The Living Doll || Sasori

Ch. 11 - Shizuka (The Finale)

Jirobo was on her again before she could respond. For someone with as big a stature as his, he could manipulate his body well. She was pretty decent with taijutsu so for the most part, she could keep up with him but from their encounter before, something wasn't right with his movements. It wasn't until he grabbed her wrist and she automatically felt a shift in her energy that she immediately kicked him in his chest and melted out of his grip with her mud to get away.

"You've got a good taste." Jirobo smirked, having eaten away at some of her chakra reserves.

This was bad; she needed to escape now but she couldn't find an opening. Throughout the fight, the three males continuously surrounded her and Shizuka found herself utilizing more chakra than she thought she would. Her basic chunin skill was no match against her opponents but using some wit, she figured out how to make some desperate attempts work.

The sun had gone down and the moon was starting to make its appearance in the sky. Shizuka was hunched over and breathing heavily, holding her right arm near her shoulder. She had bruised it badly after encountering another powerful physical attack from Jirobo. Feeling the effects of chakra exhaustion, it was the combination of lingering adrenaline and the will of survival that she was still standing on her own two feet. There were black spots appearing and disappearing in her vision, and sooner rather than later, she was sure the ground was going to come out from under her.

Around her, Jirobo was caked to the ground for now after getting caught by her muddy water wall. She was able to trick Sakon and trap his ankles in her bottomless mud hole. As for Kidomaru, after much trial and error, she was able to enclose him in her earth dome - which was most likely pure luck on her end. All not permanent solutions, but they were good enough to stall.

A sharp melody from a flute came across her ears and, before she knew it, Shizuka had dropped to her knees. The world around her was stained red with the stream and forest disappearing out of her sight. Replacing nature were piles of bodies - some she recognized as her own clansmen and family, Kusagakure villagers and shinobi from the war, and the children from the journal she read in Orochimaru's abandoned hideout. Her breath hitched in her throat as she wanted to run away, however her body wouldn't obey her commands. Instead, her arms and legs were bound.

At the top of the pile was Orochimaru, who sent her a sinister smile. With every step he took towards her, she cowered in fear. He was going to kill her and there was no escape. She wanted to scream, but the sound wouldn't leave her throat; the sweet, sickening sound from the flute was drowning everything out.

"Why did you leave me?" Orochimaru stopped in front of Shizuka, standing over her with his shadow covering her in darkness. As she tried to look away from him, she noticed in horror that her skin was melting off of her bones. The male tilted her chin back towards him, her frightened blue eyes meeting his ominous golden ones. "When I gave you everything, my dear Snow White."

"Make it stop! Leave me-"

Kabuto's hand gripped the female's neck as he pressed her body against the half-broken tree trunk, pulling Shizuka out of her thoughts as he choked her. Her face flushed with heat as she clawed at his hand weakly, realizing that it had all been a genjutsu. "Orochimaru gave you a purpose and you betrayed him."

"I found a new purpose." Shizuka gasped for air.

A searing pain shot through her nervous system and her eyes widened in shock. Kabuto had jabbed his hand through her stomach, using his chakra scalpel to tear through her skin and muscle. The dome she had made earlier crumbled, freeing Kidomaru, and her mud softened, allowing Sakon and Jirobo to brush themselves off as her chakra was released. The warmth in her body changed as an unsettling cold took over.