Darkness Falls

A/N- Hey everyone! And welcome to chapt 2 of my story...

Disclaimer- Naruto and InuYasha are not my brain children, but I do enjoy taking them for test drives every chance I get...

Whelp, this chapt is going to be a lot of explaining and dialouge, so I hope it works for you all...

'Thoughts'

Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Questions and Answers

Naruto, Kiba, Lee, and Shikamaru had all sat on the floor in front of Sai after a few minutes of silence, while the other's remained standing behind them.

Sai had decided that since they had all agreed that she would release her disguise and reveal her true features. So after closing her eyes, the crescent moon on her forehead fadded into view as her ears pointed, hearing a surprised gasp Sai opened her eyes to see that it was Kiba who seemed to see just what she really was and Sai couldn't help but smile about that.

"Y...you, your not human are you?" Kiba's voice was low and almost inaudible, but Sai heard him perfectly. Tilting her head, Sai lifted one of her clawed hands and brushed some stray hair behind her ear.

"No, I am not." Naruto perked up at her words and leaned forwards excitedly, "well...if you not human, then what are you...so you have a demon spirit inside of you as well?"

Chuckling, Sai shook her head, "I don't have a demon inside of me, you see...I am a demon. An Inu Youkai to be exact, but we are not so different Naruto. In fact, I have met your demon before. I believe his name is Kyuubi, the nine-tails. Am I correct?"

Naruto's head shot up as he straightened, his eyes were wide in shock and Sai only let her smile deepen as she gave him a knowing look, "r...really? You...you know him? But how?"

Amused by Naruto's hesitant words, Sai gave Naruto a gentle look, "he can tell you that, if you but ask him. He was such a little tyke back then, that I can't believe he grew up to be a nine-tail, you see...at the time we had met he only had one tail. But that is in the past and it is now that we should be worrying about, after all, you and I shall have plenty of time to talk latter Naruto."

Nodding his head, Naruto silently told Kyuubi that they were in for a long discussion later, Kyuubi only grunted in response before tuning in on Sai again.

Gaara had watched the whole thing with great interest and decided that he had a few questions of his own, "woman..." Sai raised an eyebrow as she turned to look at the red-head and found that he was trying to glare her into the ground again, but behind his eyes she saw curiosity and wonder.

Chuckling, Sai waved her hand, telling him to go on already.

Feeling alittle foolish, Gaara shifted slightly, "are the other females in your village like you?" His voice was low and everyone had to strain to hear him, everyone that is but Naruto and Sai.

"Yes, there are. There are also half-demons and humans, but not many know this because my kind are feared and hated. Just as you and Naruto have been. Being different scares people and they can sometimes never accept people like you and I."

Sai flashed them both a sad smile as she ran a hand through her hair, "But I believe the real question that you would like to ask is if I know your demon as well?" When a fleeting look of surprise flashed through Gaara's eyes, Sai smiled knowingly.

"Shakaku is a brat, plain and simple. He always was a spoiled little pup, the opposite of Kyuubi. Those two never got along but it soon changed. Anyway, as I said before, talks like this are better if you ask them first."

It took a moment before that sank in and Gaara was sitting silently again, Lee just glanced between them and he felt slightly left out, "Miss. Sai, these pendants that you have given us, what are they truly for?"

Pleased that someone had finally asked that question, Sai turned towards Lee, "I was waiting for one of you to ask that." Seeing surprise fill Lee's eyes, Sai just let her smile deepen, "each one of those pendants were made by one of the women in my village. When we get there, the pendants will pair you each with its maker and that woman will be your partner as long as you are there, that is the way things are done."

"One of them is my daughter and the other is my daughter in law, both are hard headed but strong and so are all the others that have been picked, so I think you boys will have your hands full when we get there. Any more questions?"

Looking about at them all, Sai was hardly surprised when Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her and decided to put his two cents in as well, "I have one. Just what is this all really about, why did you come here of all places and why are there only women living in your village?"

Snorting in annoyance, Sai gnashed her teeth as she growled at Sasuke, making the Uchiha jerk back slightly in shock and fear. "That is three not one and if you continue to show me such disrespect, then I will have no choice but to take you outside and bite your head off. But I will answer your questions."

"The truth of the matter is, we need to expand outwards and in order to do that, we must see if a village can stand having our females in their midst. That is one of the reason's I have come here, everywhere else I have gone, refuses to so much as speak to me. I cannot allow our females to be put through such pain, it is simply unacceptable."

Brushing some of her stray hair out of the way, Sai let out an aggravated sigh before she continued, "to answer your last question. The reason our village is made up of only females is because many years ago, when I was but a pup, the two main leaders of our village got into a fight. A blood feud if you will."

"Both Midoriko and Setsani wished to ally our village with a smaller neighboring one. Their choices were different though and for days they debated on which village was the better choice and why. That was when the idea of a time trial period of co-existence was first created. For the next year groups of our villagers and those of the other village lived and worked together."

Stilling her movements, Sai touched the pendant that sat about her own neck and fisted her hand about it. "But Setsani was secretly making pacts with the village of his choice, these pacts lead to the deaths of many innocents from the other village and Midoriko found out the truth too late. She could never forgive Setsani for harming innocent and good people, so she broke with him, taking all their children with her."

"She did not get far before he caught up to her. A battle ensued and Setsani would have been the victor if not for..." Sai paused and trembled lightly as she gripped the pendant even tighter, so tight in fact that you could see blood dripping down her arm.

Being the typical nice guy that he is, Naruto touched Sai's shoulder gently as he pried her hand free from the pendant. Seeing that she had dug into her own hand with her nails, Naruto was about to rip a piece of cloth when Sai looked at him. Her face was soft and gentle as she touched his cheek softly, "thank you Naruto."

Shifting more, Sai tilted her head to the left slightly and brushed her hair out of the way, revealing bite mark scars upon her neck. "The same person that saved Midoriko gave me this mark. He was my husband, my mate, InuTashio. With his help Midoriko was able to place a barrier of sorts about the village, one that prevented Setsani from ever entering the village again."

Straightening her neck and covering the mark, Sai let out a low sigh, "it worked for many years, until Setsani found a way to make Midoriko pay for banishing him. He had gotten a hold of one of the boys of the village when he was but an infant and he raised him for one purpose, and one purpose only. The death of Midoriko."

"The years passed quickly and my daughter was born, followed soon after by her half sister, but right after her birth it happened. The boy was now a man, a man by the name of Onigumo. He quickly made his way up the ranks, getting closer and closer to Midoriko. He even married one of Midoriko's daughter's, Kikyou was her name."

"When the time to renew the barrier about the village came, Onigumo took that moment to strike and as Midoriko was recasting the spell, he took her life. Because the spell was never completed, a new barrier was created. One that will kill any male in the village after one year's time. It took us years to figure that out, but by the time we did, it was already too late."

Neji took this moment to step into the conversation with a question of his own, "isn't there a way to take down this barrier?" Looking up at where Neji stood, Sai flashed him a rueful smile, "I wish there was, but we have been unable to find someone strong enough to take it down. But we have grown to live with it over the years."

Naruto frowned at Sai's words and gave her a concerned look as he placed his hand upon her shoulder once again, "it's alright Sai, we'll find someone who can. I promise you we will." Sai nodded her head in acceptance but didn't say anything, she knew Naruto was trying to cheer her up and frankly, it worked.

"What kinds of demon's are there in your village...I mean, are they all dog demons like you are?" Lee's curious voice brought a true smile to Sai's lips as she gave a slow shake of her head.

"No, there are many type's demons in my village. Ryu demons, Kitsune, Tenuki, Neko, Ookami, Snake, Nezumi, Bat, Moth. There are also elemental demons as well, but they are the rarest in our village. Fire, Ice, Wind, Plant, Water, Earth, Shadow, but there is only one of our women that has any miko powers like those of Midoriko, but she needs a mate before her full potential will be unlocked...but even then. We have no idea if she will be strong enough to bring down the barrier or not."

Kiba took that moment to jump into the conversation, "wait a sec. Are you telling me that the women that we've been paired up to are demons as well? Is that what you're telling me because, frankly lady, I'm finding this hard enough to believe as it is. How do we know any of what you are telling us is true? I want proof!"

Raising an eyebrow at Kiba's angered and slightly suspicious voice, Sai gave a nod of her head in understanding. "Very well then. Will you all please step back, I need all the space I can have to do this."

It took but a few moments before all of them were standing near the wall, even Tsunade had joined them, there was a surprised look on her face. It was apparent that Sai had never done anything like this with her.

Once everyone was far enough away, Sai removed her cloak completely and wasn't surprised when loud gasps were heard from across the room.

Her clothes were all white and unlike normal looking clothing for these times, Sai's were far ahead of the times. She wore a sleeveless tank top shirt while her legs were covered by a cloth that looked a lot like a towel, but it was wrapped several times about her bottom half, leaving only the long length of her legs uncovered.

All in all, she was pretty much wearing a skirt and tank top.

But as her audience looked her over they were surprised to find that there was more to Sai's appearance.

On her wrists, upper arms, hips, and feet, were stripes of dark purple. They gave her an allure that had Naruto gaping, Gaara's eyes widening, and Lee's face turning red. But the thing that stood out the most was the long and fluffy tail that was drifting about in the air behind her.

Smirking at her audience's reactions, Sai decided it was time and leant forwards slightly, letting the change take place. Her body was bathed in a bright light as her form disappeared before their very eyes into a large glowing ball.

The ball hovered in place for a few moments before it touched the ground and shattered in a spray of light. As the light died down, it revealed Sai once again, but this time she had taken her true form.

Her long and sleek form was shrunken down to where she was about the size of a large horse, one that was as tall as a man. She looked like a much furrier version of a white wolf and as she lifted her head, her piercing eyes were glowing brightly but they had a feral look to them, one that clearly stated that she was as wild as they came.

With a swish of her tail, Sai walked forwards until she was nose to muzzle with Kiba. The guys eyes were as wide as a saucer as looked into her blood red eyes, "is this enough proof for you, or would you like me to go play fetch, hmmm?"

As Kiba began to tremble in fear, Sai chuckled lightly as she pulled back from him and turned towards Naruto and Gaara instead.

Both had a look of utter awe in their eyes as they gazed upon her true form. Closing her eyes, Sai let the change take place once more and as she returned to her human form, she could smell the confusion and fear lingering in the air.

Opening her eyes, Sai regarded everyone in front of her with a measuring look. "I suppose you're all wondering why I transformed back like I have. It is because we do not have much time left and we must be leaving soon. By tomorrow morning if we can..."

Walking over to where she had dropped her cloak, Sai lifted it and pulled it back on with hardly a sound. Lifting the hood, Sai turned towards where everyone stood and flashed them all a smile before making her way to the door, "I will be waiting for you all at the village gate..."

And with those words, she disappeared out the door, leaving behind an unanswered question...

'Why is she in such a hurry?'

A/N- And there it is...

I am working on the next chapt but it's taking a while before it'll be finished...so please just bare with me...

Anyway, this is the dictonary for the jap words I used in this chapt...

Ryu- Dragon

Youkai- Demon

Nezumi- Rat

Kitsune- Fox

Tenuki- Racoon Dog

Neko- Cat

Ookami- Wolf

Whelp, that's it for now, until next time...

Ja Ne!