Insert disclaimer here
Blah Blah Blah basic text (i.e. description, speech, etc)
Blah Blah Blah Thought or some transaction within someone's mind (also flashbacks)
Blah Blah Blah Kyuubi talking Jutsu will also be bold
BLAH yelling, or emphasis of some sort
Wrath of a Woman Scorned
Rated M for: language, violence, adult situations and concepts, lemons, and graphic imagery
Author: EDelta88
Beta: Semper Fi93
Chapter 6: Dancing With the Devil
Wave Country
Within moments Aki had faded completely into the bloody pall that had consumed the battlefield and, as the red mist continued to thicken, those present started to hear ghostly whispers echoing eerily around the lake.
"Help us…"
"Make it stop…"
"You shouldn't be here…"
"Run…"
"While you still can…"
"K-kakashi-sensei, w-what is this?" Sakura stuttered just as one of the voices rose above the others.
"Round and round, the maelstrom flows, where it ends, nobody knows…"
'What the hell?' Sasuke wondered as he heard a woman's voice singing quietly over the whispers. It was just so out of place, like a mother's lullaby.
"Round and round, it flows for thee, down and down, into the sea…"
"This is Aki's signature technique, the Bloody Mist," Kakashi explained in a low, sad, tone so that only Sakura and Sasuke would hear him, still on guard in case things went south. "As I understand it, she created it using the basic mechanics of the Kirigakure no jutsu but..."
'So she's actually using blood,' Sasuke reasoned, recalling all he knew about the technique Zabuza had used. 'But if that's true, where did it come from?'
"Round and round, like the sun in the skies, the sunset's burning truth-"
"-that even daylight dies…" Aki whispered in Zabuza's ear, appearing for only a split second before melting back into the mist as Kubikiri Houcho split the air where she had been a moment before.
"…In truth, it is far more than a simple fog," Kakashi continued quietly. "Simply the restriction of the senses and the smell of human blood affects people on an instinctual level, but how she uses it... This is psychological warfare at its finest."
"Blown away in sorrow, all things pass as they must, like daylight into darkness, and diamonds into dust…" Aki whispered from the mist before her voice vanished and was once more replaced by the woman's.
"So watch the summer come, and watch the summer go, like the innocence of youth, passing in the flow…"
'This,' Zabuza thought, awed as he tried to analyze his opponent's technique, 'This is… it's not genjutsu. She's maintaining at least two complicated, area of effect ninjutsu. The control she'd need for this is unreal… especially for such a brat. What the hell did I get myself into?'
"Round and round, the maelstrom flows, where it ends, nobody knows…"
"Come and find me," Aki whispered, drawing Zabuza's gaze toward the woods.
"Round and round, it flows for thee, down and down, into the sea…"
"Nope, wrong way," Aki's giggled, this time from the direction of the lake. It was a hollow sound, cold, and devoid of life.
"Damnit," Zabuza growled, he was not used to being the one on the receiving end of the mind games and this girl was just as skilled, if not more so, with the Silent Assassination arts as he was. This couldn't go on, he needed a way to turn this around or an exit strategy.
"Round and round, like a leaf blown in a breeze, the bloody tears of autumn, as the world forever grieves…"
"Come on," Kakashi whispered. "We should leave."
"K-k-k-kakashi-sensei?" Sakura stuttered, terrified and trembling violently.
"But Aki-" Sasuke protested. They couldn't just leave her here! That was one of Kiri's Seven Swordsmen out there! She was one of the scariest ninja he'd ever met but this guy was out of her league... right?
"Fallen from the vine, floating to the loam, like little tiny shells, drifting in the foam…"
"She'll catch up…" Kakashi assured them as he herded his charges toward the woods.
"But…" Sasuke protested weakly. It didn't feel right, leaving her alone like this. 'How dangerous is she?' he wondered, glancing over his shoulder as they moved further into the brush.
"So watch the autumn come, and watch the autumn go, like all you've ever known, passing in the flow…"
'I need to stall her,' Zabuza decided. He needed more time. He needed a plan.
Forming a group of Mizu Bunshin as he ducked into the trees, he scattered them into the mist. Some would say it was a waste of chakra but he didn't have much of a choice. He needed some kind of distraction while he regrouped.
"Round and round, the maelstrom flows, where it ends, nobody knows…"
'Maybe she can't sense them?' Zabuza wondered as his bunshin moved, unopposed, through the red mist.
"Round and round, it flows for thee, down and down, into the sea…"
Suddenly, all of the bunshin were dispelled in rapid succession; violently, if the way Zabuza felt them practically explode was anything to go by.
'So much for that theory…' Zabuza thought dourly.
"Round and round, like a pattern in the snow, a season's cold reminder-"
'If only I didn't suck so bad with futon, I could-' he was lamenting when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
"-of seeds you'll never sow…"
"Shit!" Zabuza cursed, ducking out of the way of Aki's clawed hand just as she torn a large chunk out of the tree where he'd just been hiding.
"Fallen from the sky, drifting with the snow, in a world so cold and empty, like unending current's flow…" she sang, jumping after the former Jounin. Dodging Kubikiri Houcho to deliver a punishing kick to his stomach.
"Fuck!" Zabuza gasped, backpedaling. That girl kicked like a damn race horse!
"So watch the winter come, and watch as all you know, vanishes before you, as it passes in the flow…" Aki whispered, smiling maliciously as faded away again.
"Round and round, the maelstrom flows, where it ends, nobody knows…"
'Need to keep moving,' Zabuza thought, circling around the lake on the off chance that he could move out of his opponent's technique. 'If I thicken my mist I might be able to feel her movements and keep my distance for now…'
Unfortunately for Zabuza, he found that this too was all nothing but a waste of chakra.
"Round and round, washed in time and flow, like the people and the cities, and friends of long ago…" Aki sang, her voice bouncing merrily as she moved rapidly through the trees.
"Damnit, she's tracking me," Zabuza growled. He could only vaguely determine her movements but it was obvious that she was following him. How she was doing it, he could figure out later. For now, he needed to draw her into open combat somehow.
"Round and round, it flows for thee, down and down, into the sea…"
'Here's to hoping she doesn't know how to fly,' Zabuza thought as he sprinted onto the lake, pumping chakra into the water. In theory, he should be able to feel her movements through the disturbances she would cause in the chakra charged water if she followed him.
Then, he waited and, sure enough, he felt someone step onto the lake, walking in his direction as Aki finished the verse.
"Round and round, like the vicious truth of life, the world's cruel reminder, of all your pain and strife…"
Ever so slowly, the mist cleared, and there, not ten meters from where he was standing, was the child that had beaten him at his own game.
"Well played Ijin," Aki complimented, clapping lazily as she moved to face him.
"Hatake-sensei? Is it really alright, leaving her alone back there?" Tazuna asked, worriedly glancing over his shoulder. Sure that little red head was tough, that was obvious enough, but that Zabuza character sounded like bad news. Was it really safe?
'He's got a point...' Sakura admitted to herself, now that she was calm enough to think clearly again. Aki was terrifying but...
"She'll be fine, she always is..." Kakashi assured them solemnly.
"Sensei?" Sakura asked, unnerved by just how... defeated, her sensei seemed.
'Has something like this has happened before?' Sasuke wondered, picking up on the tone in the older man's voice. If he had to hazard a guess, this wasn't the first time something of this nature had happened. 'Now the question is, which part has happened before? Aki facing an A-rank ninja or is it something else?'
Zabuza slowly let out a calming breath, never taking his eyes off Aki as he tightened his grip on Kubikiri Houcho. "A wonderful game of hide and seek, princess," he taunted, hoping for any edge he could get as he slowly pulled his sword into a defensive ready stance. "But let's finish this like grown ups, hm?" he finished pulling the sword out infront of him in a defensive stance.
Aki smiled viciously at the challenge.
Very few had managed ever managed to evade her for long inside her mist, far fewer managed to force her to get serious. Though, more often than not she got bored and changed tactics, as was the case with Zabuza, or they just lost their minds and she killed them quickly and/or brutally, depending on her mood.
"It's complicated," Kakashi sighed. "That which does not kill you, makes you stronger... To a great degree, that is true. In order to survive, you adapt. In Aki's case...She's been pushed a great deal further than most and, well, you've seen the result. By most standards she would be considered a prodigy, the sort of card carrying genius that appears only once in a generation. Able to learn and adapt at a furious pace, a near eidetic memory, unreal stamina..."
"Then why isn't she?" Sasuke pressed, dreading the answer. It was like watching a train wreck, he didn't want to see what was at the end of the tunnel but, for some reason, he just couldn't look away.
"Prodigies are born that way," Kakashi explained. "Aki...she very was talented, there's no doubt of that, but..."
"What? But what?" Sakura asked when he trialed off.
"Sounds fun," Aki laughed, vanishing suddenly only to reappear in the air behind Zabuza with her claws aimed to rake his back. It wouldn't kill him, she didn't want to stop playing just yet, but it would hurt, a lot.
'Fast!' Zabuza thought as he narrowly side stepped her slash and retaliated with a slash of his own at her midsection that would cut her in half.
As he swung he saw her body coil as if to jump and, much to his surprise, she pressed off of some unseen surface, flipping easily over the massive blade, despite already being in the air.
'What!' the former Kiri nin wondered as she delivered a crushing drop kick to his shoulder, momentarily forcing him beneath the surface of the lake.
Kakashi sighed. "I guess, the best way to describe it is that Aki is the product of her own will," he explained uncertainly, not sure how to best get across what he was trying to tell them.
This stunned his students. Aki had made herself into... She had become a heartless... by choice?
Tazuna looked horrified. "She...made herself like that?" he asked, unknowingly voicing the thoughts of the two gennin.
"Actually, it would probably be more accurate to say she remade herself," Kakashi mused sadly. "Anyway, she chose to become unstoppable and 'Aki' is the result, her creation. If she had a weakness, she stamped it out. If she had a strength, she pushed it as far as possible. If something got in her way... she removed it. Ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, kenjutsu, fuinjutsu, anything that she can use, she seeks out and perfects."
Sasuke frowned, 'So...'
"Aki? Who the hell names their kid Evil Spirit?" Tazuna asked.
"I did," Aki said as she dropped down next to him, nearly giving the old bridge builder a heart attack.
Aki's words from the beginning of the mission echoed in his head. 'Evil Spirit...' he wondered. She chose the name for a reason, of that he was certain. The name fit who she had become, who she had made herself into... but why had she become Aki?
"She uses seals to fight?" Sakura asked, confused. She had never seen Aki use seals in combat.
"A true seal master doesn't need ink or a brush Sakura," Kakashi told her, "and Aki doesn't even need a surface to place it on. She could form a barrier in the air and stand on it if she chose to."
Zabuza attempted to elbow her in the gut but she dodged, easily bending around it and using the momentum to slash at his throat with a clawed hand before she felt an unfamiliar pain in her cheek as she was backhanded by Zabuza's injured arm.
Had he been able to fully swing he most likely could have broken her jaw but he merely bruised her cheek.
Aki's eyes widened. It had been quite some time since someone had landed a solid hit on her. Very slowly, she brought her head back to face Zabuza, fixing him with her cold blue eyes as an evil smile spread over her lips exposing her fangs.
"But still! That was one of the Seven Swordsmen! What if she gets injured? Or he poisons her?" Sakura rambled, worriedly chewing her lip.
'No one's invincible,' Sasuke thought morbidly, remembering the days when that word had been freely associated with his clan... before Itachi.
Kakashi frowned. "Aki is...durable," he answered, grasping for the right word. "She can recover from nearly any injury that isn't instantly fatal and that's if you are able to lay a hand on her in the first place."
Dodging a diagonal slash, Aki leaped back, loosing a brace of kunai to distract at her opponent as she somersaulted through the air.
Bringing Kubikiri Houcho into a vertical guard, Zabuza easily blocked most of the knives but grunted in pain as one buried itself in his lower thigh. "Damnit!" he hissed, knowing it was time for his exit strategy as he tried to put distance between himself and the demonic redhead. 'Any second now...' he thought as he did his best to stay out of her range.
"Here we are!" Tazuna crowed, his relief obvious as what looked to be a converted inn came into view.
"...Just how powerful is she?" Sasuke wondered as the walked toward the house. Forming seals without ink was a high level skill, requiring an in depth knowledge of the seal and a great deal of experience to with chakra manipulation. To be able to use such a skill in the heat of battle was incredible. Combined with everything else he had learned...
"No one is sure just how dangerous she is anymore," Kakashi answered as the continued down the trail. "I'm sure you've noticed how secretive she is?" it was more a statement than a question.
The two gennin nodded while Tazuna just took his word for it.
"She purposefully holds back against her opponents," he told them. "Although... I'm reasonably sure that it's more to keep things interesting for her than because she's actually hiding her abilities and the skills she has already revealed are enough to suggest that she is capable of surviving encounters with most seasoned jounin. Take into account that our information suggests that Zabuza's skills lie in assassination and wide area ninjutsu for wartime... Well, you've already seen that she can counter his brand of assassination and, as an exceptionally mobile fighter, Aki is uniquely suited to deal with him."
"Game over Ijin!" she shouted gleefully only to frown in irritation a second later as she caught sight of something on the edge of her senses.
Fwp!
Fwp!
Fwp!
"Seems you were right, it was over," spoke a figure in the trees.
Aki spared the newcomer the barest of annoyed glances before returning her gaze to the three senbon that had just buried themselves in Zabuza's neck, tilting her head curiously as she considered them.
"Mind if I check?" Aki asked... almost too politely.
"By all means," the Hunter replied, motioning for Aki to check the corpse.
Checking for a pulse she found none.
"I thank you for your assistance," the Hunter nin spoke as he appeared beside Zabuza's body. "Now, if you'll excuse me, this cadaver holds many secrets, I must dispose of it."
The last thing the masked ninja saw as he disappeared in a whirl of mist was Aki's fanged grin as her eyes flashed crimson.
"I'm home!" Tazuna called as he walked through the front door followed by the three ninja.
A tall woman with coal black hair moved towards them from the kitchen. "Dad, who're these people with you? I thought you were going to Konoha to negotiate a labor agreement?"
Tazuna nodded his head. "I did! I hired a group of Konoha's ninja to serve as bodyguards. Damn good thing that I did, too! Gato's started sending shinobi after me now."
Tsunami put her hand over her mouth, then fought back a sob. "Dad, I know you want to restore our country, but please be careful. I can't deal with losing you too." Tazuna nodded, and Tsunami quickly dried her eyes, dabbing them with the hem of her apron.
"Not to worry!" Kakashi chirped, "The four of us will take good care of you father."
'Wasn't he all doom and gloom a minute ago?' Sasuke and Sakura wondered, suddenly developing a new level of respect for their sensei's acting skills.
"Four?" Tsunami asked, wondering where the last member of their party must be.
"Four." Aki said appearing silently in the open door, nearly giving everyone, except Kakashi, a heart attack.
Edited: 6/10/17
End Notes
Special Thanks to Semper Fi93 for his help in finally finishing off this long overdue chp. Seriously, even by my standards this is ridiculous.
"Agreed" says Semper Fi93
...Yeah, so hopefully it won't be a year before I update this one again.
Note: there are two versions of the Wirlpool's Lullaby, Aki's and the original. Aki's is more morbid.
Aki's Version of the Wirlpool's Lullaby
Round and round
The maelstrom flows
Where it ends
Nobody knows
Round and round
It flows for thee
Down and down
Into the sea
Round and round
Like the sun across the skies
The sunset's burning truth
That even daylight dies
Blown away in sorrow
All things pass as they must
Like daylight into darkness
And diamonds into dust
So watch the summer come
And watch the summer go
Like the innocence of youth
Passing in the flow
Round and round
The maelstrom flows
Where it ends
Nobody knows
Round and round
It flows for thee
Down and down
Into the sea
Round and round
Like a leaf blown in a breeze
The bloody tears of autumn
As the world forever grieves
Fallen from the vine
Floating to the loam
Like little tiny shells
Drifting in the foam
So watch the autumn come
And watch the autumn go
Like all you've ever known
Passing in the flow
Round and round
The maelstrom flows
Where it ends
Nobody knows
Round and round
It flows for thee
Down and down
Into the sea
Round and round
Like a pattern in the snow
A season's cold reminder
Of seeds you'll never sow
Fallen from the sky
Drifting with the snow
In a world so cold and empty
Like unending current's flow
So watch the winter come
And watch as all you know
Vanishes before you
As it passes in the flow
Round and round
The maelstrom flows
Where it ends
Nobody knows
Round and round
Washed in time and flow
Like the people and the cities
And friends of long ago
Round and round
It flows for thee
Down and down
Into the sea
Round and round
Like the vicious truth of life
The world's cruel reminder
Of all your pain and strife