Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Chapter 3: To Each His Own Battle pt. 2
Near a river-
Kiba and Akamaru were battling Sakon and his brother, Ukon, both of whom were in Level 2 cursed seal form. They now had devil-red skin, horns sticking out of their foreheads, longer hair, razor-sharp fangs, and the same golden pupils in blackened eyes that the other members had in their Level 2 forms.
Kiba and his dog were fighting them non-stop for about an hour now, and quite frankly, they really didn't know how much more they could take. They had critical wounds from the fight, but thanks to Sakon and Ukon's regenerative ability, the two demons on the other hand looked like they hadn't been injured at all.
He had managed to escape with his dog from the two, for the time being. He had swum across the stream with a serious gash across his side, and had managed to stagger to a giant tree to hide behind. He had to admit, it wasn't the most logical hide away space, but it was the only one available to get a quick breather. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the enemy caught up.
"How are ya doing, boy?" Kiba asked Akamaru. He seemed more concerned for his dog's health than his own.
The dog whined in reply. Apparently, he wasn't holding up too well.
Kiba stroked his seriously wounded friend's fur. It was incredibly ruffled, and had little blotches of blood from some of the more minor wounds.
Suddenly, Kiba's eyes widened. Reluctantly, he sniffed the air for signs of his foe. The peculiar stench seemed to go in and out for the past half hour, and all the while, it had Kiba on edge.
Luck seemed to be on their side so far, and Kiba and Akamaru savored every draw of breath that they got. At least they caught a good second wind.
This particular time, however, the scent was much, much closer than all the others. In a short period of time, Kiba could swear that the source was just on the other side of the tree.
Then, it disappeared altogether.
Kiba heaved a sigh of great relief.
"That was close." He mumbled to himself.
"What was?"
Very suddenly, an entirely new scent filled the air – and the source was right next to him.
Kiba clutched his nose, wincing with pain. The sudden whiff of the scent had shocked his nose, since his sense of smell was many times more powerful than that of an ordinary human.
Kiba slowly turned his head back from looking around the tree, up at the towering, unfamiliar figure that was now leaning against the same tree trunk that he was.
The figure's head turned half-way, and with a side glance, he grinned evilly at the unsuspected genin.
"Who-" Kiba winced in pain, briefly interrupting himself. "…who are you…?"
"Hmm?" The figure leaned towards him, his icy eyes staring coldly into his.
A minute passed by, the two staring at each other, and eventually, the taller one got bored with it all.
"Ahh, screw it - just die." He pulled his three-sickle scythe out from behind his back, and licked the lean edges of the blades. "Brace yourself for the pain."
"Wha-what? Why are you doing this? What did I do?!" Kiba protested, trying to change the guy's mind.
"Nothing, really…" Hidan answered. For a play, he put his fingers to his chin, showing that he was thinking about what Kiba was saying, and that he might reconsider about finishing him.
But then, he lowered his hand away his face, which now grinned maniacally. "…meh, I'll kill you anyways." He finished.
He raised his scythe high in the air. The small rays of sunlight that beamed through the trees caught the curved, shining edges of Hidan's weapon. Bright, purple light reflected off of the scythe and practically blinded Kiba. He shut his eyes tight, not just because of the light, but because he knew this was it for him. Death was holding a purple, three-sickled scythe, and he was about to hand him the wrong end of it.
"You're crazy!"
Hidan had a menacing look upon his face; his eyes were wide, and he had a psychotic smile wrapped across. How long had it been since he had last killed someone? Six days…maybe even seven? Shit, he'd better hop to it.
"As I said before, TIME TO DI-"
-SMACK!-
Hidan was knocked aside by something before he could finish his sentence…and Kiba, for that matter.
"Oomph!" Hidan hit the ground. Out of nowhere, his scythe spun in, and lodged its blades right into his backside.
-chink-
"…OW!!"
He pried it out by the shaft, and gritting his teeth, he turned around to get a good look at the bastard who had disrupted him.
As his eyes narrowed, he saw…a puppet?
'Is that…one of Sasori's puppets?!' He looked at the wooden, multi-armed form. 'No…he's not stupid enough to turn on Akatsuki…but then who…?' Hidan's eyes narrowed at the figure that stood next to it, chakra strings barely visible at his fingertips.
The figure was in mostly black, with what had appeared to be purple, ceremonial markings covering his face.
"So it looks like you're on our side this time, huh?" Kiba smirked up at Kankurou.
Kankurou didn't answer him. He smirked at the figure that was getting up, using his scythe as a support.
"To be perfectly honest, I thought Halloween was months away." Hidan jeered, looking over Kankurou's outrageous outfit. "You'll get no candy here, little kid."
Kankurou's smirk dropped, and was replaced with a scowl in response.
"Why don't you kindly take your doll…" Hidan began with a seemingly friendly smile, which disappeared as quickly as it came. "…AND FUCK OFF BEFORE I GET PSYCHOPATH UPSET!!" He swept his arm to one side for emphasis.
Kankurou's scowl deepened even more, if that was at all possible.
'Geez…what is it with people calling my puppets 'dolls'?! They're PUPPETS!! And as for this guy…'
"That's far enough, pal! It's one thing to insult my ceremonial outfit, but insult my puppets – I'm gonna mess ya up!!" Kankurou's puppet clicked noisily for emphasis to his statement.
"Bring that sad statue over here, and I'll show you how to make a bonfire with it!"
As Kankurou prepared to do so, Hidan held his scythe in an attack stance.
Unknown to any of the three, however, someone was watching them from the trees - and he was wearing Kiba's coat.
"With dog boy wounded, there are still two punks down there that have some sport in them. Where do all these guys come from?" Sakon whispered to his brother, who was back in his body. Both of them were out of their Level 2 forms, and back to their normal looks.
"The day took a rather odd turn of events, didn't it?" Ukon whispered in response with his eyes still shut.
"Which one do you want?"
"Do you really need me for this? They both look pretty weak…"
"Well, so much for 'all for one and one for all'…"
"Stop bitching."
"You stop bitching!"
"Keep your voice down, or you'll give us away!"
"Shut up! I know that!"
"Then keep quiet!"
"Why don't I just go down there and deal with the nuisance?!"
"You're so damn impatient, brother! You don't even know either one's abilities!"
"That one guy owns a scythe; that other guy controls a doll! Okay? Happy ending! Let me kill 'em!"
"You'll kill us both!"
"You don't know that!"
"I've been your brother since birth – I've shared this body with you since birth! I have been in/witnessed you get either yourself or both of us beaten up many times! Yes – I know that!!"
"Then you deal with the problem!"
"How about we let the problem deal with itself, huh?!"
"See, this is why I was Mother's favorite. I've always been the activist. You, on the other hand, hardly push yourself to do anything!"
"Let's not bring Mother into this. Besides, I think she would have sided with me when I say you're always the one who does something that gets us killed!"
"Yeah, well I-"
The two abruptly paused, and as if on cue, they slowly turned their heads to look down at their three adversaries.
"Aw, hell." They uttered in unison, without looking away.
They were so busy arguing, they didn't notice the three faces that were turned and staring right up at them for Kami knows how long.
"What the hell is going on up there…?" Hidan mumbled, scratching the back of his neatly-combed head.
"I couldn't help but notice that one of them also addressed my puppet as 'doll'…" Kankurou complained.
Kiba had a look of shock on his face.
'Why couldn't I sense him?' He thought. 'I should have been able to smell him from here! Wait…what's that?' His eyes narrowed on the coat that Sakon was wearing. 'Is that…mine?? So that's it… He knew that I was too familiar with my own scent to recognize it in the air.' He cautiously leered at the oncoming sound nin. 'This guy is...extremely tricky.'
As Sakon jumped down from the tree with his brother, Hidan charged Kankurou, who was charging with his puppet at Sakon for his most recent insult. In short, this was a free-for-all fight.
Shikamaru was leaping through the trees with Naruto close at hand. They were nearing the enemy, and both of them knew it.
Shikamaru looked at Naruto, who was jumping right next to him at equal pace. Since all the years that he had known him to be the happy-go-lucky kid that he was, Shikamaru was even more depressed than usual to see Naruto so troubled.
After a minute, Shikamaru opened his mouth to say something, but was cut short when a white figure dashed right past them…holding the barrel that Sasuke was in. It was heading the opposite direction, and it went at just the speed for Naruto and Shikamaru to recognize the purple bow around the person's waist.
Naruto and Shikamaru abruptly stopped and landed on a branch.
"Oh, no you DON'T!!" Naruto shouted.
He turned, and was just about to dash the same way, but his path was cut off, when another figure dashed right past him in the same direction. Naruto saw that the person's outfit was different from that of the common enemy, the Sound. It was black, and had…red clouds?
Naruto hesitated for a second before trying again – only to have yet another figure wearing similar clothing dash in the same direction. That same black cloak with red clouds…
Naruto was awe-struck. "H-Hey! Wait for me!!" He shouted.
"Naruto…wait!" Shikamaru responded.
But it was far too late. Naruto was already darting head-first after them.
"…What a drag…" Shikamaru closed his eyes and sighed before following quickly behind.
Back to the action-
Hidan quickly dashed to Kankurou before he could even reach Sakon, and took a quick swing with his scythe.
Kankurou had barely seen him coming on time, successfully deflected the attack with one of his puppets.
Hidan kicked the puppet to the side in response to the intervention. With the puppet away and unable to defend its master, Hidan saw an opening, and made a furious 360 degree spin with his blades.
Kankurou made a feeble attempt to protect himself by covering his head with his arms, but with his brute force, Hidan's scythe broke Kankurou's guard, and severed his head from his shoulders.
-chink-
Kiba winced at the sound that the sickles made in contact, and the head that flew away shortly after.
Much to Hidan's chagrin, no blood spurted out of the stump where the separation took place. No fun. He pouted as he approached the body to examine it. He repetitively poked the stub of its neck and then stroke two of his fingers along the surface of the inside of the throat.
Desert dry… Another puppet…?
Suddenly, the hand of the carcass reached up and grabbed Hidan by the wrist. Hidan's eyes widened in surprise at the oppressive grasp of the beheaded puppet. A loud, cranking sound emanated from the puppet, as it shifted its arm slightly, and…
-CRACK-
With effortlessness, the puppet snapped Hidan's wrist and his whole lower arm with it, in a bone-splitting, split second. Its tight fingers still wrapped around the now disfigured limb.
"…Well that wasn't very nice!" Hidan complained, not even wincing from the pain of his arm breaking.
The skin of the puppet began to crack and peel off, leaking to the ground in the form of sand. The ugly exoskeleton was standing in the place of 'Kankurou'.
"Say hello to my good friend…"
Hidan heard a voice, turning to face Kankurou, who was pulling the puppet's strings.
"…the Black Ant. Mind you, he loves to greet people with a furious bear hug."
Hidan glared at him before looking back at the puppet, which still tightly gripped his broken arm.
The ribs of the puppet unlatched, and seemed to…expand in length. Finally reaching the appearance of insect legs, they really did look like part of some giant ant. Tiny, saw-like blades emerged from the slots that etched the sides of each leg.
"Now die!"
The arms closed around Hidan.
-CHINK-
In an instant, he was encased in what was probably the most hated hug he would ever come to know. Blood spurted in blotches, big and small, all over Hidan's face on impact.
"Ouch…I'm…not really a very huggy person…man." Hidan squeezed through his breath.
Kankurou's eyes widened that someone was still talking after taking a number like that.
"Impossible…unless…I guess I didn't cut deep enough to do any real damage." He muttered to himself.
Yeah…that must be it…
Hidan struggled to break free of the extremely tight death-hug, but with only one usable arm and with rows of saw-like teeth rubbing hard against your back and sides, no surprise if he doesn't get out straight away.
Sakon saw an opportunity to attack the puppet master while he was working off that other enemy for him. He charged Kankurou, who saw him coming out of the corner of his eye.
Kankurou grinned as he closed in. Although he was currently using all ten of his fingers to restrain Hidan, really, he only needed five. He had the element of surprise on his side.
He quickly turned, releasing one arm and all of the chakra strings that went with it, and directed it at the area around Sakon. In a flash instant, a gigantic, crate-shaped puppet launched out of the ground directly below Sakon, and he stumbled right at its opened body. As he landed hard inside of it, the puppet quickly latched closed around him, trapping him inside. He had literally walked right into it.
"Let me out of here! Let me out right now!!" Sakon yelled while pounding the inside of his wooden captor. "Let me out of here, or I'll KILL YOU!!"
"…what…?" Hidan responded from the distance. You'd think that someone would learn when they were in the right position to make death threats, and when they weren't. But then again, he wasn't really one to talk. On occasion, he had been recalled to threaten and swear at his opponents, when it was just his own head rolling around.
Kankurou gave a triumphant face. Even though he needed more fingers to finish the puppet show, he had both enemies restrained, and at his fingertips…literally.
His face quickly dimmed, as he saw one of his captives, more specifically the one that he had with his right fingers, break all of the arms off of his puppet. Having wrested free, Hidan was cracking his wrist back into place, grunting as he did so. He actively moved his hand and fingers to make sure that there was no permanent damage.
'Okay, so maybe I did need more than five fingers for the Ant…' Kankurou agreed nervously to himself.
Hidan very slowly turned towards his would-be captor. Kankurou's eyes widened even more at the big slices and gashes in Hidan's bear sides. Normally fatal wounds. Had he really not just attacked hard enough, or was there something about this guy that he didn't know about?
Blood continued to ooze down Hidan's body. He readied his scythe again, this time with a little bit of extra killing intent.
"…You know what?" Hidan suddenly asked calmly, and with a calm face to match. He twirled his scythe around by the shaft as he spoke. "I hope this next attack really fucks you up…" His calm act instantly dropped, and Hidan revealed a face twisted with rage. "…YOU BASTARD!!"
He dashed towards the shocked puppeteer with unnatural and inhuman speed.
In an act of retaliation, Kankurou released his other hand, and in doing so, released the chakra strings supporting the other puppet. It crashed to the ground with Sakon still inside of it. A grunted sound could be heard as it hit the floor. Probably Sakon.
Without the proper use of Kankurou's chakra strings to support the trap, he was sure that Sakon would work his way out in no time. But there would be time to worry about that later. Right now was the crazed zealot charging at him to consider.
Thinking quickly, Kankurou pulled something off of his back – something wrapped in gauze. He quickly set it in front if him, and pulled the cloth covering it loose, but not before Hidan had reappeared in front of him and drove his three blades through it.
The object splintered into pieces and pieces from the force, but lucky enough for Kankurou, the blades got caught by the torso, which somehow kept together. The edges stuck all the way through the wood – one of the tips stopped an inch away from Kankurou's eye, which was now wide in surprise.
"Ahh, dammit…jammed again?!" Hidan complained. He then began actively jerking the shaft to pull his weapon free from the puppet.
As the remaining wrappings fell from the now scourged figure, the pieces lay around the floor around the two fighters, the most recognizable being the head – the head of the last puppet in Kankurou's arsenal.
Kankurou shut his eyes tight in frustration. The Crow, his last lifeline…and he just used it.
He started out with three puppets, and the only use that they served before being torn apart was keeping Kankurou alive up to this point. His opponent had only given him enough time to act on the defensive, and Kankurou never had a chance to do a quarter of the attacks that he was normally able to.
While Hidan struggled to pry his blades out of the gears that they had caught in, Kiba struggled to get up from his position, and beheld no avail, as he collapsed right back into sitting position again. With that wound of his, he was a sitting duck.
'Come on, jerk…just hold on a bit longer…'
Sakon kicked open the door of the collapsed puppet that held him captive, and quickly turned to see the two healthy foes temporarily diverting each other's attention. He took the chance to attack the wounded dog boy, whom he knew to be his old foe, and his real enemy.
"Die, leaf trash!!" Sakon shouted as he dashed towards Kiba with kunai at hand.
"No!" Kankurou turned around and with a rapid yank of his remaining chakra strings, he swung what was left of his puppet around a full 180 degree arc, while Hidan held on to his still-embedded weapon the whole way.
"WHOOOOAAAAA!!" Hidan shouted as he rode the shambles into Sakon.
On contact, Sakon, Hidan, and the puppet they were riding on were sent flying through the air and into a tree.
Hidan was the first to recover. He slowly rose from the wreckage, with his scythe pulled from what was left of Kankurou's battle puppet. He began his approach towards the puppet master, and the wounded leaf genin.
"You…son of a-" he came to an abrupt halt, as he was grabbed by his ankle. He then felt a sharp pain in the calf of his leg.
He turned his head to see Sakon, digging his kunai deeper into his leg, yanking and jerking it around to do more damage to the tissue. Hidan winced slightly as blood gushed down his ankle. Shortly after, he reached down, grabbed Sakon tight around the neck, and held him up a few feet above the ground.
Sakon struggled to get free, weakly punching Hidan's offending arm, which only caused him to grasp his neck tighter, and ultimately choke him more.
"I've got a few words of advice for you, kid." Hidan began, taking his sacrificial dagger out from his back. "Never piss off someone that you can't kill."
Hidan put the dagger to Sakon, and ever slowly, he began to apply pressure to it, pressing the dagger slowly into his side, right under the ribs, where it hurt the most.
"Guh…" Sakon cried weakly. He would scream even louder from the intense pain of a knife slowly puncturing his body, but the fact that Hidan had him suspended in the air tightly grasping his throat, circumstances could be better.
But then Hidan noticed something.
'Hey…' He thought to himself. 'Didn't this bastard have two heads…?'
"Hey, man."
Hidan turned to his shoulder, and widened his eyes in amazement, as he saw Ukon's head sticking out and smirking at him.
"Why don't you put that idiot down…I know he probably deserves it, but you have bigger problems to focus on." Ukon stated calmly. "For instance," he continued. "The fact that my unique ability enables me to destroy every living cell in your body from the inside out. I'd say you're in big trouble, sir."
Hidan grinned menacingly, revealing a row of straight, white teeth. "Well one of us is…"
"Huh…?" Ukon responded confused. He realized that if this guy exploited the techniques weakness like his other opponent had earlier, that would just plain suck.
This dark fear was realized instantly as Hidan threw his brother against the tree nearest him as hard as he could. Leaves shook from their branches as Sakon spiraled into the thick tree's trunk with a loud thud. He grunted loudly from the impact, and was out cold.
Hidan then pointed his dagger at his own body.
"Learn the price of sharing a body with the servant of Jashin-sama."
"Wha-what?! No! Wait!"
"Too late!" Hidan answered with a cheery, high-pitched tone in his voice.
-chink-
He drove the knife hard into his side. Blood began trickling out of the wound, which was rapidly increasing in size as Hidan drew it across his stomach. Within moments, red fluid drenched around his whole abdomen like an ugly belt.
"Ohhh, does that feel gooooood…" Hidan acted as if he was getting a massage. "Sweet, sweet pain. Can you feel that?"
Ukon, on the other hand, wasn't looking too healthy. He was clearly disoriented, and the sight only made Hidan more gleeful. It was hard to tell if Ukon's expression came from the extreme pain that he was feeling, or the fact that his host seemed to enjoy what he was doing to himself. Or both.
"You…uh- you're a…crazy bastard…" Ukon grunted out, blood dripping from his mouth.
"Oh, you give me too much credit."
Ukon began to crawl weakly out of Hidan's body, who kept his perfect poise, even as he continued to dig the blade into himself.
From the pain that Ukon had felt when Kiba had stabbed his body to get him out, the pole votes weren't all that close; there was no pain at all compared to what he was feeling right now. Best to get to know a little more about the person who's body you try to take over.
Kankurou and Kiba, who still hadn't moved from that tree, had witnessed the whole thing, and had a similar thought process in common: best not to screw with this bastard.
Hidan turned his head to make sure that the others hadn't made a run for it. This gave Ukon just enough time to stagger over to Sakon's unconscious body, and fuse with it. This time, Ukon was the one in front, and was controlling the body that both of them were in.
"Don't worry, brother…" Ukon whispered. "I'm getting us out of here."
With that, he started to sprint away. He thanked Kami for their signature health regenerative ability. Without it, there was pretty much a guarantee that escaping would have been much harder.
Hidan quickly turned around in time to see him running away.
"Oh, no you fucking don't!!" He cursed. "I never said I was finished with you yet!"
He took his scythe in hand, and positioning his arm carefully, he sprang a long cord out of the shaft, through the air at their direction. The blades on the other end spiraled in a horizontal fashion, passing right through all of the trees it made contact with, which all fell to the ground in fine-cut pieces soon after.
Ukon, who was currently manning the body of the two, turned his head and looked back just in time to see the purple flurry fling towards him. Acting quickly, he leaned himself as low as possible while still running.
In slow motion, the blade spun slowly over, cutting a strand of silver hair off of Sakon's unconscious head before just narrowly passing over them. Close call.
Hidan gritted his teeth, and prepared to take after his target that he missed. He then stopped abruptly, remembering something. His dagger. He had a sample of the blood they shared. They share the same body, so they should share the same blood, right?
Hidan got the dagger out and ready. Sure enough, blood still clung to the edge.
But wait…shit. Even so, he would not have the time to make the 'necessary preparations' for the ritual. This would include tasting the blood, creating the seal of Jashin (with blood) on the floor he stood on, and praying on it. Then he could kill them.
Needless to say, they would be long gone by the time all of this was accomplished.
"Dammit." Hidan said through clenched teeth. "…But this isn't over…we'll meet again. Did you catch that, boys?! We'll meet again!!"
Whether the message got through or not, he blew a strand of hair that hung over his forehead in annoyance before turning back to finish off the other two nins that were with him…
...who were also gone. Dammit again.
He shut his eyes tight, and hung his head in shame as he followed the cord of his weapon, swearing under his breath the whole way to his scythe, which was wedged in the seam of a great tree. He took one hard yank, and it was out.
As he walked away with it over his shoulder, his head still hung, he kept at an evenly slow pace without bothering to look back. He continued to illegibly swear under his breath, even as the tree behind him, where his scythe was lodged in, slowly split down the middle and crash loudly to the forest floor.
'I knew I should have issued a prayer to Jashin before I fought... This is just bad karma catching up with me...' Hidan thought to himself. 'What in the hell am I gonna tell the others...? "'Hey guys, what have you been doing? Killed anyone? Me...? Well...'" He started to brainstorm with a list of excuses that he could use.
'Nothing happened.'
'The ANBU Black Ops came to their rescue - I was overpowered.'
'My scythe stopped working.'
'There was an earthquake.'
'A tidal wave?'
'The squirrels came and attacked me to avenge their friend.'
'My shadow confronted me.'
'I hate my life.'
Back with Sasori and Tayuya-
Clash after clash for over an hour in the treetops; treetops that must have been hundreds of feet above the ground. There was a perfectly good view of half the forest, if only that.
On one side, Tayuya still had her cursed seal activated, and was now struggling with her Doki to keep them balance on the thin top while delivering the offensive at the same time…or trying to at least. So far, every attack failed, not even making it past her opponent's metallic tail without so much as a simple deflection. It wasn't her own balance that she fretted about, it was her minions. They must weigh two tons each, and if Tayuya didn't finger her musical instrument carefully, they would either fall because the treetop would give way, or because of a careless mistake.
Sasori, on the other hand, held up extremely well, even in his gigantic puppet. Despite its immense frame, there it stood on the very tip-top of the tree, staring at Tayuya perfectly still, without even blinking.
Tayuya looked at how well-positioned he was in his spot. No matter what anyone said, no one, no matter how high ranking a shinobi they were, could balance so easily on a thin tip with a body that wide. Yet there he was, leering at her from meters away. She could not tell for sure, but she had a feeling that under that thick, black cowl that covered Sasori's lower face, he was grinning maniacally at her. And she wanted nothing more than to bash that pompous grin off of his face.
With a quick two-key combo, Tayuya played a couple of high notes to her demons. The trembled in reply, and then shot off at Sasori. Even as they closed in on the puppet master, he did not move his body. Not that he couldn't move, he simply didn't. Instead, he continued to face Tayuya, not giving any sign whatsoever that he had his attention on the attacking demons. All of Tayuya's Doki made one simultaneous attack on him from both sides.
-CLANG-
Tayuya's pupils shrunk slightly in surprise as she still held her flute to her lips. Sasori had sprung his tail into full arc over his body, parrying all attacks made towards him in the process. But to say that he made it look easy would be an understatement. He did not flinch. He did not move his body, or his head for that matter. He simply continued to stare at her, eyes non-blinking; as if to say that nothing had happened as he unfurled his tail into its normal position, and her Doki jumped back onto their assigned spots.
That's when she got close enough to really notice them.
Those eyes. His eyes. They gleamed in a deep evil white color as they focused intently on her. She didn't even know that white could be described an evil color, but damn, he pulled it off perfectly.
But those eyes…so empty, yet so full of…malevolence. Carnage. Gore. Death. Everything that could possibly be described evil was rolled into two, glaring eyes. Eyes that were on her.
They…they rivaled Orochimaru's eyes! Not that she had been courageous more than twice enough to actually make eye contact with the Snake Sannin.
It was like staring into a void, and it scared her. Tayuya could feel her hairs stand up on end, an icy chill creeping up her spine. She swallowed hard. She could feel how hard that her heart was throbbing.
And for the first time in a long time, there was fear in her eyes.
What he was saying before was true. He had definitely killed before.
Tayuya quickly snapped herself from those eerie thoughts as a certain, shining tail lashed out towards her tree. Thinking quickly, she played an inversed tune to her demons. Half a second later, it jumped into the path of the stinger, and with the tough bones attached to its wrists, it grappled with the hilt of the tail, and ultimately stopped Sasori's progress.
'Get your fucking head out of the clouds, Tayuya,' she thought to herself. 'This is the battlefield. Fear will not save you. Lord Orochimaru taught you that.'
She briefly remembered her lesson, and caught glimpse of another sweep attack made by the long tail. As it rounded toward her, the sun shone brightly off the metallic surface for a brief half second, but hit her just right in her eyes. She blinked rapidly in temporary blindness.
She quickly shook it off, and with not a second thought, she leapt high into the air, and the tail missed her by roughly an inch. As she looked down before she landed, she could see that the tip of the tree that she was once standing on was severed completely from its body. Knowing that it would no longer support her, she landed on the side of the tree, and kicked off of it to leap to another nearby one.
When she found one, she landed gracefully on the top, and brought her flute to her lips. Closing her eyes in concentration (and in trying to relax, for that matter), she played a quick nocturne, and her Doki rumbled for a moment to connect to the pattern. Then, they all instantly knew what to do.
As the bladed Doki set off towards Sasori, the one with the club leapt off of its own tree, and let itself freefall all the way to the ground.
Falling...
Falling...
-BOOM-
With its powerful legs, it landed without damaging itself from the hundred-foot fall. Other than the extremely loud noise that it had just made on impact and the birds fluttering away because of it, the underskirts of the forest were quiet and calm. It picked itself up from the titanic crater that it had made in the ground, and approached the trunk holding up a certain tree. As it stopped right in front of it, it held back its club, preparing to make a horizontal bludgeon to the wood.
As Sasori continued to fend off the attacks of the bladed Doki, the bound Doki sat patiently behind on its own tree.
Sasori knew that something was up, knowing from their ongoing fight that the girl wouldn't send just one demon to fight, unless she had a good reason to. Never the less, he thought it best to focus on the fight right in front of him that threatened to chop him to pieces if he didn't.
Suddenly, a loud rumble erupted from directly below him, and as Sasori looked down, his eyes widened a bit at the realization that his entire tree was preparing to collapse.
Tayuya grinned at the perfect chance to launch her third Doki to finish the job. Playing one last note to give it added effort, the flutist watched as her final demon leapt at her rival to finish him off.
While the Doki currently fighting Sasori jumped away, Sasori himself quickly snapped his head toward the last demon that was now diving head-first to meet up with him.
Too late to block, this time.
It slammed into him at full force, and Tayuya could swear (literally, she could swear) that she heard the sound of splintering wood as it made contact. She smirked without lowering her flute as she watched her opponent fly back hard into another tree. She had finally tricked him. That smart-ass that had been talking so tough for the first quarter of the fight, and look at him now.
Sasori was motionless as he let himself fall from the near-top, landing with a hard, cluttering sound as he hit one of the bigger, longer branches protruding from its owner.
Tayuya watched for a few minutes to see if he would get up again. He lay a total mess on the side of the tree, his cloak half clinging to him, half hanging down from his branch like a rag. Tayuya smiled down at his limp, quiet body that made no sign that it would move again. He didn't even show signs of breathing, just laying there. She had done it. She had won.
Or so she would think.
Tayuya's triumphant expression soon resumed dead-panned, with the extra feature of her pupils dialating to olive size as she watched him slowly rise back up from his fall. How he was doing it was creepy enough, cracking bones like he had been brought back to life as if he had been dead for a century - it was that he was doing it after taking bull's horns to the head.
The impact and the fall both meant nothing to him - he couldn't feel pain in his higher-evolutionary body. It just upset his pride that he had let an attack touch him, and from this...girl! The thought of it all was so...humiliating.
Sasori had finally managed to lift his puppet's heavy head to glare at the kunoichi once again. 'Okay, bitch... Okay.'
Within the span of a quick, simple second, his black cowl dropped, revealing a long, ugly, disorganized section of teeth.
Tayuya's pupils didn't even have enough time to dilate into olives by the time he was spouting a mass of sharp, slender needles directly from that same mouth that he had cracked open with a singular click.
Acting purely on instinct, Tayuya leapt off from her treetop and caught one of the lower branches as the needles whistled past her.
'That's a new trick…' she agreed with herself nervously.
She looked back up at the continuing barrage of slender missiles in awe. They bit through the wood with the same effects as her former teammate, Kimimaro's Finger Bullet Drill technique, plus speed.
Suddenly, the firing ceased. Still clinging to her branch, she slowly turned her head and stared once at her opponent, wide-eyed. As he had his lower jaw hung down in withdrawal from his previous attack, her mouth was hung open from shock to match.
Hearing a cracking sound, she turned back to the top of the tree where she had last been. Ever slowly, the top began to peel off at the seams, and ten seconds later, it snapped off from the rest of the tree, and began to drift slowly towards the ground.
Tayuya slowly turned her head in a shivering fashion back towards her enemy with horror dabbed in her eyes.
Sasori quickly took note of this, snapping his jaw quickly back in place, and without his cowl, Tayuya could see for sure that he was grinning. Only that it wasn't the annoying grin that she had predicted – it was simply…scary. All of his teeth were exposed…and where the hell were his lips? He looked like something from a Lions Gate horror movie.
"Hate to say: you made me do it." Was Sasori's reply to Tayuya's silent timidity.
Immediately she reverted from being scared to angry, her face showing everything as it formed a scowl. Typical Tayuya.
"Fuckweed! You're nothing special!"
"Eh?" Sasori replied curiously, his mouthpieces clicking noisily as he spoke without his cowl.
Tayuya threw herself to her feet on the branch that she clung from and took her flute up again, this time, holding it directly in front of her to Sasori.
She continued. "I told you once before, shithead, I am not to be screwed with!" She proceeded to calm herself, closing her eyes with a sigh, and then slowly opening them again. "I don't care how many people you kill." She went on after pausing. "People get killed by other people in war, but that doesn't make them stronger than anyone else." Her calmed expression slowly turned into an unfriendly smile. "Heh. I knew that you couldn't hold up forever. Now that I know that you're tangible, I know that you're screwed!"
"Well, if you suddenly want to go through all that again, about who kills who, I invite you to have the first laugh." Sasori replied. "After all, it wasn't like I could kill you anytime I wanted to, simply lashing and parrying all of your cronies' attacks simply to pass the time while my guys kill your guys whilst you frantically bound from tree to tree to avoid getting hit yourself while I sat in one place up until now having been hit successfully yet non-fatally one time pulled off luckily by you."
Tayuya was dumb-founded.
"…Or anything like that." Sasori quickly finished with a triumphant, yet still scary grin.
That did it.
Tayuya clenched her teeth tightly, and her knuckles were now white from squeezing so hard, even as she held her flute in one hand. It's a miracle that the metal didn't bend. At any rate, she was fed up.
'Damn him, I haven't been this pissed off since…well yesterday, actually. Alright, dipshit. I'll show you the extent of my abilities. I'll show you what happens when someone screws around with me! Still, I can't believe how well he held up against the Cursed Seal...he's tough. Level 2.'
She muttered curses silently under her breath that she had been forced to do this; her jagged markings turned a fire-lit color. Sasori watched, wagging his metal tail behind his back like a curious puppy as her skin enveloped into a dark tan color. Her hair grew long, and eventually, the cap that she wore was shredded into ruin as the pieces fell to the ground to make place for the horns growing in. Her hair drifted gracefully in the sky breeze as she breathed in the new yet familiar feeling of power. She slowly and elegantly opened her eyes to her opponent, her golden pupils shone brightly out of a black background as she leered at him, no longer swayed with fear at the shocking aura within his.
Sasori felt the urge to back away a bit, but fought it and stood his ground. The immense chakra coming from this girl…it… almost matched his! This was no longer the frail little girl that he had picked a fight with in the beginning. She was in a whole different league now. And Sasori could not grasp exactly how powerful that she was now - only that she was definitely different.
She grinned evilly at him with extra effect that her Second State form had to offer, and with flute in hand, she called her Doki back to her side.
"Not bad..." Sasori looked over Tayuya's new form; starting from her feet, and then gradually working his way up to her face. "Does this mean that you're ready to cut the childish games, and I can actually begin to fight?" Sasori was taken aback only slightly by the new level of power that now stood in front of him, but there was no way that he would bring himself to show that kind of weakness. Even if it were a little of it.
"I hope that you've enjoyed your delusions of invincibility…" Tayuya started. "...because from this point on, I'm going to teach you how vulnerable a person can really be!"
"Let's go."
Sasori threw off his baggy garments to reveal the rest of his figure: a man on all fours with a metal contraption on one of his arms to match the tail, an unusual piece of armor for his main body, with what appeared to be a giant face-like shell. As Tayuya narrowed her eyes, she could see where the tail, moving almost alive, contracted from the mouthpiece.
"Say," Sasori added, while holding the position. "I wonder how the rest of the family is doing right now."