Dragons Are Carnivores
It felt as though I had become seperated from my body. I seemed to watch the transformation on my body from above, but I felt it all the same too. I felt my body grow larger, morph in shape, grow scales, my hair flow down my spine to become a mane. I felt the bones in my leg shift to form hind legs. I felt my neck stretch out longer and longer till it was nearly the length of my body. I felt my nose and jaw jutt from my head and form a snout. I felt my entire transformation and it hurt like hell.
I was shocked when I found my body fully transformed into a dragon. I was beautiful in a fierce sort of way. My silver body had elegant composure. My eyes were a deep blue, like sapphires. My silver mane seemed like strands of silver that glistened like a waterfall flowing over my neck. The horns on my head were smooth but sharp. My dragon self was an ice-cold beauty. It sent shivers of delight down my non-existant spine.
It seemed as though Hinako felt the same, for she was gazing up in awe, frozen stiff. I felt a sudden sense of mirth in my belly, and couldn't help but laugh aloud. At the same moment, the Dragon laughed aloud, a deep, enchanting laugh. This seemed to awaken Hinako. She grabbed her scythe tightly, and began to run under the dragons belly, to try and slice it up. I sighed, as did the Dragon.
Everyone always thinks it's the dragon's underbelly that is the weakest part, but, in fact, it's the strongest, the voice in my head said to me.
"Everyone always thinks it's the dragon's underbelly that is the weakest part, but, in fact, it's the strongest," the dragon spoke in a deep voice that was very similar to the one inside my head.
Hinako soon realized this as she found that all her attacks left not even a scratch on the dragon's underbelly. The scales there were as hard as titanium. The Uchiha snarled and ran out from under the Dragon, and faced its back.
This prey is very foolish. It gives me little excitement.
"This prey is very foolish. It gives me little excitement."
Hinako sliced the ground behind the Moon Dragon and yelled "Earthquake!"
The ground beneath the dragon began to shake, and I felt a little shudder as if someone was shaking me very slightly. It tickled a little. The dragon seemed to be of the same mind, because it let out a little chortle, as did the voice in my head. But I was confused slightly.
How could Hinako make an earthquake? She only knows Ice Element justus, which is made of Water and Wind Element. She's never known rock!
Silly Hatchling. This isn't an Earth Element jutsu. She merely created some ice in the ground, which is causing it to move and shake. Don't worry, once the rock and ice find their respective places, the Earthquake will stop.
Then why did she create the Earthquake in the first place if it doesn't affect you at all.
Because, she is using it as a distraction, see?
I looked down from my spiritual place above and saw Hinako running in a circle around the dragon. She was chanting and forming hand signs. That peaked my interest. If this was a technique that needed handsigns for Hinako to use it, then it must be powerful. The Dragon seemed unconcerned, however. It merely waited for its prey to finish its silly attack. Finally Hinako stopped, shoved her scythe into the ground, and clasped her hands together.
"Ice Element; Fifth Sequence: Eternal Frost!"
The Moon Dragon snorted. As did I. The ground beneath me turned white, and I realized that it was ice. The ground had iced over, and I shivered at the sudden cold. Then, my feet felt a sudden pang of daggers. I looked down and saw that my foot itself was fine, but it was going numb, I couldn't move it anymore. I looked over towards the Dragon and noticed that its right hind leg had been frozen over. The dragon growled in frustration as it tried to move its body, but the ice was crawling up its leg. I could feel a great, painful cold crawling up my leg also. It hurt, and my leg was turning blue.
Hurry! Help me pulled leg from the ground! Only then will the jutsu stop! I need your strength! Help me! Anything that happens to me will happen to you also!
The dragon was right. It seemed to be experiencing the same pain as I felt. But how? It seems as if I'm a spirit up here.
Your will power! This is your body also! You are connected! Will your foot to move as if you were still in your body. Hurry, its going to reach your waist soon!
I nodded, and frowned in my concentration. I tried to move my leg, but it seemed as if my muscles had been frozen in place. I grabbed my leg with my hands and pulled on it. My leg didn't move, so I pulled harder. My gut felt like it was going to burst and I was already sweating.
Harder! (That sounds so dirty.)
My arm muscle flexed as I pulled on my leg.
Harder!
I clenched my teeth from the strain and reared my head back.
Harder!
I let out a yell and finally my leg moved. The ice on the dragon's leg shattered and I was suddenly sent flying through the air as my leg was released. The dragon let out a roar of triumph and launched itself at Hinako, mouth open and ready for the eating. However, its leg was still a bit cold, so it wobbled about, and Hinako dodged the jaws easily. However, her forehead was glistening with sweat. It seemed that that last jutsu took more from her than it appeared.
Alright! We've got her! Let's go! Fly!
The dragon didn't need to be told twice, it let its semi-frozen leg hang limp in the air as it flew after Hinako, gliding low over the ground. Its long neck skimmed the surface, and it held its mouth open and ready. Hinako looked back, from my distance I couldn't see her face, but I could sense her fear. She ran and then turned to the side, but the dragon followed her. She tried this a few times, but she couldn't shake the dragon off.
Suddenly, she stopped and then turned around. "Ice!"
We didn't have enough time to react. Luckily, we were in just the right position at the time to get minimal damage, however, giant blades of ice shot up from the ground. They tore through the dragon's wings, and sliced up its sides, and one of them shot straight through the left fore leg. The dragon let out a shriek of pain, as did I. Silver blood sprayed out into the air, raining on Hinako. I felt tears trickle down my face from the pain. I didn't stop yelling, and neither did the dragon. Its shrieks of pain shook the ground. It writhed on the ground like a gecko's tail that had just been caught off. In its painful squirm, it smacked Hinako with its tail, sending her flying, and scraped by the hard scales. She let out a yelp of pain, but it wasn't heard over the dragon's. When the pain had finally begun to recede we looked over to the side, to see that Hinako had disappeared. She was nowhere to be found. I groaned in pain, as did the dragon.
She fled! Damn prey! Doesn't know when its supposed to be eaten.
Don't worry. She'll return, I'm sure. Hinako doesn't like admitting defeat. You must've hit her pretty hard.
The Moon Dragon didn't answer, but let out another shriek as blood gushed out of its wounds. I felt the pain also. Suddenly, I remembered Gaara. I became frantic.
"Gaara! Gaara! I need to get to him quick! He needs me!" I squirmed which seemed to upset the dragon.
We can't go anywhere in this condition, and I'm still hungry! Wait! Hold on! There's another victim coming this way. Looks like my hunger will be satisfied after all.
Huh?
I looked over to the right, and sure enough, there was a figure approaching from the distance, and approaching fast. As it got closer, I could recall familiar features.
"Ryushin?!" I gasped through the dragon. Indeed, it was the Cloud Jounin on his way here on a massive bulldog that must've been his summon animal, cause when he arrived here, it disappeared into a cloud of smoke. He was looking at the dragon in horror and awe. "My god! It's an immense dragon! I've never seen one of this size! And its so badly injured! Who could've done such a thing?!"
He made his way toward the dragon's head, which was a bad idea. It snapped at him, and he was lucky enough to dodge its fatal teeth in time.
Meat!
No! I cried out, ignoring the pain in me. That's my friend! Don't eat him!
But I'm hungry! I don't care what you say!
No! I won't let you kill one of the only friends I have left!
The dragon let out a roar, as it struggled to keep control of the body. It must've felt the pain more than I did, because it seemed incredibly weak. I soon won control, and was hit with the full rush of pain as it knocked me senseless. I cried out through the dragon's body and I felt it morphing back to my human form.
When I finally regained control over human limbs, I weakly looked up at Ryushin. He looked surprised. "Sarafu-sama is. . .a dragon?" Then his face turned red and he quickly turned away. "And she is naked."
I realized that he was right. My body had grown too big for my clothes, so they must've been destroyed in the proccess. Maybe it would've been a good idea just to have stayed in the body of a dragon. Luckily, I was laying on my belly, so he didn't see anything too important. I grabbed a handful of my blood which I was laying in, and put my hand on the ground.
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
I summoned Konkichii who gaped at me. "Girl, you look horrible!"
Ryushin turned his head to see who the speaker was, but I yelled at him. "Hey you! Don't you dare look over here until I'm dressed, alright!? If you do, I'll rip out your eyes out!"
"Y-yes, ma'am!" he croaked in an awkward squeaky voice. It was obvious to tell he was completely embarassed.
I then turned my gaze toward Konkichii. "Can you go find me some clothes please? And bandages would be nice too. I'm bleeding everywhere."
Konkichii nodded and launched off into the sky. That left me alone with a flustered Ryushin. I was too tired to lift myself off the ground, and was still in immeasurable pain, but I somehow managed to keep my cool. I didn't like the silence that passed between us, so, through strangled gasps, I spoke.
"Ryushin, what the hell are you doing here? Didn't I specify that you stay at the village."
"Yes," he mumbled like a little boy in trouble. "But, I had a bad feeling about this. It was unusual for you to have something suddenly come up that would request for you to be out of the country. Luckily, I'm the only one that noticed that you were gone. I was worried, so I took the cave entrance out, and summoned my tracking dogs to find your scent. It took a while to get here."
I snorted, which hurt. "I bet. I got here by dragon, you got here by dog. It was lucky for you that I stopped in Konoha first, and then was stopped here by Hinako."
Ryushin was quiet for a minute, then he hesitantly spoke. "If I may ask, what exactly were you doing in Konoha? I thought you planned to never return there."
I was quiet, too, then I answered him. "I was bored. Or, more like, I was lonely. Everyone's been so busy, and I've got nothing to do. Plus, I can't go anywhere outside my office, or the Advisors would throw a hissy-fit. They're always concerned with appearances."
Although I couldn't see Ryushin's face, I could feel the sympathy eminating from him. "I'm sorry. I should've spent more time with you."
"Nah, don't beat yourself up for this. You were busy yourself, and I don't blame you. It seems like you ran the place more than me. Besides, its a good thing I came here when I did. My friend is in trouble and he needs me. I have to get to him now, or else he'll die."
Ryushin stiffened. "Friend? But I thought-" He stopped in mid-sentence.
"You thought what?"
"That I was your only friend."
I was quiet. I stared at Ryushin's back for a long time. Could he be. . .jealous? That I left him for Gaara?
Neither of us spoke for the remaining time, until Konkichii returned with a simple sleeveless shirt and capries. He also handed the bandages to Ryushin, so that when I got dressed, he could bandage me up. Luckily, there was no where embarassing that was wounded. In fact, I only had a few wounds, but they were severe. After they were bandages up, I tried to stand up, but my leg was numb. I stumbled and fell face flat on the ground.
"Sarafu!" Ryushin ran and helped me up, and he yelped in shock when he felt my leg. "Holy-You're leg! It's freezing! What happened to you?!"
I smiled weakly. "One of my old teamates froze my leg. I think it might have frost-bite."
Ryushin gave me his look of sympathy, and then with a determined look on his face, he placed his hands on my leg. "Not if I can help it!"
I looked at his hands and found a green chakra flowing through them and into my leg. I felt the warmth and smiled. I soon regained feeling in my leg, but it was still too numb to move it with complete control. Ryushin held me up on the ground so that I was sitting. "Woah there! You're not fully healed! You have to stay where you are!"
"No!" I cried out in despair and grabbed his shirt. "I can't! I have to see Gaara! I have to help him! He needs me!"
Ryushin looked distressed. "But-"
Konkichii stopped him. "Please. It will do better for her health if she finds out what condition he's in. Not knowing will only drive her insane."
He looked at Ryushin with solemn eyes, which worked their magic. Ryushin finally gave in, and he wrapped my arm around his neck to help me up. Konkichii did the same. They then helped carry me on to where I felt Gaara might be.
...to be continued.