Author's Note, 24 November: After a considerable hiatus, the story's back! I can only blame technical difficulties, but hopefully there won't be any more for a while. (crossing fingers) In the meantime, enjoy...
18 Do or Die!
A Second Showdown with the Mist Jounin.
"A legendary hardass," Taiki grumbled once he was sure Kotori was out of earshot. "Did they even think what they were doing when they started with you?" He chose a path that would take him to one of the village gates and began walking. "Or what they would end up with? I don't want you to become a monster, Kotori, but you're on the fast track and I don't know if I can stop you." Retracing his earlier steps – not hard from the broken foliage and the trail of blood still remaining from the previous day – he found his way back to the clearing where he'd seen Kotori with the giant snake. The reek of rotting biological material was hard to miss as was the punctured foliage and disturbed turf, and in spite of a resurgent gag reflex, Taiki made as complete of an investigation of the area as he could and came up with even more questions and no answers. "Somehow she made that thing explode, and I have no clue how she did it! What's even worse is that she had to draw on the demon in order to make it happen." Remembering the pain he'd felt sear his mind, he shivered. "And the more she draws on it, the closer she comes to dying. Whoever did this to her was sick."
"You would think so, wouldn't you." The voice was more substantial this time, but it still bore the sandpaper-raspy tone of before. "And before you look so surprised, you forget that this is part of your blood as well. Before you can use my abilities freely, you have to convince me to let you..." Taiki did not need to turn to see just who his visitor was. "There was more than enough corpse matter around here for me to recreate myself, although the part of the blood-contract that says I can only come back in the form that I died in irks me. I only wish that little cretin hadn't removed my arms before she killed me."
"Now isn't the best time," Taiki grumbled, shooting a dark look over his shoulder at the reformed body of the Mist jounin Kotori had killed. "I have other important things to figure out, and then my exams... can't this wait?"
"Now is always the best time for confrontation. Besides, the sooner we get this solved, the sooner we can move on." The corpse stretched out what limbs it could, readying itself for a fight.
A voice came to the edge of Taiki's mind, quiet but insistent and somehow familiar. I know this is rather sudden, it commented in apologetic feminine tones, but I know a few things that will help you to survive. I've never told you because there was never a chance, but now you need to listen. Taking advantage of his opponent's distraction, the jounin launched a powerful kick at Taiki that connected with an audible crunch and knocked the youth back into the dirt. "I see that woman is trying to interfere. What can she possibly tell you that will help? For while I am yet disarmed, you will taste the agony of de-feet!"
Groaning as much at the lame humor as the dull pain in his chest, Taiki lurched up into a squat and glared at the older man. "Do you two know each other?"
"Oh, we've had quite the friendly chat since you took me in. Did you know she sacrificed herself to give you your abilities? The ultimate show of motherly love, but ultimately useless." Pause, sneer. "So why are you hesitating? Aren't you at least going to try to fight me?" With a motion too quick to track, a foot lashed out and sprayed dirt into Taiki's face, momentarily blinding him. "Time's running out, kid."
Wiping the grime out of his eyes, Taiki made up his mind with a determined frown. Following the voice in his mind, he bit down on the thumb of his left hand enough to draw blood, then scrawled two signs in the palm of his right with the crimson trickle. He then slapped that hand down into the soil, watching with detachment as five lines of script appeared in the dirt, radiating out about twenty feet from the point of impact and then coming together to trace a faintly glowing circle. "In case you didn't know, that's a seal of containment - if you cross that line in any form, you will be destroyed."
"Even if it means destroying your own body?" Again, the hollow laugh. "Whatever makes you happy. You might want to know, though, that I've spent some time poking around in the back corners of your mind and I've come up with some interesting things." The clearing began to fill with mist, and Taiki was not sure whether it was tangible or merely in his mind. "You don't know enough about your past, it's eroded your self-confidence, and every day is a struggle to prove your worthiness to the standards set for you." The mist grew thicker, darkening into a deathly fog that petrified Taiki beyond rational thought. "Even moreso, you're afraid of your teammates. That fiery little redhead – what's her name, Kotori? - you're afraid that she'll surpass you or, even worse, annihilate you." Taiki shuddered with remembered pain and horror as the half-demon form of Kotori slammed him into the ground, teeth mere inches away from his throat. He could see the inner struggle played out on her face, prayed that the human inside would win, and felt the blood drain from his face when any last light of sentient sympathy faded out. The cat-demon's fangs dropped down - "Ah, such lovely insecurities," came the voice of the Mist jounin with a reedy chuckle. "You have enough issues to start your own magazine, ne?"
Forcing the fear out of his mind, Taiki shook his head forcibly to clear it. "You're right, I am afraid of the future. I also know that no matter what I think might happen, there's always a potential for something better!" Taking hold of this thought, he tried to hold to it and shield himself as he felt his mind melt under the wraith's insinuations. Even the hardest and most flexible of armor has its weak spots, though, and the spirit took those it found with a sadistic glee. It bombarded him once again with images of Naeko and Kotori, of Takeshi and Taiki's adoptive father Kazuki, of all his friends and family. Taiki was confused by this, as all the memories were happy might-be's. Then the visions turned dark and sour... Naeko betrayed him to the village as the soul-stealing monster that he was. Kotori simply walked away, growling disgustedly, "You are weak. I have no place for weakness in my life." Takeshi scorned him, told him that he was too much a pretty boy to be a ninja, and refused to train him or to have anything to do with him. His own adopted father, with whom he had formed such a strong bond of love, rejected him. He wasn't worth the time to make him worthy of the title of Raikage. He was just an errand boy, destined for obscurity and a common death.
Taiki's real eyes burned with tears at the betrayals and deaths he saw. Sensing his chance to strike even harder, the Mist Jounin took another blow with all his might. Dream Taiki's eyes glowed with power at each betrayal. As Naeko prepared her speech to denounce him to the village elders, he crept into her house. Sneaking past the trip wires and thread wards that had been set, the young man stood above Naeko's parents, a feral light burning in his eyes. With a swift, sudden motion, his hands blazed with light. Naeko rushed in just in time to see Taiki rip her parents' hearts out. He held them up, and they beat one last time as the screams tore from their already dead bodies. The real Taiki felt a surge of exultation in his own power, the power over life and the power over death. His power-trip and his grief only heightened as similar scenes occurred with Takeshi and Kazuki and the rest of his friends and family. Then all of that vanished, to be replaced by blood-chilling horror. It was a horror that was strange and alien in that Taiki had never felt this fear before. Concern and worry, he had felt those in abundance - but he'd never experienced fear of this depth. The final scene the Mist Jounin was showing him was of Kotori...
She stood nearby, her body slowly melting and molding itself into the semblance of a towering cat-demon, twin tails waving in the sudden wind. The horror grew as his dream body formed a series of seals that stirred something in his memories. He knew what was coming, though he couldn't have said how he knew. Taiki's own form burst asunder, and from the shards of his mortal body grew the form of the Death God. The demon yowled an infernal curse and sprang, Shinigami and Nekomata becoming entangled in a lethal struggle regardless of what they crushed in their path.
The jounin's voice interjected another time, murmuring thoughtfully, "You're afraid of yourself... you think you'll become a monster if you can't master these abilities that were given to you by blood. Even worse, you're afraid of what will happen if you're pushed over the edge. Are you willing to sacrifice yourself and everything that you love for the greater good – furthermore, will your sacrifice have a meaning? Your deepest-seated fear is that you will give up everything you've worked so hard to gain, yet fade away from memory without a trace. Funny, I empathize completely! But at least you have a choice in the matter, whereas mine was taken from me by that traitorous bitch and her zanbatou. Choose wisely!"
A raw scream of fright sliced through the fog, snapping Taiki back to awareness. Squinting, he barely made out the form of Naeko standing just inside the border of the circle, eyes wide as she tried to comprehend just what she was seeing. "Damnit, what are you doing here?" Taiki yelled at her. "Get out before you get hurt!"
"That would be a good idea," the Mist jounin hissed, turning his attention to the fear-frozen girl with venomous intent in pale eyes. "I can't harm anyone outside of this circle, but I sure as hell can hurt anyone that steps in!" He lunged for Naeko, not expecting to be tripped up by an anger-empowered Taiki.
With a grunt the older man fell to the dirt and was pinned down by a foot over his already-savaged throat. "Submit," Taiki ordered in a tone that dared his captive to do otherwise. "I may be insecure, but at least I am willing to face my problems and learn from them instead of letting them shape me. You can either refuse to assist me and thus remain dead and nameless, or let me use your power and make sure your memory is preserved. What will it be?"
"Well said," the corpse admitted, giving the genin one last smile. "I'll help you, but even I cannot ensure that your strong will can triumph over Death when that battle comes. Best of luck." With a puff of vapor that reeked of rotting flesh, the body vanished back into the soil and left Taiki with his panicked teammate. Before he could explain the circumstances, Naeko turned and ran away again, leaving only a shrill shriek in her wake.