"Shizi? Did I hear you correctly? I knew someone with that name once but they were a weak and pathetic little thing." Zabuza lightened the misty fog to try and spot Shizi. He caught a glimpse of the bright green eyes in the white and so he silently slipped closer to the girl. She was crouched low, tail flicking behind her, ears flipping around for any hint to where he could be hiding, eyes doing the same as well. The spine edge back of the blade gently brushed the grass below it as she sniffed the white for the distinct smell of the Rogue.
"So you're Shizi Yemao. Last time I saw you, you barely reached my knees now look. Where's Kandahar, little Shizi-kun?" She whirled to face the man but Zabuza chuckled as she turned her back on the real hiding place due to his Ventriloquist Jutsu.
"He's dead. Killed in the Land of Horses. Why are you here, Zabuza? I highly doubt it's for a family reunion." The said man chuckled deeply at the girl's sass.
"No, my dearest Shizi-kun. I came for a job but I'd like to do one thing first." Her ears flicked and twitched for anything out of the ordinary.
"And what's that?" Zabuza reached through the palpable white towards her. As he was nearing a man's voice sounded through the silence.
"Shizi! Behind you!" He lurched out and snatched her reaper from her clawed hand before kicking her in the back to fling her forward. Shizi closed her eyes in expectations of hitting the wet grass but two muscular arms caught her and kept her from crashing to the ground.
Her grey eyes slid open to see Kakashi kneeling on the ground to keep her up. She smiled at the silver haired man but it slipped away as an internal force slammed against her chest and invaded her skull with lancing pains. She groaned and griped her hair in pain.
"Shizi, what's wrong?" She didn't answer, just stumbled free from the man and crashed to her knees. Jingxiao knew what was happening and he was terrified.
"Shizi-chan, summon the Yokai!" The said girl only groaned in response and forced herself to her feet. She stiffened and her demeanour suddenly changed, like someone flipped a switch in her brain. A deep, evil, foreboding laugh rumbled up in her throat and filled the white that surrounds them all.
"Call the Yokai? Now, why would I possibly do that?" She opened her eyes but the green and grey were gone. In their place was a yellowish amber eye with a long, thin, vertical slit pupil. A shudder washed over her body and she returned to her knees. As she was catching her breath, her hands ripped open with claws.
Her skin began peeling back and thick fur coated under it. Her skin fell off in a bloody, messy mass and the claws ripped away what was sticking to her body. Her bones cracked audibly and shifted to fill her new form. Her friends stood in stupid silence at what their friend had become.
Shizi felt herself slipping away, her humanity was ripping into shreds. With her last bit of sanity, Shizi reverse summoned Jingxiao, knowing he could summon himself as his human form- a form she desperately needed. With that last attempt, her body was fully consumed.
"What is that?!" Screams Sakura as she stares up at the monster that is Shizi.
"Is this a Genjutsu?" Wonders Sasuke aloud and Kakashi shook his silver head no. He knew this beast, but he wasn't expecting it to be there. The amber eyes fell on Zabuza, who was slightly stunned.
"You, the kid brother of that infernal Kandahar, where you the one who took Jingxiao from my pathetic excuse for a host?" Zabuza mutely nodded up at the abomination and its mouth cracked open in a terrifying smile, sharp teeth dripping with frothy saliva like it had rabies.
"I am grateful. And as a reward, you shall spend eternity in hell!" The beast smashed its massive paw on the ground where Zabuza was, leaving a huge crater behind. Zabuza had just barely missed being crushed into a bloody mess and was back to his assigned job only to clash with Kakashi instead.
The beast deeply laughed at the small Shinobi below it as they fought. A puff of smoke alerted it to the summon of Jingxiao, who immediately had to jump free of its crash course with the huge paw. He landed next to Kakashi as he copied one move after another of Zabuza's.
"Can you stop it?" Jingxiao nodded and reached for his blood red reaper.
"Yes, Kandahar had a feeling that this would one day happen and so he gave me this reaper as its seal. But when I was taken from her possession the seal was broken and it was released. I can seal it but it has to be done now, it's poison to both her soul and body."
"She'll be alright, won't she?" Jingxiao smirked at the silver Jonin and his protectiveness over his consumed master. Jingxiao nodded before grasping the blade of his reaper and twisting until a loud pop was heard and the blade pulled from the shaft as a massive, curved dagger.
He ran at the beast, just barely quick enough to dodge its huge paws as it tried to smash the boy. He ran up the closest arm onto its shoulder. The paw returned to kill him like a nuisance fly. He just barely dodged by slipping through its claws and slid down the fur on its chest before stabbing the blade dead center of its still-beating heart.
An ear-splitting shriek emitted from the beast as the red blade in its chest pushed it back into its seal. The shriek caught the attention of the others in the vicinity. Naruto fought the urge to help the beast, Sakura stood in horrified silence, Sasuke watches in rapt interest as the blade pushed such a powerful beast into nothingness, Zabuza watches in sadistic amusement, and Kakashi was hoping deep down that Shizi will be fine.
Shizi returned to herself and her grey eyes slid over them blankly, stopping on Kakashi and Naruto as they stood side-by-side. Jingxiao shakily stood and placed his hand on the brunette's shoulder, his raven head next to it.
"See you soon, Shizi-chan." He panted out and poofs into smoke. Shizi went to step forward and tumbled to the ground, unconscious before she even began to move. Naruto darts forward and catches her before she could harm herself on the cold ground. He shifted her to his back and her head rested on his shoulder.
"She'll be alright, won't she Kakashi Sensei?" The man reached out and was surprised to find his heart clench when she neither purred nor leaned into his touch.
"I'm sure she will, Naruto." He smiled lightly and turned to leave only to repeat Shizi in falling to the dust unconscious. Sasuke and Sakura were charged with carrying Kakashi while Naruto cradled Shizi back to Tazuna's hometown.
YOU ARE READING
Beautiful Monsters
Fanfiction"The true measure of a Shinobi is not how he lives, but how he dies..." Shizi Yemao's pretty smile hides her secrets and her pretty eyes have cried too many tears. It's scary what her smile has come to hide, and she has gotten better at hiding the...
