The Red Maelstrom

[22] Monster

A/N: I'm really sorry; I'm gonna have to open up this chapter with the pain train. As usual, watch out for the asterisks. If you had to skip, you can resume reading once you see the second asterisk.

*

The Ino-Shika-Chō Trio had stirred up so much dust in their wake that while Kohana was trying her best to withstand the pain, the cloud of dirt wasn't doing very much to help. She continued to writhe in the ground, feeling every muscle in her body tense while some were pulled to their limits, like the tendons in her limbs were going to snap in any minute. It was like an inferno had burst within Kohana and wreaked havoc on her body. The surroundings were dark; there were no trees, no wind, no shouts and scuffling of sandals, but pain and fire. A scream tore its way out of Kohana's throat because whycan'tIbreathemychesthurtsithurtsithurts—

"Kohana!"

Sakura's voice resounded in Kohana's head. Kohana clung to it like it was the only thing that could keep her alive, and when she felt something in her hand (another hand?) she grasped it as tight as she could, heedless to how much pain she could be causing her teammate.

Someone was rolling her over and there was a light weight on her back and Sakura desperately saying her name over and over and over: "Kohana please come back, please," and for a moment, Kohana's senses faded to black, only for them to reignite all too suddenly. Severe coughs that rattled her ribs and grated her throat followed. Each cough strong enough to jar her whole body and make her feel as if her throat was being pushed out of her mouth and her lungs were being punctured repetitively, even slowly, until Kohana could feel something warm and wet gradually pushing its way up her throat and out of her mouth.

*

Amidst the chaos assaulting her body, Kohana could see through burning tears the drops of blood that the ground soaked up like water. The fit went on and on until finally, the torrent of agony began to calm. Slowly, her eyes could finally see through her tears. Her ears were eventually able to hear anything other than the pounding of her heart.

When she finally came to, she distantly noticed that Sakura was no longer at her side, but Shikamaru, Ino, and Chōji. They looked as if they'd seen a ghost with the way they were staring at Kohana with horror and concern—mostly horror in their eyes. Kohana closed her eyes and carefully breathed as much sweet, sweet air as she could into her lungs through her nose; her throat felt like it had been ripped apart by an animal.

"Kohana-chan," Chōji began uncertainly, but Kohana was already sitting up in a panic, even when both Shikamaru and Ino were trying to force her to stay down.

There was something in the air, something vile. It reminded her of that battle at Tazuna's bridge, but it was different. Where that chakra blazed with fury and hatred, this hellish chakra was dark, and cold, like shadows snaking their way behind Kohana, ready to swallow her whole. Kohana wanted to speak demand, "Where's Sakura?" but all that came out of her throat was a sharp sting of pain and a ghoulish gurgle.

Instead, Kohana looked around. The three Otogakure ninja were scattered around, with only the gauntlet-wearing one still conscious and driven to a corner. Zaku lay near Sasuke's feet, but Kohana could see that the holes in his hands were still plugged up and his arms hadn't burst, but they were still broken. Kohana grimaced. Had Zaku woken up? Who broke his arms? However, that didn't matter because her eyes snapped right back to Sasuke and Sakura, and what she now saw had the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

Sakura, now with her hair short and looking like she'd been beaten nearly within an inch of her life, held onto Sasuke like her life depended on it, but that didn't matter, because Kohana finally realized where that chakra had come from.

Kohana's heart cringed at the black marks littering the left side of Sasuke's body. She watched as they slowly receded to a spot on his neck. The pain in her chest increased tenfold. This has to be Orochimaru's doing...

Sasuke couldn't bear his own weight and fell backwards, with Sakura struggling to support him.

"You are strong, Sasuke-kun... we can't defeat you at this time," admitted the one with the gauntlet. He placed an Earth scroll at Sasuke's feet and eventually left with his teammates on his back.

"What happened?" Kohana rasped. Her eyes fell on Lee, who was sitting and quite clearly fighting to stay conscious.

Shikamaru clicked his tongue. "We tried to deal with that Dosu guy and that girl, but they were pretty damn strong. Sasuke... well..." he trailed off. Kohana watched as Team 10 looked at each other warily, until Ino continued where her teammate left off. Her voice quivered and she wrapped her arms around herself. "Sasuke-kun managed to beat them both, but the other guy... the one you knocked out. He just forced him to wake up and b-broke his arms..."

Kohana felt the earth shift beneath her.

That wasn't Sasuke.

"Thanks, guys, really..." Kohana managed to say past the ringing in her ears. Her tongue felt like it was far too thick for her mouth. "Will you... will you help me up? I want to go see my teammates..."

Team 10 acquiesced and both Shikamaru and Chōji helped her stand and wobble over to Sakura and Sasuke. Ino called Sakura over. Sasuke had finally noticed her presence by then, as did Sakura. He watched Kohana slump down on her knees next to him, a weak frown on her face. She then looked back at Sakura, her eyes softening. "Thanks, Sakura." Though no one besides the two girls could realize this, she'd meant everything that had happened so far with the appearance of Dosu and his team.

"Kohana..." she heard Sasuke mutter. He stared at her in thinly-veiled alarm. Great; Kohana must look quite attractive. But instead of smiling at Sasuke and cracking a joke at her own appearance like she normally would, she wrenched the boy's collar down to reveal the mark on his neck. He flinched and tried to move away, but Kohana was tracing the three commas with her thumb. She wanted to vomit.

"What on earth did he do to you?"

A/N: So short! I actually cut out quite a bit. In the original, Kohana was still halfway conscious, but tbh when you're in a lot of pain it just doesn't work that way, so I scrapped it and just focused on descriptions. Hope you can forgive me for the length; the previous chapter was twice as long as the original, so that should make up for it.

Honestly, I could just merge chapters 21 and 22 but honestly, I can't be bothered to change the numbering for the subsequent chapters. Anyhow, it's not like you have to wait for updates, so chapter length doesn't really matter anymore at this point.