Grasping at the Sky

Chapter 16: War

They'd known the enemy wouldn't fight fair – after all crazy take-over-the-world enemies never did – but Kira hadn't thought it would be this bad.

Though, in all honesty she hadn't been sure what to expect.

"This can't go on for much longer," she'd muttered, her back to Kankurō as they stood close together, eyeing not only enemies but comrades as well. Bringing back the dead and forcing them to fight hadn't been enough for Madara, and now these white half beings with spikes had every single person turning on each other. There was no way to tell who was an imposter, not unless you hadn't left that person's side.

Thankfully, that was the case with her best friend. The puppet master had needed the backup, fighting two former members of the Akatsuki was anything but easy, even if you had help.

As if on cue, the blond explosives master shouted again from beside her, his voice muffled from inside the prison that was Black Ant. He'd been snapping at them every few minutes about being set free so he could unleash his art, but really, how stupid did he think they were?

"You're right," Kankurō muttered, his hands at his sides, but the gleam of chakra thread still strung on his hands. The puppets of mother and father, along with the shell of Sasori all stood immobile nearby.

Honestly, it had been a bit odd to see that fight with the brought back to life Sasori. It all gave her a bit of a headache.

"Why fight it? Become part of my art and live forever in other's eyes, hmmm!" Deidara shouted again and Kira scowled, clenching her tonfas tighter and taking a moment to kick Black Art in irritation. It was bad enough that the person who had basicly killed Gaara was right next to her; she didn't feel like listening to him.

"Hey, don't take it out on Black Ant," Kankurō grumbled, but didn't turn to look at her. Kira huffed a bit and looked around again. Too many of their allies were accusing others. It was chaos, though that was the point. "We have to do something."

"I'm open to ideas," she'd muttered.

It seemed a bit unreal to her, how fast everything had come to pass. Just hours ago Kira had been scowling half-heartedly at the puppet master as he teased her about the paint on her face. He hadn't asked where it had come from, and she wondered if somehow he'd figured it out. Once the team had landed it had only been a little over an hour before the war had officially broken out. Somewhere down the line, their team had been broken up, and Kankurō and herself had teamed up with the Samurai troop from the Land of Iron. They held their own pretty well despite not wielding Justus, but she could tell the leader had been relieved to see them.

That seemed so long ago now. Time had passed, almost two days of it, and Kira had gone from stalling and eyeing her fellow ninja to suddenly leaping forward to save one.

More enemies had come, four more powerful undead, two of which Kira recognized. Kankurō was fighting the first of them, Lady Chiyo, the elder who had died to save Gaara. The old woman had spoken to both of the stunned sand ninja for a moment grumbling about how unfair it was to be controlled at her age. Chiyo was one the few who had known of Kira's purpose in the village, as the elders were some of the few who worked closely with the previous Kazekage. She had known of Kira's place, know of her mission to keep others away from Gaara.

She had also been the one to order that Kira be put on an ANBU team after Gaara's father had passed. Kira wished she had been able to thank her, but life seldom works like that and thus Kira had been called away to deal with the other undead she recognized.

Kimimaro was as stunning as he had been in his Bingo Book picture. White hair, startling eyes and a power that was nearly limitless. A power that had almost killed Gaara and had led Kira to studying him even after his death, not because she had thought she would ever face him, but because he had been so dangerous.