Salt in the Wound

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The eleventh hour is a widespread, colloquial expression for indicating a time which is nearly too late or more commonly meaning “the last moment.”
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I was never one to run away from anything. I was told that very factor is what made me a good ninja, because I stood up to any challenge no matter what it was. But when I saw Roka standing up, his empty socket seemingly zeroing in on my head, I took off like hell itself was after me. Not because I was scared, merely because if he attacked while we were still close to the village, who knows the damage our bodies would cause. My feet pounded against the sand, kicking the minerals behind me as I sped through the gate trying to dodge the innocent ninja around me. My crimson eyes narrowed in on the open area in front of me, just a few more steps and I would be within safe distance to protect the village from the certain annihilation that was bound to happen. Just a few…more…steps…

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Kankuro turned around, trapping a ninja within the chest of Black Ant and no sooner impaling him with Crow to his certain death. He laughed from the distance he stood, pulling his chakra strings to attack another victim who was closing in around a Suna Jounin. A sudden sharp pain in his back turned his attention behind him. A woman stood there confidently, spinning a Kunai on her finger expertly. Judging by the purple marked cat mask she wore she was a part of the Konoha ANBU. “You bitch...” he muttered, reaching a hand around to dislodge the weapon. Blood ran down his shirt, a warm and dizzy feeling. Faster than he could keep up she had pulled out her katana and was charging for Kankuro. Crow flew forward in front of him, shooting poison dipped needles at the woman.

With one swing of her Katana she had sent all the poison needles in the other direction. “Is that all you’ve got little boy?” This was bad, he thought, I can’t fight close range and she just keeps getting closer. Gritting his teeth, he jumped backwards while attempting to send another wave of weaponry at the girl. Easily dodged, not even slowing her down. Her long blonde hair whipped around her head wickedly, only adding to the menace when her sword cut upwards and she jumped, ready to slice open the puppeteer. He moved his puppet in front of him to block the blow as much it could but he wasn’t the only one trying to block the hit he realized when a dark swarm surrounded her foot and took her off balance. Suddenly, a monstrous dog ran in front of Kankuro, on it’s back was the all too familiar face of that cocky boy he knew as Kiba.

“Doesn’t this bring you back? I’ve had to save your skin way too many times for you being a so called ninja.” The boy smirked and dismounted his dog, casting his eyes in the direction of the vague boy that sauntered forward.

“Get out of here, I don’t need your help!” Kankuro stood up, stepping to the side of Kiba and sneering at Shino. “Wait, why are you helping me in the first place?!” His face distorted and his shoulders slumped. Confused was an understatement. The blonde ANBU stood up and crouched, looking slowly over the newcomers. Her mask glinted in the darkening light reminding Kankuro he was still in mid-battle.

“You, leaf ninja, betraying your village for a bunch of blood thirsty savages huh?” She smiled and shook her head. “Well then, I guess I will have to take your heads as well.” Katana drawn, she circled the group.

“So tell me, what are you doing?” Kankuro whispered to Kiba, never taking his eyes off the female. He sent off Black Ant behind the girl, the cavity in his chest opening without the loud clicking noise they usually moved with. Crow circled around, attempting to lure the girl back. The puppet jumped forward but to no avail, the woman kicked her foot upward and jumped over the Black Ant, almost as if she had known it had been there the entire time.

“What does it look like you idiot! We’re helping you!” Kiba cast a dirty look at the Kankuro, earning one in return.

“Obviously, I meant why are you helping me!” His eyes widened when he saw the cloud of parasitic insects circling around the female, watching her desperately slash at the swarm.

“You think we’re as stupid as to believe this was your doing? There is a factor we’re missing here,” Shino said lowly, raising his arms and fingers sending some signal towards his bugs. “We’re simply detaining this until we can put a stop to everything for good. No one is getting seriously hurt.” Kankuro’s face scrunched as he watched the bugs advance. Those things gave him the creeps big time. “Are you interested in helping us?” Kankuro nodded and grinned.

“No problem,” his face suddenly grew serious and his eyes frantically searched around him in the quickly advancing evening light. “Besides, I have a feeling everyone will have a new target here pretty soon.”

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A spurt of blood spat from my mouth as my body hit the ground, bouncing and skidding back at a very painful speed. Roka had caught up to me and had shown me no mercy as he collided with my spine. Our bodies slid in unison through the crowd, sand whipping up through the air and almost hiding us behind the screen. When we stopped I forced my legs to hold my weight as I stood, stumbling backwards with blood flowing down my chin and staining the sand. “Stop playing around!” I snarled, the scales on my arms becoming more and more distinct. It was animal against animal as he circled me and I circled him. We hadn’t made it far enough and I could see from the corner of my eye various ninja stopping to stare at the winged monster who stood in front of me.

Soon, any energy I had left would be completely depleted and Hitsuchi would leave me whether I liked it or not. Oh Gaara, forgive me and know, I meant it when I said I loved you. It was difficult to push the pain away especially knowing the last time I had laid eyes on him I had been running away. What I wouldn’t give to just go back to yesterday, being in his warm arms and hearing the steady beat of his heart as we slept. If there was a heaven, not even that could compare to the undeniable bliss I felt when around him.

Roka’s shoulders rolled back and suddenly his features returned to normal. Sky blue eye and all, even his seemingly wild hair seemed tamed. “Ishiko, I have waited for this moment longer than you can imagine.” He stood tall and surveyed me, it was almost like I was a joke to him, not strong enough to even be considered a threat.

“I promise you Roka, you will die here. I will make sure of it.” Even talking made my ribs ache with pain, I didn’t know the extent of my injuries but something told me it was close to fatal.

“What do you have to fight for? You’ve dedicated a lot of your time to this waste of a village. I don’t understand your connections. Unless…” a sick smirk crossed his hollow features and his eye glinted dangerously. “you’re fighting for that black eyed boy, the leader of this desolate wasteland.” He could tell by the snarl in my throat he had hit the right button. “Don’t worry little girl, after you die I will do you the favor of getting to see him soon after. The sooner I take his life, the sooner I rip this village down to shreds.”

“Don’t you dare touch him!” My hand aimed for his mortal throat, prepared and ready to rip it out with hand or mouth, it didn’t matter at this point. I was less than three inches from marking my target when a blur of red shot out from his chest, ensnaring my own claws. “What?” I gasped, my eyes trembling as the smoky crimson material wound itself slowly up my arm and it advanced further out of Roka.

“He’s finally decided to emerge, if you want to even stand a chance against him I’m going to have to come out of you.” I bit back on my lip, the fangs drawing even more blood. Not this, not now. It was when I actually thought I stood a chance against Roka in his human form did this have to happen. The worst of the worst. I waited for my life to flash across my eyes like everyone said would happen, but I saw absolutely nothing. Maybe I hadn’t lived enough to have a flashback, or maybe I hadn’t lost just yet.

“Not yet.” I growled, ripping my arm away from now what appeared to be a snake like tongue emerging from the shadow of a mouth. Falling backwards away from the grinning Roka I placed my hands together and performed a complex number of hand seals. When I had first left Suna I had taken Gaara’s book and read something that now prodded at my brain urgently. The smoke like form of Hihouka was how the entire demon clan traveled from vessel to vessel. The book said the dragons wielded the power to soul travel. Meaning, when the demon entered or left a body, only its soul moved in and out. The body was momentarily suspended in time, locked away so to speak until the soul returned. With this knowledge I recognized the slowly slithering soul of Hihouka, ready to claim his real body back. The only way to kill Roka would be to dislodge the spirit out of his body completely, allowing his soul to catch up with the number of unnatural years he had spent toying around.

Unfortunately, if I did separate Roka from Hihouka, Roka would die and Hihouka would be out and about and hungry for blood. But of course, this all was completely useless to me if I couldn’t get a single shot in. My lightening bolts all had been evaded with ease, Roka’s eye seeing every move and dodging it easily. Suddenly Roka stumbled back and crouched, his body shuddering. “This is it!” He said crazily, his single eye darting around him faster than normal. The demon shadow couldn’t leave the body unless forced to. He was bound by their bond, but that didn’t stop the monster from attacking. The shadow lunged at me, his wispy tail elongating from the vessel hole in Roka’s chest.

I dodged sloppily, my body protesting with every breath I took. My chance was there and I made swift hand signs releasing my binds of light jutsu on Roka. The yellow rings wrapped themselves around his rigid body, forcing shrill screams to arise out of his throat. If it hurt Roka, it had to hurt Hihouka. The second demon head flung upwards, and if a dragon could cry out this was it.

The dragon reached back and bit off the rings, his mouth burning in the process. Wisps of smoke fell from the demon’s mouth, almost reminiscent of blood droplets falling. “Damn.” I whispered, my body starting to shake again as Hitsuchi was trying to force his way through my persistence. How much longer could I dodge the dragon’s attack before my own demon burst through? “I won’t die here! Not now!” I yelled while pulling out my only Tanto. I held it upwards at the dragon and from an outside view I bet I looked like a complete fool.

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Everyone had stopped moving, watching with terror as the looming dragon swiped through the air, narrowly missing the young girl. Nobody knew what to make of it, a demon in Suna? “Is that…not possible!” The man who had spoke dropped his weapon and shuddered backwards, bumping into a blonde boy.

“This is what I tried to tell you, Suna wasn’t our enemy. It was that monster over there!” He ground his teeth together and shoved through, pointing. “Don’t you see? You’re all fighting the wrong battle! If we don’t stop it now it’s going to kill all of us, the leaf and the sand!”

Kakashi stepped forward, crouching with his hands set to let loose his lightening blade. “The demon’s element is fire. I can sense another too, but I don’t see it. Looks like you weren’t kidding after all Naruto.” The boy lunged forward and growled. After Gaara had explained the situation to him he wasted no time in trying to tell an authority. He had tried telling Kakashi Sensei about the demons but was quickly pushed away. Now they would listen, now that it was almost too late. Gaara and Naruto had split up, looking anywhere for the black haired girl that now stood in front of him. Where was Gaara now, he thought, Ishiko isn’t looking too well.

Ishiko flew backwards as the demon landed a strike on her fragile body, forcing the ground to break away at impact. But she wasn’t about to give up, slowly she forced herself back up, raising that small sword in defense. “No, it can’t be.” Naruto’s eyes cut towards his guest and no sooner, his facial expression softened. Gaara watched helplessly as Ishiko fought alone against a demon who could kill everyone in a heartbeat. He leapt forward to race towards the limping girl only to be brought down towards the ground by the strong arms that wrapped around him. “Get off of me!” Gaara hissed, trying to force his sand between his body and Naruto. The boys hands slipped but reattached as soon as Gaara lowered his defense.

“You can’t just rush in there like that Gaara! You will get yourself killed and then what?!” Naruto yelled, gripping Gaara by the collar.

“I can’t just let her die like that! You don’t understand!” His sand whipped dangerously around as his eyes cut back towards Ishiko, his face trembling. His sand moved around in an erratic manner, panicking along with Gaara. Another pair of arms gripped Gaara by the shoulders, he recognized the presence of his brother.

“Naruto is right Gaara! You can’t do that. As Kazekage you have the duty of protecting your village and you can’t do that when you’re dead!” The hands released him and Gaara turned towards his older brother frantically. “Anyone stupid enough to run in there like that had one hell of a death wish.” Kankuro was even more bruised and bloodied than before, having been injured when helping Kiba and Shino hold back the fighters. Gaara shook his head and turned his attention back towards Ishiko. She was kneeling on the ground, looking up into the rearing head of the red demon.

“ISHIKO!” Gaara yelled, tearing apart from Naruto and Kankuro with the help of his sand. Blue bands wrapped around him, holding him back. Kankuro held tightly to his chakra strings, biting back the pain. Kankuro closed his eyes, he loved Ishiko more than anyone could know but this was just downright unfair. It was only expected he give up Ishiko for the sake of Gaara, considering Gaara never had anyone. Now he had to hold back his own brother while everyone watched helplessly as the two demons fought each other.

Please Ishiko, make it through this. For me, for Temari, make it through this for Gaara…