Part 19: Shadows and Flames

I heard a high pitched shriek, "What was that?!" asked Katsou in alarm, "Makaiko is on the move, and she's definitely aiming to kill,"
"To kill?!"
"Remember S-rank, I had no idea what she did at Iwagakure, but I am aiming to kill. This is going to be one hell of a battle." I scanned the skies for a sign of her but suddenly I heard shrieks in the area where Raiden-sensei and Amaterasu had gone, "Oh no, I hope they're not-"
"They'll be fine," Katsou said calmly,
"How are we going to get to her?" I thought hard,
"I know she's in the air currently, I could fly up there but-"
"No, we need more back up and there should be a border patrol somewhere around here," I frowned,
"Well lets split up then,"
"But Keitii-"
"Look I can handle her by myself and I don't want anyone getting killed on this mission," he held my gaze and walked towards me slowly and wrapped his arms around my waist,
"Be careful Keitii-chan," I looked in to his eyes and whispered,
"I will and you be careful as well," after a few more minutes we broke apart and I walked away first. We both looked back at the same time, hoping the next time we saw each other wouldn't be in the afterlife. The fires heat was overwhelming, I could hear distant screeches and knew they were some form of creatures Makaiko controlled and that she'd kill the others if she got the chance. It almost felt like a deadly game of hide and seek. I ran around Hoshigakure's border trying to find a patrol but no-one was there, which struck me as rather odd. I kept about 40 metres away from the fire that was burning in the forest incinerating everything in its path. I was on my own from now on until the battle was over, I hoped Makaiko found me before she found the others. I found a high boulder and stood on top of it surveying the rocky border. I had the feeling of being watched and swivelled around. I looked but no-one was there, or were they? Fire may cast shadows but I couldn't see anything that could make an odd formation like the one I was looking at. I wasn't turning my back on it I threw a few shuriken at the shadow which pelted towards me as I dived out of its path. The thing that had pelted at me was a great hulking black monster. The thing, whatever it was, was making the same screeching and clicking noises Makaiko made. It would really piss her off if I hurt it, I looked in to its eyes. It went for me again but this time its claws caught my leg slightly. Blood trickled down my leg.

"You motherfucking whore! Look what you did to my bloody leg," I yelled at it, I had a feeling that it had no idea what I'd just said. I glared at the beast, then I ran at it with a kunai and it ran towards me. I caught it with the kunai and it caught my face with its claws. We rolled around on the ground each grappling for control over the other. I could smell its putrid sweat and blood thirsty breath hot on my face. It pushed me off of itself, launching me about ten foot into the air. I plummeted towards the ground and fell smack hard on to the rocky surface. I heard another screech, but then my beast called out in a high pitched shriek. But I had a feeling they were calling their master to hunt down her prey one by one. I'd heard three screeches, please let them not be dead! The beast and I stood watching each others every move for about ten minutes, "God this is a bloody nightmare, your so called master is a mutherfucking son of a bitch whore!" I screamed at it, still it did not move, but then...

I heard a random series of clicks and Makaiko swooped down to the ground beside the beast and transformed. She transformed in to what I assumed was me, although it had things so, so wrong with it and that I'd never even dream of wearing. She had put my hair it high pigtails in little cutesy ribbons that made me feel sick, a sailor outfit that could have been made for a stripper, she also had painted panda faces on my nails and she was making a peace sign at me grinning madly. She had gone off her rocker. "I don't look anything like that,"
"Insulting my observational skills are we," she sulked, she was playing with me,
"You're mad, it's official! I'm going to kill you for killing Gaara!" I hated her and no matter what she said, I knew she'd had a hand in Gaara's death. I wanted to spill her blood and soak the ground in it and cause her some of the horror and pain with in me. I wanted to wreck her horrible smirking face and destroy those features,
"And Amaterasu, Raiden, and let's not forget Katsou," she grinned maniacally. She WHAT?! She killed Amaterasu, she was so young and the Hoshikage's daughter. Raiden-sensei one of the best in our village and my teacher. Katsou, how could she kill Katsou, he had made me feel safe again, and now I was truly alone in the world. I was going to destroy her for what she'd done to my life!
"You killed them...?" I said quietly,
"Aren't you proud of me? Everyone in Hoshigakure said I'd amount to nothing... but I proved them wrong! I killed one of their best ninjas, Raiden!" she beamed at me, she'd got the manic look that S-ranks get, that murderous pleasure out of someone else's pain. She was a lowlife bitch that I was going to slaughter just like she did to my friends,
"You're a freak! How was I ever friends with someone like you?!" she shrugged her shoulders, she really was unbelievable,
"Nothing better to do?" she was wrong, I had things to do but she'd always accepted me and I her. I must have been mad at the time to think of her as my friend.

Suddenly I saw the beast begin to turn, this was my chance to drive her through with a kunai and spill her dirty demon blood.
"Don't move," she growled suddenly I felt a huge amount of energy passing through the air and I knew what was coming and leapt backwards a split second before it happened. I looked down at the smouldering crater that would've been me, I looked up as she blew the top of her finger. I was in a moment of shock then I remembered my goal wasn't to die but to kill her for killing my friends and Gaara. If I died I'd take her down with me, she wasn't going to play around with me!
"That's a new move," I said coldly,
"Yep, I've been keeping it under wraps. With Katsou's death, I have killed a grand total of one thousand humans. Whether their death has been a direct consequence of my actions or was carried out by my claws, I've taken a thousand human souls. I can convert them into my elemental attacks when I mix them with my core. Amaterasu, Raiden and Katsue are all here," she placed her hand over her chest, but I doubted very much she had a heart. "Their souls never managed to get far from their bodies before I devoured them," my jaw dropped in sheer horror and disgust, she'd taken my friends lives, wasn't that enough?! But to ruin their death and afterlife as well was just indescribably despicable! "Bitch! Whore!" I screamed at her, "How can you possibly think to do such a thing?! Do you not care?!"
"No, you're all humans. I cared once, and I've regretted it ever since." she said grimly, she really was an unloving monster but I did have one bit of filth on her,
"I'm under the impression that Deidara is very important to you!" I smirked, she wouldn't have liked that even if it didn't show on her face,
"Ah, well he is a bit special." she smiled. I was unnerved by the fact that she hadn't even tried to deny it as she had done in the past over such matters, could he have possibly changed her? Wait a moment two cold blooded mass murderers and love rarely go in the same sentence, "Do you want to fight me?" she asked,
"Eh? Of course I want to fight you!" I yelled at her, my eyes narrowed, "Why do you ask?"
"I don't particularly want to fight anymore. I want to go visit your family, although," she frowned pulling out the flowers, "The flowers are a little...dead."

They were dead alright, wilting with petals dropping and brown, I blinked at her, surely Makaiko the mass murderer wasn't caring about some flowers,
"I will defeat you for killing my friends!"
"You can't defeat me, look at the state you're in," I wasn't looking to good, I was in a great deal of pain due to my cuts and burns I'd sustained, mainly from that cut the beast had given me but I was determined,
"I can and will defeat you!" I screamed at her,
"Maybe someday, but not now. Come find me when you can beat me," I could beat her anyway, she was scared of fighting me because she didn't really know what she was up against, she clicked at the beast.
The beast joined her and walked out of the clearing, no I must kill her! "Makaiko!" I yelled angrily, "Makaiko!" she continued to walk as a wall of fire separated her and me. She seemed not to want to risk her life. See as I said all along, a coward!
"You bloody coward!" I yelled in to the blackness, "I'll hunt you down I promise!" and I never break my promises.