O_O
?You?re lying,? Reina spat out towards Reaver.
?I may enjoy killing, perhaps a bit of stealing, and without question torture, but lying isn?t my forte,? Reaver replied.
They were now walking through the halls near the prison cells, the monstrous goons holding spears to the backs of each of Akatsuki?s prisoners. The cells were dark, ominous, and one would have to be accustomed to such darkness to possibly see anything.
?Very cute,? Reina murmured bitterly.
Reaver shrugged, ?Think what you want of me, but facts are facts. Riku?s mind is made up. He may not have said anything so far, he may not have accepted it fully, but given time, and by time I mean a few seconds, he will.?
Deirous had an irritated look, ?Like we?ll actually believe that.?
?It doesn?t matter what you believe, there is only what is. No if, ands, or buts about it. This... is definitive.?
?You don?t know that,? Reina said quietly, though she couldn?t be sure herself. Something about Riku had surely changed when he came back, though she didn?t know why or how, or even what exactly it was for that matter.
?Trust me, if you would have seen that battle back there, what he said and how he said it, you wouldn?t say that,? Reaver said, still walking forward at a rather quick pace.
A swirling portal opened from the side of them, and Tenzu through it, the portal closing as soon as he was there.
?I hate when you do that,? Reaver commented, ?Looking at that portal makes my stomach turn.?
?Then don?t look at it,? Tenzu said simply, ?Anyway, he?s up there, so whenever you want to start...?
Reina looked up, ?Start what?? she asked.
Tenzu turned back to her, looking at her absently, without any empathy which was more than a little disturbing considering what he said, ?Execution.?
~
Hours after the battle, Riku had, at last, come to. Unlike last time, though, he wasn?t chained up. Not at all. He was in a sitting position, leaning against one of the pillars that were found at the very top of Akatsuki?s spire. The sound of booming thunder was what awoke Riku, and he looked up to see that it was heavily raining; it probably had been doing so for quite a while.
He dropped his gaze to look directly forward. On the exact opposite side of the top of the area that he was at, there was a large platform, behind an equally as large row of stair cases that Riku was only a few meters away from. On the platform, he saw a total of six people. Reina, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Deirous, and Raiden were all tied up, kneeling down with their hands behind their backs, though they were now awake and staring hard towards Riku. In front of them, though, was the sixth person?Shinru. His gaze held much more amount of sternness than the others?. Riku stared back at them, all of them, with mixed emotions.
And as they stared, he knew that they all knew what was coming, and so did he.
Reaver, followed by Tenzu, came from an opening at the corner of the spire that led to a spiraling staircase. Reaver was clapping as he came up.
?Quite the show down there. Though I wish it had been just a bit longer,? he said towards Riku with his usual gruesome smile.
Riku hadn?t paid any attention to the comment, though, as he was more interested in Tenzu, or rather what he held. In one hand, there was a small object, a ring, it didn?t take a genius to figure out that it was the customary Akatsuki ring, and slung over his shoulder was a shirt of some sort, no a cloak.
An Akatsuki cloak?
All of his friends stared at it as well, though they were looking from it, back to Riku, and then back to it.
?You remember our talk from earlier, right?? Tenzu asked, obviously directing his question to Riku, ?Have you made your choice?
Riku had, at first, thought of some witty remark, but then, as serious about this as anything, he nodded once as Tenzu continued to walk past him, going up the staircase. The amount of seriousness that accompanied Riku?s gesture brought a broad smile to Tenzu?s lips, and, of course, an even wider one to Reaver?s, and, equally as expectedly, a look of horror to the faces of all of the others who were on the platform.
Riku stood up, putting one hand on the ground to offer him much needed support, and then standing on his own, waiting for a moment to catch his balance, and then walking forward, without the slightest amount of hesitance.
?Let the others go,? Riku said simply, looking towards Tenzu, ?Except for him,? Riku said shifting his gaze towards Shinru.
Reaver stared towards Tenzu as well, a look of blatant dismay on his face; clearly he had been looking forward to some sort of beheading. He walked closer towards Tenzu as he saw the Uchiha nod once, and then spoke quietly, ?Um... what are you doing??
?They don?t know enough yet. So far, they?ve only seen you, and that?s it, they were unconscious for most of everything else, and they already know our location. Keeping them alive won?t do us much harm,? Tenzu said.
?If Riku took them with him to fight us, then they must be at least a little strong. You know, as far as Konoha goes,? he replied, still in a hushed tone, and then nodded towards Tenzu, ?And that one, Kakashi... killing him could prove valuable.?
Tenzu shrugged, ?For now, let?s just let Riku call the shots. His ?decision making? will be much easier that way. For now, just move them off to the side.?
Reaver looked at Tenzu for a long time, and then gave a slight, helpless shrug, while moving towards the others. Reaver motioned for them to move off of the platform, all except Shinru going down the row of steps and then being put off to the side, in the opposite corner that they had been at where Riku was at first.
Riku was still staring at Shinru, but directed his question to Tenzu, ?You interfered last time, right??
Tenzu raised a curious eyebrow, ?So you did notice, huh? I would rather you to think that you were stronger than him, but yes, I did.?
?Where?s his spear?? Riku asked, ?Odyssey??
Tenzu looked around for a moment, and then saw it put off to the side; considering that they had come straight up here from the arena, Reaver probably brought it with him. Tenzu pointed towards it, ?Over there.?
Riku looked in the direction, and then walked over towards the spear, bending over to pick it up, and then taking out Soul Eater with his free hand He moved to a position behind Shinru, and then struck down once quickly with Shinru, who closed his eyes shut tightly, bracing himself for the impact. However, the cut went past Shinru?s head and cut off the rope that bound his wrists together behind his back.
Shinru turned around and jumped back quickly before Riku could go for any other strikes that may be more fatal. He twisted his arms around a few times, and suddenly, Riku, to the surprise of all who were up on the spire, prisoners and Akatsuki members alike, tossed Shinru?s spear to him. Shinru whipped out his hand quickly and caught it.
?Once more, no interferences, no interruptions, no holding back. All-out, you and me,? Riku said, and then in a deadly tone, added, ?Loser dies.?
Shinru grunted, and tried to look for some way out, some way to compensate with his former student, but then he realized something.
This wasn?t Riku anymore.
Shinru then nodded upon that realization, but took no specific battle position. Riku did the same, both of them standing with their weapons in hand, but hanging at their sides rather lazily.
?Alright then...? Shinru said, his eyes slowly closing. Then, suddenly, Riku could feel that Shinru was behind him, though facing the opposite way, ?All-out.?
They both turned around at the same time, Riku bringing his arm around for an attack to Shinru?s neck, cutting across the air, while Shinru, turning at the same time, brought his arm closes to Riku, which was luckily the one without his spear in hand, around to grab the boy?s forearm before his blade could get anywhere near. Thinking quickly though, Riku shifted how he held Soul Eater, twisting his wrist so that the blade could complete its slice, but now coming closer to the back of Shinru?s neck.
Ducking low while releasing Riku?s arm, Shinru brought up his fist for a successful blow to Riku?s stomach, Riku focusing more on stopping his own blade from hitting him in the face after the dodge, and then rose up while bringing his left knee up, while bringing his left arm around, the one that firmly held Odyssey, for a stab to Riku?s side. As soon as the first punch came, though, Riku pushed his hand out to grab onto Shinru?s rising knee, then flipping himself over to go over Shinru?s head, dodging the stab, and then turned in mid-air, but he quickly jumped once more before Shinru could retaliate, pushing himself into the air.
Riku quickly went into a series of handseals, and suddenly shot three ice dart-like objects from his mouth, directing each one in a different location as Shinru moved away from them. Shinru rolled to the side to avoid the first, and then jumped backwards slightly for the second, and finally jumped diagonally backwards into the air, where he landed agilely on the tip of one of the pillars; this one going directly upwards instead of being curved like some of the others. Looking back towards Riku, he could see a giant blast of wind rushing towards him. Shinru simply jumped from the pillar that he was at now, across spire to another one that was similarly structured, landing on top of that. As he flipped over, he began his own series of hand seals, and then literally ran off of the pillar.
As he began running, ice appeared under him, like some sort of pathway that built itself as he moved. His run turned into a slide, gracefully moving around on the pathway as it built itself depending on where he wanted to go, and the already created parts disappearing when he was a fair amount away from them. While on it, Shinru threw a torrent of kunai at Riku, who was now on the ground. Riku easily deflected this with a few strikes from Soul Eater, and then stepped to the side on one, reaching out to catch it by its handle as it rushed past him, and then threw it back towards Shinru, who was now going straight towards him on the frozen pathway.
Similarly, Shinru deflected this with a kunai, having dropped Odyssey when he landed on the first pillar, the spear disappearing as it fell so that Shinru could easily recall it when it was needed again. However, when the projectile was deflected, Riku saw a giant blast of water racing towards him. He quickly jumped off of his path way, going towards and over Riku?s head. The pathway, even when he jumped off, was still building itself. It was descending still, and it gradually was going towards Riku, while concentrating its tip into something more like a spike. Riku jumped up, landing on the descending spike, and used all of his leg strength to run against the direction that it was moving in, and then jumped while twisting himself to turn around while Shinru, yet again, landed on a pillar.
Riku released Soul Eater from his grasp, and it disappeared as it fell, and then caught himself, landing on one hand and then flipping over, sliding back a few feet from the rain which now covered most of the ground.
They both watched each other for a long time, panting equally as heavily at how quickly the battle was going. The bystanders watched, more than a little impressed, and it took a great deal of effort from Reaver not to let out an excited scream. Meanwhile, Riku?s allies, especially Reina, watched with mixed emotions. They were so used to wanting Riku to win, but... if he was to win...
Shinru dropped down to the ground, water from the ground rising up around his right hand. When he landed, he thrust his hand out forward, as needles of water flew out of his hand, the water becoming practically solid and the speed of them devastating. Riku advanced forward and danced around the needles, spinning and moving between and around them. Finally, when the torrent was over Riku pushed his own hand out, only a few feet away from Shinru now, while a blast of wind shot out at point-blank range from his hand.
Shinru ducked down, putting one hand on the ground and making one hand seal. Suddenly, from the water on the ground, two giant figures rose up from either side of Shinru, and then they solidified into ice. The two creatures were identical. They were humongous; both with giant, clawed hands and most of their bodies were covered in small spikes. The creatures seemed to be about fifteen meters tall, and about that large across as well. Both of their shoulders were spiked up, framing its giant face that was, as well, spiked in the back of the head and at the front were small, yellow eyes, two slits that were apparently nostrils, and a giant maw that held rows of animal-like teeth.
As soon as they appeared, one threw his head back while the other threw its arm back as a spear made entirely of ice, the spear being about the size of the giant in height, appeared in its hand. The giant with the spear threw it forward while the other threw its head back forward to spit out a powerful blast of ice at Riku. Both attacks proved devastating, hitting Riku directly and sending him flying across the top of the spire, and then falling over the edge.
All was quiet for a long moment, and Shinru relaxed his posture. Tenzu turned and began to walk toward the edge, but quickly stopped as they all heard a loud, booming roar coming from a lower area at the spire. There was a second roar, and suddenly, something flashed in front of them and higher into the sky, moving at the speed of lightning.
All eyes went up, even those of the ice giants, and they could see something beginning to come into view. It swooped between the giants and over Shinru?s head with the same great amount of speed, and then turned around, while staring at Shinru.
They all found themselves staring at a giant dragon, with scales as dark as night but somewhat shined because of the rain. Shadow, the dragon that Riku had fought before Deathwing in his visit to their home, loomed over Shinru, Riku standing on its head, casting a shadow over all who stood on the spire?or it would have had it not already been night. The giant dragon roared again, it?s great wings spanning out into the air and then going back to flapping, and then released a giant blast of black fire towards Shinru and the two ice behemoths.
The giants both put their hands out, a large shield projecting itself in front of them, their combined strength just barely being able to withstand the power of the black fire, since Shinru?s ice, luckily, was capable of withstanding fire despite the general belief. When the collision was resolved, both of the giants made spears in their hands and threw them at the dragon.
Easily and gracefully, the dragon maneuvered its way through and past the two giant spears, moving forward towards Shinru as it did. As it moved, it opened its mouth, and instead of releasing a fireball, it completely devoured one of the behemoths, never even slowing down its charge, and as they passed Shinru and the other, Riku made a handseal and the rain above the other giant, as well as Shinru, suddenly turned into giant daggers that fell down towards them. The giant was easily impaled, falling to its knees, and then all the way down. Meanwhile, Shinru rolled under the half of the giant that was still falling, and as it fell, its body looming over Shinru, almost falling, to protect him from the daggers, he made a single hand sign that froze the giant in place, offering sufficient protection from the daggers that were still falling.
Everyone, especially Shinru who knew how difficult it was to learn how to summon these creatures, silently applauded Riku?s drastic increase in skill, and even more when they found out that he could control the rain element. He had gotten much stronger, and though Shinru knew a large part of it dealt with him being much weaker because of nearly a year spent in a cell, he had to wonder how it would play out if both of them had been on equal terms.
The dragon swerved around, spewing out the remains of the ice giant to fall down to the ground, and then shot out another wave of black fire. Shinru jumped up, but within a second, Riku was upon him, in the air in front of him and when he was there, he flipped up and over, and then slammed his heel down for a powerful kick onto Shinru?s head.
Shinru, having no time to react and barely any chakra left to use a jutsu, flew down to the ground, landing with a booming impact and then rolling back a few feet, just barely catching himself with one hand on the edge of the spire, but he could feel that hand slipping from the rain and his poor grip.
Riku, just as quickly as before, moved in front of him, his feet only inches away from Shinru?s hand, both of them gazing at each other, Riku?s gaze was stern, while Shinru?s was somewhere the completely opposite expressions of pathetic and looking down on Riku and who he was now.
With lightning speed, as Shinru?s hand continued to slip, now near the edge, Soul Eater reappeared in Riku?s hand as he brought it down in a vicious stab through Shinru?s hand, holding him in place.
?There?s one thing... that I need to know...? Riku began, his heart racing from the nerves of everything that just happened and everything that would follow this day.
Shinru continued to look up at him, beads of sweat going down his face, and Riku continued, his voice more demanding, more forceful now, ?Where... is my mother??
Shinru?s eyes widened at this question, and slowly, he gradually turned away, looking off to the side as if something else had caught his attention, a dismayed and defeated look on his face.
?Nothing to say... eh? Then die like the worthless scum you are!? Riku yelled, veins practically popping from his face, as he yanked Soul Eater from Shinru?s hand, forcing the man to completely slip over the edge.
Riku stared after him for a long while, watching him fall, and slowly leave view due to how far they were from the ground. Reina, Kakashi, Raiden, Deirous, and Shikamaru all stared at Riku with fear in their eyes. Riku?s stare held determination though, held anger. Shinru?s silence, even as he fell, annoyed Riku to no end, as if it had taken the joy from this ending.
But even now, the only ones who would receive any joy from such an ending were the ever-bloodthirsty pair of Tenzu and Reaver.
~
There was a long silence on the road back home. They had all been escorted a fair amount of the way towards Konoha by Reaver, and the rest was up to them. Silence bound the group, all of them walking with their own intakes on everything that had just happened, and their own silent reaction to how their group now held one less member than it left with.
Deirous was the one to break the silence, talking in the most serious tone that any of the group had ever heard coming from his usually sarcastic voice, ?So... what happens now? I mean, as far as fighting them goes??
Kakashi was the only one with enough stability in his voice to answer, the others, minus Shikamaru, not far off from crying, even Deirous?s voice was somewhat cracking, ?We can?t stop fighting them. It reminds me of a similar situation, not too long ago, and it still poses itself as resurfacing even now. The thing you must remember now is that he?s an enemy now, even if he did seem like an irreplaceable friend at once. If he?s seen by any ninja of Konoha or its allies, he?ll be killed.?
The statement didn?t surprise any of them, and all of them knew that Kakashi would know best what to do in this situation, having dealt with the similar situation of Sasuke Uchiha maybe two years before. The statement still set all of them back on their heels slightly, their eyes widening, but just from the fact that the truth of it was thrown in their faces so blandly. None of them wanted to accept that, it couldn?t be that simple, it simply wasn?t that simple. But yet it was... that was exactly the situation, and those conflicting emotions found themselves in all of them, all of them fighting a battle within themselves all the way back to Konoha.
~
Riku stood at the top of the spire, standing exactly where he was before, and looking yet again down, to where Shinru had fallen only the day before. He reflected back, on everything, and he was ashamed of none of it. He wore a wide, gruesome grin on his face, almost maniacle. There was so much that was different about the situation now than it had been yesterday.
Now, Riku wore a black cloak with red clouds on it.
Now a ring could be found on his left hand?s index fingers.
Now, he was a member of the Akatsuki.
The Icebound Chronicles Finale ? Riku?s Choice
?You?re lying,? Reina spat out towards Reaver.
?I may enjoy killing, perhaps a bit of stealing, and without question torture, but lying isn?t my forte,? Reaver replied.
They were now walking through the halls near the prison cells, the monstrous goons holding spears to the backs of each of Akatsuki?s prisoners. The cells were dark, ominous, and one would have to be accustomed to such darkness to possibly see anything.
?Very cute,? Reina murmured bitterly.
Reaver shrugged, ?Think what you want of me, but facts are facts. Riku?s mind is made up. He may not have said anything so far, he may not have accepted it fully, but given time, and by time I mean a few seconds, he will.?
Deirous had an irritated look, ?Like we?ll actually believe that.?
?It doesn?t matter what you believe, there is only what is. No if, ands, or buts about it. This... is definitive.?
?You don?t know that,? Reina said quietly, though she couldn?t be sure herself. Something about Riku had surely changed when he came back, though she didn?t know why or how, or even what exactly it was for that matter.
?Trust me, if you would have seen that battle back there, what he said and how he said it, you wouldn?t say that,? Reaver said, still walking forward at a rather quick pace.
A swirling portal opened from the side of them, and Tenzu through it, the portal closing as soon as he was there.
?I hate when you do that,? Reaver commented, ?Looking at that portal makes my stomach turn.?
?Then don?t look at it,? Tenzu said simply, ?Anyway, he?s up there, so whenever you want to start...?
Reina looked up, ?Start what?? she asked.
Tenzu turned back to her, looking at her absently, without any empathy which was more than a little disturbing considering what he said, ?Execution.?
~
Hours after the battle, Riku had, at last, come to. Unlike last time, though, he wasn?t chained up. Not at all. He was in a sitting position, leaning against one of the pillars that were found at the very top of Akatsuki?s spire. The sound of booming thunder was what awoke Riku, and he looked up to see that it was heavily raining; it probably had been doing so for quite a while.
He dropped his gaze to look directly forward. On the exact opposite side of the top of the area that he was at, there was a large platform, behind an equally as large row of stair cases that Riku was only a few meters away from. On the platform, he saw a total of six people. Reina, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Deirous, and Raiden were all tied up, kneeling down with their hands behind their backs, though they were now awake and staring hard towards Riku. In front of them, though, was the sixth person?Shinru. His gaze held much more amount of sternness than the others?. Riku stared back at them, all of them, with mixed emotions.
And as they stared, he knew that they all knew what was coming, and so did he.
Reaver, followed by Tenzu, came from an opening at the corner of the spire that led to a spiraling staircase. Reaver was clapping as he came up.
?Quite the show down there. Though I wish it had been just a bit longer,? he said towards Riku with his usual gruesome smile.
Riku hadn?t paid any attention to the comment, though, as he was more interested in Tenzu, or rather what he held. In one hand, there was a small object, a ring, it didn?t take a genius to figure out that it was the customary Akatsuki ring, and slung over his shoulder was a shirt of some sort, no a cloak.
An Akatsuki cloak?
All of his friends stared at it as well, though they were looking from it, back to Riku, and then back to it.
?You remember our talk from earlier, right?? Tenzu asked, obviously directing his question to Riku, ?Have you made your choice?
Riku had, at first, thought of some witty remark, but then, as serious about this as anything, he nodded once as Tenzu continued to walk past him, going up the staircase. The amount of seriousness that accompanied Riku?s gesture brought a broad smile to Tenzu?s lips, and, of course, an even wider one to Reaver?s, and, equally as expectedly, a look of horror to the faces of all of the others who were on the platform.
Riku stood up, putting one hand on the ground to offer him much needed support, and then standing on his own, waiting for a moment to catch his balance, and then walking forward, without the slightest amount of hesitance.
?Let the others go,? Riku said simply, looking towards Tenzu, ?Except for him,? Riku said shifting his gaze towards Shinru.
Reaver stared towards Tenzu as well, a look of blatant dismay on his face; clearly he had been looking forward to some sort of beheading. He walked closer towards Tenzu as he saw the Uchiha nod once, and then spoke quietly, ?Um... what are you doing??
?They don?t know enough yet. So far, they?ve only seen you, and that?s it, they were unconscious for most of everything else, and they already know our location. Keeping them alive won?t do us much harm,? Tenzu said.
?If Riku took them with him to fight us, then they must be at least a little strong. You know, as far as Konoha goes,? he replied, still in a hushed tone, and then nodded towards Tenzu, ?And that one, Kakashi... killing him could prove valuable.?
Tenzu shrugged, ?For now, let?s just let Riku call the shots. His ?decision making? will be much easier that way. For now, just move them off to the side.?
Reaver looked at Tenzu for a long time, and then gave a slight, helpless shrug, while moving towards the others. Reaver motioned for them to move off of the platform, all except Shinru going down the row of steps and then being put off to the side, in the opposite corner that they had been at where Riku was at first.
Riku was still staring at Shinru, but directed his question to Tenzu, ?You interfered last time, right??
Tenzu raised a curious eyebrow, ?So you did notice, huh? I would rather you to think that you were stronger than him, but yes, I did.?
?Where?s his spear?? Riku asked, ?Odyssey??
Tenzu looked around for a moment, and then saw it put off to the side; considering that they had come straight up here from the arena, Reaver probably brought it with him. Tenzu pointed towards it, ?Over there.?
Riku looked in the direction, and then walked over towards the spear, bending over to pick it up, and then taking out Soul Eater with his free hand He moved to a position behind Shinru, and then struck down once quickly with Shinru, who closed his eyes shut tightly, bracing himself for the impact. However, the cut went past Shinru?s head and cut off the rope that bound his wrists together behind his back.
Shinru turned around and jumped back quickly before Riku could go for any other strikes that may be more fatal. He twisted his arms around a few times, and suddenly, Riku, to the surprise of all who were up on the spire, prisoners and Akatsuki members alike, tossed Shinru?s spear to him. Shinru whipped out his hand quickly and caught it.
?Once more, no interferences, no interruptions, no holding back. All-out, you and me,? Riku said, and then in a deadly tone, added, ?Loser dies.?
Shinru grunted, and tried to look for some way out, some way to compensate with his former student, but then he realized something.
This wasn?t Riku anymore.
Shinru then nodded upon that realization, but took no specific battle position. Riku did the same, both of them standing with their weapons in hand, but hanging at their sides rather lazily.
?Alright then...? Shinru said, his eyes slowly closing. Then, suddenly, Riku could feel that Shinru was behind him, though facing the opposite way, ?All-out.?
They both turned around at the same time, Riku bringing his arm around for an attack to Shinru?s neck, cutting across the air, while Shinru, turning at the same time, brought his arm closes to Riku, which was luckily the one without his spear in hand, around to grab the boy?s forearm before his blade could get anywhere near. Thinking quickly though, Riku shifted how he held Soul Eater, twisting his wrist so that the blade could complete its slice, but now coming closer to the back of Shinru?s neck.
Ducking low while releasing Riku?s arm, Shinru brought up his fist for a successful blow to Riku?s stomach, Riku focusing more on stopping his own blade from hitting him in the face after the dodge, and then rose up while bringing his left knee up, while bringing his left arm around, the one that firmly held Odyssey, for a stab to Riku?s side. As soon as the first punch came, though, Riku pushed his hand out to grab onto Shinru?s rising knee, then flipping himself over to go over Shinru?s head, dodging the stab, and then turned in mid-air, but he quickly jumped once more before Shinru could retaliate, pushing himself into the air.
Riku quickly went into a series of handseals, and suddenly shot three ice dart-like objects from his mouth, directing each one in a different location as Shinru moved away from them. Shinru rolled to the side to avoid the first, and then jumped backwards slightly for the second, and finally jumped diagonally backwards into the air, where he landed agilely on the tip of one of the pillars; this one going directly upwards instead of being curved like some of the others. Looking back towards Riku, he could see a giant blast of wind rushing towards him. Shinru simply jumped from the pillar that he was at now, across spire to another one that was similarly structured, landing on top of that. As he flipped over, he began his own series of hand seals, and then literally ran off of the pillar.
As he began running, ice appeared under him, like some sort of pathway that built itself as he moved. His run turned into a slide, gracefully moving around on the pathway as it built itself depending on where he wanted to go, and the already created parts disappearing when he was a fair amount away from them. While on it, Shinru threw a torrent of kunai at Riku, who was now on the ground. Riku easily deflected this with a few strikes from Soul Eater, and then stepped to the side on one, reaching out to catch it by its handle as it rushed past him, and then threw it back towards Shinru, who was now going straight towards him on the frozen pathway.
Similarly, Shinru deflected this with a kunai, having dropped Odyssey when he landed on the first pillar, the spear disappearing as it fell so that Shinru could easily recall it when it was needed again. However, when the projectile was deflected, Riku saw a giant blast of water racing towards him. He quickly jumped off of his path way, going towards and over Riku?s head. The pathway, even when he jumped off, was still building itself. It was descending still, and it gradually was going towards Riku, while concentrating its tip into something more like a spike. Riku jumped up, landing on the descending spike, and used all of his leg strength to run against the direction that it was moving in, and then jumped while twisting himself to turn around while Shinru, yet again, landed on a pillar.
Riku released Soul Eater from his grasp, and it disappeared as it fell, and then caught himself, landing on one hand and then flipping over, sliding back a few feet from the rain which now covered most of the ground.
They both watched each other for a long time, panting equally as heavily at how quickly the battle was going. The bystanders watched, more than a little impressed, and it took a great deal of effort from Reaver not to let out an excited scream. Meanwhile, Riku?s allies, especially Reina, watched with mixed emotions. They were so used to wanting Riku to win, but... if he was to win...
Shinru dropped down to the ground, water from the ground rising up around his right hand. When he landed, he thrust his hand out forward, as needles of water flew out of his hand, the water becoming practically solid and the speed of them devastating. Riku advanced forward and danced around the needles, spinning and moving between and around them. Finally, when the torrent was over Riku pushed his own hand out, only a few feet away from Shinru now, while a blast of wind shot out at point-blank range from his hand.
Shinru ducked down, putting one hand on the ground and making one hand seal. Suddenly, from the water on the ground, two giant figures rose up from either side of Shinru, and then they solidified into ice. The two creatures were identical. They were humongous; both with giant, clawed hands and most of their bodies were covered in small spikes. The creatures seemed to be about fifteen meters tall, and about that large across as well. Both of their shoulders were spiked up, framing its giant face that was, as well, spiked in the back of the head and at the front were small, yellow eyes, two slits that were apparently nostrils, and a giant maw that held rows of animal-like teeth.
As soon as they appeared, one threw his head back while the other threw its arm back as a spear made entirely of ice, the spear being about the size of the giant in height, appeared in its hand. The giant with the spear threw it forward while the other threw its head back forward to spit out a powerful blast of ice at Riku. Both attacks proved devastating, hitting Riku directly and sending him flying across the top of the spire, and then falling over the edge.
All was quiet for a long moment, and Shinru relaxed his posture. Tenzu turned and began to walk toward the edge, but quickly stopped as they all heard a loud, booming roar coming from a lower area at the spire. There was a second roar, and suddenly, something flashed in front of them and higher into the sky, moving at the speed of lightning.
All eyes went up, even those of the ice giants, and they could see something beginning to come into view. It swooped between the giants and over Shinru?s head with the same great amount of speed, and then turned around, while staring at Shinru.
They all found themselves staring at a giant dragon, with scales as dark as night but somewhat shined because of the rain. Shadow, the dragon that Riku had fought before Deathwing in his visit to their home, loomed over Shinru, Riku standing on its head, casting a shadow over all who stood on the spire?or it would have had it not already been night. The giant dragon roared again, it?s great wings spanning out into the air and then going back to flapping, and then released a giant blast of black fire towards Shinru and the two ice behemoths.
The giants both put their hands out, a large shield projecting itself in front of them, their combined strength just barely being able to withstand the power of the black fire, since Shinru?s ice, luckily, was capable of withstanding fire despite the general belief. When the collision was resolved, both of the giants made spears in their hands and threw them at the dragon.
Easily and gracefully, the dragon maneuvered its way through and past the two giant spears, moving forward towards Shinru as it did. As it moved, it opened its mouth, and instead of releasing a fireball, it completely devoured one of the behemoths, never even slowing down its charge, and as they passed Shinru and the other, Riku made a handseal and the rain above the other giant, as well as Shinru, suddenly turned into giant daggers that fell down towards them. The giant was easily impaled, falling to its knees, and then all the way down. Meanwhile, Shinru rolled under the half of the giant that was still falling, and as it fell, its body looming over Shinru, almost falling, to protect him from the daggers, he made a single hand sign that froze the giant in place, offering sufficient protection from the daggers that were still falling.
Everyone, especially Shinru who knew how difficult it was to learn how to summon these creatures, silently applauded Riku?s drastic increase in skill, and even more when they found out that he could control the rain element. He had gotten much stronger, and though Shinru knew a large part of it dealt with him being much weaker because of nearly a year spent in a cell, he had to wonder how it would play out if both of them had been on equal terms.
The dragon swerved around, spewing out the remains of the ice giant to fall down to the ground, and then shot out another wave of black fire. Shinru jumped up, but within a second, Riku was upon him, in the air in front of him and when he was there, he flipped up and over, and then slammed his heel down for a powerful kick onto Shinru?s head.
Shinru, having no time to react and barely any chakra left to use a jutsu, flew down to the ground, landing with a booming impact and then rolling back a few feet, just barely catching himself with one hand on the edge of the spire, but he could feel that hand slipping from the rain and his poor grip.
Riku, just as quickly as before, moved in front of him, his feet only inches away from Shinru?s hand, both of them gazing at each other, Riku?s gaze was stern, while Shinru?s was somewhere the completely opposite expressions of pathetic and looking down on Riku and who he was now.
With lightning speed, as Shinru?s hand continued to slip, now near the edge, Soul Eater reappeared in Riku?s hand as he brought it down in a vicious stab through Shinru?s hand, holding him in place.
?There?s one thing... that I need to know...? Riku began, his heart racing from the nerves of everything that just happened and everything that would follow this day.
Shinru continued to look up at him, beads of sweat going down his face, and Riku continued, his voice more demanding, more forceful now, ?Where... is my mother??
Shinru?s eyes widened at this question, and slowly, he gradually turned away, looking off to the side as if something else had caught his attention, a dismayed and defeated look on his face.
?Nothing to say... eh? Then die like the worthless scum you are!? Riku yelled, veins practically popping from his face, as he yanked Soul Eater from Shinru?s hand, forcing the man to completely slip over the edge.
Riku stared after him for a long while, watching him fall, and slowly leave view due to how far they were from the ground. Reina, Kakashi, Raiden, Deirous, and Shikamaru all stared at Riku with fear in their eyes. Riku?s stare held determination though, held anger. Shinru?s silence, even as he fell, annoyed Riku to no end, as if it had taken the joy from this ending.
But even now, the only ones who would receive any joy from such an ending were the ever-bloodthirsty pair of Tenzu and Reaver.
~
There was a long silence on the road back home. They had all been escorted a fair amount of the way towards Konoha by Reaver, and the rest was up to them. Silence bound the group, all of them walking with their own intakes on everything that had just happened, and their own silent reaction to how their group now held one less member than it left with.
Deirous was the one to break the silence, talking in the most serious tone that any of the group had ever heard coming from his usually sarcastic voice, ?So... what happens now? I mean, as far as fighting them goes??
Kakashi was the only one with enough stability in his voice to answer, the others, minus Shikamaru, not far off from crying, even Deirous?s voice was somewhat cracking, ?We can?t stop fighting them. It reminds me of a similar situation, not too long ago, and it still poses itself as resurfacing even now. The thing you must remember now is that he?s an enemy now, even if he did seem like an irreplaceable friend at once. If he?s seen by any ninja of Konoha or its allies, he?ll be killed.?
The statement didn?t surprise any of them, and all of them knew that Kakashi would know best what to do in this situation, having dealt with the similar situation of Sasuke Uchiha maybe two years before. The statement still set all of them back on their heels slightly, their eyes widening, but just from the fact that the truth of it was thrown in their faces so blandly. None of them wanted to accept that, it couldn?t be that simple, it simply wasn?t that simple. But yet it was... that was exactly the situation, and those conflicting emotions found themselves in all of them, all of them fighting a battle within themselves all the way back to Konoha.
~
Riku stood at the top of the spire, standing exactly where he was before, and looking yet again down, to where Shinru had fallen only the day before. He reflected back, on everything, and he was ashamed of none of it. He wore a wide, gruesome grin on his face, almost maniacle. There was so much that was different about the situation now than it had been yesterday.
Now, Riku wore a black cloak with red clouds on it.
Now a ring could be found on his left hand?s index fingers.
Now, he was a member of the Akatsuki.
