Left to Fall (BoyxBoy) (REWRITE) (ON HOLD)

Chapter 7: Giving Up Is The Coward's Way Out

"What are you doing, I told you to run! This fight was over the moment we got caught! Focus on the mission!" Kakashi yelled, annoyed and desperate.

"Bridge builder?" Naruto asked, looking at Tazuna.

Tazuna looked down, contemplating. "Well... I-I guess this all started because of me, because of my desire to live. But I won't stand in your way now." He looked up, the corners of his lips quirked into a very faint smile. "Forget about me! Do what you have to do, go and fight to save your sensei!"

After his little speech, I took a deep breath, looking at Sakura then Tazuna, before looking to the boys. I walked over to them, smiling a little. "I will help wherever you need. I'll protect the gaps in your attacks, help keep him distracted."

Sasuke's lips twitched in a smile, and Naruto grinned.

Zabuza chuckled, and this time I had a full body shudder. Sasuke reached over and gave my hand a minute squeeze before dropping it, helping ground me. "When I was your age, I had already killed many with this hand." Zabuza said, and I had to take another steadying breath, rubbing my left eye again.

Kyosuke... I really want to fight. I want to grind his bones to dust.

'No, Malik, you can't! You can't attack him!'

Kyo!

In a flash, I was surrounded by darkness, watching as Malik took over my body and attacked Zabuza a millisecond after knocking Sasuke back. Malik was shoved back, making him growl, and Zabuza used that chance to shove his elbow as hard as he could into Sasuke's middle.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried out, and Malik growled even more, almost sounding animalistic, when Zabuza stepped on him and ground his heel into him. Sasuke grunted in pain, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Naruto created an army of shadow clones and using the moment they attacked as a distraction, Malik grabbed Sasuke and moved him away, checking to see how badly he was hurt by gently palming the areas Zabuza had attacked. "You okay?" He asked softly, and Sasuke nodded, but he looked confused when he looked at Malik, and I remembered suddenly that when Malik took over, my right eye was just as golden as the left.

Malik quickly jumped back to Tazuna and Sakura when the dog pile of shadow clones was destroyed, and Naruto threw Sasuke a giant shuriken.

I was surprised that Malik was letting them handle the situation, but it helped me relax. "Malik...? You're letting them handle this?"

Yeah. He sighed heavily, and I could feel him longing to jump into the fight. I wanted to give them a shot at it. It's good experience for them, after all. Besides, we can't let them know we're Jonin.

"So you have your anger under control?" I asked, and when he made a sound of confirmation I sighed loudly, placing a hand on my chest. "Oh my god, Malik! I was seriously worried you were going to give us away!"

He laughed sheepishly, and I groaned softly. "Warn me next time, please. You'll give me a heart attack if you keep doing that." He became extremely panicked at that, and I laughed a little. "Relax, Malik. I was exaggerating."

Sorry... But you were going to get hurt and I acted purely on instinct. Or impulse. Whichever you think it was.

"I think it was both."

A large splash brought our attention back to the fight, and I sighed in relief when I saw Kakashi was out of his prison, and he was not happy.

Malik let Kakashi and Zabuza fight, and when they both summon water dragons, they nearly took my breath away. Their water dragons were much more beautiful than any that I had ever managed to make, which was admittedly a little weird since I had perfect control of the chakra and the jutsu.