Chapter 16: Ghost of Kaori's Past...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.................!!!!!!!!!" screamed a horrified Kaori as she sank to her knees clutching her head.

"Kaori-sama!" cried out Yue as she tried to reach a paw out to her only to receive a static shock causing the leopard to instinctively jump back. Yue gasped as she realized what was happening. "Stay back you guys!" she warned just as Naruto and Lee were about to move towards Kaori, stopping them in their tracks. Blue lightning could be seen visibly sparking around Kaori as she sat there clutching herself and trembling. The lightning surrounded the girl and formed a small sphere, almost as if it were for protection.

Raiga chuckled at the girl's reaction in obvious enjoyment. "So, it looks like you do recognize me, ne?" he asked as he began to take a step towards Kaori, only to have the boys jump in front of her.

"You stay away from her!" yelled Lee.

"How do you know Kaori-san?!" demanded Naruto, angrily.

Raiga looked a little taken aback before regaining himself. "You guys don't know jack about her do you?"

The boys scowled in response, although inside they were just as confused. Raiga narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Do you know...that the creature you are protecting is a monster and a murderer?"

The boys widened their eyes while Yue, who had been controlling herself the whole time finally snapped and lunged at Raiga with a deafening roar. "SILENCE!!!" she roared fiercely.

The man smirked and jumped out of the way easily. Yue lunged at him again full force savagely. She opened her jaws and shot out a stream of blue lightning at the man, who simply stuck out his swords and absorbed the energy into his arms. "Lightning Bullet!" Raiga yelled, sending a large lightning ball at the leopard who quickly folded her wings in front of her as a shield.

In the meantime, the boys turned to Kaori, still unable to approach her due to the lightning sphere surrounding her. Kaori appeared to be unaware of her surroundings as she continued clutching herself and staring at the ground. The boys could see her lips moving so they craned their necks to try and catch her words. "No...he can't be alive....he shouldn't be alive...no, no...sensei, what should I do?.....It wasn't my fault right? It's not my fault?...Is it really my fault?.... Why is he alive?....I killed him didn't I?..I killed him!.... I killed everyone!...Did I?, Did I?, Did I?!" they heard her say to herself over and over again.

"Oh man...she's losing it!" exclaimed Naruto in fear with his eyes bugging out.

"She's going into shock!" said Neji worriedly as Kaori began to hyperventilate. "Oh crap! Lee, Naruto, help Yue! I'll handle Kaori!"

"Sure thing-ttebayo!" "HAI!" said the two boys as they rushed off to help Yue.

"Konoha Senpuu!" yelled Lee as he jumped in the air to deliver a kick at Raiga, who evaded easily while blocking an attack from Naruto simultaneously. Yue came running up at full speed while glowing blue with chakra.

"Catgirl Jutsu!" Poof! went Yue disappearing in to a smoke cloud emerging in her cat girl form. She unsheathed her claws and began slashing at the man who jabbed his sword at was quick enough to shift to the side before grabbing Raiga's arm and biting down on it hard. Raiga screamed in pain as blood began pouring from the wound.

"Raiga-san! Are you alright?!" Yue heard a young concerned voice ask from underneath his cloak.

'A kid?' thought Yue as she released her jaws and jumped a few feet back, spitting out Raiga's blood.

"Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" yelled Naruto creating about 10 clones that charged at Raiga in a random formation.

"Fangs of Lightning... FALL!" yelled Raiga, causing a huge lightning bolt to strike Naruto, destroying all his clones in one shot. Rock Lee was also caught up in the blast as with Yue, which propelled all of them in different directions.

"ARRGH!!" screamed Yue as she hit the ground hard, rendering her unconscious while reverting Yue back into her original form as she hit the ground rolling.

"GUYS! YUE!" cried out Neji seeing what happened to his teammates. He quickly took up the Gentle fist stance when he saw Raiga running towards them. "Jyuuken!" he yelled striking out at the man who quickly evaded Neji's strikes while Neji was doing his best to attack and not get stabbed by Raiga's swords.

While unseen by Neji, his cry earlier had managed to bring back Kaori's mind to sanity, causing the girl to look up and gasp as she saw Neji taking on Raiga on his own. Her eyes traveled to where Lee and Naruto fell unconscious until finally Kaori her beloved partner, Yue, unconscious, burnt and bleeding. At that moment, Kaori began to feel anger well up inside her as she began to stand up. The electrical barrier that surrounded began to intensify and expand in energy. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a blue scroll with the words 'Close Combat' written on it. In one swift move, Kaori unrolled the scroll and placed her palm on it, causing smoke to instantly erupt from it. There was a ringing of bells as Kaori spun a pair of melon hammers with large cat bells as the heads in either hand.

"Close Combat Weapon: Melon Hammer Bells!!" she yelled. The energy creating the protective barrier around her began to disappear as it began to get absorbed into the bells. "Lightning...MUSIC!!!" cried out Kaori as she banged the two bells together, which produced a loud ringing sound that shot out the lightening at the same time towards Raiga. Instead of hearing just one scream, Kaori's ears picked up a much higher scream mixed with Raiga's as the blast hit him straight on, forcing him away from Neji. Kaori quickly ran up to Neji who was beginning to feel fatigue after the attack.

"Senpai, daijobu?" asked Kaori, helping Neji to stand.

"Kaori...never mind me, what about you?"

Kaori didn't answer straight away but instead dropped her weapons, cupped his face and tilted his head downwards so that his forehead protector touched hers, causing Neji to blush involuntarily. "Neji-senpai...arigato...." she whispered before breaking away, picking up her weapons and running towards the spot where Yue was leaving a very surprised Neji who blinked a few times.


Raiga desperately tried to keep conscious as he quickly twisted his body so that he landed on his front to avoid landing on the bundle on his back. "Ranmaru! Are you alright?!" he asked sounding very worried. The bundle on his back shifted a little.

"I-I'm fine, Raiga...." Ranmaru managed to reply weakly. "Raiga...behind you!" cried the voice at it sensed something coming at them fast. Raiga quickly turned and jumped to avoid Rock Lee, who spun around and charged at Raiga once more, forcing the man to jump back several steps began to throw punches and kicks at him.

"Hang in there Ranmaru! I'll end this quick!" said Raiga as he jumped a few meters back while Lee took up his usual stance.

"Raiga.."Ranmaru said. "He's still unconscious!!"

"Say what?!" exclaimed Raiga in surprise. It was then he realized that Lee had not made a single sound while attacking and that his eyes were shut upon closer observation. Raiga cautiously made his way towards Lee and stuck out his sword. To his surprise, Lee shifted and slapped the sword away with his wrist. "It looks like your right...."

"Our opponent is fighting on pure reflexes...it's amazing!"

"I agree Ranmaru..." said Raiga as he began to block Lee's attacks once more. "Just for that I'll give him a real nice funeral!" he yelled striking at Lee who dodged by flipping through the air.

"Right!" yelled Ranmaru, as tried to predict Lee's movements. Raiga quickly dodged. "His moves are unpredictable, but I'll do my best to help you Raiga!"

It was then began his assault again while Ranmaru began to read the boy's movement. "Right! Left! From the front! Now JUMP!!" he yelled, directing Raiga's moves. Suddenly Raiga tried to slash at Lee, only to have his sword caught by Lee who stood on his head and clamped the weapon between his feet. Raiga narrowed his eyes as he tried to use his other sword but Lee quickly curved his body and clamped the other with his hands tightly, preventing the man from using them.

"How is he able to do this much?!" asked Ranmaru, evidently shocked.

Meanwhile, Naruto was beginning to regain consciousness. The first thing he saw was a knocked out Lee still having a grip on Raiga's swords. "Bushy-Brows...." he managed to voice out as he tried to stand up only to fall over again.


Yue slowly regained consciousness. A slight buzzing sound was ringing in her ears as she felt pain leaving her body, which was covered in a green glow. She raised her head to see Kaori healing her and Neji standing behind Kaori. "Kaori-sama!" exclaimed the kitten in surprise as she jumped into her master's arms. She looked up at Kaori's face with large eyes. "Daijobu, Kaori-sama?"

Kaori smiled a little and nodded her head. The look of worry on the kitten's face changed to relief as her eyes became teary. "Thank goodness....." muttered Yue as she buried her face in Kaori's chest and began to cry. Kaori hugged Yue and stroked her fur gently. The girl then turned her gaze to where Lee was still fighting Raiga. Her eyes widened when she realized Lee's state.

"I can't believe it...he's not even awake..."

"That's Lee for you..." said Neji. "The training Gai-sensei placed Lee through all these years has given his body amazing muscle memory."


"I once ran for three days while sleeping...it's true, I swear!" said a drowsy Lee as they neared the curry of life restaurant.


"So he wasn't kidding..." muttered Kaori and Yue when they recalled what Lee said the other day.

Just then, Lee quickly broke his hold on Raiga's swords and spun on the ground, striking out with his foot. Raiga was able to avoid getting hit but Lee's attack managed to hit the bundle on his back. "RAIGA!!!" a kid's voice screamed as a large bag flew out form Raiga's ripped cloak and landed closely to where Kaori, Yue and Neji were. Raiga looked around desperately to see where the bag was. "Move it!" he yelled shoving Lee out of the way.

Lee awoke as he hit the ground slightly dazed, before he could clear his head Lee heard Raiga yelling in anger from behind. He turned just in time to see Naruto kick the man away. "Heh, Uzumaki Naruto has arrived!"

"Naruto-kun..."

"You brat! Do you want to die?!" asked Raiga in annoyance as he regained his balance.

Naruto ignored what he said and decided to cut straight to the point. "I've got something to ask you. I heard that you were a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Then you should know Zabuza and Kisame, right?"

"I hate them...I'm not going to remember anything about them.." replied the man acidly. "And I hate you too!" he roared, charging at Naruto, who ducked and began running neck to neck with Raiga.

"Then I guess I'll have to get the answer from you by force!" said Naruto as they both engaged in aerial contact.


Kaori watched her team mate and Raiga attack each other. Her skin began to prickle when she sensed Raiga gathering energy in his swords. "Naruto!" cried Kaori, grabbing her Melon Hammer Bells and running towards the two.


"Lightning Ball!!!" yelled Raiga, throwing an energy ball at Naruto.

"Miko Arts: Lightning Barrier!!!"

Naruto flinched but when he realized that nothing happened he looked up to see Kaori standing in front of him holding a pair of melon hammers that were giving off electricity. The electrical barrier he saw Kaori use the other day was absorbing the ball of lightening Raiga threw at him. The said man growled in anger at Kaori who lowered the barrier. Kaori herself was throwing Raiga a poisonous look herself. "So...you're still alive.." she said.

Raiga smirked mockingly. "Evidently..." he said before his face distorted with hatred. "But I was forced to live with the curse you placed on me!"

"Curse?" Naruto asked Kaori, only to see that she was just as confused.

Raiga allowed energy to static around his arm making Kaori narrow her eyes."Believe me Raiga, cursing you is the last thing I would do to a murderer like you!" she spat.

Suddenly, Raiga burst out laughing. "Me? A Murderer?!" he asked as if Kaori had just said something ridiculous. "No, the murderer here is YOU! Nekojiwa KAORI!!! If it weren't for you, Raika would have still been alive!!!" he accused, jabbing a sword at Kaori.

"You leave Sensei out of this! She died to protect me, from you!!!"

Raiga gritted his teeth while anger flared in his eyes. "YOU SHOULD JUST DIE YOU DEMONIC, CURSED CHILD!!!!!" he roared, charging at Kaori.

"THE ONE WHO SHOULD DIE IS YOU!!!" retorted Kaori, gripping her weapons and charging at Raiga as well. The two clashed with a flash of lightening as bells and spiked swords met with a clang.


"Kaori-sama!" Yue cried out seeing her master engage in battle.

"Yue what's going on?" demanded Neji.

"We have to separate them, Neji-dono! Hurry, or they'll kill each other!!!"

The boy gasped when he heard Yue's response. From what he could see, the amount of electricity given out made it impossible for anybody to interfere with the battle. That was when an idea popped into his mind. "NARUTO! USE SHADOW CLONES NOW!!!" he called.

Naruto looked at him in confusion. "WHY?!"

"JUST SHUT UP AND DO IT!!!"

"Yeesh! Fine! Kage Bunshin no JUTSU!!!" cried Naruto creating a whole army of shadow clones that surrounded Raiga. A few of them discreetly grabbed Kaori and hid her within the crowd, much to her chagrin.

"What are you guys doing?" hissed Kaori as she was lead out of the Naruto crowd.

"Sorry, Kaori-san. This was Neji's idea," replied one of the clones who dragged her towards Yue and Neji before disappearing.


Raiga growled in frustration when his target disappeared and was replaced by multiple clones of the brat in orange."Come and get me!" challenged Naruto.

"Lightning Ball!" yelled Raiga throwing the technique forward, only to destroy a group of Naruto's clones.

"What's the matter? Was it just luck you hit me earlier?" asked Naruto mockingly.

"It doesn't matter! I just have to hit you all!" retorted Raiga putting his swords together and began to dispel lightening which began to destroy any of the clones who tried to charge at him. He could sense fatigue creeping up on him. 'Tch! At this rate I'm gonna get drained of my chakra! Not to mention the mist I put up is disappearing, I have to end this quick!'

Suddenly Raiga stabbed his swords into the ground and created a lightning path up a mountain side. With wasting time, he quickly began running up the lightning path while the Naruto clones started running after him. Raiga quickly placed his swords in his belt and formed a few hand seals. "Ninja Art: Rock Slide!" he said.

The lightning instantly caused the rocky side to shatter, creating large rocks that destroyed the clones as they fell."Naruto-dono!" cried Yue as she began to run forward transforming into her Winged Beast form as she jumped into the air.

"Naruto-kun!" called Lee quickly standing up.

Meanwhile, Raiga managed to reach the top safely and looked down at the rock pile in satisfaction. "Hmph, I showed him!"

"Think again!"

Raiga spun around and looked up to see Naruto coming down at him with a clone forming a spinning ball of chakra in Naruto's hand. "STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!" a shrill voice cried out from the bag near Kaori and Neji, causing their heads to look at it in shock. The voice had reached Naruto as well but it was too late as his clone disappeared and drew back his hand.

"I can't stop now! Rasengan!" he cried, driving the chakra ball into Raiga's chest, sending the man spinning of very far away. "I got him!"

"Naruto-dono, thank goodness you're alright!" said Yue flying up to where the boy was.

Naruto nodded, getting on Yue's back and flew down to where Neji and Kaori were. Imagine his surprise when Kaori suddenly threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly the moment he got off the leopard. "K-kaori-san?" he asked blushing furiously.

"Thank god...." she said in relief. Naruto could feel warm drops of tears falling on his shoulder as Lee caught up to them and joined Neji in looking surprised. Kaori released her arms from Naruto and began to hug Lee tightly as well, who awkwardly hugged her back. "Thank goodness you guys are alright....." she said pulling away and wiping the tears from her face.

The boys plus Yue all looked at her in surprise. Their first impression when they met her was that she just another emo character who only knew how to be sarcastic, but now...this was a whole new side of their teammate that they've never seen. Yue, on the other was surprised because this was the first time in four years since that terrible day that Kaori was being so emotional. Naruto quickly cleared the awkwardness in the air by turning his attention to the bag on the ground. "So these are Raiga's eyes, huh?" he asked as everybody stood around and looked at it curiously while Yue began to sniff it. "That's sure one huge eyeball!" he commented, making Kaori and Yue look at him incredulously.

"Nope, this scent...is a human.."corrected Yue.

Neji knelt down beside the bag and began to unzip it. Kaori and Yue did a double take when they saw the face of the person inside. 'Raika-sensei!' 'Raika-sama!' they both thought at first in shock, but regained their themselves when they realized that the person inside the bag was a child, and a young boy too. Lee knelt down beside the boy.

"You were the one I was fighting in my dream, wasn't I?" he asked.

"Not just me..." replied the boy. "Raiga too, the two of us are one..."

"You two are one?" echoed Lee in confusion.

"Always...ever since that day..." said the boy as he began to tell his story.


It was night time, as the ghastly screams of men filled the air. A group of Mist Anbu looked at the small pile of corpses they had just killed before disappearing.

Elsewhere, a man stood outside a lone hut with blood dripping down his swords as he kicked down the door easily. His face was covered by a Mist Anbu mask. "Don't pretend to be asleep, you're gonna die anyway," he said to a small lump covered in blanket on the floor. The blanket shifted a little. "Don't move!" he ordered, pinning down one side of the blanket with his sword. "Spies from this village have infiltrated Kirigakure. We're to kill them. I don't know who to kill anymore, so I'm just killing whoever I find."

The blanket shifted, with a muffled giggle escaping from it. The man pulled up the sheet a little with his other sword to reveal a pair of glowing red eyes, startling him momentarily.

"It's fine," said a young voice that came with the red eyes. "If it's you who is going to kill me..."

"Why me?" asked the man.

"I can see you've been crying all this time...."

"Huh? Me? Crying?"

"Inside your heart....I can tell you've been crying a lot...you've lost someone very dear to you while seeking to kill someone in particular... for revenge..."

The man did a small double take and removed his mask to get a better look, revealing the face of a slightly younger Kurosuki Raiga.

"I've been watching you this whole time...." the boy said.

"What...are you..? he asked, his eyes wide with shock.

"I'm like you.." came the reply. "I find life is painful, I don't why I'm even living at all....I can't walk...everybody hates me, all I can do is watch from in here in silence... but if my death gives you some satisfaction, then I don't mind dying..." said the boy removing the covers and sitting up.

The man gasped when he saw a resemblance of the boy's face with a young woman from his past. The boy bowed his head. "Please, go ahead..."

Instead of fulfilling the boy's request, Raiga lowered his sword. "Are you..alone?" he asked.

The boy looked at him and nodded. Raiga placed his sword down and held out his arms towards the boy. "Come," he said, lifting the boy up to his eye-level. "From now on, you and I are one..." he said smiling at the boy.

The boy nodded in agreement as Raiga placed him on his back and picked up his swords. It was raining when the two emerged. Raiga looked around carefully before running off into the mist with the boy.

Since then I became Raiga's eyes and ears while he became my arms and legs.....it was the first time I saw the outside. I was overwhelmed by everything I saw and heard for the first time. It was a lot of fun..

Wherever, whenever, we were together.....the two of us always.... I gave him happiness while he gave me a purpose to live...


The boys listened to the kid's story in amazement. Kaori and Yue on the other hand showed disbelief. The boy's words brought back a memory of Haku and his devotion to Zabuza for Naruto.

"Please kill me..."

Naruto heard Haku's words echo within the kid's own. "Fulfill your mission and finish me off.."

Kaori closed her eyes for a moment before looking at the boy. "Our mission was to drive of the Kurosuki family, now that Raiga is not here, he is no threat."

Naruto and Lee nodded in agreement as Neji stood up. "But now the problem at hand is the leaderless Kurosuki family... with a head, who knows what the group will do now...."

The others nodded again. "But... what about him?" asked Naruto looking at the kid with sympathy. A long pause came from Neji who didn't answer immediately.

"I'll look after him," volunteered Yue, stepping forward. Kaori kept silent.

"Alright," said Neji in approval and with that, Lee and Naruto helped the boy out of the bag and placed him on Yue's back. (She never changed back.) Yue folded her wings over the kid to keep him steady.

"Hold it," said Kaori removing a slip of paper from her pocket and placed it on the boy's back. It was different from a regular chakra seal. Instead of being bordered with red, it was bordered dark blue and the characters written on it were written differently.

"That doesn't look like a Chakra seal, Kaori-san," stated Lee.

"It's a Spirit Seal, it's more effective than a Chakra seal...." explained the girl as she straightened herself out.

"But is it really necessary? He's just a kid!" protested Naruto.

"We can't take any chances Naruto-kun, I'm sorry..."

"Shall we?" asked Neji. The rest nodded at him before they made their way back down to the village, leaving Yue with the kid.

The leopard watched as they disappeared from view. "So, what's your name?"

"Hmm?" the boy asked in confusion.

"I'm Yue, what's yours?"

"R-ranmaru..."

Yue smiled patting the boy's head with her tail, comforting him. "Ranmaru-dono, have you ever wondered what's it like to fly?"

The depressed boy was caught off guard and forgot his sadness. "Well..I guess..."

"Do you want to try?"

"Huh?"

"Flying, of course!"

Ranmaru looked at the winged leopard skeptically. "Can you really?"

"I have wings don't I? Just hang on tight!" said Yue as she began running towards the cliff edge. Ranmaru gulped as he hung on tight and buried his face in her fur. He could feel Yue taking a huge leap and then the sound of rushing wind filled his ears along with the flapping of Yue's wings. He slowly lifted his face and opened his eyes to see that he and Yue were high up over the hills. His heart became overwhelmed with excitement as he could see the landscape from a bird's eye view.

"Sugoi!" he finally managed to say. "Higher, please!" he asked, forgetting the feeling of depression he felt earlier. Yue flapped her wings and took him higher until they disappeared into the clouds. Just moments before they did, Ranmaru looked down and gasped as he caught a glimpse of Raiga's swords sticking out of a rock pile.

'Raiga....' he thought sadly, as Yue flew into the clouds.


R.F: *starts fanning self* Wow....finally! *Looks to readers* Well, I guess by now you guys know that Raiga is the guy from Kaori's nightmares. But now there are more questions that need to be answered. Who is Raika-sensei, and how does she connect Raiga and Kaori together? You have to wait for the next chapter to find out! BYE~!!!