Sasori reacted immediately. With movements fast enough to be blurred, he pulled out a scroll and suddenly there was a black, hulking puppet floating in front of them and a wall of black separating them from the Shichibi. It happened so fast that they couldn't even count how many tails it had.

He forcefully pulled the two boys over to him with chakra strings. "Run," he hissed, pushing them and Hitomi down the path they'd just come. "Run as fast as you can and don't turn around or try to hide. Just run. And--Seishirou, close your eyes. Keep them closed no matter what you do. Stay together. Use any cloaking jutsus you can. Now get the hell away from here!"

"But--" Hitomi started. She only got that out before the black wall in front of them disintegrated as the badger-like Bijuu burst through it. She was shoved backwards down the path, with Seishirou pulling her by the hand. He had no idea why he was ordered to close his eyes, but he wasn't going to stay around to argue the point. He did, however, keep them open a sliver to see.

"How delightful, a chase!" the Bijuu howled, laughing. It dove cleanly over Sasori and melted back into the stone around them. The kids halted, looking around wildly. They didn't have to look long. The demon reappeared in front of them, seven tails bristling behind it. It was the Shichibi. "Come on, kids. Let's play tag."

Contrary to Sasori's orders, they obeyed shinobi training and scattered. Seishirou kept his hand clamped onto Hitomi's, however. He wasn't about to let his little sister get killed now. Ryo bolted in the opposite direction. The Shichibi looked between the two disappearing ones, still grinning broadly. After a moment's hesitation, it disappeared back into the ground again.

There had been a ravine near the path about a kilometer back. Seishirou figured they could hide in there, if need be. At least it'd be easier to fight if they had to. After a few agonizing moments of wondering where the Bijuu would pop up and trying to keep Hitomi from falling behind, he scooped up his sister. There--there was the ravine. Without a second thought, he dove into it, skidding to a halt sideways, keeping himself glued to the rock wall with chakra. Boy, he was thankful that their previous sensei had made them learn to walk on all sorts of surfaces. Seishirou kept his mouth open to silence his breathing, holding Hitomi tightly against his chest.

There was no sound other than the beating of their hearts.

-.-.-

Ryo zigzagged. It wasn't something he had learned in the academy, or was even ever told he should do. He'd actually picked it up from a pet rabbit he once had. Whenever a dog would frighten it, it would run in a zigzag to stop anything from following it easily. Hopefully the same principles would apply here.

Seishirou and his sister had taken off in the other direction. Sasori, he had no idea. But he found out, after just a few seconds, that the Shichibi had chosen to come after him.

He narrowly avoided getting rammed by the demon. It could travel through the rocks around them like water, he noted. It was perfect territory for it, and Ryo was nothing short of a sitting duck, then. He ducked under the Bijuu, rolling back to his feet. The Shichibi perched on a high rock to his right, tails waving behind it. "You were the fastest of the three," it told him.

Ryo knew it was a lie. Seishirou could usually outstrip him in any race, but he had had Hitomi with him… The black-haired genin tried to stare the demon down. Maybe if it figured out he wasn't afraid--though his racing heart proved otherwise--it would lose interest in him and return to fighting Sasori. Sasori could take it. He couldn't.

"You're a delightful little boy, you know that? A lot of spunk." It grinned, running its tongue along its sharp teeth. "Shinobi are so interesting…"

Sasori caught up with them. A wave of black something rushed over the rock it was perched on, flooding the area and encompassing the Bijuu. The black mass didn't move. Was it suffocating it, or crushing it? The redhead and his puppet came up behind Ryo, the latter moving haltingly to control the stuff. "Get out of here," he said shortly, muddy eyes on the black-covered Bijuu.

Ryo didn't need a second telling. But just as he was scrambling up to escape, the black stuff promptly fell down into a heap. The Shichibi was gone. Vanished back into the stone. He let out a yelp as he felt something grab his feet, and was suddenly thrown high into the air. Something hard and sharp caught him, digging into his back. Suddenly, the black stuff was coming towards him--and he figured out that the Bijuu had caught him in its mouth. He sucked in a lungful of air just as the blackness (sand, he figured out by the texture) covered him. It seeped in past him into the Bijuu's open mouth in a steady stream, and this time he knew that it was working to suffocate the chakra beast.

Ryo was promptly spat out with a large amount of sand. He was too dazed to get back up for a moment, so he just concentrated on breathing again. Then logic took over. Sasori had already gone out of his way to warn him twice; there was no way he was altruistic enough to do it again. He knew that an Akatsuki member would not stop a fight just to protect a kid. Ryo got up on his hands and knees, coughing up sand as he tried to get to his feet.

He looked up to see another puppet already out on the small battlefield. This one was possibly the oddest yet. If the white hair wasn't enough, it had a mask, a jounin uniform, and it was holding a ball of electricity in its hands. The puppet slammed said electricity down into the ground. Ryo groaned; that wouldn't do anything. Earth-based jutsus were weak against electricity-based ones, yes, but just hitting the rock itself wouldn't accomplish anything--and then he noticed that the puppet hadn't been aiming for the ground. It had hit the black sand.

Just as he realized that, the sudden jolt of electricity caught up. He was far enough away that it only gave him a jumpstart, thankfully. It was something he needed badly just then.

He leapt to his feet, brushing the rest of the sand off of himself in case the masked puppet decided to do that again. Oh, if only there was a source of water nearby, then he could at least use some water jutsus to protect himself, maybe help Sasori…

Ryo shook his head. No, I'm not 'helping' him. Look where that got me last time, he reprimanded himself, and took off running again. Zigzagging.

-.-.-

Two days prior, the Kyuubi changed their strategy. He chose a more aggressive one. Kaku had no problem with this. He would still get his immortal, he was assured (since they had finally decided on which of them got their current captives), and he got one last hurrah as a demon in his part. Those without bodies yet were sent out to search for theirs; those with them were sent out to kill.

There were rumors of rebuilding shinobi villages. Shukaku had been sent to the south, to try to root out a possible rebuilt Sunagakure. Nekomata was sent to the north. Kumogakure seemed like the next likeliest to recreate their village. If the Bijuu could destroy all of shinobi-kind, things would be much easier for them. The last ninja bodies, with a virtually unlimited source of chakra? They could easily rule the rest of the human population. The entire world.

Kaku himself got the easy job. He was to guard their base and three occupants. The rest of his brothers and sister dispersed back into the world on their missions. He knew Raijuu was sent to capture the last Uchiha, the one Youko wanted. Hachimata was sent after his body, the other immortal. Isonade was sent to the eastern coast, to try to root out that elusive kunoichi that had been annoying them thus far, and Sokou was to rake the northern parts for similar potential bodies. The Shichibi had no idea where Youko himself was headed.

The Kyuubi had said, in an undertone just before he left, that he figured Sasori--Shukaku's body's Akatsuki partner--would try to attack their base to rescue the blonde human. The badger demon nodded gravely. Youko told him in no uncertain terms that he was to kill Sasori if he found him. He had gotten away several times before from Bijuu attacks, but that was to stop. If he wasn't useful for sealing purposes, then he needed to be eliminated. They couldn't waste their time trying to protect their bodies.

So Kaku was elated when he finally caught sight of the cloud-emblazoned uniform. The three children traveling with him perplexed him a bit, but he didn't see why they mattered. They would die with Sasori and he wouldn't have to bother Youko with such trivial details such as that.

The best part was that Sasori hadn't noticed him initially. So the Shichibi had had time to go back to the base and gloat before his attack. "Oh, so I just saw this pretty little redhead--"

"Don't!" The future Jinchuuriki was already scrambling at the bars of his cell. He wasn't sure what he was trying to accomplish, short of pulling on his fur. Kaku smirked, and leaned down to share his joy. "Don't you dare touch him you filthy artless beast--"

"I'll bring you the corpse, how's that? I wouldn't want to be sealed in your body when you're sad, after all. I'm not completely cold-hearted, and Shukaku and I are friends."

"No, you're just heartless!" Nekomata's body shouted, joining the blonde one by the bars of their cell.

"Sasori-danna will slaughter you and I hope he does, yeah," the other added savagely, glowering up at Kaku. The badger barked with laughter.

"I like that glare on you! It's simply delightful. Keep that expression for me, will you? It's very…artistic." Then he left.

He decided to go after the children first. After all, he knew that humans were amazingly attached to one each other, and especially to their young. Might as well get Sasori mad and twice as likely to make a mistake as he disposed of the little ones.

Youko had been right about Sasori's coming. In fact, they had counted on his loyalty. But even the Kyuubi was sorely lacking with a bit of his information. None of the Bijuu had any idea that there had been someone else tracking them. Someone else nearly to Akatsuki level and twice as pissed.

-.-.-

The Shichibi looked up as it sensed something coming towards it. Sasori looked on in shock as someone dropped out of the air, kicking downward with enough force to send the demon's head into the ground. Rock and dust showered them. Their sudden ally leapt away from the snarling Bijuu, landing lightly beside Sasori. His ponytail swung behind him as he turned to offer the redhead a rue grin. "Can't you take care of yourself?"

"And here I was worried you wouldn't catch up in time and miss all this fun," he replied dryly, waving his hand dismissively.

"Where's Hitomi? And Sei?" Neji asked. He was too serious to kid around, but then again, that was just him.

"…" Sasori shrugged. He saw them scamper off, and all he knew was that the Shichibi hadn't gone after them. "Hiding, I assume."

Before them, the demon suddenly melted into the stone once more. Sasori had the Sandaime draw all of its iron sand back up towards it, preparing for an attack anywhere. The Copy-nin puppet readied another Chidori. The Suna-nin doubted he had ever been as thankful as now that Kakashi had bothered to create the electrical jutsu.

The Shichibi knew that it was outnumbered and possibly even out skilled at this point. It wasn't particularly large, especially compared to the Hachibi or Kyuubi, and it was possible it felt as if it couldn't win against them. Would it flee? It definitely wasn't reappearing from the rock anytime soon. If it fled back to its base of operations, maybe they could find a way to track it, or go back to the Nibi's trail, and storm the place and rescue Deidara and the other two…

Then, as a shrill scream rent the evening air, the two realized that the Shichibi had no intention of fleeing.

-.-.-

"Ryo! Hitomi!"

His sister had been knocked out of his arms as the Shichibi suddenly appeared again, throwing Ryo down onto the two hiding children. As Seishirou was just about to jump down and try to help them, the demon scooped him up in a blunt paw, hoisting him back up into the air above the ravine. "My, what stupid humans you young ones are," it remarked.

All the way down the canyon, Hitomi screamed. The sound echoed all around them until it faded out of hearing range. How deep was the ravine? Or had they--had they hit the bottom? Seishirou tried jumping out of the Bijuu's paw, but it just caught him again with the other, playing with him like some sort of toy. "Let me go--!"

"You know, at least the redhead has the courtesy of matching his hair with the red on his uniform. You--no, you're just an ugly human. Grey clothing with orange hair? You'd stand out in a crowd, little ninja. Or are you trying to copy the great Pein?"

Seishirou froze, and looked up at the Shichibi in confusion. Copying Pein…? The leader of the Akatsuki? Why would he do that? How would he? This was his normal outfit, and his hair had never been dyed…

Suddenly, the Shichibi was thrown into the far wall of the canyon, the genin knocked out of its paws. He caught himself on the rock just below the demon, attaching himself to the surface with chakra. Seishirou looked up as the beast fell downward towards him. "Oh my god--" Then he was promptly picked up and thrown bodily out of the way. He tumbled to safety on the other side of the canyon.

The Bijuu disappeared upon contact with the rock, and reappeared a moment later behind Seishirou. "Looks like you have quite the friends," it crooned, leaning down to growl in the boy's ear. It placed a paw on each side of him, its breath hot on his neck. He couldn't move without upsetting the beast; what now? Seishirou just remained frozen, trying not to panic. Panicking led to mistakes, after all.

"Stay away from him." Seishirou's head snapped around, nearly hitting the Shichibi's jaw. He knew that voice, but was it really him?! He then alighted on just the man he wanted to see. The brunette picked his way delicately over the rocks, white eyes blazing.

"Da--" One look from his father was all he needed. He shut his mouth immediately when Neji sent him a hard glare. It was hard to misinterpret. Seishirou immediately ducked, just as he felt a rush of chakra-spiked wind blast overhead. The Shichibi was suddenly gone, and he took off running. Time to get out of there--and find Ryo and Hitomi.

"Where do you think you're going?!" the great beast snarled, cracking one of its several tails like a whip. The ground near Seishirou began to collapse under him--the only thing that saved him from falling away with the rest of it was Neji's shinobi reflexes.

"Hakke Kuushou!" Neji, with a thrust of his palm, shot a high-powered wave of chakra his way, knocking him several feet away. Seishirou hurt all over, but this was much better than the alternative. He scrambled to his feet before he even stopped tumbling, making a mad dash towards the canyon before the demon could do anything worse. He ducked under Sasori as he saw the redheaded blur coming, grateful that the Akatsuki member would be covering his exit, even if it was unintentional.

Seishirou left the battle behind as he descended the canyon. Granted, he stuck himself to the side of the rock and ran down, as opposed to how Ryo and Hitomi went down… It was deep. He couldn't even see the bottom. How could they have survived that…?

-.-.-

Ryo and Hitomi, contrary to Seishirou's anxiety, survived. Ryo wasn't the genius of his team for nothing, after all. He had managed to twist in midair and get to the side of the canyon, catching himself with some chakra in his feet. He then grabbed Hitomi's hand as she passed him and halted her fall, nearly pulling his arm out of its socket in the process. The sudden weight gain made him fall again, but they were near enough to the bottom that at least it didn't kill them when they hit it.

Though he was fairly certain his arm was broken. That wasn't good.

"Nngh… Are you alright?" She had better be. After all, she was the one who landed on him.

Hitomi got up off of him, red-faced and teary-eyed. She just nodded. Ryo tried getting to his feet, and in that way, figured out he sprained his ankle or something like that; he couldn't stand. She hastily got up to her feet with a wince, helping to support him. "…Thank you…" she said faintly, looking down at her sandals.

"Ehh, no problem." Ryo blushed a little, pursing his lips. It was more instincts than anything, but he didn't want her getting the wrong idea… "So now we just have to get back up."

Both kids stared up at the sky above them, which was a small strip of light. Barely any of said light reached them. It would be a long way to climb, especially if he couldn't walk. Hitomi leaned forward and looked around him, then back down the other way. "We could see where the bottom of the canyon leads… If it was carved by a river, chances are that it will open up somewhere downstream to where we can get out more easily."

"Good idea," he said, looking back and forth. "…But which way would be downstream?" He felt Hitomi shrug underneath his arm. Ryo narrowed his eyes, studying the rocks around them. There could be a hint somewhere around here… But there was nothing but horizontal layers in the stone. No indication of which way a river might have flowed. And it was relatively flat; no telling which way was downhill.

Ryo just picked a random direction. Left. And then started walking, trying very hard not to put that much weight on Hitomi. She soldiered well; she didn't complain or even stop to fix her hair when some of it fell into her eyes.

Above them, they heard several roars, each getting progressively angrier. Occasionally, rocks and other debris would fall down into the canyon behind them; they were left alone, and were relatively safe. For the moment. This they knew.

They limped and stumbled along. Then, all of a sudden, there was a clatter of rocks behind them, and they turned around in time to see Seishirou land neatly on his feet, bending his knees to absorb part of the impact. Ryo looked up at the strip of sky above them; Seishirou hadn't fallen, like they had. So he had come down here…to find them? "Oh god, you two are alive!" He rushed forward and wrapped his arms around both of them, momentarily lifting them until they all fell back onto their feet.

"Ryo saved me. He has a broken foot," Hitomi said in an overly loud whisper.

Ryo scowled. "Sprained ankle, more like it. I only broke my arm." He flopped his arm uselessly by his side as a demonstration. Seishirou's brow furrowed, but he didn't say anything. "How goes the battle above?"

"Sasori-sensei and dad are fighting the Shichibi. Winning, I think…"

-.-.-

'Winning' was not how Neji would describe his situation. 'Pissing the demon off until it went ballistic and killed them' is how he would have described it, if given the chance. He couldn't do much against the demon--his fighting style relied on pushing his own charka into others' bodies. He had no idea what that would do to a chakra beast, but he had a feeling that the results wouldn't be pretty. Or favorable.

So here he was, hands buried in the thick fur of the Shichibi, chakra burns covering his arms up to his elbows. Neji was, of course, hanging on for dear life. After an ill-timed kick, he had somehow ended up straddling the Bijuu, much to its annoyance. It was almost like riding a horse, granted a horse the size of a small house and one that hadn't been broken in yet. He didn't dare let go; the Shichibi would skin him alive with its claws if it caught him.

His weight did do a good thing, however. His knees were digging into the beast's shoulders, which hampered its movement, however slightly, and his weight was also slowing it down and making turning rather awkward. Not to mention the fact that he was pulling on the fur around its neck as hard as he could. Neji had effectively turned the seven-tailed Bijuu into nothing more than a clumsy, oversized target for Sasori.

Then again, while Sasori was skilled at many things, fighting raw chakra in animal form was one thing he wasn't so good at. He fought with weapons and poisons. Neither of them even knew if the Bijuu was susceptible to poisons. Neji had to give him credit for trying. He had successfully used his Sandaime puppet to trap the Shichibi's hind legs in its iron sand, and was working on tying down its front paws as well.

The demon reared back, flailing, bucking, anything to try to get Neji off and keep Sasori's sand away. It surely had to know that even a great Bijuu couldn't survive for long if it was completely immobilized. With its tails--those that were free--it was flinging rocks and boulders in random directions, while trying to get at an angle where they could pry Neji off of its back. Thankfully, it seemed as if even a Bijuu's spine couldn't bend that far, so he was safe. Relatively.

"Hurry the hell up, Sasori!" Neji shouted, losing his patience. It wasn't as if he could get down, but he would rather get off sooner than later.

"I don't see you trying this!" the redhead shouted back.

"I don't see you trying this, either!"

"Get off of me!" the Bijuu bellowed, raking its claws against the rock, trying to get purchase to kick its way free of the sand.

Finally, the Shichibi got lucky. One of its tails managed to clip Neji's shoulder, enough to knock him off balance and shatter his scapula. Grunting and ignoring the pain for now, the Hyuuga's last genius knew he had to act. Fast. One more jerky movement, and he'd be thrown off, and then it would undoubtedly go to hell soon afterward. Neji tried to get himself back up onto its back, but couldn't manage it.

Instead he just let himself hang on the Bijuu's shoulder for a brief moment, gathering chakra into his hands. Where his chakra met the demon's, the air hissed. He probably should have figured out that this would not end well at that point, but Neji went through with it anyway.

He had been originally planning on trying to sever the Shichibi's spinal cord. Even messing with its spine would do some damage, he reasoned. It didn't work out that way, but looking back, perhaps that was for the best.

Neji pushed all of the chakra he could gather in that small amount of time downward, into his hands, and out. He placed them right between the Shichibi's shoulder blades, directly above the spine. And then he forced his chakra down into the demon's.

The resulting mixture of the two chakras, human and demon, for lack of a better word, exploded. Neji flew backwards away from the blast, tumbling over and over in the air, until he went sailing over the side of the canyon. He barely caught himself on the ledge, hauling himself back up with his good arm. He could feel the burns on his skin blistering, and he wouldn't be surprised if he heard every vital organ was internally bleeding at that point. He hurt.

It almost (almost) paid off when he saw what it had done to the Shichibi.

The beast was lying on its side, dark fur no longer bristling with chakra. Blood was already pooling all around it, steaming in the cool mountain air. All seven of its tails lay limply on the ground, splayed out at random angles, several of them probably broken. Along its back, its spine especially, the fur had been charred or completely burned away.

Sasori stood on the opposite side of it, looking as surprised as Neji had ever seen him.

Neji pulled himself away from the edge, spitting out a mouthful of blood. When he just coughed up more, however, he knew he had definitely hurt himself. At least the Shichibi was taken care of--

The demon shakily rolled over, and then pushed itself up onto its legs. Blood was oozing from its more severe burns, even if it was a much darker red than what the shinobi were accustomed to seeing. The nearly black liquid also dripped from between the Shichibi's open mouth, staining its white teeth scarlet. With lidded eyes, it turned its head either way, ears rotating, trying to find either Neji or Sasori. Neji knew from experience it was probably deaf right now; his ears were definitely ringing from the explosion. It looked dazed. They could use this to their advantage.

Its dark eyes finally alighted on Neji, pupils dilated. Its mind was racing, that much he could tell. It was thinking of some way out of this. Even impaired, it was a Bijuu, and it was trying to think its way out of this situation. Neji didn't know what had happened, really, and if its chakra was shorted out like it appeared, but either way, it was in trouble. It knew that, but at the same time, it wasn't completely defenseless; it was still larger than both of them combined, and it had teeth and claws sharp enough to disembowel him with a single swipe. He didn't know if it still retained any of its rock-based techniques.

Neji wasn't much better off; he wasn't even standing, for god's sake! He had a broken shoulder and maybe a rib, and something inside him was bleeding. He was deaf, too, but on that they were on equal footing. Not to mention all of the burns now covering his body…

The Shichibi laid its ears back, legs quivering. Then, it melted into the ground below, albeit much more slowly than it had before.

"Is it running?" Neji shouted, barely hearing his own voice. "Did the Shichibi just…run from us?"

Sasori said something in reply, but he couldn't make it out. Neji grunted, and pushed himself up onto his feet, leaning against a nearby rock for support. He beckoned Sasori over, and then made him repeat what he'd said. "It's possible. Likely, even. But now that we've finally found a rather effective weapon against the Bijuu, it's just going to escape and tell the others about it…"

"Unless we can track it down and kill it. Then we'll keep the surprise of this weapon, and one less demon to contend with," the brunette said thickly. His hearing was gradually getting better, and the ringing was starting to fade away. Which meant that the Shichibi would be able to hear soon, too…

"I think I might know where it's retreating to…" Sasori set his chin in his hand, averting his eyes. "There was an old Akatsuki base near here…"

Neji opened his mouth to reply, when a roar cut him off. It was muffled by distance and his hearing impairment, but it echoed up from the canyon to their left. Then, barely audible, a scream followed it.

The Shichibi hadn't been retreating; it had been looking for the weapon to use against them, and it had found it.

-.-.-

Hitomi screamed, stumbling back as the Shichibi appeared in front of them. Without waiting for further prompting, the bleeding beast raised a massive paw and batted Seishirou aside. He hit the canyon wall with a sickening crack, and didn't get up again. The demon then turned on her and Ryo.

Blood was dripping out between its teeth and down its back, and its fur wasn't nearly as shiny as it had been before. The smell of charred fur and flesh reached her nose, and she almost gagged. This beast, no matter how injured, was still terrifying, and she didn't have time for such petty weaknesses. The little girl straightened slightly, pulling Ryo closer to her.

"Shit…" he breathed, pulling his arm off of her shoulders and forming signs. Nothing happened. "Shit! There's not enough water in the rocks to use!!"

The Shichibi sunk into a crouch, stalking closer to them. The pair backed up--right into the other canyon wall. Behind the demon, Seishirou stirred weakly. Hitomi bit her lip, trying to stop from screaming again. It would do no good, she knew. A good kunoichi would be silent now, thinking, instead of panicking, but she just couldn't help it…

"Hitomi, let go of me," Ryo said suddenly, through gritted teeth. She turned to him, white eyes large. "Let me go! Run!"

"No--"

"Run!" He gave her a shove, wobbling for a moment on his sprained ankle. Ryo glared at her until she took a step away from him, but even with that valiant act, it was still too late.

The Shichibi reached them, and picked Hitomi up with a curled paw. She had no more time than to gasp, before Ryo was scooped up as well. The demon regarded them for a few moments, ears pinned back on its skull. The two children stared, petrified, back.

Then, the Shichibi tossed them in the air, and caught them between its massive jaws. Hitomi felt the teeth pierce her skin, the force of it crushing the air out of her lungs that would have otherwise been expended in a scream. She heard a crack from beside her--from Ryo. He groaned, eyes shut in pain.

The demon shook its head, whipping them both around and tearing them in its teeth. Hitomi felt tears blur her eyes; they were going to die. Just like this, dead from blood loss and broken bones and terror and maybe suffocation. Possibly whiplash. It continued to shake them like rag dolls, until finally it let them go. Or rather, barely let them go. As it whipped its head around, it opened its mouth just enough to allow them to be flung out, the teeth tearing clothing and flesh as they were thrown out.

Hitomi hit the rock wall, dazed, but somehow still alive; she thought she'd be dead. She must have died. There was no way they could survive this, after all. She didn't need to be a ninja to know that. The Bijuu were things to be feared, things that killed large numbers. She and Ryo and Seishirou would just add to that number.

The Shichibi walked languidly over to them, blood still dripping from its teeth, only now it wasn't just its own. The badger grinned at them, cocking its head to the side. It batted Hitomi to the side with its blunt paw, and then set it on Ryo's chest. It pressed down. Hard. Ryo grunted. Dissatisfied with the dull reaction, the Shichibi huffed. "So pathetic…" it murmured, and then, almost gently, picked him up between its forepaws. It took his arm in its mouth, picking him up by it, in order to rearrange him better.

Or so Hitomi had naively thought.

With a wet tearing sound, the Bijuu ripped Ryo's arm right off. He screamed in pain, suddenly alive again and writhing, trying to get away. The Shichibi delicately spat out the limb, and then grinned again, looking down its muzzle at the genin.

Hitomi watched, eyes wide. She couldn't do anything but watch. She was hurt, she hurt all over, this was pain she hadn't ever experienced before, and she didn't know how to get past it. She didn't want to. She was paralyzed with fear, with trauma, with distress. The Shichibi again took Ryo in its jaws, shaking him ferociously. Blood splattered all over the narrow canyon floor. Hitomi felt something wet on her cheek; she didn't know if it was tears, or blood, and whose blood would have been a mystery.

Finally, the Shichibi gave up on Ryo, spitting him--or what was left of him--out near the canyon wall. The badger demon gave Hitomi a disdainful look, sniffing at the blood covering her. Then it walked over to Seishirou, two of its tails waving (the other five seemed broken). Hitomi tried to scream, but her throat had closed in on itself. Bloody tears dripped down onto her arm, which she was half-laying on where the Shichibi had thrown her.

Then Ryo groaned, and shifted slightly.

Hitomi had learned many things in her academy days, no matter how short those had been. She had learned to tell when an enemy shinobi was bluffing, and when they had a weapon tucked into their sleeve. She learned about different psychological syndromes that commonly plagued ninja. She had learned why some ninja behaved a certain way, and why they might behave another way the next day. She had learned about injuries of various kinds.

Even as an academy student, Hitomi knew what a mortal wound was. What Ryo had didn't even come close. It passed that mark a kilometer back.

Hitomi had also learned what a coup de grâce was. It was an open secret in the shinobi world. Almost no one would ever admit to performing such a thing, but it happened almost regularly. The children in the academy had been taught that such acts of mercy were looked down upon as a rule, but that shouldn't discourage them; their teacher had afterward lightened the mood with a wink and encouragement to buck a few of the rules.

That was nothing like what she was looking at now. Ryo's head lolled to one side, his remaining arm laying out perpendicular to his body. Something white and gleaming was sticking out of his elbow. One leg was laying out at an awkward angle; the other leg was straight down, but through the torn fabric of his pants, she saw that from the knee-down, it was hardly attached to his body. His black hair hung in his lidded eyes, and his normally light shirt was now dark with blood and dirt.

Suddenly, Ryo's hitai-ate, which was tied around her neck, felt very, very heavy. Hitomi rolled over, pain all but forgotten. She felt numbed. She couldn't look at Ryo, but when he coughed, she had to turn back to him. Her vision swam in tears. The young girl pushed herself onto her hands and knees, and then took a step towards him. His navy eyes flicked up into her direction, until he shut them a moment later. "Hi…to-mi," he whispered.

She nodded, unable to do anything other than that. She pushed herself up, until she was kneeling, and then somehow got to her feet. If the circumstances were any different, she would have been amazed at herself to do such a thing right then. But the pain was gone, and her body just followed her mental orders like a kicked dog.

Coups de grâce were looked down upon by normal ninja society.

Hitomi tottered over, not looking up when her father and her new teacher reached the canyon and raced over to save Seishirou. She was focused on Ryo; he was all that she saw. She couldn't bear to see anything else. If she had one thing, she could cling to that, and everything else could be safe in her memories, because she wouldn't look at them to see what had become of them. One thing. One thing was all she'd focus on. Ryo.

A coup de grâce was an act of mercy, a release for the suffering. As ninja, they saw suffering every day. They were told to deaden their sympathy for the world; the mission came first.

Ryo's kunai pouch had been flung off during the Shichibi's shaking. Hitomi stared at it in front of her feet, unable to comprehend the weapons inside.

A coup de grâce was an act of mercy. Only angels had mercy in this world. Mercy angels could save the suffering.

Hitomi found herself holding one of the knives in her hand. It was much too large for her tiny hand, and all at once, she realized that she was just a nine-year-old girl, not a kunoichi, not a genin, not anything. So she was a mercy angel.

She was standing over Ryo, watching his chest rise and fall laboriously. His black hair, which normally only hung over one eye, now shielded half of his face from her. His hitai-ate around her neck seemed to be choking her. Hitomi stared down at him, white eyes wide to stop the tears from falling any more than they had to.

Then, she turned as she saw movement in her peripheral vision. The kunai was hit out of her hands as she was suddenly pulled awkwardly against the Shichibi's chest, its paw pressing firmly against her chest. Its breath was hot against her exposed skin. "Back off now, or I will crush this little one like the twig it is," the demon growled, lips curling upwards. For the first time, really, Hitomi noticed her father and Sasori, the former standing protectively between the Bijuu and Seishirou.

Sasori had a grin on his face to match the Shichibi. In several places, his skin was as red as his hair. "You think a hostage is going to save you?!" he shouted hoarsely, then laughed. Hitomi realized dully that Sasori had no more value on her life than anyone else's; she was nothing special to him; she was only there as a vague protection against her father.

A coup de grâce would also be fitting here, she realized with some sardonic amusement.

She didn't know what happened next. It was so confusing, and she could barely track either Sasori or her father's movements. They were both so fast compared to the quickness she usually considered 'fast'. Something caused the demon to drop her, and she fell to the ground gracelessly. There was a terrible roar--of pain or fury, she could not tell. Then the Shichibi swept her aside, into the rock face.

She heard a loud crack, or maybe it was a crunch. There was a flare of pain, and then, all of her body's pain mercifully vanished. Hitomi fell to the ground, eyes sliding shut. The last thing she saw was her father beating back the demon.

-.-.-

Next Chapter: Hitomi somehow survives, but at a great price. She's confined to limited movements for awhile, in which Sasori begins to lose patience; he agreed to meet back up with Neji, but Neji is nowhere to be found... Sasori leaves the children, and finds just what he's been looking for: Deidara.