A/N: Hi, again, dear readers and lurkers. Good to see you again. Not much to say here, except I hope you enjoy.
Chapter Four: Final Fight
I think we're far enough away, Ino thought to Kiba using her clan's specialty mind-link jutsu.
He gestured to Akamaru, and together as one unit, the three leapt into the brush that choked the riverbank to hide. She and Kiba and Akamaru were shoulder-to-shoulder, crouched and hidden ankle deep in reeking mud and noisome river wildlife. When she implemented the technique, he had at first blasted her with distress and anxiety, his most recent encounter with Suigetsu circling like a vulture in his brain. She had worked to calm him, to soothe those ruffled feathers, and he became responsive to her presence in his mind.
You think they bought it? he thought back to her.
It was a pretty good ruse, she replied. She kept her eyes locked on the sandy bank. Hiding in the water to make us think they'd gone up ahead. We'll wait them out and follow. When they stop to rest and have their guard down, we'll coordinate our attack.
Kiba nodded his understanding. You should use Mind-Body Switch on Suigetsu and use him in helping us to subdue Karin.
Agreed. Once I drop the mind-link, we can't speak or make any kind of movement that'll give us away. We'll also have to suppress our chakra again to prevent Karin from detecting us as we follow, so we'll have to pay attention to each other. It takes time for Karin to use her chakra detection technique. Once they've stopped and we're in position, we'll have to wait for her to release the technique or ambush them before she has a chance to use it. That'll be my window to use Mind-Body Switch on Suigetsu.
That seems like a very narrow window, Kiba answered. Eddying inside his head was the undercurrent of concern. Think you can do it?
It's our only chance, so I'll have to. Once we handle Suigetsu, we can deal with Karin. I'll be able to signal my clan through our mind technique and bring them to our position. The technique takes a considerable amount of chakra and focus, so I won't risk doing it now.
Ino…he dropped his eyes, and to her surprise, she felt how shy he was. I'm glad it's you I'm with.
Me, too, she replied, resting her hand on his forearm. Might as well accept the olive branch. To be honest, she was glad some of that hot air had been knocked out of him earlier. I'm dropping our mind-link. Only non-verbal communication from now until the fugitives are in custody.
Got it, he replied.
She released the technique and exhaled with relief. Kiba's head wasn't an overly peaceful place to reside, but it had been necessary to communicate the information without speaking aloud. And to think, she'd almost missed the trick in the frustration of losing sight of them. It had been when she used her own chakra detection technique that she determined the fugitives were in hiding, using the water as cover, a little ways up the river.
In the next couple of seconds, she and Kiba both used the well-known hand signs to complete the suppression sequence. And then they waited.
Darkness fell. Ino lost sight of the riverbank in the deepening twilight, but at one point, Kiba shifted- -or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that his breathing changed- -and she sensed, rather than saw, movement. Two liquefied blobs formed into one man and one woman on the side of the river. There they were, their fugitives. Ino waited for Kiba's cue. After a minute or two, Kiba exited the brush, with a quiet rustle, and helped to guide her onto solid ground. Then she followed behind him in a mad, silent dash.
They moved as shadows along the night-shrouded riverbank. A new moon left the sky open to the starry spine that crested from horizon to horizon. Ino's favorite constellation was out in full regalia, and she caught the twinkle of it between leafy bowers. All around them sounded crickets and the occasional rustling of a nighttime creature. They even passed within calling distance of an owl.
Since she and Kiba had agreed to absolute silence, Ino used her time to calculate a multitude of plans and contingencies. She worked on breathing out the stitch in her side, on not slipping on the dewy grasses, and on keeping pace with Kiba and Akamaru. At last, when the town's dim lanterns appeared on the distant horizon, she tightened up her thoughts. There could be no more mistakes. She and Kiba and Akamaru had stamina, but by not fully resting, their fatigue would slow their reflexes and hinder any rapid decision-making. A second's hesitation could result in death for either of them. They had no back-up, only themselves to rely on.
In front of her, Kiba slowed to a stop and gestured. Get down. They crouched; he pointed, indicating she should circle around to the south. He and Akamaru would go to the north and divide again. Ino was patience personified as she bear-crawled into a position that gave her a clear view of a clearing in the woods. Suigetsu and Karin had already gotten a small fire going and were roasting fish. The breeze changed, bringing the aroma to Ino, and her stomach, empty since their hurried lunch, gurgled.
Her nerves jumped. Shit. Did they hear that? No, impossible. Karin had one hand in front of her nose; her eyes were closed and brow furrowed with concentration. So she had already performed the chakra detection jutsu. Patience. Let her find nothing. Suigetsu moved around the camp, restless, but settled a little further from the fire than Karin, still in Ino's line of view. Seconds, then minutes passed. Patience.
Karin dropped her fingers. "I don't sense any chakra within my radius," she said. "I think we've lost them."
Ino formed her fingers to release her chakra suppression and didn't wait another second to perform Mind-Body Switch on Suigetsu. In a short three seconds, her soul soared out and displaced Suigetsu's soul. She settled inside him, trapping him under her Will of Fire, a prisoner in his own body.
Gotcha.
He fought, struggled, as shinobi tend to do, but she was stronger than he was in his own mind, and she forced him to cease. He had nothing and no one to fight for; he was alone and the ones who were most alone were the easiest to control. Except...except for a secret love. Ah. That's something interesting. Ino opened her eyes and monitored Karin for a second or two, getting the feel for the shape and functions of this new body.
Then Ino felt like something slipped from her grasp. Surprised, she glanced down at her hands. Great rivulets poured from Suigetsu's shoes and clothes, ran into the fire which hissed and spit in annoyance. What the..? His solid body was melting away! The world became watery. Somewhere to the side, Karin screamed. In a panic, Ino turned inwards for an explanation. Liquid or not, she had control over Suigetsu's mind. He would tell her how to fix this.
She regressed backwards to his soul-presence and found him in an empty room, seated on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest. He lifted his head when she approached- -he was a little boy and those luminescent violet eyes were a glassy red with tears. Mother?
I'm sorry, no, Ino said, crouching in front of him. Being so deep inside someone made it a simple matter to know exactly what to say and what was needed. But I can help you remember her. You have to show me how to control your form first. She took his small hands. Deal?
He sniffed and nodded. Love was too easy to manipulate. He showed her how to exert the chakra to keep his body intact, how precise it had to be, and how to regulate the chakra evenly. She rose back to the surface in his consciousness, honed the chakra into the correct conduits, and regained Suigetsu's solid form. The fire had gone out at her feet; Karin had disappeared.
To her side, Kiba stood with her own limp body over his shoulders. "Kiba?"
Kiba shook his head and broke into a doggy smile, paired with a heavy pant. Ah, Akamaru. Was the dog able to determine that she had secured Suigetsu? No matter. That information could come later. Their priority was Karin.
"Hold on a sec," she told him and reached into her body's hip-pouch for the special manacles they would use to subdue Karin. As she did, she realized that she would not be able to use them on Suigetsu, since the manacles were chakra-suppressing. Suigetsu would lose his form, slip out of the manacles, and reform with his chakra intact. Well, they would cross that bridge when they came to it.
"Okay, we're good," she said to Akamaru. "You lead, I'll follow. Let's go, boy!"
With a quick bark, Akamaru plunged into the dark branches, and she followed after him. Suigetsu's body squished and quivered a good deal more than she would like, but she managed to maintain the consistency of his form enough to have minimal trouble. As they sped through the underbrush, Ino kept an eye on her body's blonde hair which functioned as a sort of beacon in the darkness of the forest.
After a few minutes' travel, they broke out of the forest line. They were in the opposite direction of the river they followed initially. Beyond the forest line, the land had leveled out and transitioned from loamy soil to solid, slippery rock. She smelled and felt a mist, Suigetsu's senses attuned to water sources, and somewhere in the darkness there was the roar of a waterfall. Akamaru slowed to a stop, and Ino sensed that they were at the edge of a deep precipice. They would have to be careful with their footing.
Nearby, a ting-ting-TING rang out- -the sound of two kunai clashing. Ino gestured to Akamaru to prop up her body against an outcropping of boulders, which he did. Then they continued along the gorge. Kiba and Karin were engaged in a battle. In the dark, Ino could determine that Kiba had done an impressive job of keeping his aggressive power in check- -Karin wasn't dead yet, at least. He had a height and weight advantage, and he was a superb taijustu practitioner. Also, he needed minimal light to see.
Karin had a kunai in her hand, swiping and jabbing as Kiba closed in. She did a fair job of defending herself, but Kiba could see as well at night as he did during the day. He disarmed her in one smooth movement, and slammed his elbow into the side of her head. Her glasses flew off her face, but she kept on her feet, deflecting another blow with an arm; her other hand dove into her hip-pouch. Akamaru was on her in a second, using Kiba's human hand to secure Karin's from grabbing and using any tags or other tools.
Abruptly, glowing chains exploded out of Karin's chest. One pummeled Kiba off his feet and a second whapped Akamaru into a head-over-tail pinwheel. Both disappeared into the darkness. Shit. Ino was in the wrong body for this, but she refused to release Suigetsu and go back to square one. Maybe this situation was salvageable. She retreated into Suigetsu's mind for assistance.
"It's about time you showed up," Karin said, walking up to her. "You certainly took your time."
"You're lucky you're so useful, wench. Otherwise, I'd have let them have you."
"Shut up, jerk. Help me get rid of the Leaf ninja and then we have to move. We don't know if they've relayed our position to any others or not."
"How many of them are there?"
"I've only seen those two," Karin replied. "I don't know if there are any more. I haven't sensed or seen them."
At this point, Ino could get close enough to Karin to surprise her with the manacles. Kiba could be unconscious or dead. She could wait until Karin's guard was down- -sleep or exhaustion- -and slip the manacles on then. But the longer she waited, the harder it would be for her to maintain Mind-Body Switch. Her chakra wasn't infinite, and though the technique was low-level, it was meant to be short-lived. It was possible that she could hypnotize Suigetsu to be their ally, and she might have to do that and engage Karin in her own body.
"Did you hit them hard enough to kill them?" Ino asked. This would be a risk, but it was one she had to take. "We should make sure they're dead before we continue on."
"They'll be unconscious, so we have a few minutes before they come around," Karin said. "Help me find my glasses. I think they're over here somewhere."
Ino knew where the glasses had landed in the fight. She stepped to where she believed they fell, and groped the rock with her hands. Her fingers tips brushed them, and without another sound, Ino folded them up and slipped them into Suigetsu's pocket. From behind her, Karin made a strangled sound. Ino swiveled and saw Karin up to her neck in the ground!
"Help me, you idiot!" she screamed, wiggling her shoulders.
Earth exploded everywhere, and Ino lost sight of Karin in the confusion. Large chunks of rock and clods pelted her as an earthy smell permeated the air. Once everything settled, Ino squinted, trying to discern anything in the dark more than a few feet ahead. Dealing with Suigetsu and Karin was hard enough without it being the dead of night, and dawn wasn't even close to arriving.
Should I move? Everything was quiet. Ino was confident Kiba had used earth-style jutsu to draw Karin into the ground, but she didn't want to give away her position in case he hadn't subdued Karin.
"Ino? It's me," Kiba called out. "You there?"
"Yeah, I'm here."
"I've got Karin in the manacles. Would you look for Akamaru and check on him?"
"Sure." She stopped at her own prone body and pulled free a scroll from her flak jacket. When she opened it, it shed light so she could see where she was going. Holding it up to show her her path, she moved in the direction she thought Kiba's dog had been flung. "Akamaru?"
There was some disturbance in the soil going into the forest and patches of broken and bent bushes and snapped branches led her further into the dense foliage. A soft whine brought her to where Akamaru lay, spread out. She touched his heaving flank, feeling for broken bones and a firmness in the internal organs that indicated internal bleeding, but she felt none of that. He'd been knocked a good one, but he was stalwart and could take a licking.
"C'mon up, boy. You're just fine. Kiba's worried about you," she said, scratching his ruff behind his ears.
Akamaru stood. He favored his hind leg, and though shaken from his tumble, he walked with more confidence the more they moved. They came up to Kiba, crouching beside Karin. She lay on her belly, her hands at the small of her back. The seals on the manacles had been activated and pulsed with yellow symbols. Kiba kept a hand between Karin's shoulder blades.
"Okay, one down," Ino said. "You good?"
"A little banged up," he answered. "Akamaru?"
Akamaru whined, but licked Kiba's face as if to show he was also a little banged up, but otherwise fine. "Ino, you okay?"
"I will be when we get back to Konoha. Before we do anything else, I need you to listen to me," she said. She crouched to be face to face with him. "Right now, Suigetsu continues to present the most danger. I have him under control like this, but when my chakra runs out, he'll turn on us and he has monster power. I don't know if I have enough chakra to get him back to Konoha. Carrying around my body will slow us down as well." She stood up and glanced at the sky. "We can't use the manacles because he uses chakra to hold a solid form. In short, he'd escape. I think I might be able to ally him with us using a deep hypnosis jutsu. I can release Mind-Body Switch, you say the magic words, and Suigetsu will be ours temporarily."
"What're the setbacks with this plan? What's the damage to you if you do this?"
Kiba's concern for her touched her. "I'll have to monitor Suigetsu. That's not difficult because I can open and maintain a mind-link with minor chakra. Also, some shinobi are capable of shaking off the hypnosis abruptly, but most will fall back under it if we repeat the signal words. Some also are able to resist the initial jutsu. Then we'll be up shit creek. Additionally, I'll be using most of my chakra following the hypnosis and mind-link to signal the others to our position, so I'll have very little chakra to spare afterwards."
"Hn. I think it's worth the gamble, if you do," he said.
Her surprise at his acquiescence rendered her speechless for a moment. "It's the best chance we have of surviving this mission and also completing it."
"Then do it. And Ino," he said, "don't forget- -no mistakes."
"No mistakes," she repeated, unable to help a small smile.
A/N: That's all for now. The next chapter will be the last, I think, and then this story will be complete. Again, not a perfect chapter, but it's done & moving forward the storyline. Thanks again for your time. Until next time!