The room was silent as they looked down at the two. No one dared make a noise; no one dared blink to miss a thing. This is what they had been waiting for; this may be the only thing that made the Chunin exams exciting for the proctors, let alone the leader of Kaze. They kept their eyes glued to the two Genin.
They face each other, both glaring into each others eyes. Kira had never seen such a look in Akemi's eyes before; it was almost as if there was certain hatred in her eyes. It startled Kira slightly, causing her to wonder what caused her friend to be so angry with her, but only had to look at the headband strapped around her neck to remember why she was fighting her.
"You may begin," Atari announced, standing off to the side. Even he was eager to see the match unfold. This was the first time in over a hundred years that a match like this would take place.
The room became painfully silent. Not a sound was omitted in the large space.
"You're finished," Akemi suddenly whispered harshly.
Before Kyra had a time to react, Akemi suddenly flung a kunai over to Kira. Kira easily dodged it, but did not attempt to take Akemi off guard. She merely stared at her, panting slightly from the surprise.
Akemi smirked at her and took a flying leap from her crouching position where she bounded to the ceiling and then flung herself at Kira. The crowd gasped as she tackled Kira forcefully to the ground, a cloud of dust rising.
"What move was that?" Guy whispered.
"It's a type of ricocheting move," Kakashi explained, still keeping his eyes on his student as the dust began to clear, "It's very powerful, but I don't know if it will be enough to harm Kira."
Everyone gasped when the dust cleared; Akemi was lying alone on the dirt, wiping the dirt from her face. She whipped around angrily to see Kira standing behind her, holding a kunai to the back of her head. The room was filled with an uproar of astonishment.
Akemi growled at her with her dark green eyes, "You think this is a game?" Kira didn't answer, but merely took the kunai knife slowly away from her, her eyes placid. She didn't say a word as she took a step back slowly, waiting for her friends next move.
"Fight me!" Akemi suddenly yelled, racing towards Kira with a handful of Shiruken. She flung them at her, leaping high in the air. Kira put her hands up in front of her and created a wind force field, deflecting each Shiruken with a loud gust of wind as they were sent flying across the arena, one nearly nailing Atari in the head as he ducked for cover.
As the crowd watched the Kira's display of wind power in amazement, Akemi suddenly appeared behind Kira. Before Kira had a time to dodged, Akemi suddenly leapt forward violently, sinking her fangs into Kira's skin.
Kyra yelped in pain; frozen as Akemi stared at her menacingly, sinking her fangs in deeper as blood trickled from her wound.
"What the hell?" Kakashi muttered softly, watching in alarm.
Tora widened her eyes, her ears folding back slightly.
Kira's heart jumped as she Akemi fangs almost closed in on her. She suddenly threw a punch straight to Akemi's head which sent to tumbling to the ground, yelping in pain.
Everyone leaned over the railing, watching with wide eyes at the violent battle that had taken place in only two seconds. When Akemi lifted her head off the ground, Kyra was now holding a large Kantana blade under Akemi's chin, inching away from drawing blood. Everyone gasped in amazement.
"Ah, very good," Tora smirked.
Akemi hissed at Kira harshly, "How dare you!"
"Nobody does that move to a friend," Kira suddenly snapped down to her quarry, equally fierce at her, gripping the large Kantana blade tightly, crimson blood dripping from the bite wound on her arm, "That move was a kill strike. What are you trying to pull!?"
Kakashi did not know what was going on at all, which made things even more fearful for him. Was his student in danger of dying? What had Akemi done to her?
The room was in dead silence, except for the sound of Akemi's harsh panting as Kira's blade caressed the skin on her neck.
"I'm trying to kill you!" Akemi suddenly screamed; taking her own Kantana knife and clashing it with Kira's with a loud clang. The two Neko girls held the blades close, hearing the metal scrape in their ears. Everyone watched, too speechless to make any sound at all. All eyes were on them now.
"You're crazy!" Kira yelled back, leaning on her blade, the blood from her wound dripping to the ground beneath them, "What happened to you!? We're friends, right!?"
"Wrong!" Akemi yelled fiercely, leaning into her own blade, their angered face inches away from Kira's blood stained face, "Do you really think anybody would just walk up to the Kaze Koneko and ask to be friends!?" Kira blinked, trying to keep the fire burning inside of her, but it was soon dying down. Nothing was making sense anymore. The blades were digging into each other as the two still bore into each other's eyes fiercely, feet splayed on the ground, hands gripping the blades, ears back, fangs bared.
"You're pathetic," Akemi suddenly spat at Kira's surprised face, lunging forward so that her blade scraped loudly against Kira's, "I never wanted to be your friend; how stupid can you be!? Did you know that you're the reason that half our clan is gone!? Why my parents died for your sake?! You make me sick!"
Kira almost stopped breathing. The room was plunged into a deathly silence as spectators watched the battle, holding their breath, waiting for the final strike to finish the match. Kakashi stared down, furrowing his brow in interest. What was the young girl talking about?
Kira felt her world crumble beneath her feet. She almost thought she would fall through, plummeting down into darkness. Everything she wanted, everything she had hoped for, and thought she had finally had, was now gone from her firm grasp. She felt the tears coming back to her eyes, stinging her, paining her as she looked back
"No one would ever want to be you're friend," Akemi hissed slowly, her bright green eyes laughing back at Kira's crimson eyes.
"Well, this has turned out interesting," Guy muttered, rubbing his chin. The room still remained in silence, all eyes locked onto the two dueling Genin, waiting for anything to happen: a blade to fall, a foot to slip, anything. Even Lee didn't want to cheer at the moment; any sound or movement would distract the two Nekos from their utter concentration as they held their blades together, not daring to let go.
"It's now or never, Kira," Kakashi whispered, gripping the railing before him, "Do something; you know you can."
Suddenly, with out warning, Kira swiped the blade swiftly away from Akemi's, causing Akemi to falter slightly be quickly regain her balance. Kira back-flipped several times so that she had perched herself on the wall of the stadium, glaring down at Akemi. Akemi wiped the blood from her cheek, which was dripping from head-wound where Kira had punched her, and flicked her tail angrily, holding her Kantana high. Kira stared down at her like a hawk, sitting perfectly still. The crowd watched as she closed her big eyes slowly, raising up her hand slowly as she cupped the air around her, almost forming a fist.
"What the-" Guy whipped around to look at Kakashi, "Kakashi…You didn't…"
"Yes, I did," Kakashi looked at him, feeling a proud smile spread underneath his dark mask.
"But…Kakashi, why?" Guy almost yelled as the crowd began to mutter in confusion, "Don't you know how dangerous that can be to someone of her age?" Kakashi nodded slightly, looking at Kira. The crowd gasped as a visible light began to form in her hands, crackling and sparking, filling the room with the chirps and snaps of something unknown to Neko. The other Genin watched, tails bristled; ears clamped back. Akemi held her blade tightly, trying to show now fear, but deep inside, she had no idea what her betrayed friend was about to do to her.
"Kakashi, you're an idiot!" Guy snapped, as the crowd gasped loudly in wonder, "You could kill her!"
"What's happening?!" Lee asked loudly, leaning over the railing. Kakashi turned to Guy, a sterner look in his eyes.
"Guy, it's like you said," he said quietly, turning to his student. She now had her eyes open, blazing with a bright red which the entire world hadn't seen for over two hundred years. Akemi watched with wide eyes as the ball of the energy in Kira's hand grew, sparking and chirping loudly until the whole room was filled the sound of what could have been mistaken as a storm of birds, circling the arena.
"What do you mean?" Guy yelled through the noise as Kira suddenly rocketed towards Akemi at an unknown speed, clutching the ball of energy, the noise becoming almost ear splitting. Hearts pounded, fangs bared, breaths were lost.
Akemi watched as she rocketed towards her. Her race towards Akemi had taken less than half a second, but Akemi could pin point when Kira's eyes were only inches away from hers, smirking at her, catching a glimpse of the Suna headband she wore around her neck. Kira almost seemed to actually smirk at her, her fangs showing, whispering the words, "Chidori: One thousand Birds!"
"Because," Kakashi said, as the sound grew unbearably loud, the world seeming to come to an end, "Kira…is a lot like me."