| [Jul. 5th, 2008|06:35 am] |
The two men on the clifftop followed him to the ground; the man who'd been crumbling the cliff was already there. There was a moment of confused mayhem--Tsume scythed through their midst in a deadly spin and landed further up the bank--and then the Earth jutsu-user was crumbling the bank away, the scarred man was pulling off a jutsu Ryouma didn't recognize, and the white-haired shinobi, still smiling, called up another Suiton.
He couldn't see Kuromaru. He'd lost track of Tsume. Pulling out had been a nice fantasy, but it was impossible now. These men weren't just running them off; they were running them down.
Ryouma dodged one striking water-snake. He should have avoided the other one, too, but his muscles were growing still more sluggish as the drugs kicked in and his pain died away. He yelped as the second water-snake crashed down on his shoulder, twisted away from its freezing grip, and hit the ground rolling. He formed the seals and slammed his chakra into shape, and his fingers slid into the Dog seal as he came to his feet. Putrid chakra bloomed around his hands.
The white-haired man's eyes lit with a light like love. "Watch yourself, Sano," he breathed. "See what I told you?"
His scarred friend snorted. "The bitch he's running with is having problems with Takeo," he said scathingly. "You think he's any better?"
Stupid, stupid, they're trying to throw you off! Ryouma's brain screamed at him, but he couldn't help a quick glance backward. The water-snakes were gone, and Tsume was tangled with the Doton user, and she was doing fine--
Right up until the moment that a Wind jutsu slammed them both against the cliff wall hard enough to break bone.
Ryouma shouted wordlessly, helplessly. The white-haired man laughed. "I told you, Tousaki-kun," he said pleasantly. "Just put the jutsu away and listen to us, and we'll let you keep what's left of her. Before she's too far gone to save. Or, if you prefer, we can fight it out. The results will be the same for you, but not for her."
"You bastards," Ryouma breathed. He forced more chakra into his hands. The halo widened another centimeter and darkened to the color of old gangrene.
Something flickered in the white-haired man's face. "You really don't want to fight us, Tousaki-kun."
"Oh yeah," Ryouma said, "I think I do."
The white-haired man shrugged and lifted his hands.
And a shower of glowing senbon streaked just past Ryouma's masked cheek.
He grunted with the impact as two lodged in his right shoulder, though he barely felt the pain. The white-haired man shouted in annoyance; Ryouma ignored him. The woman he'd last seen ending her Water Dragon Jutsu on the other side of the river had crossed over. Now she stood just a few meters behind him, eyes narrowed in concentration, hands still set in the boar seal.
Even drugged and dulled, Ryouma lunged faster than he'd ever moved in his life. His left hand closed on the woman's shoulder; his right hand found her face. He shoved chakra through with everything he had.
When he dropped her a moment later, her head was already gone. |
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