Peace for Traitors

To kill a jinchuuriki, like any powerful predator, is a difficult proposition without a very specific trap. Though few have the skill or patience to construct such a trap, the task can and has been done, usually employing a combination of deception and careful timing. Indeed, timing for jinchuuriki is everything and the hunter who understands this is formidable indeed. Jinchuuriki can be counted upon to behave predictably in certain instances and this aspect of their nature can give an enemy a rare opportunity to attack. Regardless of the risk, the vessels will act to protect their mates, even in circumstances that confound all logic. A wise hunter knows then, that the only suitable bait is a subordinate over which that same person has some external control. A subordinate is made almost more than mortal, with enough power to protect their alpha. However, this strength also represents a vast investment of energy, which can just as easily be used destroy the harmony of the beast's own soul. The creatures have apparently endless reserves of chakra at their disposal, for both combat and healing purposes, and such large pools of energy are by their very nature unstable. In this, both male and female jinchuuriki inherently surpass their human and demon counterparts. This, too, is their weakness if exploited properly. A jinchuuriki's endless chi, which imbues them with tremendous ninjutsu abilities and inexhaustible stamina, also requires a delicate balance of energetic synchrony to maintain. Like all other vast natural energies, control depends upon the alignment of the circuit in which it is contained. Disruption of their chakra not only leaves a jinchuuriki as defenseless as any other human, but can be enough to disrupt their other homeostatic systems, leading to abrupt and rapidly fatal decline.

-Koumyuo Sanzo, Lives and Habits of Far Eastern Demons

Sai writhed, making half-whimpered sounds of pleasure, bath-damp hair clinging gorgeously to his flushed cheeks as Naruto spread him across the pale sheets. The jinchuuriki closed his eyes, finding the stillness within and calling upon yet another ounce of precious control. The artist's pupils were blown dark and huge, making his black eyes even blacker, strangely inhuman in the filmy sunlight filtering through the paper shutters over the window. They had gone to Sai's room, mostly because it was the closest to the baths, and Naruto could not decide if he regretted the decision or not. The room was Sai's own private space, which he hoped would allow the artist another measure of comfort and security, but it was also surprisingly…distracting.

Sai had painted every available surface, including the paper screens and window coverings, with stunning portraits and abstract landscapes that all looked decidedly erotic. There was Sakura on the far wall, spread out on her belly in the rushing shallows of a river, round breasts pressed enticingly against her own crossed forearms. Even painted in black ink and very quickly, the girl's enticing expression was unmistakable, her tempting mouth drawn up in a smile that had been interrupted by some deeper pleasure. It was as if the river was making love to her, which was both disturbing and shockingly sexy. Naruto felt himself harden just looking at it, not to mention the full color painting on the ceiling of his wife's muscular curves draped in flowers and tied with sensuous looking vines to a perfect rendering of Sasuke. An unfinished painting of Neji lurked in his peripheral vision, only the Hyuuga's face and chest drawn with detail and the rest of his body barely a shadow in the ink and yet to be elaborated upon. The face was more than enough. Sai had drawn him looking back over his right shoulder, face twisted in pleasure, the muscles of his neck straining against some unseen embrace.

Naruto's mouth went dry just thinking about it and the painting was only of his face. Most of the door was covered in abstractions of bamboo, which looked entirely too phallic for Naruto's peace of mind and his own portrait was obviously still in progress on the wall to their right. The jinchuuriki tried very hard not look at that one, not because he found his own likeness at all arousing, but because Sai had drawn him with so much…so much sexiness, that he felt mildly violated. It was almost like the time TenTen and Rock Lee had gotten drunk and taken an entire album of naked pictures of one another, which somehow got distributed to everyone. Like Sai had seen him do something very private and managed to capture the moment perfectly for him to see at a later time. Naruto swallowed hard and took Sai's hardened length back into him mouth.

The artist's right leg was draped beautifully over his elbow, allowing Naruto the luxury to suck his erection and breach Sai's body with his fingers at the same time. The velvety skin of Sai's penis was soft and luscious against his lips and tender weight of his scrotal sac fit naturally into the jinchuuriki's palm as he held the heavy, silken flesh safely up and out of the way of his own plunging fingers. The first finger had gone in easily, maybe even too easily, and Sai had taken the second with equal grace, thoroughly distracted by Naruto's tongue against his cock. He shivered. Master Jiraiya said some people liked doing it without so much preparation, but that easy was good and the best way to make sure no one was injured. Sai's seemingly effortless reception of the invasion made Naruto hope that he would accept full penetration just as readily and avoid the inherent danger that came with trying to fight the thrall. In the meantime, Naruto was fully occupied trying to maintain his own control as each muscular undulation of the ink nin's intimate body caressed his hand.

Naruto never would have tried anything like this with Sasuke, having both hands occupied and simply relying on the other party to relax and let him have his way. It was not in Sasuke's nature to just comply, to allow something like lovemaking to happen without some sort of battle over it. Sai was different, more eager and also more frightened and raw, receptive like Sasuke could never be despite the fact that he had far less experience with the idea of allowing another person into his body. Neither approach was superior, but the flavor Sai lent to it was certainly new. Naruto let out a rumbling noise of pleasure as Sai spread his legs a bit more, allowing him to lathe his tongue over the tip of the ink nin's blushing arousal with greater ease.

Sai moaned, arching his hips up against Naruto's mouth. Kami it was hot, sweet and sexy and far too alluring for the artist's own good. He turned and pressed a kiss to the inside of Sai's knee before taking him into his mouth again, playing his teeth aggressively over the delicate skin. Sai let out a amatory little yelp at the touch and the jinchuuriki groaned around him as another piercing ache of desire lanced through his pelvis. With the passion came something else, a dragging chill at the edge of his thoughts, but it was gone before the blond could even analyze the feeling. He narrowed his eyes and gazed up at Sai. The artist did not look uncomfortable, though he was probably overwhelmed, and Naruto decided the feeling was just his own nerves. This was dangerous, after all, reckless, but now was very seriously not the time for anxiety. Closing his eyes and focusing on the delicate taste, the warm saltiness of Sai's precum, Naruto moaned. He sucked, hard and slow, just the way he knew would drive Sai to the edge of climax. The artist gasped in response, abdominal muscles quivering against Naruto's cheek, body responding almost too readily.

"Doin' okay?" The jinchuuriki whispered, releasing the hot flesh in his mouth with an audible pop and letting his lips play against Sai's shaft as he spoke.

"Ahh…" Sai groaned, closing his eyes, "Fuck…"

"Baby, are you doing okay?" Naruto asked again, more firmly.

"Yes…yesss…" Sai hissed, biting his lip as another moan tore its way from his throat.

Relieved, at least for the moment, Naruto sighed and licked his lips. The artist's internal body temperature was a little different, a little warmer than the others, but the heat only made the quivering slickness of his intimate skin more succulent to touch. The jinchuuriki pressed another open-mouthed kiss to Sai's arousal and pulled back a fraction as his fingers slid in fully to the knuckle. Sai whimpered, clawing the sheets beside his head in response to the stimulation and panting hard with the fleeting pain of the bigger incursion. His belly was flexing attractively, hips moving gently against Naruto's hands and the demon vessel could feel the movement inside as well. Kami, it was sexy! He pressed deeper, stretching the tight flesh slowly, and Sai cried out with impending orgasm. Sensing his release even before the sound, Naruto closed his thumb and first finger into a tight ring around Sai's shaft, halting his friend's release even as the artist's scrotum tightened against his hand. His hands were filled with him, just the right size, and there was something perfect about it. Naruto squeezed and Sai shrieked as his pulsing sex was caged in the jinchuuriki's fingers.

"Naruto…! I…I need to…" He rasped, writhing in frustration.

"Not yet baby, not yet." Naruto whispered, playing the edge of his third finger against the tight skin of Sai's entrance, enjoying the muscular texture of the other nin's intimate body.

"Ah…Ah!" Sai shrieked as Naruto allowed the edge of the additional digit to dip into the other man's entrance.

He pushed in before retreating, just a bit. Sai cried out again and bore down hard against Naruto's hand in surprised tension, a reflexive attempt to push the jinchuuriki's fingers out of his body. Though certainly unintentional, the action actually opened the narrow passage further, something Naruto had been hoping for from the beginning. The jinchuuriki held his breath as he felt the stiffness release and the tissues soften against the sensitive pads of his fingers. Now was probably the best chance he would have, but it would be very sudden for a virgin. With a soft exhale and a silent prayer, Naruto slid his third finger fully into Sai's untried body, waiting anxiously to see if the ink nin would be able to tolerate the increased penetration. It was tight, gloriously warm and tight, and his hand trembled with the instinctual desire to touch more deeply. Naruto grit his teeth together and waited. Sai gasped, the sound catching hard in his throat, swallowed as he fought to relax. The ink nin shivered and a glistening film of sweat erupted over his body in response to the delicate trauma. Naruto gave his scrotum a gentle squeeze as Sai's erection wilted a fraction against his lips with the pain.

"Hurts…feels like…too much…" He gritted.

"I know, love. It'll be better soon, try to relax for me." Naruto soothed, speaking gently despite the searing passion flooding his blood.

"Can't…can't…" Sai gasped.

"You can, just let it happen. You have to be able to just let it happen…" Naruto whispered, voice serious.

"Ugh…" Sai groaned, the muscles in his thighs jumping.

"Should we stop for now? We can always do more later…" Naruto offered, licking the artist's erection gently in an effort to make the offer playfully.

"…I…I can do it…" The artist panted.

Naruto waited a few beats of his lover's frantic pulse before Sai's quivering body began to soften and accommodate to the invasion. He breathed out, long and slow, even as his own body twitched with eagerness. Something was nagging in his consciousness, something deadly and dark grating against the edge of his mind, but the jinchuuriki shook the feeling away. He needed to focus on this and not some other, amorphous worry. Sai was trusting him to do this carefully, to take him without extinguishing his life, and Naruto felt his focus being taxed without outside distractions. Thankfully, the artist was responding more favorably than either Neji or Sasuke had before to the initial preparation, but comparing them was unfair considering the psychological damage each man brought to the experience. Neji had been abused and Sasuke…well, Sasuke was not used to accepting anything having to do with intimacy.

Naruto realized suddenly that he actually had no idea what normal was supposed to be, that none of his experiences could really be described as simple or direct. Still, making love to Sai this way seemed natural for the ninja the in a way it wasn't for the others and it lulled him into what was probably a false sense of ease. With Sai it was easy to be careless. Even now, where Sasuke would still be shuddering and snarling under his breath and Neji would be still and stiff beneath his hands, Sai was beginning to relax enough to move into the sex instead of away. Sai mewled, his breathing growing gradually more even as the softened flesh of his erection slowly began to stiffen once again.

"How…how many…?" Sai asked, blushing darkly as Naruto bent to take his shaft fully into his mouth again.

"Just three…" Naruto murmured against him, shifting up to kiss the ink nin's lips as he let his hand rest where his mouth had been.

"Feels bigger than that." Sai whispered, turning away and shuddering again as Naruto moved the digits within him.

"I know, baby." Naruto chuckled.

"Is it…big enough?" Sai asked timidly, showering Naruto's mouth with tiny, hesitant kisses.

"No…Not quite yet…" The jinchurriki replied, feeling both pained and aroused by Sai's plaintive sound of disappointment.

The ink nin's skin was shining dully with sweat and as lovely as the spectacle was, Naruto recognized it as a sign that he was in pain and dangerously close to going a little shocky as well. They kissed a while, Naruto moving his hand in slow circles within Sai's body, painting pre-cum against the other ninja's hip with his own weeping arousal. The artist sighed, undulating against Naruto freely, and his color improved with every breath. Naruto knew that patience was important in this, no need to rush, but Kami he was hard! Sai moaned, thrust against him demandingly, and the jinchuuriki practically snarled with want. His arousal was firm again and Naruto trailed an idle finger along the underside of Sai's penis just to watch him thrust his hips up against the contact.

"What does it feel like?" Naruto asked softly, rubbing his palm over the velvety crown of Sai's erection.

"You don't…you don't know?" Sai asked, raising an eyebrow even as he struggled to catch enough breath to speak.

Naruto shook his head with a timid smile. He had never been in the other position, never allowed someone else to enter him this way, even though doing it to others seemed to come as naturally as breathing. Sasuke would certainly have something to say about that, but it was just the truth. Master Jiraiya had offered once, half in jest of course, and long ago when he was still learning everything about being a ninja and certainly not ready for something like sex. Pervy bastard had probably known all along that he would refuse. Now Naruto almost wished he had accepted, especially because he missed the old hentai so badly, but even the thought sent icy spears of doubt into his gut. If Sasuke was right, and he was very rarely wrong about anything academic, he might not even be able to do it without freaking out. There was something mildly unfair about that.

"No," Naruto whispered at last when Sai halted his body in confusion, "I never have."

"Oh. Is it because you can't?"

"I'm not really sure. I never tried, never even thought about it." Naruto sighed.

"Well…it feels good, like you can't think about anything and nothing is wrong, everything too sudden and too intense." Sai began, scrunching his face up in concentration as he tried to describe the feeling.

"Good, that's what I want…" Naruto purred, biting the edge of the artist's ribs gently and enjoying the startled moan he got in response.

"There's pressure too, like being too full with hot tea. It's warm like that, but having your fingers in me makes me feel very delicate somehow and there is pain too." Sai continued, as if he hadn't just been crying out in ecstasy and Naruto was not currently in the process of fucking him.

"Too much pain?" Naruto asked, concerned.

"No. It's not that it's too much. More that it feels…I don't know…too deep. Not something you can shut out and ignore like other pain. The fullness of it feels like bowing on your knees and being overwhelmed by something bigger and stronger and…and submission, but good." Sai decided at last.

"That doesn't sound good at all!" Naruto laughed, feeling uncomfortable.

"But it's you and so it is." Sai assured him, tipping his chin back for another kiss.

OoOoOoO

Neji knew he had gone too far. Maybe he had even known it before now, maybe "too far" had happened the moment he allowed Naruto to guide him into Sasuke's body or when he allowed Hiashi to sell him into marriage in the first place. Not that any of it mattered. The important consideration was that he, Neji Hyuuga, had been aware of the risk and he had tempted Sasuke into darkness anyway. If the other man killed him now to drink his worthless blood, then his death would be more mercy than he deserved. Neji screamed as Sasuke broke his fingers, lapping greedily at where the jagged bone tore through the flesh and brought forth a fresh gush of steaming blood. Sasuke crouched over him and Neji knew he only had moments before the blood running over his shredded palm ceased to satisfy the creature and the beautiful killer went for his throat instead. He could see now what Anko had been so afraid of, the monster she kept caged and out of sight, and for once he agreed that it was not something he could handle. To think he had once judged her so harshly, just for trying to protect him. He was an idiot. Sensei was right, of course she was, and he was just a fool trying to prove himself a man.

Sasuke raked sharpened teeth over the quivering skin of his forearm, tearing the flesh savagely and sending a fresh arch of searing pain through Neji's awareness. The brunette fought a little, trying to pull the limb loose without surrendering any more skin, but he was too shocked to make a concerted effort and the other ninja overwhelmed him easily. Sasuke had torn the muscles in Neji's dominant hand and the Hyuuga could barely move it, but he tried to jerk himself out of his lover's wicked talons on reflex anyway. The chilly air against the wound felt sickeningly, weirdly numbing and Neji's vision swam dangerously. He was going to die this way, Sasuke was going to murder him and then probably eat him before coming back to his senses, if he could even come back from this state. Kami only knew what Naruto would say about his death, if any of them would survive the coming conflict to worry about something as inconsequential as his shattered corpse.

Sasuke hissed, crouching over his prone body with his wings splayed out behind him in some kind of predatory threat display, black lips pulled back thin and tight over his bloody fangs. Neji closed his eyes, unable to look into the festering amber coals that had become the other man's irises. There was nothing of him left in the monster's gaze, nothing of the person he cared about. Sasuke shrieked, the sound almost like steel shattering on frozen glass, like some perversion of a serpent's hiss, and he winced just to hear it. Naruto was busy with Sai and even if he realized what was happening, there was no reason to believe he would be able to stop Sasuke in time, no reason to believe that anything could stop him like this. The Hyuuga screamed as Sasuke flapped his wings and used the momentum to throw his weight fully against his chest, breaking his ribs. Even Naruto had lost to him when the seal was fully activated and Neji had no delusions about the fact that Sasuke intended to tear him into dripping pieces.

Sasuke, the darksome killer he had somehow fallen in love with along with the others, was changing into something…something else… right before his eyes and Neji was powerless to stop it. The demon wearing a mockery of Sasuke's face was like hatred incarnate, as fundamental as Naruto's Fox oni, but unnatural. It was like Orochimaru had created a jinchuuriki of his own, created an elemental demon out of hate and pain instead of fire and lightning, and then shoved the creature deep into Sasuke's soul. The seal, the cursed seal everyone had hoped was dead, had been glowing red and orange like a brand on Sasuke's neck even as his skin grew ashen and gray. The scent of winter had grown too sharp, burning in Neji's nose like alcohol even as the raven's fingers sprouted sooty talons. The transformation happened much too quickly for Neji to really understand what changed first, but he thought it might have been the wings, wings that were also like clawed hands turned backwards. It was ugly, this thing Sasuke had become and the brush of his beloved's now navy colored hair sent spear of revulsion through his addled nerves.

"Scared, Hyuuga?" The monster rasped, pausing in the destruction of his hand to leer up into his face.

"You can still talk!?" Neji gasped, eyes shooting open at the words.

"Oh…pretty eyesssss, I'll tear them from your ssssskull…" Sasuke hissed, beating his wings in excitement.

"Kami! I'm sorry, Sasuke! I'm…I'm sorry!" Neji cried, shrieking as the thing played its claws over his cheek, stabbing deeply into his face.

"Yesss, scream…I like it better when you ssssscream!" It snarled with maniacal glee.

"Just…just fight it! Hang on! Naruto can…" Neji shouted

"Naruto? Naruto? Master Naruto isn't here, lover! He can't feel you crying for him either. I made sure of it." Sasuke laughed, the sound like dead leaves burning.

"Sasuke, please…" Neji pleaded

"No begging, baby, I don't like that…" Sasuke crooned, breaking his arm with a resounding snap.

Neji screamed and kept screaming as his shoulder was wrenched from its socket. He followed the direction Sasuke was pulling, trying to wriggle out of the thing's grasp, but Sasuke brought one of his clawed wings down onto his left hip. The talons pierced his flesh, pinning him in place as Sasuke tore the kimono from his chest, the sound of shredding cloth nearly as loud as Neji's own heartbeat. Almost without thinking, Neji jerked a kunai up and into Sasuke's throat where the weapon skipped off the monster's skin like a flat rock thrown against the surface of a lake.

"No…" Neji gasped as Sasuke's mouth opened into another vicious grin.

"Oh yesssss, fight me…" Sasuke crowed triumphantly, lathing his tongue over Neji's chest in a chilly facsimile of a kiss.

"I don't want to fight you! I love you!" Neji shouted, baring his teeth.

"Love!?" Sasuke spat the word as if the very taste of it was bitter to him.

Neji used the split moment of hesitation to roll, dislodging Sasuke's razor-sharp wing talons from his body with an agonizing squelch, bouncing up onto his uninjured left hand and kicking out. Neji used the momentum of the movement to lurch his flopping shoulder back into place with a sickening pop that radiated in nauseas waves all the way up into his jaw. Neji ignored the pain and launched himself forward, feet connected soundly with Sasuke's chest, but it was like kicking an oak tree. The monster spun, trying to throw Neji off balance, reaching almost casually for his ankle. The Hyuuga let out a ragged huff of breath and jumped, hands flying into caging jutsu, a technique he hadn't used in years and the sent scorching pain through his fractured arm. Despite the injury, he managed the last symbol and the energy jumped and flared, forming a glowing cage around Sasuke's transformed body. Neji had a breath, maybe even a fraction of a sob before the monster beat its wings and the chakra buckled and disappeared with a fizzle of energy. Despite the pain, Neji was already preparing his next technique, Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists. Clenching his mangled hand into as best a fist as he could, Neji finished the jutsu and a surging ball of energy formed around his hands, gaining every moment in power. The monster hissed, taking to the air, the beating of his wings like thunder. Neji released the jutsu, watching as a cyclone of snow rose around them.

The jutsu hit Sasuke, and for once the beast was not able to merely bat the energy away. He shrieked, rolling with the strike and diving for Neji like an eagle, wings folded tight to his body and long blue hair blown back from a face that was still too much like the one he knew. The Hyuuga turned, smoothly evading the other ninja's attack and striking Sasuke's left shoulder with a flash-bomb. Sasuke was thrown into the snow with a crash, but Neji barely had a moment to blink before he was rolling up and into a fighting stance. Neji flew at him, hitting with a volley of punches, trying to overwhelm the monster's defense enough to get an opening, forced to strike only with his left. It was risky, his arm was already fractured, but a single opening was all he needed to block Sasuke's chakra and effectively paralyze him.

Neji's wounds were still oozing, his entire right side coated in sticky blood and wracked with agony, he had to finish this soon if there was to be any chance of saving them both. Sasuke dodged, too fast to see, but Neji was using the Byukugan and anticipated his movement perfectly. With a shriek, the Hyuuga adjusted his stance, driving his first left two fingers deeply into the joint of Sasuke's left hip and the chakra channel it contained. With the Byukugan, Neji could see the glistening flow of energy cease, For a moment, everything was still and then Sasuke was laughing the same metallic hiss he had before.

"Yessss, lover, yesss! I'm glad I didn't kill you! You are fun!" Sasuke crowed.

"Stop this!" Neji snapped, stabbing his fingers into Sasuke's throat as well.

"Better than kissesss, isn't it…?" Sasuke purred, licking his lips.

Neji watched in horror through the shimmering Byukugan as Sasuke's chakra pathways branched, fracturing into multiple conduits, and flowed around the obstructions he had created in the man's body like rivers breaching a damn. Rerouting one's own chakra was impossible! He knew it was! He gasped and then Sasuke's jagged claws were wrapped around his throat, choking him. Neji kicked, but Sasuke maneuvered him back and against his own chest with almost laughable ease, squeezing his airway tightly enough that darkness threatened the edges of Neji's vision. He struggled, trying to breathe, writhing desperately and fighting to resist the searing panic racing through his veins as his body fought for air. The Hyuuga shrieked in a feeble attempt at a scream as the monster sunk its teeth into his injured shoulder, tugging brutally against the already bruised ligaments. He could feel the fresh heat of new blood pouring down his chest. Sasuke finally loosened his grip enough to allow him a single desperate breath before tightening again.

Neji ignored the agony in his lungs, and pulled another kunai from his belt. He stabbed back into Sasuke's belly, twisting the blade so that it would be more likely to cut through whatever was hardening his skin. Unlike before, the weapon bit into the grey flesh and a brief rush of icy blood coated Neji's hand. The creature snarled, throwing him in a heap into the snow as Neji gasped for breath, trying to roll. His vision was swimming and he was losing too much blood, but the Hyuuga somehow managed to remain conscious as Sasuke stalked towards him, the wound on his abdomen oozing black liquid in a lazy trickle down his belt.

The creature bent low, crouched as it had been before, and ran its tongue over the wound on his hip. Neji felt a deep shudder of pure disgust run through him as he shoved weakly at Sasuke's head, the monster's tongue probing savagely at the torn flesh, eyes closed in eerie bliss. Neji yelped and tried to scramble away, trying to escape on base instinct. Sasuke grabbed his ankle, and squeezed until the bone groaned under the pressure and Neji lost control of his breathing with the pain. He screamed, the sound torn from his throat against his will and then he couldn't stop screaming. Neji arched against the snow, body no longer responding to his logic, every cell filled with the searing pain and dragging fatigue of broken bones and blood loss. With a lewd chuckle, Sasuke began to tear the Hyuuga's clothing away.

"Sasuke no!" Neji shrieked, eyes tearing as the movement jarred his wounds.

"Oh, yesss…you're even prettier like thissss…" Sasuke hummed appreciatively.

"Stop! You would NEVER do this! Never!" Neji snarled.

"No stopping, precioussss…there's not enough pain yet." Sasuke hissed, biting at his lips.

The monster flipped him with a violent jerk, pressing Neji's face with a bruising thunk into the hardened snow, fingers wound painfully into his hair. The Hyuuga snarled as his cheek was ground against the unforgiving snow, scraping the skin. The tearing of silk was loud in his ears, like a siren, a warning come too late. The sound sent a bolt of true terror plunging into his chest for the first time as Neji realized that Sasuke had not chosen to just break his neck and drink his blood like he first imagined, that he was toying with him for a reason. Sasuke made a sibilant noise that nonetheless sounded…aroused.

Cold horror flooded over Neji's awareness as Sasuke caressed his shivering hips, dragging his claws over the exposed flesh with in blatant suggestion of more pain yet to come. Sasuke meant to rape him. Kami, no, not this too! Neji shrieked and struggled with new strength, trying to form jutsu one-handed. The small flash of chakra exploded, but Sasuke snuffed it out with a single beat of his horrible wings, laughing cruelly as his ran his tongue along Neji's spine.

"You don't want to do this!" Neji shouted desperately, "This isn't who you are!"

"Sssssooo much noise, maybe I should eat your tongue?" Sasuke chuckled.

"S…Stop! Just kill me! Don't do this!" Neji shrieked, clawing at the ground.

"Come on lover, let's fuck." Sasuke purred and bit him again.

OoOoOoO

Kiba stood nervously at the head of his troops, thinking furiously and trying desperately to remember every word Naruto had ever said about the geography of the Uchiha fiefdom. There was the western forest and the eastern forest and between them a deep ravine where the hot springs that fed both the public baths and warmed the main house met the Chosokabe river. A mixture of hot and cold water meant steam, lots of steam to hide his people, which might be useful if he could only figure out how to get there. Hiashi had assigned him a company of twenty rookie nin and put them at the spearhead of his attack, a blatant ploy to get both Kiba and the more inexperienced soldiers killed. Poor kids. Kiba snarled in frustration and Akamaru echoed the sound. If he just deserted, Kami only knew what Hiashi would do to his unborn children and if he stayed…they would grow up without a father just as he had.

Kiba spat from Akamaru's back, the very thought putting a bitter taste into his mouth. Hiashi was a clever bastard, but he was not done yet, not by a long shot. If living with the Hyuuga clan had taught Kiba anything, it was the value of patience and a well-timed lie, a lesson he had used to buy himself a little bit of maneuvering room. He had acquiesced to Hiashi's madness as publicly and convincingly as he could, pretending to be horrified and devastated wasn't really that hard, and the old psycho had drunk it up. Apparently, Hiashi's weakness was his pride and a little groveling went a long way. Kiba was not above groveling if it got him what he wanted and that same pride was going to lead his father-in-law directly into Naruto's jaws where the jinchuuriki would crunch him up into itty bitty snack food and then spit him up for Sasuke to devour. Kiba laughed a little at the thought, scanning his eyes over the land again, trying to remember if there might be some way to get down into the ravine before Sasuke and Sai chopped his troops into pieces.

"Kiba-sama, do you see something?" The boy to his left shoulder asked.

"Nope, that's why I keep lookin'." Kiba replied, giving the kid a smile.

"Aki says that we got lucky being put with you, that you're a great warrior." The boy said, smiling shakily.

Kiba looked him over, shaking his head sadly. The kid looked like he was barely fifteen, face still soft with youth and body ungainly with new growth, eyes shining with both hope and terror. Kami, had he ever looked like that? Hiashi considered the boy expendable because he was too young to have any decent fighting experience and too old to be considered a child and left at home with his mother. Kiba had seen this before, seen it too much in Sasuke's wars when the other side got too desperate, wide eyed teenagers running into battle with weapons they barely knew how to use. He himself had probably been a child soldier a few times as well, but he never went into battle without his master, without knowing that there was someone there who would help him. These kids had no help, no sensei, they only had him and that was fucking sick enough.

"Would ya believe me if I told you that the greatest warriors are just the ones that come back?" Kiba whispered, meeting the boys eyes again.

"Well…I don't know. Everyone says it's glorious to die in battle." The child said softly, fiddling with the silver feathers on his helmet nervously.

"Humph, whoever said that is alive to say it ain't they?" Kiba growled.

"Y…Yes, Kiba-sama." The boy agreed nervously, biting his lip and jumping to attention.

"What's yer name, kid?" Kiba asked, angry at himself that he'd snapped at the boy.

"Yumi," He replied a bit tartly, "And I'm sixteen."

"Oh, double digits and everything? Guess that means you're a man." Kiba huffed, rolling his eyes.

"Man enough to fight sir!" Yumi said, slapping a kunai against his breastplate with a metallic crack.

Soon the entire company was doing the same, slapping their weapons against their armor enthusiastically and in perfect unison. Kiba groaned. The salute sounded once more and then again before his little troops quieted down again. He supposed that it didn't matter if Naruto knew their position since he had no intention of sticking around here for Sasuke, Naruto's pet demon, to come and tear their throats out. If it made his boys feel a little better to raise an unholy ruckus then there was no point spending energy to stop them. The key would be getting them to follow his commands when they inevitably clashed with Hiashi's, to obey quickly even though they had never worked with him before. Even with the rigorous Hyuuga battle training, they were just too young to be expected to snap to an order instantly. Their inexperience may be a good thing if they snapped to his commands instead of Hiashi's, but the whole situation had plenty of potential to turn into a giant cluster fuck anyway. Puppies made poor soldiers, but Kiba had no intention of letting fucking Sasuke Uzumaki slaughter his troops just because they happened to be in his way.

That's what Hiashi failed to understand about all this, that Naruto's vanguard would be the same ninja that had once terrorized entire nations. Naruto may be the head of the family and the most powerful, but Sasuke was always the one to worry about. Now of course there was Sai too, newly claimed and probably just as thirsty for blood in his own weird empty way, as well as Neji. Kiba may not know anything about jinchuuriki, but he knew about packs and if Naruto's pack was anything like a dog pack then the alpha would stay close to the female and the others would be the first wave they would contend with. Not that fighting Sai and Sasuke and Neji would be any better than fighting Naruto himself; the other nin were formidable even without their alpha's power and Kiba fully expected to find them in a territorial bloodlust the minute Hyuuga feet touched Uchiha soil. Subordinates, subordinates were the ones to worry about and they would most likely be led by Sasuke as he was very clearly Naruto's second. Kiba whined a little under his breath. Talking the ebony haired psychopath out of killing had never worked before and Kiba certainly couldn't imagine having more success with Sasuke's unborn baby at stake.

"Kiba-sama will be victorious!" Someone shouted from behind his left shoulder.

"Yes! And we have Akamaru-san as well!" Another youthful voice piped up.

"Quiet, brats!" Kiba snarled and his troops were silent immediately. That gave him a little hope.

Kiba surveyed the tree line again, searching his memory for a safe way to get around Sasuke and out of sight. He would just have to trust Hinata to protect their children for now, she was a force to be reckoned with and Kiba knew that there was no other option. These stupid little boys were his kids too, his clan, his pups and he'd be damned to watch them all die for the sake of Hiashi's pride and Sasuke's vicious indignation.

"Well, Yumi. Do ya wanna live?" Kiba asked the boy, raising an eyebrow.

"Y…Y…Yes Sir." The boy stuttered miserably.

"Then do exactly as I say and tell Aki and all yer other friends too. You follow my bark and no one else's! I say down and you're on yer face! I say jump and you fucking JUMP! NO questions, NO back talk and NO hesitation! Got it!?" Kiba barked, turning Akamaru so he could face them from the giant dog's back.

"Yes Sir!" Yumi shouted, snapping eagerly to attention once again.

"Yessir!" The others chorused as one.

Kiba looked them over, trying to memorize faces, trying to decide who would keep it together and who would panic when the battle started heating up. Twenty pairs of glowing silver eyes tracked his progress as he rode, faces filled with desperate hope and not a small amount of fear. Kiba sighed. He had underestimated them and he shouldn't have knowing what household these boys had grown up in. They all knew that they had been sent here to die and that only his leadership held whatever hope they might possibly have of survival. Kiba turned back and extended his hand to Yumi from Akamaru's saddle, with another long sigh wondering how the hell he was going to pull this off. The youth looked at his open palm uncertainly, silver eyes huge with doubt.

"Come on." Kiba urged with a smile.

The boy's mouth firmed into a serious like and he nodded once before taking Kiba's hand, swinging up behind him on the saddle. Kiba could feel him shaking against his back and it only stiffened his resolve further that nobody was going to die under his watch today. Yumi petted the giant dog's hip worshipfully, letting Akamaru's long fur slide through his fingers. Kiba smiled.

"Okay, you know how to shoot that thing?" Kiba asked, gesturing to the bow slung across Yumi's chest.

"Yes sir." Yumi nodded.

Kiba actually believed him. The bow was something a person could practice and master without the heat of battle, without someone actually trying to kill you, to hone the skill. Yumi was probably a lot more dangerous and experienced with the weapon than he was with a kunai or tanto. That was the first mistake every green nin made, using a blade when a projectile was more familiar, easier to control under pressure and something that could be used to engage an enemy from afar. They weren't good enough with tanto yet to meet someone like Sasuke head on and live, but even Naruto's killer subordinate was not immune to arrows.

"Okay, Yumi, you see anything even twitch in that forest I want ya to put an arrow in it." Kiba ordered.

"Yes Sir." The boy whispered, unslinging the bow and drawing it in readiness.

"As for you pups, follow me as soon as I give the signal. We're getting out of here." Kiba said and Akamaru howled in agreement.

OoOoOoO

Sakura was already feeling breathless when she heard Neji scream for the first time, but the sound put new adrenaline into her blood and the girl managed to keep running. She held her heavy belly tight, trying to navigate the snowy forest terrain without bashing herself into anything or bouncing the baby to death. Tsunade would be furious and Sakura knew she was not supposed to be doing this, but she could feel them hurting, feeling the icy darkness clawing at Sasuke's spirit and the pounding terror pushing against Neji's control. Something very bad had happened and no matter what, she had to keep going, had to find them before it was too late and Sasuke was lost to her forever. She knew now that Neji's life was at stake too, that Sasuke was hurting him and that by doing so he was only really hurting them both, that her men were tangled together in some new horror. She gasped, fighting for breath, muscles quivering with fatigue. Kami, she had gotten so weak! Still, Sakura was unwilling to let her men die, not now when everything was finally starting to be okay and her family was so close to being united.

Neji screamed again, this time the sound loud and plaintive enough to raise a flock of birds from their roost within the trees, the kind of sound someone only made when seriously injured to the point where control and martial discipline shattered. She panted, tempted to pause, just for a moment to catch her breath. If not for the baby, Sakura could have used jutsu for force the land to roll forward and carry her or even activate the origami bird scroll Sai had given to her for emergencies. As it was, any surge of chakra beyond simple survival put her child in jeopardy and her own life in very real danger as well. Dying in the forest of energy poisoning would not save anyone. She tried again to call for Naruto, sending her emotion out towards him in frantic surges, but something was blocking her and the only feeling she got when probing for him was a vague kind of psychic static. For the first time in years, Naruto couldn't hear her feelings and the girl was truly on her own.

The emptiness where he should be was terrifying even though she could almost feel her husband just beyond the barrier, feel the heady arousal as he loved Sai, both of them unaware that something horrible was happening. Sakura decided that even the suggestion of being alone in her own head was more than intolerable and that even if she had truly forgotten what it was like to do things by herself, she had no interest to relearning the skill. To be alone without Naruto's presence was like some kind of sensory deprivation, like being drowned in dark water. Sasuke, at least, was still with her and growing more heavy and wrathful by the moment. She groaned. No matter what she felt or didn't feel, none of it was good.

"Come on, Haruno!" Sakura snarled at herself, gathering her muscles for a jump.

Moving into the trees was risky too and in this state she could easily fall, but the pink haired kunoichi also knew that she would be faster off the ground and less likely to trip on something and end up in a ditch. She leapt, too-long nails scrabbling for purchase against the bark as she fought for balance, the weight of her baby throwing off her center of gravity. Stupid nails! She probably looked like some daimyo's concubine, a caged woman bought with power and money, but appearances could be very deceiving and there was nothing that could keep a kunoichi from her target. Still, being both pregnant and a ninja was pure insanity and she would have to go about this carefully. Sakura swallowed hard, eyes trained steadily forward towards the direction of Neji's last shriek and away from the precipitous drop that waited for her if she lost her footing. Carefully, one motion at a time, the kunoichi removed her silk slippers and placed them delicately against the angle of one of the tree branches.

It was cold, but she would be infinitely more sure-footed and swift if she ran barefoot. Only pausing a moment to be assert her balance was firm, Sakura shot forward, running along the tree boughs with enough momentum to compensate for her clumsy body. Stopping was going to be interesting, but for the moment speed was her main concern. She leapt from tree to tree as she had all her life and her body remembered the motion even with the additional weight of her burden. The girl was covering ground far faster than a civilian, but the effort was beginning to tell. Her abdominal muscles ached with the movement, clenching with the constant readjustment of her balance, and Sakura felt her bile rise in her throat. Nausea flooded her awareness, but she was used to feeling sick and as long as it didn't come with vertigo she would be fine. She swallowed hard and kept moving, they couldn't be too far now.

With the wind rushing against her ears, it was more difficult to make out individual sounds, but Sakura strained her hearing for Neji since he was the one making noise before. The fact that Sasuke was not making noise was both a relief and also utterly terrifying. The most dangerous predators were the quiet ones and if Sasuke had been overcome by…by whatever it was that Orochimaru did to him so long ago, he would definitely be stalking for prey. Quiet could be bad, but it might also be that Neji managed to knock him unconscious. She had very little hope that such an eventuality was possible, Sasuke had been nearly invincible even as a child, but Neji was a magnificent ninja and she could at least hope…

As she ran the Hyuuga's screams rang through the forest, sounding every few moments, and the shuffling din of a struggle was becoming more audible as well. She cursed softly and pushed an extra fraction of speed out of her stride, praying that she would reach them in time. Sakura was close enough to see the snow rising into flurries above the darker branches when she heard it, a sound like thunder but darker, the hellish beating of Sasuke's wings in his seal-activated form.

"Oh Kami, no…!" She whispered, coming to a halt and nearly falling as his form rose above the forest.

Sakura gasped, sinking to her knees and clutching the trunk of the tree. She hadn't seen Sasuke use the seal this way in years, not since returning to Konoha, and the spectacle made her blood run cold. Sasuke flew, his body as graceful in the air as it was on land, but there was a diabolical purpose to his movements that made him look horrible somehow. Naruto had never spoken about the Valley of the End, but one night he had gotten very drunk with Kakashi and she had overheard him mention Sasuke's other form. His voice had shaken talking about their battle and he said that the worst thing was the wings, that he hadn't noticed at the time, but later had nightmares about those wings. Sakura had listened, feeling tortured, hoping that Naruto's mind was just playing tricks on him due to the stress. She should have known better.

Sasuke rose higher into the air, navy blue hair swirling with the rush of air generated by the hideous clawed wings that bore him, body taught and rigid with combat. His face, what she could see of it, was focused in an expression she had only seen him use when trying to kill something. Sakura clutched at her belly as the tears welled in her eyes, knowing that the seal poisoned Sasuke's very soul and that while he was in that form he would also be impossible to defeat. Naruto might have managed it, might, but he was being blocked from her and too far away to help. Her black haired husband dove, like a bullet, and Neji's scream tore through the forest again. Kami, no!

Sakura pulled herself up and with a one last breath to bolster her, shot towards them again. Her mind whirled, trying to strategize, trying to think of some way to defeat the semi-possessed thing that her raven-haired husband had become. Naruto had told Kakashi that he'd attacked Sasuke directly, that he'd been angry. Naruto's drunken ramblings didn't seem like much information, but Sakura needed to use what she had and as far as she knew, the jinchuuriki was one of the few people that had faced Sasuke this way and lived. Anger, Naruto had moaned, that anger made it worse. Sakura narrowed her eyes and wondered. It would be just like Naruto to begin something angry and end it in tears and just like Sasuke to use rage to fuel his own resolve. Maybe that was important, maybe if Sasuke's rage could be controlled then the hold the seal had on him would degrade and he would be able to fight against the dark impulses. Kakashi had once said something like that once, that Orochimaru's jutsu used feelings like wrath, sorrow and jealousy. He had also said that was why the spells were so destructive to their weilders.

Determined, Sakura pushed on through the trees. There was a clearing up ahead, she could sense it even without jutsu and the agonized sounds of pain and violence confirmed her suspsicion that Neji was in serious trouble. Sakura paused, just before the trees thinned, trying to get a view of what was happening. Rushing in without any preparation might get Neji killed and she had no idea if her mad little theory would work anyway.

"Stop! You would NEVER do this! Never!" Neji snarled, the sound of tearing clothing plain in the cold air.

Sakura felt her hackles rise and closed her eyes tight, trying to remain calm. So, the beast hiding in the shadows of her lover's spirit had matured along with Sasuke, perhaps even affected by the relationship they shared, and now something like this was a part of its agenda in addition to simple carnage. Logically, Sakura was not particularly surprised and the fact that the seal had been altered by Sasuke's hormones was probably the only reason Neji was still alive, something for which she was desperately grateful. She and Sasuke both led very erotic lives; being married to Naruto made sexuality was almost a necessity, and she should not be surprised that the seal had absorbed some of the feeling and then perverted it. Perverting emotion was probably what the damn thing did. No, it was not surprising, but the girl was still violently ill as she heard Neji cry out in terror.

She vomited quietly, still undetected by either of them, and harsh acid burning her throat. The woman was so used to doing this silently, trying to keep her illness a secret from Sasuke and Naruto, that she retched with barely more than the edge of a whisper. Sasuke was saying something to Neji, something that made the Hyuuga fight him even more desperately. Time was running out. Sakura took another breath to calm her trembling hands, wiped her mouth, and carefully stood. Her men needed her, they were crying for help and nothing as unimportant as fear or revulsion was going to prevent her from going to them. With another deep breath, the girl walked into the clearing.

Neji was on his knees in the bloody shreds of his clothing, upper body pressed savagely into the snow as Sasuke crouched over his back, biting deeply into the muscle of his shoulder. The monster flared his wings, using his weight to move Neji into a slightly different position, one Sakura was all too familiar with. Kami! She barely managed to keep from screaming as she watched her husband prepare to rape the man she had also come to love. There was blood everywhere and Sakura knew that it had to be Neji's. Sasuke hissed in some awful semblance of a laugh, and shoved the Hyuuga's legs apart. Neji fought him, but Sakura could see that the blood loss was making him weak, another few moments and something would be done that could never be undone between them. The matriarch of the Uzumaki household clenched her hands into fists, and spoke as softly and calmly as she could.

"Baby…What are you doing?" She whispered, voice drifting like a vapor towards where the two men struggled.

"Sakura!?" Neji shrieked, eyes wide with horror as he turned to face her.

Sasuke just hissed like a furious cobra, but stilled himself and that was more than enough response for now, at least he hadn't leapt up and taken her head off. Shakily, Sakura moved closer, moving slow, trying to make her posture calm and unthreatening. The kunoichi smiled as gently as she could with the terror still surging through her veins, bringing up all her most cherished memories of Sasuke to give her strength. The thing that was also her husband fluttered his wings and the gesture looked almost uncertain. Uncertain was better than instantaneous death and Sakura smiled a bit more, letting her relief at finding them both alive shine through her face as much as she could.

"Want to play too, bitch?" Sasuke snarled, licking his sharpened teeth.

"No! Sakura, get out of here!" Neji shrieked and Sakura fought not to flinch as Sasuke punched him mercilessly in the gut.

"It's okay Sasuke, I'm here now. Everything is going to be okay." Sakura said, a tear trailing down her face despite the effort to stop it.

Sasuke glared at her, his eyes an unholy shade of yellow within the darkened sockets, and drew back his lips as if to hiss again. She moved a little closer and the sound died meekly in his throat without ever fully being formed. She met his gaze fearlessly, forcing her shoulders to relax and her hands to move smoothly as she brushed the hair from her face. Sasuke's eyes widened with surprise despite the glistening malice glowing in their depths. Neji was still coughing miserably and the wet sound of his breathing told Sakura that the Hyuuga's ribs had been badly broken at some point, puncturing his lung. Pneumothorax was an injury that could be rapidly fatal. Nonetheless, she had to ignore him for now, any breach of focus and Sasuke would kill them both.

"You want to ssstop me! Naruto sssent you, his whore!" Sasuke accused, face twisting with rage.

"No honey. I can't stop you and Naruto doesn't know that you're here. I just want to be with you…" Sakura said softly.

"Liessss! You don't want to! How…how could you ever want that after…after…?" He trailed off, slowly removing his claws from Neji's quivering flesh.

"Because I love you." Sakura whispered, moving a fraction closer still.

"Sakura no! He'll kill you!" Neji wailed, sobbing into the snow.

"I trust you Sasuke." Sakura said, moving slowly, intentionally.

The girl slowly undid the belt of her kimono, letting her hands move around the knot in big obvious movements, making sure Sasuke was watching and that he realized she was not preparing to fight. She could have taken the weapons out of her sleeves and laid them before him, but then the gesture would look too much like surrender, and that was not her intention. The monster's face was guarded, but softened, no longer contorted into a mask of rage and pain. He looked more like the Sasuke she knew and loved and the change gave her a little hope. The girl chuckled a bit at the thought. As sick as it was, she really loved both of them and probably had all along. She loved Sasuke the man for the unattainable grace and perfection of skill he wielded so effortlessly and the other, the ugly thing inside, because it was something imperfect and damaged that she could fix. He watched her eyes, wings twitching nervously. Sakura smiled and gestured a little so that his eyes flicked lower to her hands, watching as the silk opened.

"Sakura…what are you doing?" Neji whispered, the horror plain in his voice, hands shaking.

"I'm here to be with you, Sasuke. I love you…" Sakura whispered, slowly shrugging out of the padded silk of her heavy outer kimono.

"Foolish female, you ssstupid little idiot…" Sasuke snarled, breathing hard.

"I'm stupid, but I'm here and I love you." Sakura said, smiling as if he had just paid her a compliment. She was used to ignoring his words.

"I'll kill you…" He snarled, raising his wings.

"If you must. I'll love you anyway." Sakura murmured, shivering as she let her house kimono fall to the ground as well.

The kunoichi slowly undressed, peeling her way out of the many layers of silk she had become accustomed to wearing since the weather changed, humming a little under her breath when the tension grew too thick. Neji had the good sense to keep as quiet and still as he could, silver eyes glued to her just as surely as Sasuke's were. Her beloved murderer watched motionlessly, eyes fixed to her movements the way a snake would watch its prey, the gaze cold and analytical and filled with nothing she could recognize as affection. Sakura was not intimidated. No matter how he looked, it was still Sasuke standing there before her and she was undressing for her husband the way she had a thousand times before, smiling as his gaze roved over her body.

"Sssstupid bitch! H…How can you…?" Sasuke asked, something small and broken in his voice when before there was only hate.

"I trust you." Sakura said again, cheeks flushing despite the risk.

"Trust…?" Sasuke echoed quietly, wings fluttering in agitation.

"Yes." Sakura smiled.

She untied the hidden laces of her inner kimono, standing before him in only her underclothes. Sasuke slowly stood, spreading his wings for balance and idly licking the blood from his claws. Sakura could see the predator in him as he moved slowly away from where Neji was still bleeding generously into the snow, movements tentative, but smooth and intentional as well. He was stalking her and the realization was like ice-water down her spine, but Sakura refused to acknowledge the fear. A heartbeat passed and Neji collapsed fully onto his belly with a pained whimper. Sakura unhooked the clasps of her bra, letting it fall into the drifts as well, and began to slowly peel her arm covers off. The wind was freezing and she fought not to shiver as gooseflesh rose over her skin and her bare feet ached in the cold snow. Sakura felt exposed this way, especially with her body so swollen and clumsy with her pregnancy, but the way Sasuke's eyes smoldered left no doubt in her mind that the gesture had made an impact.

"Ssssakura?" He whispered, reaching a tentative hand out to her.

"Yes, love. I'm here." Sakura said, laughing with relief that he was human enough to use her name.

"You brought our baby…" He mused.

"I had to, love." Sakura chuckled.

"I could kill it." He hissed, baring white fangs still coated with Neji's blood. She smiled and shook her head.

"I know you won't." Sakura replied gently, "I know how much you love her."

"You don't know anything about me!" Sasuke roared, but Sakura ignored him.

The girl slipped her panties off, standing fully nude with her arms extended, knowing that Sasuke was just as likely to kill her and their child as he was to come back to his senses. The risk didn't matter. The life they shared, the family, the happiness they had achieved was about all of them. No one was going to be left behind, not now or ever, and if he killed her at least they could all be together again. With a hungry little sigh Sasuke flapped his wings, the booming wind of them blinding her for a moment, and then he was staring down into her eyes close enough for Sakura to feel the sucking chill of his flesh. The girl gasped, but did not flinch away. The manic gold of his gaze was surging with both darkness and doubt, searching her own almost desperately for some hint of deception. He wouldn't find it. The snow and wind of his passing roared around them, but Sakura closed her eyes to the maelstrom, reaching her arms around his neck. She stood on her toes, pulling him to her even as his deadly talons played over the vulnerable skin of her belly.

"I trust you." She whispered.

OoOoOoO

Neji was not sure what he was seeing and half wondered if he had already died and was being treated to the psychotic melodrama of his own dying brain waves. If he was dying, he never would have imagined that the process could hurt so much. His broken arm was excruciating, the fracture site sending mind shattering surges of fiery pain lancing through the bones even when he held still; nothing like the deep pain he had experienced with broken bones before. The Hyuuga's chest felt like it was filled with scorching flame, his shattered ribs aching and also somehow moving with every breath he managed to take. Neji's skin itched and tingled and the right side of his face felt singed, smoldering with radiant agony as if salt had been ground into the wounds Sasuke had made against his cheek. Every ounce of self-control the Hyuuga had was devoted to merely keeping silent as his flesh raged. All he could do was watch as Sasuke lunged for Sakura and wrapped her in his wings.

He closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the scream, waiting for the monster Sasuke had become to tear their woman apart. One breath, two and Neji couldn't bear the thought of what might happening any longer. Watching was useless, they were all going to die, but the Hyuuga opened his eyes anyway. The clearing was quiet except for a pleased sigh, the snow slowly settling back onto the ground in glistening eddies. The new drifts obscured his vision, but the Hyuuga did not sense motion with the Byukugan and Sakura's chakra was still glowing vividly against the backdrop of Sasuke's surging energy. Neji released the jutsu and grunted softly, rising painfully onto his elbow to look, knowing that the only thing waiting for him might be Sakura's devastated corpse. His eyes widened, hope aching fiercely in his chest at the spectacle unfolding before him.

Sakura was kissing Sasuke passionately, wrapped in his wings as if in a cloak, her cheeks shining with tears and moist lips red with life against the demon's blackened maw. Sasuke was holding her there, under his wings, holding her tenderly instead of ripping her body apart. Neji's mouth fell open in awe, there was nothing even aggressive or deceptive in his posture! Instead, the monster was kissing her like Sakura was precious air and he had been held, chained under the water for too long, his black lips desperate and worshipful. The girl ran her hands over Sasuke's face, brushing the navy hair up and behind his ears as she had with Neji's own hair so many times before, the gesture smooth and reflexive even though Sasuke had never worn his mane so long. Even wracked with pain and exhaustion, the Hyuuga shivered as the memory of her hands against his own cheek rose with delicious clarity. Her chipped nails were ragged and bloody, but the roughness detracted nothing from the slender grace of her strong fingers, a healer's fingers that Neji knew too well. He could almost feel where she had touched him, cupped her hands around his damaged heart, stopping the bleeding.

The woman tipped her head back, leaning into the strength of Sasuke's wings as if he had always had them, as if even like this she knew him. The smooth, ivory column of her throat was beautiful, leading Neji's eyes naturally to the womanly swell of her breasts just hidden by Sasuke's shoulders. They moved like dancers, Sasuke spinning her against his chest and hugging her close, wrapping his arms beneath her breasts and raising his wings. Sakura moved easily with him, her blushing face radiant, green eyes soft with pleasure and affection. The soft globes of her voluptuous chest rested easily on top of Sasuke's grey forearm, the cherry blush of her nipples emphasized by the way he supported the plump flesh. Sakura gasped, arching her back against him as she inhaled, and her breasts rising enticingly with the air. The girl trembled, moaning delicately as Sasuke moved to cup her right in his hand, the soft pallor of the feminine flesh stark against his blackened talons. Neji held his breath.

Sasuke moved his other hand lower, claws skimming over Sakura's swollen abdomen and farther to delve into the scarlet curls decorating her vulva, spreading her legs as he went. Fearlessly, the girl reached behind them, tugging on the claw of his wing and Neji wondered again if all of it was some kind of dream. Sasuke hissed, but the sound was one of pleasure and affection instead of violence and pain. He knelt, carrying her effortlessly down with him, spreading Sakura's pale thighs over his own. The muscles of her legs rippled, the pale skin ruddy with both pleasure and the cold as Sasuke ran his hands over her breasts. The demonic creature that Sasuke had become yanked at the ornament in her hair, and Sakura's glittering pink mane fell free over her silken shoulders in mauve waves, the stuff of dreams, but to sudden to be a fantasy. The raven gathered the glistening tresses into his hands and pressed her hair eagerly to his nose, inhaling with a soft sound of appreciation. Neji closed his eyes, the memory of her delicate floral fragrance as powerful as the scent of incense in a temple and just as sacred. Sasuke moaned, the sound almost pained, and moved to encircle the delicate slimness of her left ankle in his deadly hand.

Neji tensed, but he only pulled her leg back against his thigh, easing the angle as Sakura shifted herself against him. She rose onto her knees for a moment, crying out erotically, and then Neji knew that Sasuke was inside her. Sakura's breasts jiggled as she moved, one hand clutching her own belly as if the movement was uncomfortable, but nonetheless spearing herself eagerly onto Sasuke's erection. Sasuke relaxed with her, sinking again to the ground as if in adoration, pressing kisses to her shoulders and hair. They drifted against the snow, his hips moving gently against her soft flesh.

Sasuke was not hurting her, far from it. They were making love and the very idea was some kind of miracle, though not the kind people usually talked about, not the kind that Neji had ever thought he would witness. Still, Neji supposed that it was the sort of miracle Sakura Haruno created, the kind that saved lives. She had saved him again, she always saved him. It wasn't fair, Neji didn't deserve her mercy or her love. He didn't even deserve to keep watching them, to intrude on something so unbearably divine, but he was too amazed, to grateful to look away for even a moment. Hot tears, different from the frozen sobbing he'd done before, fell from his eyes to run in unheeded torrents over his bloody face. It was selfish, horribly so, but for the moment the Hyuuga allowed himself to believe what he was seeing could actually be real.

She was gorgeous, tender, rosy mouth slightly open, the muscular lines of her shoulders perfectly arranged to display her beautiful neck. Sai treated her like a god and maybe the emotionless nin was right. Maybe she was more than just a woman, but a deity sent from heaven just for them…watching her now, Neji would have certainly believed it. Sakura moaned, flexing back against Sasuke's body, thighs pressing close against where his probing fingers stroked the dewy folds of her intimate body. Neji could practically taste her, the warmth of her climax salty and rich against his tongue even in memory. Pleasure rang through his blood like hot sake, just watching them enough to fill his veins with fire, and suddenly he was hard as well. Neji shuddered as something snapped and cracked in his broken wrist, crying out as the bone moved of its own accord, only to discover that he could move his fingers.

Sakura cried out, the slender muscles of her arms tightening as she held Sasuke tight against her back, slender waist a delicate curve against the twitching muscle of his chest. With a long moan, Sasuke flexed his wings and wrapped them tightly around her again, clothing her with the thick membranes as tenderly as Naruto would have held her in his arms, the wicked talons resting harmlessly against her blushing skin. The moved as one, crying out together as she came, and the surge of joy flooding through Neji's body with her climax was enough to make him gasp. Sakura's hair was wound around Sasuke's claws and as he watched, the blackened blades began to fade, merging back and way into recognizeably human hands. Neji inhaled suddenly and the movement of the air driven into his body shifted something deep in his chest, snapping his fractured ribs back into place. He screamed, but the roaring agony was dulled as quickly as it came with the flood of ecstasy warming his ravaged flesh. The Hyuuga moaned, eyes glued to where Sasuke's skin was slowly beginning to lighten and smooth, the color returning to him even as Sakura writhed in his lap. His wings seemed to soften, the horrible claws growing smooth and dull as they shrank away.

Neji gasped, the itching on his shoulder and face increasing and he moved to touch the skin only to realize that he was no longer bleeding, that the jagged tears in his right arm had closed. Slowly, the dark blue receded from Sasuke's hair, leaving only midnight black behind. The once-Uchiha moaned and thrust hard into Sakura, his amber eyes glowing red for a moment and then ebony as he moved into the intimate embrace of his wife. The porcelain color was returning to his skin, the grey nearly extinguished, and the wings receded like wilting leaves, crumpling back into his spine as if they had never existed at all.

Watching them, watching Sakura drive the evil out of him with her love, was like watching the sun rise after an eternity of darkness. Neji wept and moaned, writhing helplessly in the snow as the power moved through his body, healing his injuries and filling him with heat. The feeling was like when Naruto was taking him, overwhelming pleasure and scorching pain wound together into a single experience, but even more encompassing. Sakura cried out, her voice shrill with desire, echoed by Sasuke's deeper groan. Neji could hear the edge of release in their voices and the aching pleasure of impending climax moved through him as well. Sasuke was a man again, the monster vanquished, the blood smeared over his skin and Sakura's the only evidence that it had ever existed at all. When release came for the tangled lovers Neji was swept away with the ecstasy as well, bonded to them inexplicably, one being through the grace of powers he barely understood.

OoOoOoO

Sai throbbed, his whole being stretching to accommodate the new feeling, unable to focus. Naruto's lips were hot on his ear, saying something, probably coaching and guiding as if all of this was just the same as any other exercise, but the meaning of the words was lost in the cresting pleasure and the beating of Sai's own heart. Just the cadence of his voice was arousing enough to make Sai tremble. Naruto moved inside his body and there was pain, heavy and deep, but nothing like the visceral agony of being beaten or stabbed as he had imagined there would be. No, this pain was intricate and somehow luxuriant, like muscles cramped in the cold being kneaded loose. He gasped. His blood felt like flame, but denser, each stroke of Naruto's hands sending piercing warmth through every inch of his flesh. Sai moaned, the sound like the feeling in his body, irresistible and instinctual. The artist had long stopped noticing what he sounded like.

Naruto echoed the cry, sounding fiercer as he pushed deep and then letting the sound settle back into a cozy purr even as he bit into the trembling flesh of Sai's buttock. The shock of the jinchuuriki's teeth was almost enough to send Sai over the precipice again, to force his already weeping cock to cum once more. Little time had passed, but the artist knew from the tightness in his belly that he could, that he could ejaculate again as easily as he had before. Sai was learning the cues of his body well enough to tell about this and other things, to wonder how Naruto had managed to wait so long. The jinchuuriki's skin was flushed and glistening, his penis dark red and very hard, obviously badly aroused. He waited though and Sai loved him even more for it because he desperately wanted Naruto to come in him, to feel the intimate warmth burn away everything else.

Sai had already climaxed once into Naruto's mouth and the memory alone was enough to make him groan with the visceral desire to release again. The searing blue of Naruto's eyes, heavy and replete with passion, and the tiny glob of the white semen sticking to the blond's cheek as he licked his lips was probably the most emotionally charged memory Sai had. He liked seeing his own fluids on Naruto's skin and wondered what the blond might have looked like if he hadn't swallowed any of it at all, if the white was painted onto his skin, what Sasuke or Neji might look like in the same condition. He shivered, unsure if he liked the idea or if the image actually terrified him.

Things like desire and fear were difficult to distinguish in Naruto's arms, similar to the pain that also felt good and the surrender that was also like freedom. Complex, Shino had said life would be complex, and it was. Loving Naruto and Sakura and Sasuke was only like painting in its intensity, the true character of the feeling was more like weaving a tapestry, an endeavor with a thousand parts and all vital. Sai did not know how to weave and he didn't know how to make love either, but for some reason it didn't matter. The others moved and he could follow as if they pulled him in their gravity into each step of the dance. Even so, Naruto himself was so vast, so hot, that it was easy to believe the he was all there was in the universe, that everything was actually brutally simple.

Sai panted, licking his tingling lips as Naruto pushed the four fingers lingering at the edge of his entrance fully into his body. He whimpered a little, belly twitching. Four was alot, Naruto even said so, but if Sai could handle it then true sex should not seem like too much of a shock and that would hopefully make the thrall easier too. The fingers felt big too, as if he was stretched thin and delicate like a dumpling wrapper, body soft and tender with the burden. Still, the fullness and the ache were pleasing too and Sai hadn't lost his erection when Naruto added the last of them. Sai was filled with Naruto, but it was good and his testicles were tight and heavy with the pleasure of the ache as much as the scorching touch of the jinchuuriki's hand on his sex.

Naruto sighed and removed his hand, gently correcting Sai's posture so that the artist's chest was fully pressed against the sheets and his hips were supported by the stack of pillows the jinchuuriki had somehow assembled when he wasn't watching. Sai moaned, already aroused by the position alone. Sakura had taught him to associate the feeling of being bent, being spread open, with pleasure instead of fear and as Naruto parted his buttocks a sharp spark of desire raced through his flesh.

"Beautiful…" The jinchuuriki breathed, kissing the intimate flesh.

"Ahh! Feels good…so good…" Sai panted, enjoying the poignant shock of Naruto's lips against the sensitive skin.

"I…I can't wait…" Naruto groaned, clawed hands tightening on Sai's hip.

"No waiting…come…come inside." The artist whispered, shivering as Naruto kissed him again.

There was a heartbeat and then Naruto was brushing the slickened head of his arousal against the oily softness of Sai's most intimate body. The artist cried out, mind freshly blank from the sensation. The crown of it was bigger than anything he had taken before, but more flexible as well and soon he was thrusting back against him mindlessly. Naruto groaned and held himself against Sai, letting the more inexperienced nin determine the pace and pressure of their contact. With a breathless little huff, Sai forced his hips back slowly, pushing against the tip of his alpha's arousal until it entered his body for the first time. He shuddered, the sensation more than just physical, the heat crawling like flame over his skin as Naruto stroked him with his claws.

Naruto moved, holding him firm and uncompromising, and pressing in. He struggled a little, the fear finally creeping through the cracks in the fortress of pleasure Naruto had built for him, icy tendrils reaching to squeeze his heart. Fear was useless and Sai tried to let it move through him like water, tried to relax as the blond breached him. Naruto moaned and the sound ended in something like a snarl as he pushed in a single, smooth motion into Sai's inexperienced body. Too much, too fast and he could not quite adjust. Sakura had said over and over to relax, that if he contracted his muscles the sex would hurt and Sai knew that she was right, he had felt it before. Still, the fear came again and this time the ink nin tensed his body in reflexive response.

The agony of bruised muscles and the quaking pleasure of places deep within being stretched and stroked was instantaneous, ringing dissonantly through his flesh like electricity. Sai shrieked as the tearing pain shook him, his body stretching past where he had before, tender flesh filled beyond his experience and contracting in shaking spasm. Naruto's hand was still holding Sai's penis, the warmth and stimulation of it keeping him hard even as black spots danced before the artist's vision. His arms trembled and gave beneath his weight, suddenly forcing Naruto even more fully into his body. Sai moaned and the sound came out more like a whimper. There was pleasure, warmth and stabbing delight as Naruto found the electric place within and thrust against it. Pleasure colliding with the pain, too closely aligned to isolate. He moved, striking the ink nin's prostate more fully than ever before, pounding white hot pleasure through Sai's nerves.

The artist screamed, the blindingly hot ecstasy chasing the agony in a ringing cacophony of feeling that radiated up his spine. The pain was too visceral to ignore, like nothing he had ever experienced, roaring in his ears like a waterfall and the pleasure just as intense. Naruto's hands against his body were so sure, the claws sinking deeply into the flesh to hold more firmly, and the pain of it was too distant for Sai to fully acknowledge or even interpret correctly. All feelings merged together in twisting ecstasy, tightening Sai's belly and burning in his blood, the surging emotion clarified in the searing, refractory prism of Naruto's lovemaking. The intensity of every sensation was more refined somehow, more pure. Cold sweat erupted over his flesh, more than before, and volcanic pleasure crested even as the artist wondered if he might be torn apart. Not that he cared. Death was a small price to pay to feel this way, to feel so totally maddened by love, to feel Naruto and the others in every tingling nerve of his body. They were one.

Sai came, releasing helplessly in milky arches over his alpha's fingers, shrieking with the kind of abandon he had only felt in battle. He came, his body releasing as Sakura said it should, but the swirling ecstasy did not ebb. Instead, pleasure grew and changed character, pressing heavy against his nerves and hot. Naruto growled against his shoulder, biting roughly into the muscle and holding his body with granite strength as he thrust deeper into Sai's shaking flesh. The ecstasy heaved within him, more than human and certainly more than mere sex, as encompassing as darkness and as elemental as air. So much, Kami! Sai opened himself eagerly, accepting the pressing joy, but suddenly the breach was not just in his body. He gasped. The old thing, frozen with rust and pain, was rising in his mind. The memories, brittle and horrible and fractured by time, finally cracked and broke open into his awareness under the onslaught. Sai cried out, terrified, as the sharp edges of his secret shredded its way through his consciousness. He was reacting, thoughtlessly and to something that he no longer even knew how to understand, the forgotten emotion shattering his defenses and surging into the forefront of his cognizance. Naruto was snarling, eyes fully scarlet and moving with the mindless intensity of possession, fangs long and deadly against his spine. The artist moaned and an instinct rise in him, the feeling a bit like fighting, but worse and too familiar.

Sai screamed as the heady rush of something he had forgotten how to feel vibrated through his flesh, reacting explosively to the sex, the freed energy sparking within him even as his body struggled to cum again. The ecstatic pressure grew, crushing against his senses, too alien. The character of the energy pounding into him was no longer just Naruto either, but something infinitely more vast and shockingly alien, hot with the pleasure and scorching where it touched. The elemental fire of Kyuubi.

The urge to struggle, to reject the foreign presence was strong, but Sai ignored it and tried to relax and let it come. Sasuke had told him that this would happen, that it was important not to fight at all, and Sai would not let the edges of…of his old hate cut Naruto too. There was just too much! His mind spun, filled with images, chest tight and filled with too much sensation. It was too much feeling to interpret, too much clashing passion to control, too sharp to hold the slashing edges back. Sai snarled and the sound caught on his teeth as they grew and sharpened in his gums at the thought of Naruto beneath him, moaning and submissive, his to…to what? Sai didn't know what he wanted, what the urge meant. Slender claws tore at the sheets as Sai fisted his hands, struggling for control as the turmoil raged, trying not to fight the boiling energy gushing into his body. He loved Naruto and the craving to…to own him was nothing gentle or kind, something he had to resist. With great effort the ink nin stilled, shivering as blood ran from Naruto's teeth to drip over his shoulder and the demon chakra began to fully push against his own, filling the meridians. The jinchuuriki undulated against his back and moaned, the sound vibrating through the bones of his shoulder and up into his teeth, too much dominance to ignore.

Too far, there was no going back and he felt too much of wanting and taking and desire to hold onto his own control, not when the perception was too unfamiliar. Sai snarled, baring his teeth as he met the glowing red of Naruto's eyes over his shoulder. The jinchuuriki snarled back, shoving his head down against the bedding. The energy surged and memories came with it, filling his mind with images of darkness filled with blood and a cage much too small for both of them. She screamed as the spears bit into her flesh, long claws wrapped around him so that Sai couldn't see, holding him long after her heartbeat had failed and the scent of ink grew stale. Anger, rage, filled him along with the scintillating fantasy of Naruto with his semen on his face, something he had never even been able to fully imagine before. Fire surged into his chest and exploded in sizzling arches around his heart, stealing the emotion and amplifying it, spinning out of his control. Sai couldn't breathe, his heart pounding too hard, lungs crushed and screaming for air.

He gasped, eyes open and seeing nothing, vision bleeding electric blue. Naruto was holding him down, down, too hard, too dominant! Sai hissed savagely, tensing his body as the tips of his ears sharpened and grew, the rumbling warning Naruto snarled into his ear becoming too acute for comfort. Sound hurt and the lights were too bright. He hissed, the sound aggressive and filled with arousal as well. Sai was hard again and he wanted Naruto, wanted to keep him, and paint him in his scent. The awakening feelings tangled with the lust Naruto was kindling within him and tore, ripping apart like silk threads wound too tightly, leaving only instinct behind. Sai moved against him, lost in the vision, as the tendrils of Kyuubi's demon chakra bled inexorably into his own. He snarled, baring his newly razor-sharpened teeth in challenge, and Naruto met the noise with one of his own.

The energy bucked, spinning wildly, and there was pain. More than pain, there was agony, the tearing of souls. Naruto screamed and his chakra pushed again, bruising against Sai's searing meridians, demanding entrance. Sai allowed his own energy to seep along the burning paths carved by the claiming, mad with desire and the urge to make Naruto his own, to possess him forever. Chakra burned and twisted, melding and shredding itself apart at the same time, rapids in the river of chi. Pain, pain beyond imagination surged through his body and Naruto was screaming as well. Sai twisted, throwing the jinchuuriki onto his back beneath him, holding his head down tight even as Naruto shrieked and the sound tore into his psyche. Naruto snapped his teeth and Sai tightened his claws against the other's throat, moving against him, oblivious to anything but the addictive sensation of the jinchuuriki struggling beneath him. Having him this way felt like winning, felt like victory, but awful too. The blond demon thrashed in panic and something was horribly, horribly wrong, but Sai could only see the blue and smell the fear on Naruto's skin. There shouldn't be any fear, he knew there shouldn't be, he knew it and the realization that his lover was terrified and hurting speared through him. He couldn't do this! It wasn't what he wanted! Sai tried to pull away, the effort enough to tear a pained yelp from his throat, but before he could everything went white…

OoOoOoO

Kiba did not have the preternatural sight afforded by the Byukugan, but he knew the moment Naruto's shielding failed by way Hiashi's troops stiffened, readying for battle even before the order was called. He took a breath as Akamaru whined in agitation beneath him. Silence fell onto the landscape and Kiba wondered if the birds and animals felt the protective energy of their refuge dissolving as acutely as he did. Kiba took a breath, feeling edgy, wondering is Sasuke in his infinite paranoia had decided to lay traps along the river. If he had, they would be walking directly into the teeth of the beast instead of dodging around its claws and without warning either. Fuck. Darkness was falling early due to the cloud cover and the dusky light would put Naruto at as much of a disadvantage as anything ever did, but that wouldn't save anybody. Seeing less well at dusk only meant that Naruto would rely on Sasuke and his cursed vision more, probably Neji as well. Even if he wanted to rejoin the Hyuuga forces, Neji could not refuse a direct order given with the thrall by his alpha. Yumi pulled another arrow from his quiver and set it between his teeth in readiness, suddenly perfectly still at Kiba's back. The others stilled too, activating their Byukugan, looking nervously out into the mists rimming Naruto's dark forests.

"Stop it. Everyone turn the Byukugan off except for Aki. We'll rotate or you'll all be fatigued before anything even starts." Kiba snapped softly to his troops.

"But…I need it to protect you Kiba-sama!" Yumi fussed, speech still shockingly clear around the arrow in his mouth.

"Humph, it ain't me who needs protecting kid. Besides, the use of a visual technique is exhausting and I need ya sharp." Kiba responded.

"Will Sasuke be exhausted as well?" Someone, probably Aki, whispered anxiously.

"No. He will not." Kiba said darkly.

Hiashi was saying something to the soldiers on the east flank, the true vanguard of this ridiculous little operation, probably trying to raise their morale or refining strategy. Whatever he was doing, he was doing it quietly, unlike Kiba's own green soldiers. Ninja battles were not like other wars. There were not really ranks, necessarily, or battle lines and winning meant killing the other party's leader as quickly and as quietly as possible. Yelling and raising a ruckus or even remaining in a group was not usually how ninja warfare was conducted and having his own people hold ranks when the rest of the army scattered was going to be difficult. Though responsive to their leaders, each soldier was usually afforded a measure of independence and the east flank would do whatever the situation indicated for victory, only taking instruction as needed. Only Kiba's troops had been ordered to mount a frontal offensive. It was a move that made sense if you didn't care how many people died. Hiashi would not waste his veterans attacking directly, and Kiba's boys were basically scheduled to die for the sake of what would ultimately serve as a distraction. He growled under his breath. No mere teenage distraction would be enough to kill Naruto, not unless Hiashi knew something he didn't, an eventuality that was growing more likely by the moment.

Something was up or Sasuke would have been bathing in their blood already. The shielding had come down minutes ago and Kiba knew from his snooping that none of Hiashi's previous teams had lasted that long without some kind of engagement. Sasuke was not a patient person and even Naruto would have reacted instantly to a threat so close to his offspring if he could have. They had been friends a long time and the one thing Kiba could be assured of regarding the jinchuuriki was that he would behave protectively, regardless of the circumstances. That wasn't usually a problem when dealing with him out in the field, a boon to whoever was lucky enough to run a mission with him, but in this the trait would only make him fiercer. Only a moron like Hiashi would decide to attack Naruto in his home territory with the man's family vulnerable and at his back, assuring that the jinchuuriki would throw everything at them and previous friendships be damned.

There was some unforeseen circumstance was keeping Naruto and his pack in those trees and off their tails for the time being, and it probably wasn't anything good. The Hyuuga clan excelled at deceit above anything else and Hiashi was nothing if not conniving in his beloved scheming. He had done something to Naruto, or at least knew when something that would make the jinchuuriki vulnerable was bound to happen so that he could take advantage of the momentary weakness. Neji was probably spying for him without even realizing it and that was low, even for Hiashi. Kiba huffed, scanning the terrain. The clan's talent for subterfuge was probably why the Byukugan was practically worshipped since lying was worthless with the technique, but without it anyone could be a victim of the same kind of trickery that the Hyuuga's used on everyone else. Of course, the delay could also mean that Sasuke had anticipated their attack all along and was just waiting to make use of his home terrain in order to butcher them all more efficiently.

The flag rose, the silver of it glistening duly in the failing light. Kiba raised his hand and gestured to his troops to advance. Yumi swallowed audibly. Using the gestures instead of speaking, Kiba ordered his boys onto their bellies in the tall grass even as Akamaru pressed himself closer to the ground as well. The snow made the going freezing and miserable, but a few fingers lost to frostbite would be worth it if they lived. They crawled forward, following Kiba's lead with Aki at the point to make best use of his Byukugan. The approach was silent and gradual, but Kiba knew that he might face fire from both sides the instant Hiashi realized he was not heading towards the mansion but further into the woods. He took a breath, letting the scent of the air soak fully into his awareness, smelling the mulch of the forest. They had made the edge of the forest, crawling smoothly on their bellies for nin accustomed to running through the trees and that was what would save them. Sasuke would be in the trees, looking for threats from ahead and above and as long as they kept sneaky-like, his boys might be able to pass around the subordinate's main defensive strike.

The snow was deeper here and Kiba motioned them to crawl into it instead of trying to stay above it. His boys took a breath before surging under the fluffy white cover and Kiba nearly chuckled. Kami they were fresh! He knew from experience that snow was not like water and that you could breathe decently tunneling underneath it so long as you didn't mind freezing to death. He also knew that the refractive quality of the snow made looking at it with something like the Sharingan or the Byukugan a total bitch. They crawled for an eternity and Kiba shut his eyes, letting Aki and his own nose lead. The forest was still dead silent.

Kiba patted Yumi on the leg, giving him the signal that they were about to change direction. The boy passed the touch along to the others and soon Aki moved to the right, veering off from their original path. Kiba held his breath. He could only hear muffled noises beneath the snow, but the low snarl Akamaru made told him that Hiashi had noticed their little maneuver.

"Crawl faster brats!" Kiba hissed.

"Hai!" Yumi whispered.

The boys picked up the pace, writhing under the snow like twenty desperately fleeing eels, just as the first volley of arrow struck around them from behind. Apparently Hiahsi had decided that it was better to kill his own kinsmen than take that chance that Kiba was going to try to defect. Not that he would, there was no point, but desertion…now that idea had appeal. Aki grunted as one of the whistling missiles grazed his thigh, but kept crawling anyway and Kiba was silently impressed with the boy's grit. So far no one had panicked and tried to stand up, which would have meant certain death.

"They're shooting! They're shooting at us!" Yumi gasped, appalled.

"Yeah…the trick is that they ain't hitting us." Kiba huffed as another arrow impacted a millimeter away from Akamaru's paw.

"They can't see us in the snow!" Aki hissed, his voice fierce with admiration.

"You got it." Kiba said, nudging his leg to urge a faster pace.

"Why? Why would they shoot us?" Someone asked, sounding scared.

"Because we aren't fighting in this boys. We aren't gonna be meat for Naruto's table tonight if I have anything to do about it." Kiba said sternly.

"But...we…we have to fight!" Someone else cried.

"Quiet!" Yumi hissed.

"My brothers are going to fight Naruto! We have to go too!"

"Your brothers are going to die, Tohru."

"Kiba-sama knows what he's doing!" Yumi snapped.

"Hiashi doesn't care if we die, you saw the plan and it's suicide!"

"I don't want to die!"

Kiba let them whisper, focused more on keeping everyone low and moving. Aki was whimpering quietly and he could smell the blood seeping from the boy's leg, but the snow was getting deeper and Hiashi's aim was getting worse. Yumi was beginning to shiver, pressing closer against his back for warmth on sheer instinct. Someone sneezed. Kiba knew that they weren't dressed for this, but they would just have to put up with the cold, it was only going to get colder as the sun set and they still had a long way to go. Once they hit the ravine, they could move faster, but that was still several kilometers away. Another set of arrows hit with a series of thunking hisses, far off too the right and not anywhere close to their actual position. Kiba smirked. Hiahsi could go fuck himself.

"Kiba-sama, where are we going?" Yumi asked quietly.

"To the river and from there we'll following it out of Naruto's territory to the Inuzuka compound." Kiba said.

"What! We're just running away!" Someone whispered angrily.

"Tactical withdrawl." Kiba muttered.

"Just shutup, Tohru! Do you want to live?" Aki snarled.

"I'm not a coward! I want to fight!" The other voice, ostensibly Tohru, hissed.

"It isn't gonna be fighting today, it's gonna be slaughter." Kiba said quietly.

"We are trained, we can fight." Yumi argued softly.

"Oh and we will, we will. Don't worry about that," Kiba chuckled darkly, "There's gonna be lots of fighting boys, just not today and not against Naruto."

"Then…?" Yumi murmured.

"You follow my bark from now on, right brats?" Kiba called.

"Yes sir!" They hissed just as the scent of fresh blood filled Kiba's nose.

Chapter 22: Chapter 22
So again, a longer wait than I would have liked, but hopefully worth the anticipation! I want to thank BallofFluf sincerely from the deepest place in my writer's heart. I was really, seriously worried than no one liked that chapter! Thank you SO much for reviewing! I also want to thank Maejirase whose reviews never failed to inspire me! You're pure awesome and that is all. Thanks to David999, it's so good to hear from you again! Thank you to Lonely Athena and, of course, Riku. Glad you guys are reading, it's a privilege to write for you! To Lily Evans Potter, I think this chapter will explain a lot about Sai and I hope it was worth the wait! Thanks as always to Fietkashi for the enthusiasm and wonderful kindness and also to Toramonger and Elhan. You guys are the reason I keep writing when I should be sleeping and I wouldn't have it any other way. As for Guest, all your reviews are really angry…but you keep reading my book so I can only assume there is something about it you like? Very mysterious. At any rate, enjoy!

The near immortal abilities of a jinchuuriki's subordinates, especially one newly claimed, have intrigued scholars for centuries. Many wonder if such unfathomable power may one day be harnessed for use by people on other people, but I maintain that no such eventuality will come to pass in the foreseeable future. The reason is simply that a subordinate, though appearing to the casual observer as an individual, is no longer really a lone being. A jinchuuriki's subordinate is more like an extension of a greater creature, a limb as it were that happens to be physically separate, but very much dependent upon the rest of the body. It is this separateness that has confounded other academics, but in truth a subordinate nearly shares a soul with their alpha and even the physical distance which may exist between them is relatively inconsequential. Subordinates have been noted to have a detailed sense of their alpha's intentions, even with thousands of miles between them, long after the ability to sense one another's emotion has faded with distance. Though it is uncommon for them to realize where the intuition originates, a jinchuuriki's subordinates are capable of astounding feats of organization and synchrony of behavior. Even something as complex as the staging of a coordinated attack in geometric formation has been carried out by a jinchuuriki and his subordinates, all without any form of sensible communication. There have been significant historical examples of an alpha losing sensation and motor control in a limb following the death of a subordinate, but they are few. Ironically, it seems the demon vessels are more likely to perish than the humans under their thrall, though few subordinates survive the death of their alpha and none without some noticeable cognitive deficit. Many believe that besides rare instances of dismemberment and decapitation, a new subordinate cannot be killed without killing the jinchuuriki itself.

-Koumyuo Sanzo, Lives and Habits of Far Eastern Demons

Naruto screamed as a fresh rush of agony seared through his brain, fire in his blood, burning everything to ashes. It hurt, everything and everywhere, Naruto's awareness filled with only pain and the inescapable feeling of drowning. His body was being overrun, besieged by the alien chakra crawling through the bridge between his and Sai's joined spirits, energy that he could neither accept nor escape. Sai was pushing, pushing into him, the very touch of his energy excruciating like the effervescent violence of dry ice pressed against flame. The artist moved, holding Naruto down with the crushing weight of his chakra as much as his body, pressing his lips to the tingling numbness of the jinchuuriki's skin. The energy sparked and spun, tearing through his quivering meridians and in its wake there was only pain, the surging explosion of boiling vapor igniting in his chi as the lovemaking threatened to tear them both apart. The feel of it was beyond even Naruto's comprehension, the searing, molecular pain of elements colliding and energies being released only to tangle and shred one another apart. Sai hissed, the sound barely human and filled with both determination and some deeper emotion that Naruto could not name…a feeling closer to desire, but infinitely more vicious. The jinchuuriki struggled, delving deeper, trying to escape the hurt so that he could at least think clearly. He needed to think, think calmly and logically, strategize enough to find a way out of this that would not mean killing both of them.

Naruto gasped for air, the terror of being caught and trapped palpable, like thorns caught up in his lungs and just as sharp. Kami, he was afraid, more afraid than he had ever been before and the spearing alarm made him want to fight, to wrench back control from Sai and subdue him instead. Aggression was reflexive, raw animal instinct, but Naruto knew that they were already tangled too tightly together for something so simple to be a viable option. If he just kept trying to resist the energy, if he kept fighting to push Sai out, the artist would only feel more instinctive pressure to advance. Such was the nature of their interaction and even if Naruto had no idea why claiming Sai had turned into some kind of spiritual tsunami, he knew better than anyone what it felt like to be faced with resistance and the urge to push past it.

Naruto shut his eyes and tried to focus. The urge to fight, to regain control and kill any potential threats, was as tempting as scalding sake and a thousand times more dangerous. He needed space, just a breath, a moment to think about something other than the pain and the fear of someone else inside his chakra. Whimpering, Naruto pushed against the cage of Sai's arms, praying that the artist would be able to think clearly enough to understand what he needed. Sai snarled, closing his teeth around Naruto's throat, the keen sharpness of the artist's fangs against his pulse ringing like warning bells through the jinchuuriki's overheated brain. Sasuke was right, damn him, and the sheer panic of being held so tightly and taken this way was shredding Naruto's self-control and with it any chance they had of survival. Sai had pulled back a fraction some moments ago and if he hadn't they would both have died already, but Naruto's very essence rebelled at having Sai surging in his meridians in the first place. They had to find balance, a way to coexist in the same body, or he and his precious lover would both die.

"Kit! Kit we are dying! We cannot sustain this and survive!" Kyuubi snarled, its voice muffled by the roaring energy flooding Naruto's awareness.

"We'll survive. He'll pull back enough for us to adjust. Just hang on." Naruto replied inside the chaos of his own mind, eyelids fluttering.

"Our body, kit! Our body is dying!" Kyuubi howled.

"We aren't dying, not yet. We just need to let it come…we just need a little time…" Naruto explained, sobbing in his own head, nearly overwhelmed.

"Let it come? Let it COME!? His energy is trying to come INTO us and there isn't any room, kit! Your stupid human body cannot handle it!"

"No…room?" Naruto asked, feeling addled.

He retreated, diving deeper within and away from the poisonous lightning of Sai's invading energy, trying to hold onto Kyuubi's voice and what the demon was trying to say. Kyuubi was old and he knew about things like this, at least better than Naruto did, if he could just reach the Fox then the demon might be able to help him. The pain was incredible, searing wherever Sai's energy touched, burning and chilly at the same time. Kyuubi screamed, the sound desperate and strident, vibrating through Naruto's spirit the way Sai's hissing was ringing in his skull. Naruto focused himself towards the demon, reaching for the Fox, letting his terror flood through the bond. Sai's energy faltered, sizzling and swirling in maddened eddies, trying to change direction. Naruto gasped. Sai had heard him, even so deep, he heard him! The artist was trying to pull back, trying urgently to give Naruto enough room to maneuver and regain his balance, enough time to adjust to his presence. With a shriek, Sai released his throat and opened up the space between them.

"Is the problem that we don't have enough room?" Naruto asked the Kyuubi, his mind finally beginning to clear.

"No! The problem is that you decided to lay with a fucking HANYOU! Idiot child! You've killed us all!" Kyuubi roared.

"A what?" Naruto asked.

"You're little toy is a fucking HALF-DEMON and he's trying to put us under HIS thrall! You have to fight him Naruto!" The great Fox wailed.

"I can't! He'll die!" Naruto shouted, pressing closer to the Fox as Sai's energy roared towards them again.

"Fight him or we'll ALL die! He's trying to claim us and…and we have no WAY for him to do it even if you wanted to be his bitch for eternity!" Kyuubi snarled with a surge of elemental flame.

The Fox's fire drove the blistering blue chakra back, the energies crackling loudly enough that Naruto thought he would probably even be able to hear it with his physical ears. The Fox roared and flared his chakra, the display spectacularly powerful, but Naruto knew the defense would only be temporary. Even Kyuubi was not mighty enough to pull them apart, not without one or both of their flimsy human souls being torn to pieces in the process, and there was no way to know how Sai would react. The solution would not be one of victory, Sakura always said there was no winning in love anyway…

"I have an idea!" Naruto shouted.

"About time! I can't hold him off like this without damaging our body!" Kyuubi snarled.

"Just hang on! I'm moving the energy away from our heart…" Naruto replied, sounding weirdly calm to himself even with the jagged terror was so close.

"You're doing WHAT!?" Kyuubi shrieked.

"We can't accept his energy, it's too much, too foreign, right? Our own energy is tearing when it comes in contact with his and the same in reverse! So we have to pull back, pull our chakra out of the way..." Naruto said, trying to steady his own chi.

"This is OUR body goddamnit! I haven't lived a hundred thousand of your worthless human lifetimes just to die now for the sake of some kind of pathetic mortal love ritual!" The FOX railed.

"We have to try."

"No, we do NOT. That's our OWN energy you're moving you naked little human IDIOT! It's OUR life-force! You move it away from our heart and it will stop!"

"Well, I can't move his energy and it's all tangled up together anyway." Naruto muttered, trying to focus and ignore the pain of Sai's continued invasion.

Naruto screamed as another arch of the foreign blue gushed through him, deeper than before. Sai had succumbed again, pushing unconsciously, trying to claim. The urge to fight was strong, almost irresistible, but the vessel held himself back through sheer will. Doing this was extraordinarily unnatural to him, like trying to breath water, and Naruto's instincts rebelled powerfully against his logic. He wanted to panic, to fight or flee, but if he tried Sai would die and then…Naruto snarled and retreated further into his own psyche, trying to redirect his own energy, hoping that Sai's would be enough to sustain them. There was nowhere to run to and he had never actually learned how to surrender, something Sasuke was eager to remind him of, but that he had never really completely believed. Naruto knew that too, in some primal way, and was left with the helpless terror of being trapped. He was in Sai, in his energy as much as he was in the other nin's body, and there would be no easy way of removing one from the other now.

"We're going to DIE! Our heart, our heart is going to STOP!" Kyuubi howled again, sounding truly terrified.

"His energy will sustain us and keep it beating. We just have to let him come in. Believe it." Naruto hissed, gritting his teeth in his own perceptions.

"We can't! We aren't made this way!" Kyuubi wailed.

"We can adapt."

"His energy will harm us, kit! He will destroy us!"

"No, he'll pull back if it's too much and he won't kill us. Sai will do it, I know he will." Naruto snarled.

"You can't possibly know that! You're completely insane!" Kyuubi roared, raking its claws against the bars of its prison in desperation.

"I trust you, Sai." Naruto whispered and pulled the energy from his own heart.

OoOoOoO

Sasuke shivered, the icy wind shockingly cold against his blood-soaked skin, the waning sunlight glowing an unhealthy shade of purple against the snow. He blinked, feeling disoriented, as if waking from a long and awful dream. Neji was moaning softly on the ground in a bloody heap a few feet away and Sakura was still wrapped up in his arms, resting contentedly despite the fact that the fact that she had to be practically freezing to death. The snow was streaked with blood and the branches around them broken as if a battle had taken place, one that Sasuke knew about and yet could barely acknowledge. The whole situation felt more like being woken suddenly from one of his nightmares, one that had somehow managed to chase him into reality, one that had almost hurt the people he loved. Sasuke swallowed painfully, but his mouth was dry and caked with blood…Neji's blood. Sakura was making soft shushing noises against his chest and Sasuke did not know why until he noticed that his vision was blurring, that he was sobbing and shaking like a child scared by lightening. All he could remember clearly was the spicy taste of Neji's blood in his mouth and then the rage, the unholy anger colored by the wanton darkness of pure hatred, feelings he had almost forgotten. The rest of it was barely cohesive enough to understand, only snatches of images. The macabre beauty of Neji's long limbs painted crimson, the calming salvation of Sakura's warmth…He gasped.

"Neji?" Sasuke asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"I'm alive." Neji groaned, sounding exhausted.

His voice was rough, pained, and Sasuke did not like the way Neji's tone still sounded so shaky and weak. He sounded afraid, terrified, and barely even recognizable beneath the fear. The Hyuuga was many things, but not afraid, never afraid. The whole idea was wrong, everything felt wrong. Sasuke nearly screamed as the sensation of Neji screaming in his arms, fighting him like desperate prey, flooded back into his thoughts. The image was intrusive and vivid, the scent of the Hyuuga's blood cooling in the snow almost more than he could handle, much too clear to be a nightmare. Sasuke felt sharp bile rise in his throat at the memory, the chilling hate still tingling at the edge of his awareness, threatening to take him again.

"Kami! I…I…" Sasuke began, hot tears running down his face.

"Shhh Sasuke! It doesn't matter." Sakura whispered.

"We should get back." Neji said, his voice almost lost in the thunder of Sasuke's own heartbeat.

"Neji, I…I think we might have…I might have…oh shit…" Sasuke began, feeling suddenly nauseas.

"No. Almost, but not quite. Sakura saved us." Neji interrupted pithily, sounding almost like himself.

Sasuke had meant to say something else or perhaps just scream like a maniac, but suddenly the stabbing awareness of Naruto's chaotic emotions heaved into his mind like water released from a shattered dam. Pain, piercing and deep, but also tangled up in lust burned like molten steel in Sasuke's psyche. The feeling affected him, the blood rising to his skin in a dizzying blush and the soul deep ache gnawing at his belly, as poignant as if the reaction were his own instead of merely a reflection of the jinchuuriki's anguish. Neji screamed and for a moment Sasuke almost felt the silver eyed genius's confusion and guilt sifting through the link as well, but then the perception was overwhelmed by the storm of Naruto's experience. His alpha was terrified, panicked, helpless and now that the veil of his cursed seal had been lifted they felt everything in its true intensity. Sasuke gasped, fighting for control even as his soul shuddered.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted, nearly rising only to fall back against him.

"No! Wait!" Sasuke gasped, clenching his teeth to avoid screaming as another wave of pain crested over them.

"Something…something is very wrong." Neji whispered, rising unsteadily to his feet.

Sakura cried out against him, feeling Naruto just as acutely, the terror plain in her voice. Pain, desire, and more pain tore through his mind even as Neji whimpered and Sakura screamed again. Sasuke held her and fought to muffle the roaring flood of the jinchuuriki's feelings enough to figure out what the hell to do about saving him. As long as the stupid dobe was still alive, that was all that mattered. He had been trained that pain was only an illusion and even though Sasuke realized Orochimaru's philosophies were hopelessly flawed, he fell back upon the conditioning. He had to be able to think, to strategize, and having Naruto screaming in his head would not help anyone. Something must have happened when he tried to initiate the thrall with Sai, but Sasuke did not know what and regardless the situation was quickly deteriorating around them in more ways than one. Without Naruto's consciousness there was no link between the rest of them to coordinate and without Naruto's energy there was no barrier of impenetrable life-force protecting them from outside threats.

"Sasuke! We have to help them! Naruto…he's…he's being hurt! He and Sai…They're breaking each other!" Sakura gasped, rising to her feet.

"How?" Neji asked, leaning against a tree but miraculously stable looking for someone who had just broken half the bones in his body.

"I don't know!" Sakura wailed, shivering.

"Everyone, calm down!" Sasuke snarled.

Sakura stared at him as if she were looking through his face to somewhere else, to the bedroom where Sai and Naruto were currently trying to tear one another's souls apart in a desperate attempt to at lovemaking. Sasuke swallowed and tried to ignore the hard shock of freezing panic that surged through his awareness as Naruto's voice faded away from his psyche, leaving only silent emptiness behind. The jinchuuriki wasn't dead, just focusing his energy elsewhere, not wasting it on stupid things like the link when he was fighting for survival. Naruto was not dead, not dying, just…just occupied and nothing more than that. Sasuke could spare the focus to worry about his alpha, not now anyway, and knowing Naruto was alive would have to be enough. Still, it hurt, and feeling Naruto afraid made every fiber of Sasuke's being ache. The once-Uchiha knew the loss of Naruto's presence did not mean that his alpha was dead, but it had just been so long since he was alone in his own head and everything seemed too vast…too quiet.

"No! Naruto!" Sakura shouted, reaching out as if she could physically touch him.

"He can't be dead, if he were…" Neji reasoned, sounding oddly unfocused, too loud in the sudden emptiness.

"Too quiet…I can't feel him!" Sakura moaned.

"He's not dead, but we will be if those seals go down!" Sasuke hissed.

"Oh Kami! The seals!" Neji gasped, activating the Byukugan.

"We have to re-establish the barrier! We have to do it now!" Sasuke ordered.

"Too late, they're already here…" Neji whispered, his gaze locked on something in the distance.

Sasuke activated the Sharingan, praying that the genius was wrong, that he was just seeing shadows of birds or deer or some other equally innocuous thing out there in the woods. They were not prepared for an offensive, not with Naruto fully occupied with trying to do…well…whatever it was he was doing with Sai. Fighting an army without the jinchuuriki to bolster his energy would be difficult, not to mention the fact that Neji was still badly injured and Sakura was sitting naked in the woods instead of barricaded in the house. They were too vulnerable. Their weapons, other than his sword and a few kunai, were still in the mansion's defense vaults several yards and far too many minutes away. If the attackers were Hyuuga, and they probably were, any attempt to re-group would be nearly worthless since they were already being watched and trying to retreat to the main house would cost them too much time. Sasuke was not prepared to go to war, not today, not half naked and alone in the yawning darkness of his own head without Naruto to calm or temper his emotions.

He searched the woods, eyes flickering madly as the glowing chakra pattern of every damn squirrel, insect and tree flared into his vision. Even if he could generate a thousand kage no bunshin, an impossible task without Naruto's full attention, only a finite number of them would be able to use the Sharingan in any appreciable way. The visual information provided from even a few clones using the technique was simply far too much neural data to sort through, probably enough to crash his brain completely, though he had never truly tried. Fighting alone against the Hyuugas, an army in which each soldier was equipped to see chakra, would be beyond even Sasuke's considerable concentration. Granted, Byukugan was a visual technique like the Sharingan and probably prone to the same difficulties, especially in the snow. It was possible that sheer ferocity might overcome their advantage, it was also possible that Neji didn't know what he was seeing in the first place. However, Neji Hyuuga was very rarely mistaken about anything.

OoOoOoO

The emotion raged, filling Sai's body and mind, overflowing. His broiling essence swelled and pressed only to spill outward into the trembling channels of Naruto's chakra meridians. The flow of it was inexorable, something Sai felt even though he was on the very edge of consciousness, a feeling deeper even than thought. The sensation was almost like dreaming and just as terrifying, but more full somehow, more charged. Naruto cried out in pain and Sai hated the sound of it, hated hurting him, but the urge, the need to move deeper was almost irresistible. His vision was only blue, blue like the hottest part of a fire, blue like Naruto's gorgeous azure eyes. Sai could only see the blue, but he could feel Naruto, feel the way into Naruto's body. There was pressure against him, resistance, and the nearly overwhelming urge to push, to surge in and fill Naruto with his energy until the jinchuuriki was his...his to...to…Sai gasped and fought for control.

He had to wake up and stop doing...whatever it was his mind was so desperately, so instinctively, trying to do. It was a beast, a monster, these feelings and Sai needed to cage them or Naruto, his beloved, might even be killed. Their energy twisted, shedding sparks of savage delight into Sai's thoughts and then tearing in gushing, crimson agony, the pain of energies thrust together and wholly incompatible. He was destroying them both, burning Naruto's fields the way he had the crops in Wind country so long ago, turning everything black and taking the light out of the people's eyes. It felt that way, the same wanton violence. The difference was that it wasn't just food burning, but one of his most precious people who would be left empty and blackened unless he regained control. He had to stop, there was no time and it might even be too late already, but it was hard, so hard…

Suddenly, something changed. The difference was profound, enough to jolt Sai's spirit into semi-self-awareness once again. He was waking up, trying to come back into himself, but everything was jumbled up, heavy and confused. The artist struggled to surge through the blue miasma and back into full consciousness. The pressure released, retreating, and Naruto's body was open to him in a way it hadn't been before, which didn't make any sense. Naruto's energy had clung to the passages so fiercely, enough to sending geysers of searing pain into his skull with every push, and now there was hardly any resistance at all! Sai couldn't see, but he could feel the other man's energy shifting submissively, retreating, limping away and then…then nothing. Like a lake drained away into a dam with the fish left flopping in the mud, Naruto's body was suddenly just: empty. The scarlet red of his life-force was simply absent, leaving the flesh cool and still. The jinchuuriki's meridians had been abandoned, at least partly, and with a shock of pure terror Sai realized that his friend's heart was stopping too. There was no energy left to keep the organ beating and Naruto was dying, here in his arms.

The artist gasped, letting his own chakra flood in and through the dry channels, supplying the starving muscle with his own life force. By Kami, he hoped it would be enough! Sai was almost fully awake, but his focus remained internal, turned within to manipulating chakra the way he could ink and keeping Naruto alive. The blue wrapped around Naruto's heart, sinking in and bolstering the organ, trying to synchronize. It was odd, very heavy, trying to beat two hearts at once and the orientation was wrong too. Sai found himself fully occupied with Naruto's cardiac meridians, his energy settling there without any need to push further. The attention required just to keep the jinchuuriki's body alive was tremendous, sufficient even to mollify the possessive urges from before and his mind slowly began to clear. Contract, release, open and closed, so simple and yet so vital, even as single misstep and Naruto would be…Sai grunted with the effort and doubled his focus. The resistance was gone and it was enough, enough to soothe the raging need to lay claim to Naruto, enough room for Sai to wrestle control back from the ravenous beast within his own mind. He seized the opportunity with a soft cry, muffling the feelings and shutting them away again, closing the door to that part of his being and locking it tight. He built a barricade, forcing his psyche out of the darkness and the primal screaming, pulling back into the outer world.

The artist stirred, feeling sore and vaguely ill, the dense pain of the beast roaring behind the prison he had built for it still ricocheting through his nerves. He had room to think now without the rampant emotion, but the feeling of Naruto's limp body lying empty against his own was jarring, an icy afterglow chasing the heat. Sai took a breath and the air was quiet for once, not raging, not screaming like a hurricane through his awareness with Naruto's terrified voice. The real world was unnervingly still, a mockery of the cyclone within.

Groaning, the artist opened his eyes, starring at the familiar beauty of Sasuke and Sakura's likenesses on the ceiling, the painting now spattered with blood. Lots of blood. Was he bleeding or was it Naruto? If they were bleeding it meant that more than just the mind had been injured and that the injuries were probably severe. Danzo always said blood was meaningless, that a person could bleed for days without dying, but…but it was Naruto. Suddenly Sai had to work hard to breathe around the knot of dread in his chest and there was already too much to think about, too much to attend to along with pumping Naruto's heart. Blood always looked more gruesome than the injury that yielded it and now was not the time to panic. Sai licked his lips and winced at the sting, the jagged edges of small wounds rough against his tongue and closing even as he pressed them, healing rapidly. The sticky, metallic taste of blood clung to his teeth as well. There was so much and Naruto might have died already, just a shell lying there with Sai's own chakra pumping his heart and contracting his arteries. Even the thought was sickening.

Sai coughed and moaned at the sharp ache in his lungs, head spinning. He had to move and get Sakura. He had to or Naruto might die, might if he hadn't already. The artist wanted to scream, but only managed a shallow wail, the sound tinged with pain and pulling uncomfortably on his throat. He hurt everywhere, every nerve raw and tingling, like sunburned skin rubbed with alcohol. Sai ignored the pain and rolled onto his side, the cresting agony the movement brought almost pulling him into unconsciousness again. He had been injured, there was no doubt, but he felt a peculiar strength too. A kind of thrumming undertone of energy moved beneath the aching of bruised muscles and strained ligaments, waves of bolstering chakra washing through him. Sai felt the power of that sparkling tide even if he could not see it, warm like the radiant heat of a fire in the depths of winter, the foreign power rising in his flesh and slowly healing his wounds. The thrall, it had to be, and that meant that at least Naruto was alive.

"Naruto…" Sai rasped as he finally raised himself up onto his forearms.

Only silence. The empty, echoing quiet filled Sai with another surge of piercing terror and he wanted to call out again, but his teeth were chattering too badly. The artist looked, eyes burning with tears and still occasionally bleeding hazy red streams across his vision. He could see, Sai knew he could, but everything still looked all wrong.

"Naruto…are you there?" Sai whispered, voice trembling.

The world seemed real, but the color was off, the contrast too concrete and startling. He blinked and looked again, but nothing in the image was changed. Naruto was still curled up tightly beside him, the long gauges in his sides bleeding sluggishly, knees pulled against his chest and ankles crossed. Like paper rinsed of ink, the jinchuuriki's comforting beauty had been washed away, all the color gone. The shining blonde's usually golden flesh was weirdly bleached, as pale as Sai's own milk-white skin, and his hair was white as snow. It was horrible, like a nightmare, one that Sai couldn't seem to wake up from. His alpha was like a husk, the life drained from him, body closed and very dormant. Naruto looked too small that way, so weirdly fragile that Sai was almost afraid to touch him, worried that his once indomitable lover might crumble beneath his fingers like an ancient scroll. The thought was too ugly, rattling against the his caged emotions, making the air catch painfully in his chest.

The other nin's posture was closed, still and utterly silent, his head pulled down and arms firmly crossed. Naruto's eyes were closed, snow white lashes still as frozen butterflies against his alabaster cheeks, and the only blue left was in the form of bright azure markings swirled in a repetitive circle over the center of Naruto's chest and down his left arm. The markings seemed clingingly familiar, like an image from a dream Sai had once had, but they did not belong on his alpha's skin. The tattooing was foreign, stark and uninvited, and seeing it implied more than anything else that Naruto's body had been invaded. The design was complex, spinning circles bracketed with more rigid patterns, flowing almost like calligraphy across the jinchuuriki's chalky skin. There was something graceful and appealing about the markings, but Sai would have preferred the blue of his lover's own eyes instead. Naruto's hands were closed into fists, but even though he couldn't see them, Sai knew that the fingers of the jinchuuriki's left hand were graced with slender talons the same electric blue as the markings. He knew because it was his energy, his own being, and that was how his own hands had looked in the fevered dream-state of the claiming.

The roiling nausea returned and Sai had to clench his teeth hard to avoid being sick. All of this, the shreds of silk bedding still drifting through the air, the blood spattered walls and Naruto sleeping as if dead…he had done it. His love was poison. For a moment, the artist merely knelt, watching Naruto's decolorized body. He grieved, but only stillness and the aching silence took the place of weeping. Sai could not cry, not the way Sakura told him he should, not when any lapse in his control could free the monster again. Instead, he let his thoughts whirl and his heartbeat stutter, let his face be blank and empty as a photograph. He wondered where the others were, why they hadn't rushed in when…when…The ink nin bit his lip and wrenched his attention away from the dormant jinchuuriki to the rest of his surroundings.

The house was too silent and already dark, the overcast sky bringing an early dusk. Neji and Sasuke were not dallying with each other, Sakura was not laughing and the servants weren't bustling about. No one was home and that was more than just unusual, it was suspicious. There was a tiny, trembling part of Sai's mind wanted to call for the others, to sit beside Naruto and cry for help like a lost child. He ignored the impulse. Enemies were close and Naruto was vulnerable. Something had happened and whatever it was had been dangerous enough to call his mates away from the relative security of the manor. He could not call, not aloud, but Sasuke had said that he always knew where Naruto and Sakura were through the thrall. Sai's eyes narrowed.

With one last frantic glance at his bedroom door, Sai moved closer to Naruto and closed his eyes, searching within for the connection to the rest of his family. At first there was simply too much feeling, too chaotic and jumbled to make sense of, but after a moment the artist was able to quiet his mind enough to perceive the subtle differences. There was anger, heavy darkness, undiluted hatred, but there was love too, hope, trust, surrender, comfort. He took a breath, hands shaking. For the first time, he was not alone and the enormity of the sensation was almost enough to shatter his untried psyche. An entire palette of feeling was open to him in the gently pulsing energy of the thrall and though it was still very new, the sense of the others and their emotions was invitingly familiar as well.

Sai could almost discern Sakura's essence from the others, the sweet strands of rose-colored affection blended with Sasuke's passion and Neji's tempestuous longing. He felt her warmth, the solid girders of her strength even though she was desperately afraid. They all were, even Sasuke, and that nearly made Sai's heart skip a beat. Sai could feel them reaching, blindly searching for Naruto, voices crying soundlessly for him. Gently, uncertain of whether or not he would be welcome, the artist reached back.

OoOoOoO

"Sai…" Sakura whispered, looking out into the distance as if the artist stood just before her instead of hundreds of yards away.

"He's alive and under the thrall!" Sasuke hissed, smiling savagely.

"What about Naruto?" Neji asked warily.

"He's alive, but probably too weak for us to feel him. He always is after a claiming. Fucking moron…" Sasuke practically snarled as he turned his attention back to the advancing threat.

"What?" Neji asked, feeling his blood run cold.

"He won't be able to help us." Sasuke said darkly, shooting Neji a piercing look to ensure he understood.

"But, why is he weakened? I thought he needed it, needed the sex…" Neji argued softly.

"He does, but the initial act is very difficult for him. Naruto expends too much energy in a claiming." Sakura whispered.

"Then, he can't even fight?" Neji hissed, horrified.

"No. After he claimed Sasuke, Naruto was comatose for hours and badly weakened even after regaining consciousness. A claiming is just as difficult for him as it is the one being mated." Sakura explained, looking worried.

Neji shuddered as the fractured pieces, the snippets of conversation and half formed worries he had ignored as paranoia over the last several months, finally fell into place. All of it actually made perfect sense and the inescapable truth that Hiashi was using him to start a war instead of stop one was so seamlessly, brutally logical that Neji cursed himself for not seeing the entire scheme before. He had been blind, hopelessly blind to the utter elegance of the murder unfolding before him, but only because his uncle wanted him to be. Hiashi knew that this would happen, he had probably known all along. An opportunity to kill a jinchuuriki that only came once in a very great while, a moment of vulnerability that could even be manipulated…it was far too tempting for someone like Hiashi to ignore. The clan leader had planned on Naruto being vulnerable following a claiming and that was why the information about when the jinchuuriki would take Sai had been so important to him. Hiashi may have even originally planned to attack using Neji's claiming instead, planned to kill Naruto while Neji was still wrapped in his arms. The thought made the Hyuuga sick. Neji had been used, used like any other tool or weapon, with no regard for his needs as a person. This marriage was no peace offering, but a clever deception designed to create an opening for attack and one that might even work.

"The soldiers in the forest," He whispered, "They're Hyuuga."

"Probably." Sasuke agreed, scanning the tree line.

"They are. I know they are." Neji confessed licking his lips.

"How can you tell?" Sasuke hissed, studying the still distant threat with the Sharingan.

"No one else knows that Naruto is vulnerable right now." Neji said, the words like frozen shards of glass in his belly.

Time seemed to stop as Sasuke looked at him, the blood red gaze of the Sharingan studying Neji's chakra with almost inhuman speed, the shock on his face like a torch pressed into the Hyuuga's heart. For a moment, Sasuke just looked, saying nothing. Sakura gasped, green eyes filled with tears, and raised her fingers to her mouth as if to muffle the sound even as it escaped into the frigid air. Sasuke bared his teeth and Neji could almost hear the tirade gathering in the other man's mind, the words he would use to say what they both already knew. The murderer took a breath, but then seemed to reconsider, pressing his lips tightly together as he looked away. Neji closed his eyes as the pain gathered in his chest and the unfilled stillness stretched. The words would have been better, anything better than the silence.

"You told them…?" Sakura asked, shaking her head as if she refused to believe it.

"I…I just didn't want anyone else to die. I didn't think it was important." Neji whispered.

"Idiot!" Sasuke roared. "Why would Hiashi want to know if it wasn't important!?"

The rage radiated off of the other man like heat from a candle, filling his words until the very air seemed charged with Sasuke's anger the way it sometimes was with his lightning. Neji closed his eyes even though he knew it was cowardice, even though looking away from Sasuke did nothing to change the character of the feeling or the sound of Neji's own shameful heartbeat. There was no escape, not from this or from the rest of his mistakes.

"I…I don't know. I thought he was just paranoid, worried about more subordinates…" Neji sighed, shaking his head.

"As well he should be!" Sasuke snarled and his voice was filled with the darkness of the other, the perversion that Orochimaru had buried in his soul.

"Sasuke…?" Neji whispered, eye widening.

"They should be afraid…We are not helpless." Sasuke growled.

"We should pull back, find Naruto…" Sakura suggested, her voice calm despite the tremor in her fingers.

"Naruto is indisposed and so our little visitors will just have to content themselves with me but…I'm not alone." Sasuke rasped and the end of the sound was almost a damp chuckle.

The bone deep chill returned, the same feeling that filled Neji's bones when the monster held him in its claws, the fluid blackness that Sakura managed to snuff out seeping into the air once again. The evil was palpable even as Sasuke struggled with the wrath, like a shroud cast over their spirits, burning and thick like tear gas. Neji took an involuntary step back as his lover's Sharingan eyes flooded with the demon amber once again. The beast was still there, waiting within the shadows of the murderer's soul for a scrap of hatred, just a bit of darkness it could use. Neji swallowed hard. Kami, if only Naruto were here!

"Sasuke, you're okay honey," Sakura whispered urgently, "Just keep calm."

"We will kill them…kill them all…and all the blood will freeze onto the snow, like rubies jewels for you my darling. It'll be gorgeous." Sasuke giggled, even as he brushed his lips gently over Sakura's brow.

"Sasuke, stop it! Hold it together!" Sakura hissed through her tears, gripping the raven's face fearlessly.

"It's time for death. It is the right time. Don't worry, I won't let it control me…" Sasuke whispered as his teeth lengthened, the struggle evident on his face.

The monster was there, reigned in only by Sasuke's will and already struggling at its bonds, scrabbling at even the hint of violence like a stoat with the scent of blood in its nose. Neji could see what Sasuke was doing, testing himself and the margins of his own control, hoping to use Orochimaru's cursed seal as a weapon. The thought almost made Neji swoon. They needed an army to have any hope of surviving this conflict without Naruto, Neji recognized that as well, but Sasuke was toying with releasing something more like hell than war. While he had seen first-hand the power that the seal of heaven bestowed upon its wielder, Neji had no delusions about the price that kind of power required. The idea sickened him, but the Hyuuga shouldn't have been so surprised. Sasuke was doing what he was always doing without Naruto to hold him back from the abyss: trying to chain hellish powers beyond human comprehension to his own will and become invincible. Without the sanctity of love to soften him, the only thing the raven truly understood was violence and Neji had no doubt that Sasuke would release his considerable fury onto the same people he still considered family without a shred of hesitation.

"Sasuke…no…" Sakura whimpered.

"No, you don't have to! I…I'm so sorry." Neji said, hoping Sasuke would still be able to see that it was true.

"You were stupid, Hyuuga. You let them manipulate you and now more will die regardless of your original intentions." Sasuke snapped haughtily and his voice was his own, but the amber remained.

"Sasuke…Please…" Sakura said, moving to grip his wrist gently.

"She's right! Don't let that monster have your body just because of me!" Neji cried, moving closer.

"Your uncle is going to die today, Hyuuga, and all your kinsmen with him. I'm going to hang their heads in my forest…" Sasuke hissed, licking his lips as the anger surged through all of them again.

"Sasuke! Stop playing with it!" Sakura roared, "The seal can only be evil! It's isn't something you can use!"

"Evil has its place." Sasuke whispered and then laughed, the ice cold madness just below the surface.

"You don't need it, we can figure this out," Neji whispered, "Together."

"Do you want to live, Hyuuga? Do you want Sakura to live? I do."

"Sasuke, no! Don't let it happen! Naruto wouldn't want you to suffer that way!" Sakura cried, a fresh flood of tears glistening in her eyes.

"There is no other way, woman. I am not strong enough to save us alone." Sasuke sighed, meeting her eyes with gentleness enough to dim the demon gold for a few precious moments.

"I'll fight with you! You aren't alone!" Neji shouted.

"You're injured and…confused." Sasuke said coldly.

"I was an idot, but I can still fight!" Neji snarled.

"Yes, and you will." The other nin giggled, the maddened gold rising in his eyes like a sunrise in hell.

"Stop! You can't control it! We have to find Naruto!" The Hyuuga cried in desperation, "Please don't go, we can think of something else! Something that doesn't involve that…that thing!"

Sasuke ignored him and bent to the pile of clothing Sakura had left on the forest floor, systematically plucking the kunai, knives and darts out of all her robes before draping the heaviest kimono around Sakura's shivering shoulders. Sasuke put the weapons into his belt and handed one of the lighter robes to Neji, who took the kimono gratefully and put it on despite the fact that it was obviously a woman's garment. The color in Sasuke's face was fading, replaced by the ghastly gray once again even as the first subtle sounds of the approaching soldiers became audible. Neji reached out and caught the other man's arm, trying to muffle the small sound of shock and disgust at how cold Sasuke's skin had already become.

"Not this Sasuke. Please, please not this…I love you." Neji whispered, holding him tightly even if the very touch of that skin sent soaking rushes of revulsion down his spine.

Sasuke stilled a moment, meeting the Hyuuga's eyes with a softness totally at odds with his steadily changing features. He looked at Neji the way he always did, searching for something unseen, assessing the truth of his words or reading the color of his soul and the Hyuuga never could be quite sure which. It was the truth and it always had been, his intentions had never changed. Neji loved them, loved them all, far too much. He sighed and closed his eyes as one of the people Neji had come to love most in the world wrapped himself in the blackest evil any of them had ever seen. He finally understood how Naruto must have felt all those years ago, watching Sasuke dive headlong into suffering and helpless to stop him…it was an ugly feeling.

"Protect her. I'm trusting you. I know that in this I can." Sasuke whispered, gazing at Neji with the same yellow eyes that would probably haunt his nightmares forever.

"I promise. I will protect her with my life." Neji swore, kissing Sasuke's knuckles as the smell of winter intensified and burned in the air.

"There has to be another way!" Sakura sobbed.

"Don't go and die for nothing, Hyuuga. You aren't as worthless to everyone as you are to yourself." Sasuke hissed, pinning him with his eyes.

The Hyuuga pressed his lips together instead of arguing and nodded with as much dignity as he could muster. Neji knew his life had never really been his own, always a tool for someone else's plans, just the brush used to write Hiashi's orders and the dagger used to carry them out. His role hadn't changed, but now Neji belonged to someone who cared how his breath was spent and if he gave every last gasp of it and every drop of blood protecting the woman they all loved then he would at least have the comfort that the sacrifice was not in vain.

Sasuke pressed his blackened lips to Neji's cheek instead of speaking, the gesture one of both affection and apology, filled with a careful gentleness that was his alone and had nothing to do with the war or the seal or the monster writhing just beneath his skin. The brilliant murderer hesitated only a moment more to glance at Sakura before stepping away from their clinging hands and towards the oncoming assault, moving with deadly purpose even as his body continued to transform. His hair became blue, his fangs long and keen, even as Neji watched and Sakura continued to sob in silence. Sasuke spread his clawed wings wide and launched himself into the air with a flurry of snow and an unholy shriek. A few thunderous wing-beats against the freezing air, a single breath of crystalline silence and then the screaming began.

OoOoOoO

"Come," Sakura's feelings said into his head, "Come…We are hurt, we are in danger…Come…"

"I'm coming." Sai said, though no one could hear him.

Cognitively the artist knew that he had never actually moved, that the communication, as vague as it was, had all happened in his head. Still, pulling back required surprising effort, as if he too were crossing a distance. With a delicacy born mostly of uncertainty, not wanting to hurt or distract the others, Sai disentangled himself from the lapping currents of the thrall and opened his eyes. Naruto still lay before him, curled tight and completely white, the pulsing azure of the swirling markings clinging like thickened ink to his ghostly skin. Sai licked his suddenly dry lips. The others needed him, they were being threatened, Neji was probably injured and Sasuke was…was sick somehow, but leaving Naruto now would feel like leaving his own heart unprotected in an open field. The jinchuuriki slept on, oblivious to the danger, helpless.

"Naruto, please wake up." Sai whispered.

There was nothing, no movement or sound to indicate that the other nin could even hear him, much less respond to the request. The sorrow swelled then, beating against his ribs and making the bars around his forgotten feelings brittle. Sai knew he would gladly die, expire right there on the spot, if he could just see Naruto's laughing blue eyes and honey colored hair once again. He would give anything if his alpha would only stir and wake and tell him that everything was alright, but Naruto slumbered on, barely breathing. Sai was still beating the jinchuuriki's heart, but it was a difficult task and not one he could ever hope to accomplish while fighting at the same time. Sighing shakily, the ink nin brushed his lips across the chilly skin of Naruto's shoulder, both relieved and disappointed that something as simple as a kiss changed absolutely nothing. The others needed him and Naruto might be able to survive on his own, there was no logical reason not to try, but the idea still tugged at his soul like a thorn.

"I love you. Don't die." Sai said and took a deep breath.

Slowly, one shallow heartbeat at a time, Sai pulled his chakra back from the foreign channels. Doing so left Naruto's cardiac meridians dangerously empty and even moving with glacial patience, the procedure seemed too fast and too unwieldy, as if even the slightest thought out of alignment might shatter everything. Sai pulled himself out of Naruto and it felt unnatural, as if his energy had grown weirdly accustomed to the other man's body and refused to be extracted, but he kept dragging anyway. Naruto didn't like his energy, it was not good for him, and Sai would never be forgive himself if…He refused to even think about the possibility. Finally, the last flicker of chakra was the only bit of energy connecting them, but Sai hesitated.

"You have your heart back." The artist whispered, brushing Naruto's white hair away from his face, "You gave it to me and I do not know why, but it is undamaged so please…please beat it."

For an instant that felt like an entire lifetime, there was nothing. Naruto lay still and white, like a corpse, with no pulse or heartbeat. Sakura had taken a little time to come back as well and Sai knew that he needed to give his alpha a few moments before giving up and filling his meridians with his own poisonous chakra again. The heart, Sakura said, was a fussy organ and usually needed at least a moment to synchronize before beating again after surgery. This would be the same, the same as surgery, but for the spirit instead and the artist imagined the principle would be very much the same. So he watched nervously, counting the seconds in his head, probably too quickly. Just another second, just one more and he would push the energy back in and save Naruto. Almost an entire minute had passed when Sai felt the first ripple of a thready pulse in Naruto dorsalis pedis artery.

"Thank you." Sai whispered as the pulse grew stronger beneath his shaking fingers.

The blue of the markings on Naruto's chest and left arm dulled and stopped pulsing, to Sai's relief, but the rest of the jinchuuriki stayed just as white as it had before and his wounds were not healing. Naruto was not alright, not by far, but at least he seemed relatively stable and he would not be stable for long if anything happened to Sakura or Sasuke. Taking the luxury of a deep breath, Sai prayed to whoever might be listening that his lover would awaken and that he would be able to stop whatever was happening to Sakura and Sasuke, but it was the only hesitation he allowed himself.

"I must go. Don't die." Sai said and stood, hating the way Naruto still seemed to still and small among his sheets.

He moved to the trunk on the other side of the room and pulled what was left of his old combat gear as well as the new armor Sasuke had made for him from its recesses, glad that Naruto had at least decided that his utility jacket was modest enough to keep. It was time to go to war and modesty would no longer be a concern anyway. Looking at the worn jacket with its patched knife holes and singed edges made him a little bit sad and the artist truly wished he could have left it to molder in storage forever. Sai had always privately enjoyed times of peace, even though Danzo said that any nin who dared to love peace was both an idiot and a traitor; that ninja thrived on conflict like sharks on blood. Maybe it was even true, at least in part, but there was too much inconsistency and Danzo had been wrong about so many things so many times before. Sai didn't trust his judgment anymore. Naruto had taught him a different way, taught him that life was not black and white and that everything depended upon a person's intentions and whether or not life was wasted. Complexity and contradiction were part of life and Sai knew from experience that the silence following a battle could be both very bloody and very peaceful, especially when everyone was dead.

OoOoOoO

The aching cold was almost like a physical force, like struggling through water or sand, each movement more difficult than the last. Kiba's muscles burned with fatigue and his elbows were rubbed raw, the wounds bleeding only to freeze against the snow until the pain numbed and became an anesthetized kind of ache like every other sensation. The cold muffled everything, leaving their bluish world in an eerie kind of solitude. The key, Kiba knew, was to ignore the artificial solace of the snow and maintain momentum. He and his little band of misfits would not be the first nin lulled into apathy and a slow death by cold.

"Almost there, brats. Almost there…" Kiba whispered as they crawled.

"H...H…Hai, Kiba-sama." Aki replied through chattering teeth.

"The others…we can't make it much longer." Yumi whispered seriously, his breath shockingly warm on Kiba's ear.

"Almost there brats! Crawl damn you!" Kiba snarled and the boys picked up the pace with a few scattered whimpers of effort.

They had been crawling for hours beneath the half-frozen snow of the forest floor and the temperature had been steadily dropping along with the sun. Even Kiba was cold and he was wearing furs beneath the Hyuuga armor not to mention the warmth radiating from Akamaru. He could not imagine how cold the boys must be wearing only light stealth gear and fingerless gloves. The same snowy cover that saved them from both Hiashi and Sasuke's visual techniques might also kill them if his young troops succumbed to hypothermia. They need to find the river and soon.

"Kiba-sama! There's a bank." Yumi whispered as the signal was passed to him from the three boys in front.

"Let's hope it's the right damn bank." Kiba whispered as he slid from Akamaru's back and onto the freezing ground.

The dog had been crawling along with the rest of them and Kiba knew his knees were probably raw from it, but the Inuzuka ignored the smell of his beloved companion's blood and wriggled forward between his shivering soldiers. He kept his eyes closed, abandoning vision for touch and scent instead. The smell of blood was still strong in his nose, but it was coming from the east and not the direction they were traveling. Something very violent had happened in these woods and it had happened before Hiashi's offensive which was probably a very bad sign, but not something he could spare the energy worrying about now. Kiba sniffed again, opening his mouth as well and immediately catching the unmistakable odor of river water filled with ice.

"We've made it to the river." Kiba said quietly.

"Thank Kami!" Someone whispered.

"I can't feel my feet!"

"We must have crawled for miles!"

"Is anyone dead?"

"Hush ya idiots!" Kiba snapped, "Just because we made it to the river don't mean we're out of this yet!"

"I can't find Tohru." Aki whispered.

"Then he's dead." Kiba murmured.

"What?" Someone hissed.

"I…I'm not dead." Tohru whispered from a few feet to the right, "I had to stand up."

"Moron! Don't do that!" Kiba snarled.

"I can't move my legs properly!" Tohru whined.

"Get down!"

"What does it matter if we're already at the river?"

"Quiet!" Kiba snapped.

He listened, hearing only the breathing of his troops, Tohru's faster than the others' with either fear or anger and Kiba did not spend too much time wondering which. The boy had basically painted a giant red target on his ass by standing up and anyone paying even the slightest attention to this area of the forest would have noticed immediately. Kiba held his breath and listened, trying to hear up, up above the snow, above the trees, up where Sasuke might be lurking. There were no other competing sounds beyond the tiny noises his own people were making, no birds or mice or squirrels, and in a forest that kind of silence was worrisome enough. The Inuzuka waited, even though he could feel the others getting agitated, painfully aware of how exposed Tohru was standing above them. Then, so soft he would have ignored it at any other time, Kiba heard the faint rustling from above. A sound almost like wing-beats filtered down to his questing ears, but from a beast far larger than an eagle and far stealthier than an owl.

"Down! Now Tohru! Get down!" Kiba shouted.

"What is it?" The boy asked.

A moment later the world around them erupted into a roaring storm of flame, lighting the snow from above so brightly that Kiba's eyes burned even behind the lids. Kiba pressed his belly to the frozen earth and tugged Yumi down with him to do the same, the inferno above them fierce and hot enough to melt the snow and boil the water it made. Yumi shrieked at the sizzling steam scalded the backs of his shoulders through the thin mesh shirt he wore, but only wormed down closer to the ground, resisting the urge to turn or stand up. Akamaru whined loudly and began digging his body further into the snow and the frozen turf beneath as the fire grazed him as well. Tohru was screaming like a rabbit in a snare, but the sound was nearly lost in the deafening roar of the blaze above them and Kiba had to strain just to hear him. Kiba bit his thumb and turned just enough to begin creating a seal in the snow as the rest of his young squad began to panic in earnest. The heat was reaching them and Kiba could feel it too, hot like an oven and twice as violent, they all would have probably cooked already if not for the thick feet of snow covering them. His heart was thundering in his ears, but Kiba's hand was steady as he drew the jutsu, trying to complete the design. Tohru wasn't screaming anymore.

"Shit!" Yumi shouted to his right.

"Run! Run to the river!" Someone yelled.

"No! Stay put! You move and you die!" Kiba roared.

"Obey Kiba-sama!" Aki snarled.

The fire was Sasuke's doing, it had to be, and the idea was actually rather brilliant when he paused long enough to think about it. The subordinate probably couldn't see them clearly beneath the snow, but once he saw Tohru and suspected that there might be others he looked closely enough to see that there was something down there. The sheet of flame was an ideal technique to use against an enemy in an uncertain position because it decimated everything in its path and prevented one's opponent from mobilizing effectively. Still, if Sasuke was really the one up in those trees, Kiba would have expected him to use a sophisticated follow-up technique and their attacker was still just blowing fire. There was something in the strategy that didn't quite fit. Kiba finished the seal just as the snow it was written on began to melt. It didn't matter, the chakra was already in place and the Inuzuka snapped the final words to activate it even as the symbol began to run.

Suddenly, the terrible roaring of the firestorm was silenced even if the deadly light still danced above them. Kiba smiled and wet his lips, heart still pounding too hard to even manage a sigh of relief. That was a little closer than he had hoped for. The jutsu was just a simple barrier bonded to the surrounding snow instead of to any one person and that feature of it would obscure their position as well as make it more difficult to dissolve. A tricky barrier like the one he had just created would take Sasuke Uchiha approximately ten seconds to destroy. Akamaru whined a little and began shuffling forward again, reading Kiba's intentions perfectly as always.

"Move!" Kiba bellowed even as he lurched forward himself.

"What about the bank? What do we do when we lose the snow cover?" Yumi asked as they all crawled frantically.

"Run like hell for the water!" Kiba ordered.

"Is it Sasuke?" Aki asked.

"Not sure. Just move!" Kiba snapped.

The lavender light of dusk greeted him abruptly as they pushed through the snow bank on the edge of the river just before the ground fell away completely. Someone shrieked as they fell the short distance from the river's edge to the muddy ground below and even Kiba was forced to scrabble his way down the slippery embankment like a crab. The stones beneath them were large and very round, ground away by ages of river water and slicked with a thin layer of algae, an absolute deathtrap to anyone without perfectly sure footing. Kiba groaned as he stood and nearly fell again. The boys were tumbling down the embankment in a disorganized herd, leaping form rock to rock as soon as they managed to disentangle themselves from each other, making for the river through the mists that shrouded it. Kiba smiled and turned back to the roaring forest fire, praying that whoever presented themselves out of the blaze would not be Sasuke.

"To the river brats and once you reach it start swimming!" Kiba shouted.

"The current's in the wrong direction!" Someone bellowed from within the mists.

"Doesn't matter, just swim in place until I come for you."

"But, Kiba-sama, what if you never come?" Yumi asked, gazing up at him from his crouch on a rounded stone a few feet away.

"Then tread water 'til morning, hold each-other up, and go to the Inuzuka compound as soon as the mists begin to thin. The mist, it's like the snow, it can hide you for a while from visual techniques." Kiba explained and gestured for the youth to leave.

Yumi nodded once and sprang away, following the others towards the swirling mist and the rumbling sound of the river's passing. If you wanted to hide someone from an over-powered freak like Sasuke Uchiha or a murderous bastard like Hiashi, the river could not have been a more perfect place since it masked both sound and sight. Kiba could probably be shouting and no one would ever hear him so close to the surging water, not to mention the thick waves of mist created by the boiling hotspring meeting the icy snow-melt. Satisfied that his boys were as safe as humanly possible for the time being, Kiba focused on the blaze. He didn't have to wait long.

A figure appeared above the billowing smoke, the sound of its wings almost lost in the noise of both the fire and the river below, moving gracefully in what even Kiba could recognize as a hunting pattern. Akamaru snarled low in his throat and even though Kiba didn't have the first clue about what was flying over Naruto's forest, he knew it wasn't anything good. The Inuzuka pulled closer to the dog and signaled with his fingers for his friend to prepare just as the figure dove and alighted in front of them. There was no time to wait and see what in the hell it was.

"Akamaru! Human Beast Combination! Now!" Kiba roared even as his dog moved into position.

Their bodies merged, aligning with a single intention, spirits woven together. Kiba took a breath and snarled, his voice rumbling like thunder from the voluminous caverns of his chest and ricocheting off the river stones in a thousand echoes. Akamaru was with him, closer than they ever could be in their own bodies, melded bone to bone and sinew with sinew. The two headed beast growled and Kiba was not alone in his mind anymore, the warmth of his childhood friend present in his thoughts as surely as it was wrapped around his chakra. The dog was filled with fierceness, protection of it's fleeing pups, a sentiment Kiba agreed with whole heartedly. The boys may not be his own children, but they were his people dammit, his soldiers, and he would defend them.

"Enemy." The winged monstrosity before them said tonelessly and Kiba felt Akamaru hesitate.

There was something very peculiar about that thing, something that didn't fit…well, aside from looking like a demon coughed up from the deepest corner of hell. The voice, it was Sasuke's alright, but the being standing before them was only vaguely recognizable as Naruto's pet murderer, more in how it moved than any single feature. More importantly, the thing didn't have a scent.

"Sasuke?" Kiba tried, crouching low in preparation to pounce.

"Die." The monster said, and flew at them.

Akamaru ducked his head just in time for Kiba to catch the monster's left wing in his own powerful jaws. The satisfying crunch of shattering bone rang through his skull, filling both the nin and the dog bonded to him with animal joy, but Sasuke neither screamed nor spoke. Instead, the monster turned like an eel in a fish-trap and raked Kiba's left eye with his claws. The two headed dog howled, the searing pain distracting Kiba for the barest instant, but more than enough time for Sasuke to escape and take to the air again. A shower of projectiles rained down onto them from above, but Kiba and Akamaru made no move to dodge the assault, enduring the bite of the steel in favor of tracking Sasuke's movements with Akakmaru's undamaged eyes. They shared vision, Kiba and the dog, and for once it was the only sense available to them. The roar of the fire and the river beyond it made discerning Sasuke's direction from sound alone impossible and as for smell…it was like the monster attacking them was no more than a shadow.

The subordinate circled and dove again, slashing at Akamaru's head with his sword. The Kiba hunched their body closer to the ground in a defensive posture and jerked his head up, snapping savagely and catching only air. Sasuke was trying to harass them into a more compromising position, but Kiba had no intention of allowing it. With the river at his back and the bank to his left shoulder Kiba was too well protected for the projectiles to cause any serious damage and funneling character of the terrain also allowed him to halt any progress Sasuke might make towards the water and his fleeing squad. With a shriek, the monster halted his attack and alight on a tree a few yards away, too far for a kunai but the ideal distance for another flame attack. Kiba growled.

"Super fang wolf fang." Kiba thought to Akamaru and the dog agreed.

The chakra began gathering, swirling and spinning with the force of a hurricane in their chest, but growing denser and heavier by the moment. Sasuke was gathering himself as well, breathing deep and preparing to spit an inferno directly into Kiba and Akamaru's faces, a strategy that would cripple them regardless of the defensible position they held. The Super Fang did not require the kind of preparation that Fang Wolf Fang did, but it was still a relatively time intensive attack, usually too slow to use against an enemy of Sasuke's caliber. Just gathering the kind of energy needed for the technique required far too many seconds to be useful against a single, focused and highly skilled opponent. However, Kiba was not convinced that the enemy they were fighting was, in fact, Sasuke at all.

The murderer belched his fire towards them in a searing rush, but the two-headed hound was already spinning, following the inexorable momentum of the chakra within. The flames crashed against the air being stirred by the technique and the two forces spun and shattered against each-other, tearing the night with electric blazes of light. The blood dripping into his eyes made his vision blurry and dark, and there was no scent he could use to track the monster, but the battle had already been decided. He and Akamaru had managed enough favor with the gods to be granted the stupendous good luck of fighting a shadow clone, a kage no bunshin, instead of the real thing. It was a good clone, the best Kiba had ever seen outside of Naruto's, but even the best clone could not withstand a single strike using the massive energy he was currently generating.

The monster screamed and spat the flames at them again, but Kiba ignored the puppet and focused within instead, concentrating on the Super Fang and letting the energy grow. They spun, like a whirlwind, like a galaxy, too vast to resist. The winged subordinate dove at them, probably directed by Sasuke himself to stop the technique before it could be completed, and tried to catch a hold on their back only to be swept away by Kiba and Akamaru's powerful tail. He impacted against the naked stones of the bank with a deafening crack, body crushed and yet still corporeal. Usually clones dissipated after a single blow. The winged beast with Sasuke's voice struggled to its knees, raising a clawed hand as if in preparation for another attack. It was a damn tough clone, the likes of which Kiba had never seen before, and if there were others Hiashi would be hard pressed to win against them without taking heavy losses.

Hiashi and his losses no longer mattered though, they were periphery, landscape. The only thing left in Kiba's awareness was Akamaru and the titanic spinning force that they were generating, the gravitational pull of their own power. With a sigh almost like laughter, Kiba and Akamaru synchronized the last of their energy and released the technique, sending their shared body in a spinning typhoon into the river bank. The clone was vaporized with a rending shriek like escaping steam, the sound of matter becoming energy once again, and the stones of the river exploded sending clouds of pulverized rock streaming into the air. The concussion of their movement was like an detonation of its own, pressurizing the air and then releasing it like a ball fired from a canon, flattening the trees to the ground like kindling. The earth bucked and settled for hundreds of yards, forming a crater that soon filled with water, the land changing chaotically around them.

With a groan of effort, Kiba stilled his body, quieting the last remnants of whirling energy coursing through their shared form. Carefully, the dog lord began separating himself from Akamaru's mind, sorting each into their own space once again. There was something so comfortable about the combined body, something that always made the transformation a little more difficult to terminate than Kiba would have liked to admit. Akamaru barked and with one last puff of chakra, they were separate entities once again, standing shakily on the slippery river stones. Kiba shook his head, trying to get his bearing again and still dizzy from the adrenaline. The land had been altered substantially in the battle and for the first time he thought about how the Super Fang might have changed the river, how the explosive energy might have affected someone hiding in the rushing water.

"Shit!" Kiba gasped and Akamaru whined softly.

OoOoOoO

The soldiers were everywhere, slinking through the trees and crawling beneath the snow, a massive offensive on a scale he had never imagined could be accomplished by just a single house. Hiashi was throwing all his strength into killing Naruto quickly, a very good strategy when facing an opponent infinitely more powerful than yourself and one that would be difficult to run in their favor. Using the dark energy harnessed from the Seal of Heaven, he had been able to generate seventy three high quality shadow clones, three of whom were capable of using the Sharingan. However, one of those three had already been destroyed far to the east along the banks of the Chosokabe river and another would succumb soon to the combined efforts of the Hyuuga vanguard. The cost in energy was enormous and made worse by how much concentration Sasuke had to expend just to keep his own writhing evil at bay. Even now the hate, soaking and chilly as freezing blood, battered at his consciousness and threatened to overwhelm his control.

For now, even though the mere presence of ninja in such a remote area of their territory was unnerving, the small unit in the east would have to be ignored in favor of facing the main body of Hiashi's force. Sasuke did not understand why a squad would be sent to the east when there was nothing of any interest in that direction other than a steamy river valley and a few small shrines to the forest gods, but an enemy without a clear purpose was often a worse threat than one whose intentions were clear. The clone had clearly seen Kiba Inuzuka in his combined battle form, which Sasuke had been expecting if the two clans ever came to blows, but the dog nin had seemed more interested in protecting his soldiers than pushing for tactical advantage. He wanted to send more of his force to investigate, but there were simply no available clones to send! Whatever mischief Kiba may or may not be up to, it would just have to wait until Sai arrived or Neji healed sufficiently to engage them without compromising Sakura. Until then, Hiashi and his main forces had his complete attention.

Sasuke shrieked, the sound tearing out of his body on instinct without any conscious effort, and dove towards the spearhead formation. The lavender sword was naked in his hand, gleaming weirdly with the failing light and slicing the cold air as easily as it did flesh, whistling through the sky like an arrow. When Sasuke struck the first of them, he had already cut his way half-way through the Hyuuga's body, before he regained enough sense to stop and turn on the others. The brittle crack of snapping necks and the steamy gush of fresh blood were glorious, the screaming that accompanied the fighting almost like a symphony in his roaring ears. Delivering swift and agonizing death to his enemies was what Sasuke had been bred for and even without the ecstasy of the seal he reveled in the thrill of battle so long denied.

With a curse, one of the Hyuuga ninja braced his feet and moved to strike Sasuke in the face with a chain-blade, all the while performing the jutsu for the Gentle fist. The subordinate dodged easily, sliding into the other ninja's guard as smoothly as a serpent slithering into a basket. Being able to prepare a technique as complex as the Gentle Fist one handed while smacking someone else in the face with a swinging weapon impressive, very impressive, but ultimately futile. Laughing, Sasuke pulled the man's left arm off just as the technique was released into the empty air off to his right. He spun, letting the razor sharp claws of his wings tear into the others, ignoring the blood dripping steadily down his hand from the appendage still sluggishly spurting in his claws. Another wave of ninja struck, spinning like cyclones and hurling kunai with enough force to shatter the surrounding trees, but he was prepared.

With another savage chuckle, Sasuke aligned his body with the magnetic center of the Earth, synchronizing his chi and forming the almighty power of separation. The charge gathered, the particles held away from one another and growing more agitated by the moment, the holy powers of force and magnetism bending to his will once again. The grounding was firm and the path straight, but Sasuke held back another moment longer, letting the roiling ball of electricity acquire another layer of density.

"It's chidori!" One of the Hyuuga shouted.

"Block his chakra!" The order given far too late.

Stiffened fingers struck the chakra meridian in Sasuke's wrist, blocking the flow of energy there, but the power of his master's seal merely carved a new channel around it. That was the true beauty of the Seal of Heaven after all, that it allowed chakra to flow unimpeded regardless of whether an established pathway existed or not, cutting through anything. The damn thing was genius really, but also woefully unstable like all of Orochimaru's ill-fated projects. Once he would have screamed as the life-force tore into his tissues, but Sasuke had learned to embrace the pain of the seal and in so doing became its true master. No one else could wield the seal as he could, but Sasuke was quickly approaching his limit. Even now the bubbling madness threatened him, swirling waves of blackness lapping at his logic, but Sasuke forced the influence of the seal away and drove the lightning into the ground at his feet with a resounding boom. The earth shook, shuddering with the shattering fission happening just beneath the surface. The Hyuuga nin had a moment to glance at once another before the twisting electricity burst from the ground beneath their feet and dove towards the skies.

"Reverse Chidori." Sasuke whispered as the trees around him ignited like torches in the night.

The electricity surged through the soil and broke through, reaching for the air in flashing blue forks, completely the reverse of natural lightning and twice as devastating. A scorching ring of rippling blue energy rolled outwards from his hands, vaporizing the snow lying on the ground and riding up every blade of grass in a hellish lightshow. The forest shuddered and the Hyuuga ninja screamed as one as the biting electricity heaved through their bodies to explode in iridescent bursts above the battlefield. A clap of thunder that shook the very fabric of the air and blew Sasuke's hair up from his skull bowled through the forest like a physical thing, the sound enough to set his teeth chattering before everything went utterly silent.

The trees burned, limbs crashing back down to the forest floor as the searing heat of the fires caressed Sasuke's face. For a moment he was lost, the chakra fatigue hitting like a thousand iron weights, making his head spin and his stance unsteady. The other Sharingan clone was gone, destroyed by the battalion moving in from the southwest, but Sasuke had enough information to know that the force from that direction had been badly weakened. As for Naruto, his presence was still an aching void in Sasuke's spirit. He took a breath and reached for Sakura instead, for the comfort and peace of her presence, following the thrall back to her and treading the darkness invading his own psyche. She was warm in the icy ocean of the seal, life growing green and verdant in the desert of his thoughts, and he reached for her like a man buried alive pushing for the light.

"Sakura…" Sasuke whispered, swaying.

To his left another team of ninja approached, fracturing Sasuke's concentration as their chakra blazed across his Sharingan enhanced vision, the threat clear in the wary way the Hyuuga invaders moved. There were so many of them, too many to kill before they reached Sakura. He had to retreat and establish a position closer to their woman where his clones would be less likely get be flanked and outmaneuvered. Sasuke snarled and turned to face the twenty nin creeping towards him, flipping his grip on the sword for greater agility, the better to finish the conflict as quickly as possible and return to where Sakura was still hiding with Neji. The leader shot forward from a crouch, slicing low for Sasuke's knees, but the raven batted the attack away with his wings and turned. He spun like a dancer, avoiding the chakra blocking attack following the blade and slicing down in an elegant sweep with his sword. The hilt of the katana was slick with gore and his control faltered for a fraction of a moment as he sliced the weapon through the Hyuuga's startled face, causing a partial decapitation instead of rending the man in two. Death was death, but the imperfection irked him all the same.

Rolling up into a more stable stance, Sasuke engaged the others, fighting hand to hand and trying to conserve his chakra as much as possible. Steel met steel, ringing like bells in the shadows as the forest burned. Sasuke finished the three nin he had met and moved for the others. The remaining Hyuuga fell back smoothly into a Striking Hawk formation, an endlessly moving row in which two people could work together to strike while a third distracted the opponent. Unfortunately for them, the formation was one of Naruto's favorites to use with his endlessly boisterous kage no bunshin and Sasuke knew its weaknesses well. He struck, ignoring the peripheral movement nagging at his attention and lunging straight into the "beak" of the attack, the lavender steel meeting the gritty strength of a kunai. Sparks leapt, but Sasuke turned before they even met the ground, driving his claws deeply into the throat of the third man in the line. With another inhuman shriek, the subordinate spread his wings and propelled himself into the air, neatly killing four more as he moved.

"Enough, you fools!" Someone roared, "He's not the target!"

"Ignore the fliers and find the female! Kill her and we kill them all!" Another commander barked.

In an instant, the remnants of the Hyuuga ninja team vanished, fleeing into the forest. Sasuke roared and flew after them, diving into the trees headlong after the drifting chakra of the men, flinging kunai in a desperate attempt to distract them. The clones turned as one, moving to intercept the changing threat, but there were still too many. Kami, there had to be hundreds of them! Sasuke spat fire at his prey and the clones echoed the technique until the western forest was filled with hellish light and the sound of fire sizzling against the snow. His clones' aim was true enough, but most of the Hyuuga attackers were using the Byukugan and the strategy barely even managed to slow them. The wily invaders dodged and batted the missiles aside only to spring faster into the spectral obscurity of the trees, threading between one another to confuse their positions. Sasuke was uncomfortably reminded that these men were Neji's family and that they probably shared the same steely focus that made the brunette so damn dangerous, that they would stop at nothing to murder his wife. Even on the wing, Hyuuga clan ninja were fast and he would be lucky to catch all of them before they found Sakura and Neji. Sasuke cursed and flew higher, searching for a vantage point.

OoOoOoO

Neji knew his position was vulnerable, not because the terrain was bad or because the wide saddle of the tree trunk was insufficient cover, but because he was trying to hide from Hyuuga ninja and there was no hiding from the Byukugan. He had thrown up a careful barrier, one that would usually have served to make them completely undetectable except by scent, but any nin looking directly at the place with a visual technique would see them instantly. Sakura sat behind him, totally silent as only a well-trained operative can be, eyes scanning the sky for Sasuke's return. Neji licked his lips, activating the Byukugan again and searching for the chakra of attacking soldiers among the more sedate energy of the trees.

"They're coming." The girl whispered.

"I don't see anything yet." Neji replied.

"I feel it, through Sasuke, he is pursuing them." She explained so softly that Neji had to strain to hear her.

A surge of anxiety had gripped him as well and his instincts were usually accurate, but the Byukugan did not lie, their area of the forest was still clear. Neji took a deep breath, gratified and mildly startled that his ribs no longer hurt, and prepared to fight whatever came through the trees. His hand was healed, as were the deep gouges in his arm, and while the Hyuuga genius had no explanation for the preternatural healing, he was grateful for any assistance the universe was willing to lend. Protecting someone was a difficult proposition even in the best of circumstances. Having to manage an opponent, while simultaneously watching for and preventing any harm to another party was a dangerously complex task and one that many died trying to accomplish. Neji didn't care about dying, he'd only really been living since marrying Naruto anyway, but he would be damned if anyone laid a finger on Sakura while he was still breathing.

"Anything from Naruto?" Neji asked softly.

"No." Sakura said, her voice weirdly clipped even in a whisper.

Neji grit his teeth and pressed his back a bit closer against her. Darkness had fallen fully, but the forest was still filled with the light of fires to the east and the west as well as the rippling blue pulses of Sasuke's deadly lightning. Many were dying, Neji knew it even without having to see for himself, and more would die if they managed to penetrate far enough to engage with Sai. The artist was moving towards them like a bullet, dispatching everything in his path with the same single-minded efficiency that had once convinced everyone that he was merely a human weapon. Sakura updated him on Sai's position every few minutes, but the Hyuuga fancied that he could almost feel the artist's approach himself, the cool rage growing closer with every moment. Neji hoped he came soon.

"Close now." Sakura whispered just as Neji picked out the flickering silhouette of the first invading nin.

"Stay quiet." Neji breathed.

Neji crouched low, watching the approaching danger through the blazing lens of his bloodline talent, breath catching as he realized that there were Hyuuga soldiers coming from almost every direction. Sasuke and his clones were still some way off, at least judging from the sound of the carnage, and the kage no bunshin Neji had created were not nearly as durable. A few of the attackers were drawn off chasing his doubles, but not nearly as many as the genius had hoped and there were still more than enough people combing the forest to find his location. As he feared, the Hyuuga were not chasing every shadow, but conducting an organized search for something and that something could only be Sakura. The way they moved, the formation patterns, all indicated a search mission instead of merely an attack and if they were searching then at least one member of ever team would be using the Byukugan.

"There! I see them!" Someone shouted and Neji prayed with all his worthless soul that it was only one of his clones they'd spotted.

"Neji Hyuuga, your position is surrounded." A voice barked.

Neji recognized the man as Tetsuo, a middle aged veteran from the clan's foreign operations team, and the father of two young sons. The realization nearly made him sick. They were all family, all people he knew and many whom he loved, and if he faltered even for a moment they would destroy everything he had come to love in this life.

"Walk away Tetsuo!" Neji snarled, baring his teeth and letting the barrier fall.

"We have our orders." Tetsuo whispered, eyes glued to Neji's own.

"Why are you dressed like a woman?" Someone who sounded like his cousin Shirou asked.

"Because there are worse things than you in these woods, Shirou." Neji spat.

"The better to leave. Give us the woman," Tetsuo replied coolly, "Then we can all go home."

"I am home." Neji growled.

"Neji, I…" Shirou began.

"Stand the FUCK down!" Neji roared.

"Give us the female oni." Tetsuo ordered.

"Never." He hissed.

"Then prepare to die with her." Tetsuo whispered.