Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Battle Lord Chronicles: Under A Bloody Moon ❯ The Mindscape ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Naruto. Kiara is owned by Yusuke'sSister.

 

Claimer: I do own the plot line, the Kuro Tournament, Kristy, Jason, Jessica, Chris, Bashere, and anything else related to them.

 

(1) - Hunter-nin is the term given to shinobi who hunt down criminal and Missing-nin. They are special unit within the hidden villages and are sometimes considered to be a part of the ANBU.

 

(2) - Hachibi means eight tails.

 

"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Telepathy'

 

Thanks to my beta reader, Anna Jaganshi.

 

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Under A Bloody Moon

 

Chapter 6

The Mindscape

 

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As I walked, all I could hear was the echoing of my footsteps against the cold stone floor. That reminded me of something else I wanted to learn from Itachi: the ability to walk without making any noise. Itachi, Sasori, and even Deidara, could do that.

 

Abruptly I heard the whisper of noise up ahead. I froze in place instantly, but just as quick as it'd come, it disappeared. I continued to waiting, straining my ear to hear something, anything, but there was nothing. Then, just when I was about to move on, my instincts began screaming at me to move.

 

Without hesitation I threw myself to side. It was not a moment too late either, as just then a figure sailed through the spot where I'd been and landed in a crouch behind me. While I spun around to face the newcomer, I reach for the hilt of one of my katana. When I found nothing there I began to curse mentally; I'd forgotten that I was in a mindscape.

 

Instead of pulling a weapon I then did the only thing that I could think of in such a situation: I abruptly increased the amount of youki that I was channeling into Deidara's mind. Instantaneously, the figure let out a hiss and shied back.

 

"Please," I said quickly, "I just want to talk. I mean neither you nor Deidara any harm."

 

While the figure blinked several times in rapid succession--doubtless to clear away the spots that were dancing before his eyes from the sudden light change--I managed to get a good look at them. The youkai was clearly male, though of what animal type I wasn't sure. He had a fairly thin build, though he was covered with bulky muscle. He was taller than me of course, but surprisingly not by much.

 

The youkai's head was covered in short, dark brown hair and a pair of animal ears rested there. Though I could swear I'd seen those ears before, I'd be hard-pressed to name which animal they came from. The youkai also had hazel brown eyes and there was a thick, dark stripe of color across the bridge of his nose, from cheek to cheek. He was wearing only a pair of loose black pants that tied at the ankles, leaving his upper torso and feet bare. Seven sleek, dark brown tails waved almost lazily behind him.

 

As soon as the youkai could see properly again his slit eyes narrowed on me. Though his eyes did momentarily linger on the tattoo on my face, he quickly dismissed it. His lips peeled back as he snarled, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

 

"What do you want?" he growled.

 

I lifted my hands up in placating gesture. "Just to talk. I'm a friend of Tasuki's."

 

The youkai looked torn between relaxed by this gesture and even more agitated. In the end however all of the tension drained out of him and his shoulders slumped. He might even have sighed, but I couldn't tell.

 

"I knew he'd gotten taken. Though we figured it all out too damn late."

 

It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about. After a moment however I remember what Tasuki had told me: Being the seven-tailed Biju, this youkai would have been one of the last ones to be taken down by Bashere.

 

"I'm Kristy," I said finally. "I'm the new Battle Lord of the Makai."

 

The youkai snorted. "That means little to me," he said dismissively, "As Rokuro-sama's position was taken from him without his defeat." He paused to eye me thoughtfully. "What are you doing here anyway? I'd be under the impression that this was a world separate from the Makai, Reikai, and the Ningenkai."

 

"It is. I, ah, ran into a bit of trouble concerning Bashere."

 

The youkai raised an eyebrow in response, but asked no questions. For several long moments he kept his silence before finally opening his mouth once more.

 

"I am Sadao," he grunted out grudgingly.

 

Though I wasn't sure why, Sadao seemed to greatly dislike me. Maybe it was because I was now the Battle Lord; after all, it wasn't like I'd ever done anything to him to make him hate me...Well, except for nearly blinding him earlier...

 

"So, what did happen to this Rokuro?" I found myself asking curiously.

 

Sadao's glare shot up several notches and he stared venomously at me for a minute before finally looking away. He stayed quiet for several minutes, to the point that I thought that he wasn't going to answer. When he finally did speak his voice was unusually soft, though it easily carried across the distance between us.

 

"I don't know," Sadao admitted. "Directly after Bashere targeted Tasuki, we managed to figure out what he'd done. Rokuro-sama was absolutely furious--and rightly so--and he immediately went after Bashere. Unfortunately by that time Bashere had already found out from a spy that his deeds had been uncovered and he and the traitor disappeared.

 

"Rokuro-sama spent the next five years searching the entire Makai for Bashere. He never found him. Rather, Bashere laid a trap for Rokuro-sama, Nobuo--the Hachibi(2)--, and I. Any one of us would have been able to defeat him, but he had those accursed portals on his side. I was whisked away from the fight before it even began.

 

"For all these years I've expected that Rokuro-sama killed Bashere. After all, he was the most powerful youkai in the Makai and the only way a simple portal could take him out--or even work on him, for that matter--is if he'd been severely weakened first. That's not something that Bashere could accomplish, and especially not with Nobuo there. The moment I saw you, however, I knew the truth. There is no way that you, with your meager power level, could have defeated Rokuro-sama. Bashere, on the other hand, you are perhaps a match for. It is clear now that Bashere did indeed manage to take out Rokuro-sama and Nobuo, though I'm not sure what trick he used to do so."

 

I scowled briefly as Sadao's comment on my power; I though that I was quite powerful, thank you very much! ...Though, granted, in comparison to the two Biju that I'd met so far I actually wasn't all that great. It made me shiver to think of the kind of power that this Rokuro-sama must have to be able to command such respect from these youkai.

 

"There's just one thing," I said after a minute of contemplation. "According to Itachi--the human that Tasuki is sealed within--youkai can only be sealed into newborns. But if your story is correct then Deidara would have been seven when you were sealed."

 

Sadao let out a snort. "Just because only one technique is known to you doesn't mean that it is the only one. As far as I know I was sealed by an old seal master who managed to separate my youki from this 'Deidara's' reiki. If he hadn't it would have killed the boy, but because he did we can coexist.

 

"Because our energy didn't mix he did not receive the physical attributes that humans would usually get when exposed to youki. For example, the human most likely would have gotten the stripe across my nose as it's something that's common amongst badger youkai. However, at the last moment I was able to push some of my youki out of where the seals were placed on his palms. It was an, ah, gift." As he finished Sadao smiled darkly and flashed me his palms; two strange mouths resided there on him as well.

 

I nodded absently while pondering over this new bit of information. He was a badger youkai I also noted. I never would have guessed that.

 

After several minutes Sadao began to grow impatient. "Is there anything else that you need?" he asked sarcastically.

 

"Er, no. Thanks."

 

"Then get out!" he abruptly snarled. I jumped in surprise at the tone. I opened my mouth then to protest, but upon seeing the anger and annoyance on his face decided against it. Gathering up my youki, I pushed myself from Deidara's mind.

 

As soon as I returned to my senses in my own mind I blinked rapidly several times. Deidara sat before me, curiosity and apprehension etched onto his face.

 

"Well that was an...interesting conversation," I commented lightly while stretching my arms above my head.

 

Deidara blinked in surprise. "That...was it? But you only just closed your eyes for a few seconds!"

 

I gave him a wide smirk. "I told you that it wouldn't take long; time in the mind works differently." I turned then so that I was facing Sasori. "Now it's your turn. And don't worry; you won't feel a thing."

 

Grudgingly Sasori nodded. I could tell that he was still uncomfortable with this whole situation, but he wasn't going to resist. Once more I closed my eyes and then opened them to the inside of Sasori's mind. Not surprisingly, it looked just like Itachi's and Deidara's; it must be a jinchuuriki thing. Immediately I began to stride purposefully into the darkness, intent on finding this next youkai.

 

Fortunately this time I was not attacked. Rather I almost reached the giant bars when I saw a form standing before them, muttering to himself. I slowed to a stop and then took a moment to study him.

 

The youkai was short, even by my standards. Plus he had a hunched back, which only made it worse. Though it was somewhat difficult to tell because he was covered by a thick black cloak, he also looked to be pretty stocky. His most distinguishing feature, however, were the four long scorpion tails behind him, stingers and all. After a moment, when the youkai still didn't notice my presence, I cleared my throat to get his attention--

 

--And instantly had to dodge four tails slamming down on my position.

 

"Oi, oi, oi! Hold up!" I exclaimed from where I'd rolled to my feet.

 

The scorpion youkai let out a feral snarl, though I couldn't really see it: The lower half of his face was covered with a bandana and his shaggy auburn hair fell into his eyes. As soon as the youkai caught sight of me, however, his face changed into a shocked expression. He lowered into a bow which he did not raise from.

 

"Forgive me, my Lord," he said, humble. "I did not mean to attack you. I reacted on instinct."

 

"Ah, it's fine! It's fine!" I replied quickly. "Really. I would have done the same thing." I paused awkwardly. "Um...I'm Kristy. The new Battle Lord, as you can tell."

 

"I am Kenta," the youkai replied. He finally raised his head and eyed my curiously. "Forgive me, Kristy-sama, but...You do not look as though you could have defeated Rokuro-sama."

 

For a moment all I could do was stare. Rokuro? Why in Kami's name did Kenta think that I'd defeated Rokuro? I'd never even met him! As quick as my confusion came however, it disappeared: Kenta had been targeted by Bashere long before Rokuro had found out what was going on so, like Tasuki, Kenta didn't know about what'd happened.

 

I let out a sigh and ran a hand through my silver hair. "That's...not exactly what happened," I said finally. I then took a deep breath before launching into a long explanation of what'd happened to the Biju and to me.

 

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When I finally returned to the "real world" I let myself fall back into the grass with a sigh. I was completely exhausted form this experience, not physically but mentally. After a moment Deidara's head popped into my view as the blonde hovered over me.

 

"So how'd it go?" he asked. "Did you learn anything?"

 

"Lots," I replied, "Though I still don't know about what happened to Rokuro, the Battle Lord the Biju served under. It seems that only Nobuo, the eight tails, or Rokuro himself will be able to answer that...You know what's weird though? Sadao, the youkai inside you, acts like Sasori while Kenta, Sasori's Biju acts more like you. Though with a whole lot less energy."

 

Deidara grinned. "That's 'cause I'm just that awesome," he agreed.

 

I rolled my eyes in response. Then, after a minute, I pushed myself up into a half sitting position, resting on my elbows.

 

"Hey, Sasori," I began. The redhead grunted in reply but did not open his now closed eyes. "What attributes did you get from Kenta? You don't look anything like him."

 

For a long moment Sasori didn't even move. Finally he slowly opened his eyes, though he did not raise them to meet my gaze.

 

"Poison," he said softly. "I can cause poison to seep from my pores. It causes instant death upon contact."

 

I whistled lowly. "That must have been hell to control at first."

 

Sasori's face turned cold and I instantly knew that I'd unknowingly hit a sore spot. "Yes," he growled. "It was."

 

Desperately, I cast around for another topic. "So, um, do you want to spar?"

 

Sasori was momentarily surprised by my sudden question. He quickly recovered however and responded with a "why not" shrug, while a small smirk crept onto his face. I leapt to my feet with a large grin and quickly strode over to the center of the training field. As soon as he noticed what I was doing, Itachi moved over to the sidelines to watch.

 

Sasori followed me into the training field. I watched him move from the corner of my eye, knowing that I'd have to be careful; while I may be a youkai, Sasori was still a highly trained shinobi with several years more fighting experience than me. I had also found out not too long ago that Sasori was actually a puppet specialist. At first I'd been completely confused as to what this meant, but as soon as I learned to truth I realized just how deadly the redhead could be.

 

Sasori was one of the rare few who had mastered the ability to control life sized "puppets" with small, invisible strings of chakra. It was a deadly technique because it meant that at all times he had many different "puppet shinobi" to back him up. And because they were so incredibly lifelike, it was often hard to tell that they were puppets. Plus, Sasori could currently control almost 50 puppets at one time...Yeah, he was good.

 

My grin widened further. Now I was really starting to look forward to this fight.