Chapter Nine: Compline
Night
As the pink-haired girl's face takes on a look of horror, she unconsciously lowers her guard.
"Sakura!" the black-haired boy howls, but it is too late.
The sand boy's massive clawed hand rapidly rip through her like paper. They puncture through the front of her chest, and then rip out through the back, making an audible tearing sound. The girl lets out out an agonized scream, but then chokes on a glob of thick blood. She thrashes for several seconds and the Boy is entranced by the flailing limbs that to him, resemble an eerie sort of dance. More blood spurts out from the raw flesh jutting out around the claws.
Just as quickly however, the claws withdraw. For a second, through the gaping holes left behind in the girl's body, the Boy glimpses the sand boy grimace in pain, but then the girl collapses in front of him. The sand boy, for some reason, is gripping at his head with his other hand, mumbling nonsense to himself.
Taking advantage of the lapse, the black-haired boy rushes to the pink-haired girl's side. As soon as he sees her torn up body, his eyes widen in shock. He turns his head away and vomits, the slimy liquid dripping like oil from his lips.
The girl is almost gone. Her hands and feet are twitching but she no longer seems to be in pain, as her face has sagged into relief. Her mouth opens and she tries to speak, but she can only make a garbled sound. Likely, her lungs have collapsed. Slowly, her slightly bulging eyes inch up to where the Boy is silently looking down at her with a blank expression on his face. A lone tear rolls out.
And then like a final exhale, her entire body relaxes in death.
When the Boy returns his attention to the sand boy, he is taken aback to see that he has transformed even further. Both arms are now covered with sand, ending in a pair of massive claws. A single tail juts out from behind, and the sand boy's face is almost unrecognizable. The only thing that remains of his original face is the tattoo of 'love' on his forehead. The sand boy rears his head back and begins to laugh maniacally.
"The girl tried to protect you and died for it, but none of that will matter because I'll kill the two of you now! Where is your love now?"
The black-haired boy gets up, his face murderous, but he staggers on his feet. He is clearly not ready for round three with the sand boy; he is already completely drained from their fight in the arena and the following fight in the forest.
"'Love'?" the Boy repeats, cocking his head.
"She was weak!" the sand boy roars, his voice more beast than human. "But you understand me, don't you? After all, we have the same eyes, you and I..."
"I'm going to kill you," the black-haired boy spits out. Taking an unsteady step forward, he grasps his left hand with his right. Black flame-like symbols spread across his face and arm. A loud chirping sound fills the air as something bright blue begins to crackle in his hand.
"Love only yourself! Fight by yourself!" the sand boy snarls. "Only then can you be strong!"
His face contorted with anger, the black-haired boy screams again, "I'm going to kill you!"
He hurtles himself at the sand boy, the chirping chakra crackling around him wildly like a warning. The sand boy lunges forward as well, his clawed hand shooting toward the black-haired boy, who manages to evade it just in time. Instead, the sand boy crashes through a tree with a loud cracking sound; a cloud of dust erupts, as wooden fragments fly everywhere.
"What do we do?" the Boy asks the Voice, crossing his arms to stretch them. The black-haired boy has activated his jutsu again, and is running toward the sand boy, who bares his teeth. "He's going to die, isn't he? Unless we do something."
"If both your teammates died, it would look too suspicious," the Voice agrees.
"Even though I'm not even the one who killed them," the Boy grumbles.
The Voice's chakra runs through his body, and tensing up, he leaps into the air. Below, the black-haired boy is panting heavily and a thin stream of blood is trickling from his nose. The sand boy has transformed even further, and is now unrecognizable as a human being; accordingly, his strength and speed seem to have grown exponentially, for even the Boy is finding it difficult to track his movements.
"The way we usually do it won't be enough," the Voice warns him, as they land on a branch just above the other two. "You'll need to transform to an extent as well."
"Transform? How?"
"If you'll let me control your body, I can do it for you."
The Boy hesitates.
"I..."
"Have you forgotten?" the Voice whispers. "If you want to keep having fun, all you have to do is listen to me." Below them, there is a loud exploding sound as the sand boy manages to pin down the black-haired boy against a tree, which caves in from the force. The black-haired boy's body goes limp. The sand boy lets out a rumbling roar of maniacal laughter, and raises another arm to deliver the final blow. "This is a game, remember?"
"Yes," says the Boy.
Immediately, as a curious sensation runs from his head to the rest of his body, he drops down on all fours. He can feel the Voice's chakra run through his veins, in greater quantity than ever before. If it were a trickle before, it is now a churning river, twisting and turning, before disappearing over a steep cliff as an immeasurable waterfall...
The Boy is distinctly aware of multiple tails sprouting out from his back, but he is no longer in control of his body. He sits in a cage that floats in an abyss of nothingness. It is pitch white, like newly revealed bone.
From there, as if watching from a distance, he sees his body tackle the sand boy. Letting out a surprised grunt and winded by the blow, the sand boy releases the black-haired boy, who drops limply down to the forest floor.
Shaking his head, the sand boy turns to face the Boy's body. His inhumane eyes glint bloodthirstily and he raises his clawed arms. The sand explodes forward, extending to impossible lengths as they shoot straight for the Boy's heart.
Effortlessly, the Boy's body dodges the attack – the claws crash into a tree instead, effectively destroying it – and then bounding forward on all fours, the nine tails behind him extend and dive down at the sand boy, each one as sharp and deadly as a thousand kunai.
The sand boy tries to dodge, but there are too many tails, and three of them carve straight through his legs and arms. A matted, dark mixture of sand and blood explodes out from his wounds and the sand boy lets out a howl of agony. He crashes to the ground, thrashing, sand leaking out from his body.
The Boy's body lands on a branch still on all fours, looking down at the sand boy. The sand boy looks up, his face contorted with hatred. Meeting the Boy's eyes, the sand boy opens his maw and lets out a monstrous scream of defiance.
The Boy's body steps off, hurtling down at the sand boy, his tails extending out in front of him once more to deal the finishing blow. His speed picking up with every second, the wind flies in his body's face. Even from the distance, he can see that sand boy's eyes are black, with a yellow pupil floating in their centers.
And then the Boy's tails pierce through the sand boy.
As a shower of blood rains down on the Boy, dripping down on his face and body, the sand boy collapses. The sand falls off of his body in great chunks, leaving behind just his original body.
The sand boy is bruised and bloody, but his chest still rises and falls. His eyes are closed.
The Boy feels himself being lifted out of the cage as he regains his control over his body – and suddenly, he is looking straight down at the sand boy instead of from a distance.
"Should we kill him?" the Voice asks."He's a jinchūriki like yourself."
Without answering, the Boy raises his foot over the sand boy's head. Directing the last of the Voice's chakra to his foot, he sends it crashing down. There is some resistance, but with a splitting sound of bone cracking, he smashes in the sand boy's head. When he removes his foot, he can see black blood and grey brain matter on his sole.
The sand boy's face is forever unrecognizable now.
"So that's what it looks like inside an animal's head," the Boy says.
When the Boy drops down to the forest floor, he quickly spots the black-haired boy lying unconscious against a half-splintered tree. He lifts him up, throwing the other boy's arm around his shoulder; the other boy lets out a moan.
The Boy is about to go, when a sudden thought hits him. He looks around, but all he can see is a newly created forest clearing, with shattered tree fragments strewn across the ground.
The summer sun has almost set, and the darkness of night has begun to creep in. The last rays of sunlight have bleached the sky a deep dark red and purple. The forest treetops are usually dense enough to block all light from reaching the forest floor, but thanks to the new destruction, faint, glowing light has made its way down to where he stands. As he looks up, it illuminates his face.
"What are you looking for?" the Voice asks.
A/N: Three endings coming your way soon.