guardian of the storm | ✓

Chapter Ten ~ Fight!

~Chapter Ten~

The gate grinds open on the opposite side of the arena and a white blur dashes out, rippling muscles, deadly fangs, pure white eyes and black stripes completing the huge tiger. It let out an earth shaking roar, the arena seeming to tremble from the very sound. It lashes its tail and stalks left to right, right to left, not moving its side of the arena.

Keeping an eye on the tense beast, Winter leans down and scoops up the dagger gripping the worn leather handle tightly. It wasn't her katana, and it most certainly wasn't her scythe, but it was around the same size as a kunai so it would work.

Let's see, I could hit it with a storm based jutsu or summon-

Her eyes widen as a realization hits her. She can't use her chakra anymore. Well this just got a whole lot harder...

A sharp bell sound rings out and the tiger wastes no time in bearing down on the girl. She rolls out of the way, hot sand gritting against her skin roughly. She hops to her feet and narrows her eyes at the beast. She wasn't use to 'seeing' with two eyes anymore, making it harder for her to keep balance.

Adapt.

Her mentor's words ring out in her ears and she dashes around, getting used to the friction of the sand and how much slower she was. The sun beat down on her, fatigue already looming over her.

Evaluate.

She dashes around the arena, the tiger roaring and charging her. The walls were to high to climb and sturdy enough to hold up against any creature. The tiger was fast when going in a straight line but if she does sharps turn it would slow down the feral cat. Her main problem was her lack of chakra for she automatically would use it when running or to make her weapon sharper.

Confuse.

She whirls around and dashes straight towards the tiger making the crowd shout several different things, the sound blending together to create a dull background noise. She could see the tiger's shadow looming over hers, feel its hot breath against her skin, and she let her knees buckle and slid under the animal raising her dagger.

The cool metal slices through its stomach with enough force to make a gash, but not enough for it to kill. Hot blood drips onto her face and arms, a stinging sensation building up.

It's blood was acidic.

She winced and slid out from under the angered tiger, rolling to avoid a swipe of its paw. However her reflexes were to slow and it hit her, sending her flying to the other side of the arena and crashing into the wall. Her back made a sickening cracking sound, pain ricocheting throughout her.

A metallic taste rises in her mouth and she pushes herself to her feet, spitting out her own blood in an arch... staining the once pure sand a deep crimson.

Survive.

She couldn't lose her first fight. She couldn't afford to die in a place like this. She couldn't stand to leave things the way they were. There was a time; a time before she knew how to use chakra, before she knew how to summon vast amounts of lighting, before she knew how to create storms out of thin air.

She broke out a cell and thrived off of the land, off of a single element called adrenaline. With that pumping through her veins she could do anything.

She takes a deep breath and closes one eye, the darkness familiar. Shoulders hunch foward, feet spread apart, dagger pointing loosely at the snarling animal. Left arm placed behind her back, toes gripping into the textured ground, her open eye narrowing in on the tiger. She bites down on the inside of her cheek, a sharp pain jolting through her.

Come on, come on, come on...

At first it was just a little, a tiny trickle of coolness in her veins. Then, like she'd knocked down a huge wall that'd been blocking its path, a flood filled her. Adrenaline was hard to explain; the exhilarating feeling, the fearlessness, the other-worldly aura you gain. The way her heart starts to beat, to pound against her chest, the feeling being the only way to convince Winter that she was still alive.

She loved it.

A shift in the sand, a trick of the light, and she sprinted forward becoming a blood covered blur. The crowd roared, whether it was in approval or not she wasn't able to tell nor did she care. She didn't see the black and red cloaked man staring down at her silently, didn't see Judar watching her, didn't realize that the man called Zero was watching from inbetween the cracks from the cell he rested in.

She lost herself in the frenzy.

Slashing and weaving she became a living, breathing demon with her lips curled and her teeth bared at the tiger as a feral sound built in her throat.

She ran and jumped, running along the hard wall for a few seconds before pushing off like a rocket hurdling towards the tiger. Her dagger was a bronze gleam as it cut through the poor animal like paper. The tiger shudders and collapses to the ground, weakly clawing at the ground.

She whirls around as a newfound roar of rage reaches her ears, her eye widening at the sight of another tiger stalking out of the cages. There was more than one... Her gaze hardens and she crouches, baring her blood stained teeth at the larger creature.

It lowers its head and stalks towards her, letting out a loud growl. She doesn't hesitate; she grew up around wolves, had learned a long time ago to communicate with them, and even lost her humanity for a few short days. So she opens her mouth and releases a blood chilling sound that climbs in the air.

It scrapes the air, rattles bones and makes the tiger cower back as the seemingly human girl howls into the air... with a more predatory sound to it. It was mortifying and scared the living shit out of the spectators.

The tiger answers her with a loud growl, the two dashing forward. All the pent up frustration, anger, annoyance, humiliation and fury that had accumulated over the past few years were shown on her face. It fueled her movements and made the adrenaline pale in comparison. She easily lost herself in the killing, especially as two more tigers joined in the fray.

Eyes burning brightly the newbie of the Colosseum annihilated her opponents.

The crowd goes dead silent as the last tiger drops to the ground, the once white sand stained an ugly red. Then the cheers of approval and satisfaction ring out, the stands shaking slightly. Winter dropped the dagger, breathing heavily with blood matting her head and her clothes torn. Burn decorated her arms and legs, smaller burns splattered across her face.

Her gate opens up and she limps back inside, exhaustion crashing over her. When the guard comes to get her, she's lead to a sterile white room with a lady in all white clothing residing there. The lady simply gets up and walks over, a faint green glow encasing her hands as she heals Winter's burns.

She leaves the cuts unattended and cleans off the blood before nodding to the guard. The black clad man grabs her upper arm, steering her back into the Holding Area. The minute she is shoved in murmurs start with curious eyes raking over her ragged appearance. She manages to keep her head from hanging as she limps to the corner she'd been staying in. She lowers herself to the ground, her lips threatening to twist into a grimace.

Leaning her head back against the cold wall she barely notices when Zero walks in, the other boy never returning.

She never notices the boy's blood stained on Zero's clothes...

Or the gleam in his eyes as he looks at her.

The white haired boy to the side or at the top.