InuYasha Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Embracing the Kitsune ❯ Beautiful Release ( Chapter 29 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

~ Ch. 29 - Beautiful Release ~

Kyuubi turned his gaze to the others and Kakashi stepped in front of them. Kyuubi threw Sasuke on the ground before them. He jumped and landed with a knee in the boys back, causing the ground around them to crack. The fox reached out with a clawed finger and forced a wincing Uchiha to look at the ones he betrayed. The claw in his chin was drawing blood and slowly sinking further into the soft tissue.

“Beg for their forgiveness. Tell them what a worthless piece of shit you are.” Growled out Kyuubi before he removed his finger.

Sasuke looked into the frightened and angry eyes of his former comrades and the rush of guilty he felt was nearly crippling, but he pushed it aside. He owed it to Kagome. “Kagome...Ahhh!”

Kyuubi dug claws into the back of his neck. “Wrong!”

“STOP! Please, stop it!” Screamed a teary eyed Sakura being held back by a glaring Kakashi.

“She’s right, this is torture. Just... get it over with.” Naruto started to slide farther back into the confines of his mind, not wanting to see the next act.

“As you wish Naruto.” Kyuubi placed the boy in front of him in a kneeling position and held his claws to his throat. “Time to end your pathetic life.”

"NO!" Screamed Sakura.

Suddenly, before the death blow could be struck, a red clad figure with black hair jumped down directly in front of Kyuubi and stayed his hand. Kyuubi growled dangerously while firm, brown eyes held the angry gaze of crimson. The others stared in shock. There was only one man that wore that outfit. So why did he have black hair?

“Remove yourself from my person, Dog, or I’ll end your life as well.” Came the nearly unintelligible growl from Kyuubi.

“No.” Inuyasha said firmly but calmly. “Not until you promise not to harm the boy.” Kyuubi quickly struck at Inuyasha with his claws. Inuyasha dodged, but due to his lack of speed in his human form, caught a claw across the cheek. A thin line of blood trickled down his face, but he ignored it.

“He is Mine to kill!” He snarled out. “Even the kit agrees. He caused the death of our love! OUR MATE!” There was a couple of gasps from the onlookers, but Kyuubi didn’t care. The kit may have wanted it kept secret, but she was His too and he would claim what as his. He placed his claws back to the boy’s throat. “Why would you protect him anyways? He is nothing to you. Give me one reason why I should not kill him this very moment.” Sakura went to protest, but a red glare met her eyes the moment she opened her mouth. “I’m talking to the half breed, not You!”

Inuyasha sighed. “If he knows something about Kagome, if there is even the slightest chance she is still alive, then we need to know about it.” Kyuubi glared at him. “She was my special person for years, if I can lay down my sword cause of that, then so can you fox. Then, if he is useless, do what you want.”

Kyuubi seemed to think it over for a moment before lowering his claw and then shoving Sasuke to the ground, holding his hands behind his back. “If he doesn’t give us something useful, I'm taking it out of your hide.”

“What ever.” Inuyasha sighed again as he watched the sun start to rise before sending a small glare at the fox. “And you just couldn’t wait to almost kill him a couple more minutes could you, annoying foxes.” He mumbled the last part under his breath just before his body pulsed. All in the area watched as he returned back to the white haired half demon they had all met before.

Kyuubi smirked at him. “Not our fault your human half desided to come out to play.” Then he turned a glare back at the boy on the ground. ‘You had better take over kit. I never was much of an interrogator, I might just end up killing the fool anyways.’ He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, they were back to their normal vibrant blue.

Now Naruto spoke in his own voice, much to everyone’s relief. “Inuyasha, could you take this trash from me, I don’t want it to dirty my hands.”

‘Ouch,’ thought Sasuke, ‘but I deserve it. Never thought words would hurt more than what he just put me threw though.’ He grimaced as the white haired man moved him to an upright position.

Kakashi, now knowing the situation to be less dangerous, stepped in to tie up his former student. “I hope you have some pretty good information, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop both of them from killing you if you don’t.” He sighed as he set him against a nearby tree.

Sakura watched Naruto and Inuyasha with careful eyes. She wanted to ask them so many questions, but knew they’d have to wait. Instead she gather with the others around Sasuke in a semi-circle.

“Now,” said Naruto with narrowed eyes. “Make me believe you.”

* Orochimaru’s hide out just before dawn

Kagome awoke with a Huge migraine. Why did using to much power have to hurt so bad? She sighed and tried to sit up. As she lifted her back up she began to shake. ‘Ok, never mind.’ She just relaxed and let her body rest. Her mind thought back to what had happened earlier that night. ‘Just can’t catch a break... Well, at least I know he’ll bring others to rescue me.’ “You hope.” ‘Oh, shut up. It’s not like we both would have been able to make it outta here in that condition. The only rational thing to do was send out one, powered up, so they could bring back reinforcements.’ She sighed, ‘I’m trying to do the right thing here. I want to do my job as your guardian right. I can’t be all stubborn and try to prove myself in a fight. I’ve got you and the kits to worry about now. Not just myself.’ There was a moment of silence... “And it seems the kit becomes a vixen.” Oddly enough, the voices seemed satisfied with her answer.

Just as she started to drift off into a slight sleep the door burst open, slamming against the wall and nearly giving Kagome a heart attack. It was Kabuto and he looked all to pleased. “Time to fulfill your purpose demon.”

He yanked her up by an arm and forced her to stumble along beside him or be dragged. She growled at him. ‘What did he mean by that? Didn’t they just try to take the power and fail? If they do it again this soon...’ “You may die.” ‘...no...’ She protested, but knew the truth in that statement. ‘Just watch over the kits, please. If I lose them I won’t have any kind of strength to save myself if I do survive.’All she could do now is pray and hope the voices heeded her word.

Orochimaru watched as the girl was dragged in by his right hand man. He smirked at him and nodded his head as the man began tying here down. Now was the time and they had to play it right. What fools these young ones were. Did they really think anything escaped his attention? How absurd, especially in his own hide out. However, the forced change in plans was a blessing in disguise and if all went according to plan, his biggest success yet.

“She is prepared. Shall we start?” Asked Kabuto.

“Yes.” He smirked. “Are you ready Kabuto?” The man smirked and nodded. “Then we shall begin.” He walked up to the human Kagome and ran his fingers through her black hair. “I think you look much more delicious this way...” she cringed at his words. “ though it won’t matter soon.” He released her hair and moved to her thigh.

The snake-ish man glanced at the clock on the wall for a moment, hovering over Kagome’s curse mark. She prepared herself, but was inwardly shaking with anticipatory fear. Suddenly he struck. The familiar overwhelming sensations and images flooded her and she lost all coherency with the outside world.

Kabuto watched the clock as his master continued his work. After a few moments he spoke loudly to draw his masters attention from the power’s seduction. “It’s time!” Just as he spoke, Kagome’s body pulsed. The energy swirling around her doubled and there was a loud roar of wind.

Orochimaru wrenched his mouth away. Quite hard to do when the powerful and godlike feeling was so overwhelming. He stepped back and watched as her abdomen glowed, surrounded by a white bubble of light. The rest of her began to shift... Her ears and tail returned, along with claws and white hair. Her eyes were pressed shut hard against the pain she was feeling. Then those eyes suddenly shot open, their color now that of red and violet, as had been expected. The red marks of her demon blood began to appear on her cheeks, but was soon overwhelmed by the black of her curse mark. The roar of raw power in the room increased to a near deafening decibel.

Kabuto tugged on his master arm. “We have to go now my lord!” He said trying to move him towards the door.

Orochimaru nodded with a gleefully crazed smile and followed, but never took his eyes of the girl. As they stepped just outside the door, the entire room was demolished by huge roots, removing the half-demon from their sight. Finally Orochimaru turned away and made a hasty departure, but the smile never left his face.

Kabuto ran beside him and turned to see the smile. “You look more pleased than usual, my lord.”

“What power she holds...” He turned to look at his subordinate. “And it’s all mine!”

Kagome let out a rugged scream as her tail split into three. The hospital table she lay on practically melted from the intense power, the restraints along with it. She crouched and held her head for a moment, a crazed look in her now glowing pure red eyes. Finally, as her eyes turned to pure white, she stood and began to walk towards the door calmly. The roots in her path parted to allow her passage.

She continued to walk slowly through the halls and was soon confronted by three guards. They didn’t have a chance to draw a single weapon. They were impaled by sharp roots that burst through the walls. Unseeing white eyes blinked slowly and the organic spikes receded as quickly as they had appeared. The bodies fell to the floor like rag dolls and the calm vixen just stepped over them. A trail of deadly beautiful blue flowers sprouted from the carnage as she passed.

It wasn’t long before she came across the large hall she had come across before. There were less ninja than before, but still an over whelming amount. The female stopped for a second, her blank eyes never looking away from the path directly ahead. She raised her fisted hand above her head and vine like roots sprouted from the floor and spiraled around her body. The sound ninja took defensive positions, but there was no way they could be prepared for what happened next. In a repeat motion from the cactus, Kagome’s fingers spread out quickly.

On the outside of the hide out, the calm quiet forest scene was suddenly interrupted by an upward explosion. An unimaginable amount of wooden spikes, three times the height of the surrounding trees, burst through the ground. The surrounding area trembled from the after shock.

Naruto and his group stopped in shock. The overwhelming wave of chakra along with the sound and feel of the explosion were, of course, unexpected, but what they saw over the tree tops was what had them in shock. The towers of spikes were easily visible in the lightening morning sky. They were silent for a moment before one realized what it meant.

“Oh no. Kagome!” Yelled Sasuke. Everyone who had seen her power before looked on in awe.

“Kagome? What do you mean...” Started Inuyasha, but he was cut off.

“That’s Kagome’s power, she must be in trouble! We gotta go Now!” He took off, with the othersslowly getting left behind, other than Inuyasha. He never felt so overjoyed and scared at the same time. He found it hard to believe Sasuke, but held out hope. Before him was the proof that she was still alive, but it also meant something terrible had happened if her reaction was this big.

At the epicenter of the massive attack a single figure emerged from the spikes. Layers of skin flaked away as she walked and she now had only two tails. She stumbled to the ground and fell on her hands and knees. The jagged ears were laid flat against her skull as she panted heavily. Kagome’s eyes gained back the colorful irises and she blinked a few times. “...where...where am I.” She said as she looked around. Suddenly she cringed as she felt her bodies agony. She knew what was going on now and she panicked. She looked down to her belly and saw the soft white glow. ‘Thank goodness.’ She sighed.

She didn’t have time to relax because at that moment a kunai imbedded its self in the wall of the spike she had collapsed near. Her reflexes in this form were amazing. She hadn’t even known it was coming and she dodged it. Now that she looked around she was being surrounded. She could feel the power ebbing out of her and knew she didn’t have much time. She slammed her hands onto the ground. “Forest of Death!”

The snow covered conifers around them began to move. Their needles merging into large spikes and suddenly bludgeoned the nearest sound shinobi. Kagome didn’t have time to be disturbed by what her attack had just done. She had to leave! Her sensitive ears picked up the sounds of approaching reinforcements. She had no idea where she was so she just took off in a random direction, but before she had even made it past her deadly trees, she was confronted again. She grabbed a mostly dead plant and yanked it from the ground. She pored her unholy chakra into it. “Poison Ivy!” She cried as she threw both hands in opposite directions. Two shinobi dropped like flies. ‘Not enough.’ She thought frantically. ‘Their still coming.’ She grabbed another hibernating, frozen plant and ran.

Gaara had been on his way to try and find his fellow search party members. He knew the approximate area of their destination and the direction they wound be coming from. He had hoped to intercept them near the target, but when he neared, he felt a rush of demon chakra like he had never felt before, followed shortly by an explosion. The only plausible reason for a felling like this was the Kyuubi. Naruto must have already found the hide out and be in battle. Now he increased to his full speed and tore through the countryside.

As he came closer to his source of the explosion he slowed. He used his sand to bring him above the pine trees. ‘Kimimaro?... No he died. I saw it with my own eyes. Then who...’ Comming back to himself he dropped himself back to ground level. He didn’t have time to contemplate the whos of this situation. If a massive ninjutsu like that was used, his comrade was in trouble. He took off into the forest toward the new super structure. Gaara hadn’t made it very far on his way to help Naruto before he skidded to a halt. Again he couldn’t believe his eyes. White hair, fox ears, tail... ‘She’s... alive?’ He asked himself, stunned.

Kagome staggered forward. The power from the jewel had faded and it was all she could do to keep upright. Her entire body hurt in an strange sort of way. There was pain, but it was so blinding it felt like a dream. The only thing that kept her going now was sheer willpower. She knew there were people after her and that she couldn’t be caught, but beyond that she didn’t have the energy to think on anything else. She just kept going...

Wide eyed, Gaara looked over her battered and bleeding body, littered with strange tattoos. He looked at her face and realized she hadn’t noticed him yet. Her eyes seemed glazed over and she was watching the ground as she stumbled along. The beautiful creature he met in the desert barely visible to his eyes. So... broken. “...Kagome?” He breathed softly, as if speaking any louder would brake the welcome yet frightening vision before him.

She stopped moving and just stood there for a moment, puffs of steamy breath raising in the air from her delicate mouth. Slowly her dulled eyes raised to meet his. Her brows furrowed in confusion for a moment before the glazed look lifted to one of recognition. She just barely managed a small smile and reached a bloodied arm towards him. “ Gaara...” She breathed in a sigh of relief. She collapsed into the snow, unconscious.

Gaara shook out of his stupor and ran to her. He picked her up and placed her in his lap, doing a quick assessment of her condition. There were several open wounds along with deep gashes in her arms. She had blood coming from her mouth, ears, and eyes. He may not be a medicnin, but it didn’t take one to figure out the situation. If he didn’t get her to help soon, she was going to die. With that thought, he quickly wrapped her in his winter cloak and picked her up bridal style. ‘Her only hope is that I find Sakura.’

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IVX: And there we have it folks. Were you expecting Gaara to be the one to find her? Or were you expecting it to be Inuyasha? Will Gaara make it in time? How are the others fairing? All very good questions and all things you’ll have to come back next chapter to find out... ^_~