A Growing Affection

Chapter 74: A Jinchuriki's Fate

The Two-Tails Cat Demon looked like the incarnation of deadly grace  to the Leaf ninjas. Her gigantic form was sleek and toned like a  panther, muscles rippling under her skin with every movement. White-hot  flames flickered and pulsed across her soft blue fur. Her three-foot  long claws dug into the stone floor of the ravine like it was soft dirt.  The feline's fangs were longer than Neji was tall, perfectly straight,  painfully sharp, and completely unmarked. Her deep yellow eyes watched  them, her slitted pupils almost a vertical line in the brightness of the  floodlights. At the same time, her ears swiveled around, searching for  the sounds of any creature she might not be able to see. The expression  on her face was incomprehensible to the teens, but her posture seemed to  be completely at ease, her hackles were not raised and her twin tails  hung flaccid behind her.

The Two-Tails cat took a deep breath,  blue flames shimmering in the corners of her mouth. After filling her  lungs, she spit out a cone of cyan fire at the four Leaf shinobi. The  teenage warriors scattered to avoid the inferno. Hinata activated her  improved Byakugan, and both she and Neji studied the demon's chakra. The  four ninjas spread out as they had been trained; knowing that if they  separated, at least they could divide the monster's attention, and  prevent her from attacking more than one of them at a time. But as soon  as they were out of the path of her attack, the feline stopped as if  confused. After a few instants of consideration, the cat turned to her  left, following Hinata and Tenten. The weapons expert was already  signing when the demon's jaws opened again.

"Hinata, get clear," she advised, before finishing, "Doton: Rockslide Jutsu."

The  walls of the canyon on either side of the young woman broke apart, and  tumbled towards the creature. The cat demon continued her clockwise  rotation another half step, and breathed fire on the stones rumbling  forward on Tenten's right. The inferno nearly caught the human, and  fused the rocks together. But the boulders on the other side of Gai's  student continued unimpeded, crashing into the demon's face and front  left leg. Hinata, having taken her friend's warning, continued to  observe the creature through her silver eyes.

To the monster's rear, Neji completed his own technique, incanting, "Water Style: Extinguishing Deluge Jutsu."

A  column of water erupted from the male Jonin's hands, expanding into a  wave that washed over the demon. The flickering embers across the cat's  body expired, and between the rocks and the flood, the monster nearly  fell over. Sakura charged in, hammering her lightning charged fists into  the feline's right rear leg. The girl's strength, combined with the  numbing effect of the Ranshinsho proved to be enough to knock the demon  on her side.

"Get up," a new voice shouted, "Kill them. Burn them to ash!"

Previously  hidden behind the Two-Tails was a teenage girl, perhaps fourteen or  fifteen years of age. Her build was balanced, neither slender nor bulky.  She wore a Hidden Snow headband, with a ragged line cut through the  insignia. Her pale green eyes stared wrathfully at the Leaf ninjas. Her  hair was a deep shade of pink, bordering on purple, and was done in five  short, tight braids. Her uniform consisted of a tight, light grey  jumpsuit, with a metal breastplate covering the upper part of her chest.  She held a mace loosely in her right hand, and a silver amulet tightly  in her left hand. The Snow renegade realized she had been spotted, and  gripped her weapon more firmly.

"We meet at last, Sakura Haruno," she announced, "Now I can finally pay you back for killing my sister."

"You must be Mayuko Kakuyoku," the medic realized, "You look a lot like your sister."

"It's  too late for flattery," the renegade snorted, and then she noticed the  cat demon was lying where she had fallen, licking her stunned leg.

"What  are you waiting for?" Mayuko yelled at the demon, "Hurry up! Kill the  male, then the other two females. But save that one for last."