up.
Her teammates and friends held their breath as she swayed, covered in weapons that stuck out of her skin like porcupine needles. Sirym jumped in, checked Aki's pulse, looked to the nearly fainting Ryu, and put her hand up.
"Ryu Akihara is the winner!!" she announced.
A wave of relief went through the girl as she let herself go. Guy, Lee, and TenTen were jumping around in a happy circle as Neji let himself smile the smallest of smile. A small rave was in process in one of the medial rooms in the stadium. Ryu let the noise from the crowd turn to static as the world faded to quiet darkness. She was really tired...