City of Night

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

A shriek echoed up the tunnel and Sakura frowned, suddenly anxious. Could the fighting have started already?

"Let's go," she said and ducked down the stairs with Naruto, Yugito, Tenten and Hinata close behind her. The sound of battle grew louder as they got closer and burst through the tunnel onto the concrete balcony. The five teammates froze at the sight below them. Druids in human form, using weapons, as well as huge animals of every kind were viciously fighting vampires, and vampires were fighting other vampires mercilessly. Snarling, growling and the loud roar of violent flames filled the huge, underground cavern like terrifying music.

"But how did she know?" Hinata breathed, shocked and Tenten growled, bristling, "She had spies obviously." Sakura nodded grimly and took a fighting stance as two Lightning vampires appeared in front of them, covered in blood and snarling. "This couldn't be avoided."

"We'll cover you. Go!" Naruto raced towards the enemy, Yugito darting lithely beside him, and leapt, the air shimmering. Suddenly an enormous fox joined by an equally huge cat fell upon the stunned enemy, bringing them down with such force that the concrete cracked beneath them as the opponents thrashed and tried to rip each other to pieces, snarling and growling loudly.

"Let's move!" Sakura shouted and the three girls bolted for the balcony's steep edge, not slowing down and leapt, just like they had done before, landing lightly in front of the complete chaos below.

Dead and wounded littered the ground like bleeding red roses and there wasn't a single street where there wasn't a battle for the kill happening. A large, white bird was circling from above and a male figure, Akatsuki, with long blonde hair was dropping white clay bombs, also in the shapes of birds, on the warriors below.

"Art is an explosion!" he shrieked and Tenten snarled. "I hate that asshole."

"Enemy," Hinata hissed as they continued forward and a knife flew from Tenten's hand, hitting the Rock vampire so quickly Sakura hadn't even had the chance to do anything, but it wasn't long before they were blocked by three vampires from the Yamanaka clan.

"Split," Tenten snarled and the three girls each raced toward an enemy. "Ino's been looking for you, human," a beautiful boy with long, pale blonde hair hissed, dodging as Sakura lashed out viciously and gripping her wrist tightly, about to throw her. Sakura took the opportunity to jump, landing on his shoulders before snapping his neck easily and leaping onto the next enemy. They still underestimate me.

She saw Tenten fighting closely with a short sword in each hand, wielding them gracefully and deadly, matching each of her opponent's blows perfectly. She really is a weapons expert, Sakura thought grimly as she dodged her opponent's silver lance and saw Hinata dispatch her enemy quickly and cleanly with a sharp, energy enhanced blow to the stomach.

It wasn't long before the teammates were standing back to back, panting and covered with sweat, scratches and blood.

"Ino's soldiers are strong," Tenten exhaled, cleaning her blades on her shirt and fastening them to her back. "Let's go."

The three girls darted forward, weaving their way through the battles when suddenly; a watery arm and hand grabbed Hinata around the ankle. She hit the ground hard and cried out with pain as it dragged her backwards and frantically thrashing across the ground.

"Hinata!" Tenten screamed furiously, reaching for a knife but Hinata shook her head frantically, cuts and bruises appearing on her pale skin as she was dragged over sharp rocks and rubble.

"Keep going!" The willowy girl shrieked as she was dragged roughly into the violent fray and out of sight as another bomb went off close by and the two girls quickly regained their balance as the ground shook from the shockwave.