Kiba:
I raced after the enemy. 'They have her, they have Yumi!' I thought, and forced myself to go faster. All of the sudden there was an explosion, and the way to get through to Yumi was blocked. I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Kiba" snapped a voice. I heared multiple dogs bark, and a soft, wet nose nudge my hand. Akamaru was at my side whimpering.
"They took her, and-" I fell to my knees. How could I have left her? This was my fault.
"Kiba, relax. The hokages going to send reinforcments, but first of all we don't even know who's done this" my sister, Hana told me. She forced me to my feet.
"Come on Kiba, the hokage wishes to speak with us" she said. I began to follow my sister, my head held low. 'Yumi' I thought. A single tear rolled down my cheek and stained the ground. 'no, no, NO!' I thought. I couldn't let them take her away. I sprang backwards, silently, into the night and over the ruble blocking the main gates.
Hana Inuzuka (Kiba's Sister)
I knew he'd run away, yet I didn't chase him. 'Little bro's in love, what can I do?' I wondered. Mom would probably kill us both later with a boring lecture, but what ever. Even Akamaru loved Yumi, and had left with Kiba. All of the sudden a dark shadow passed over head and the sound of heavy paws racing by reached my sensitive ears. The heavy paws belonged to a cat I was sure of, but I ignored it. I soon reached the hokages office to tell her the news.
"What?" Lady Tsunade stood up shocked, "In a time like this" she muttered shaking her head.
"I-yeeee! But I thought the Toshiki Clan had left?" asked Shizune. The Toshiki Clan was a group of ninja's that had attacked a village Kiba had been sent on a mission to protect. They were in league with the Akatski; just a group of wandering ninja.
"Send word to Shikamaru, Sakura, Shino, and Hinata. Give Shikamaru this, and try to catch up to Kiba Inuzuka" she said scribbling something down.
"Yes M'lady" I responded. I left with the message, and soon had everyone gathered. Shikamaru read the message and nodded his head understandingly. We jumped over the rubble some other shinobi were trying to clear away. Shikamaru and I were working together, but in a tough situation my word was to go above his.
"I still smell Kiba and Akamaru's scent. Its old, but still there" I told the group. We pushed on through the trees. It was going to take a while, but we'd find them one way or another. The scents split into two directions.
"Right" I said to the group. We veered to the right.
Kiba:
I knew exactly what the akatsuki did to the junjuriki. They sucked the tailed beast out of the victim and then... then the victim would be dead. No way in hell would I let them kill Yumi. I continued sprinting faster and faster, even faster than Akamaru. He whimpered and barked. I stopped beside him and sniffed the air. Something wasn't right. The scents weren't mathing up right. On trail went right, the other left. Even with Akamaru and I's enhanced sense of smell we had a 50/50 chance of picking the right tail. I took a deep breath,
"Let this be right" I muttered. I took the left scent trail. The scent seemed to grow weaker as I continued down faster and faster down the trail. 'Darn, I must have too the wrong path' I cursed. No I couldn't smell a thing. Sure I could find my way to the leaf village, but I couldn't find Yumi. I sat down and put my face in my hands. 'Damn it all' I thought. Suddenly a large dark figure jumped over head. Heavy paws landed on a branch above causing a long crack to run down the branch. I looked up, kuni pulled out ready to strike the enemy. Well.... I suppose it wasn't the enemy, sorta. A feline wimper escaped the beasts jaws. I recognized it. Before Yumi left the village to train she had saved this little demon cats from starvation. 'Psshh lilttle cat?' I remembered, this cat was more of a jaguar. No long bony, and barely covered with patchy fur. It's once been patchy fur was a healthy length and was solid black. It's yellow eyes gleaming in the darkness, its mouth opened exposing long canines. Ir jumped down towards me. Akamaru backed away out of nervousness, and I didn't blame him. A large jaguar this close... kinda freaky. The jaguar whimpered and looked at me with sad, grief-stricken eyes. I realized at once why for the first time the cat showed me any affection.
"You miss her too, don't you" I whispered softly and hesitantely patted its head. The wind blew across the land making leaves fall from the trees. I sighed softly. The smell of fall was always pleasant. I perked up at another scent. The jaguar snarled and took off as did I and Akamaru. The scent was back. 'Hang on Yumi I'm coming' I thought. They wre close no doubt.
"Huh!" yelled a tall figure. Akamaru and I lept out of the way, the jaguar lept straight up at the shinobi; however, it was kept away with a long ice spear. 'Ice style ninjutsu users' I thought. They were from the Toshiki Clan. They're clan wandered around without a home of their own. There was a reason they were so close to the Leaf Village, we all knew why.
"There's just one" said a man I knew to be Hojo. He wore a large basket on his back. I sensed some kind of chakra around it. Some kind of jutsu held it locked and was drawing chakra from what, or who ever was in it.
"Let Yumi go!" I demanded.
"Ha, you have a name for the jinjuriki. How pitiful" sneered Nogushi. I lunged forward snarling with claws and longer canines, but found myself unable too. The jaguar held onto my leg persistantly. Akamaru whimpered softly.
"I know... I need to keep my head cool, but what else do we have for options?" I questioned. There was three of them. The odds were against me, definetely not in my favor. This was going to be tricky. I sighed, I was going into battle with a cat and Akamaru. The results were going to be interesting.
Yumi:
I lay curled up in a ball inside the basket. I was could only see darkness, and I heard nothing. My sense of smell and feel was fine though. I could feel my chakra slowly being absorbed into the basket and into the man wearing it. 'I'm in trouble' I thought. I could feel another chakra going into my chakra networks. If my chakra ran to '0' I was finished, so now another chakra was flowing through me. The Matatabi's and if enough chakra of it was used the Matatabi's will power will over power me. I'll be in great trouble, and anyone in my path.
Kiba:
My foot slammed into Nomiki's stomach as my fist hit Hojo. The jaguar held onto Hojo's leg. For some reason he still wore the basket.
"Hi-ya! Haha!" he yelled triumphantly. He spun around with new power kicking and punching. I was thrown back along with Akamaru and the panther. 'What was that cats name' I wondered. I think it was Tiger or something. Tiger lept up again and attacked Nogushi.
"Ice Style, Ice dome prison!" Nogushi exclaimed and a momment later Tiger fell to the ground completely closed up in ice.
"Now who wants to be an ice shishkabob?" he asked turning to us. I gritted my teeth. Not good.
"TSUGA!" the passing fang jutsu was done, but it wasn't me, but another Inuzuka. Hoji took the hit for Nogushi. He tumbled to the ground, still holding the basket. Hoji stood right up, but he wore a triumphant grin. 'How was he not tired, injured? Was our attack useless?' I wondered angrily.
"What's up with this guy?" asked my sister Hana. A few more ninja jumped down.
"About time you got here" I muttered.
"Couldn't tell which way to go, the scents were mixed up" Hana told me. A dark line stretched out from behind and the next thing we knew the three ninja's were held up by Shikamaru's shadow stiches. He grunted from the effort of holding the jutsu,
"Shadow possession jutsu complete. Kiba give us the scoop. What's going on?" he asked as he worked to hold the jutsu because Hoji was fighting against it with a remarkable ease.
"I believe Yumi's in that basket Hojo is carrying, and I know none of our attacks have been much use on him. They are from the Toshiki Clan, ice style users" I imformed him. Shikamaru nodded,
"I say we take these douchebags out" Hana growled furiously
"Go!" Hoji yelled. All of the sudden he lept away and threw a barrage of kuni knives at us.The kuni knives missed, but a sizzling sound reached our ears. Shikamaru was forced to break the jutsu. Hoji made a run for it just as Nogushi, Nomiki, and more ninja attacked. Shikamaru and Sakura were busy fighting Kasuse and Kaasai. Tiger was unfortunantely stuck for the mean time.
"Go on ahead! We can't risk the akatsuki getting their hands on another tailed beast!" Shikmaru yelled as he fought. We nodded and took off. Squad 8 was running to save a comrad.
