Flashes of white raced through the forest. As it began reaching its destination, strong winds were felt, causing several of the smaller trees to sway back and forth. The larger ones began also swaying roughly the further into the forest the figure moved. Branches splintered and shot off in all sorts of directions. The wind began to cut at the fabric and skin of the blur of white, but that didn’t stop it from continuing forward. A clearing came into view revealing a tall cyclone. Distorted voices were laughing and a figure in the center of the tempest was held in the air, unable to move.
As if things couldn’t get any worse, it looked like the owners of the distorted voices were getting ready to make their kill. Two short blades slide out of their sheaths and lightning surrounded the blades. The lightning would just get cancelled by the wind, but at least it would make for a good distraction and keep the enemies’ prey alive. The blades both struck at the cyclone and the lightning was shot off in different directions before disappearing with a loud cracking sound.
“Who dares interfere?!” The kunai that were being aimed at the masked ninja were shot out from the cyclone and aimed for the person responsible for the attack instead. The figure quickly dodged and blocked with the blades before disappearing.
“Taizo, get rid of our intruder.” A single and much smaller cyclone split from the main towering one, causing it to shrink a third in size.
It shot of in the direction of where the figure disappeared to, taking out many boulders and uprooting many trees in its path. It was following the obvious chakra signature of the intruder when several large explosions erupted from underneath the twister. The rogue ninja shot out of its now dissipating twister with a painful cry before crashing into the ground.
“Taizo!” the two remaining shinobi turned their attention to their fallen comrade.
A kunai with an explosion tag was thrown at the moment their attention was taken away from their masked captive. It hit the base of the cyclone. The small explosion only split the cyclone in two and their victim landed back down to earth in a crouched position.
The twisters came to a stop and the two stood back to back, kunai at the ready. A flash of white growled as it slashed at the shinobi with the headband over his mouth. His cry was muffled by his headband, causing the other to turn to attack, but the attacker was gone, his comrade knelt to the ground with a hand over a bleeding shoulder.
Kakashi looked on with his onyx eye being the only one still open. He had been unable to tell what was going on. He had a hunch of who it was that was helping him, but wasn’t familiar with the change in chakra he felt. He scanned the area and thought he caught site of something, but it darted off before he could make it out for sure.
The same flashes of white appeared again, this time attacking the main rogue shinobi. Kakashi opened his sharingan to try to make out what exactly was happening. Teeth, claws, and fur seemed to attack at the enemy in slow motion to Kakashi now. The enemy was slashed across the back, just down the middle of his spinal cord. He screamed out in pain and frustration before beginning to use his Kekkei Genkai again, not caring if his comrade was in his way.
His unlucky comrade was thrown off to the side crashing into a tree and falling to the ground in an unconscious heap. The stealthy attacker came back for another attack and seemed to shift into Hisayo. Kakashi shook his head a bit in confusion. He could have sworn that just now, what was attacking the enemy…
The cyclone shot out at Hisayo too fast for her to dodge. She held up her blades and took the impact, sliding several yards back as she tried blocking. Movement from the first enemy Hisayo had taken down caught Kakashi’s attention. He ran at Hisayo, putting chakra in his steps to go faster and widened his sharingan to take in the full movements of the other enemy’s surprise attack on Hisayo while her back was turned. Kakashi tackled Hisayo to the ground, out of the small cyclone’s path, and away from the many shuriken and kunai thrown in her direction.
Hisayo sat up slightly angered, but didn’t let it show. “What are you doing?” She looked up to Kakashi who hovered over her body.
“An attack from behind you.” Kakashi panted before rolling off to the ground.
That last bit of energy was wearing off especially since he had begun using his sharingan again. Hisayo stood up after grabbing her kodachi and looked down at Kakashi.
“Stay there and don’t move.”
“I don‘t think I really can at the moment. Be careful and don‘t get caught off guard again.” Kakashi spoke as he continued to lie on the ground.
Hisayo gave a small ‘humph’ and walked forward to face the final two. “You have no idea what I’m capable of, so save your worry.”
She disappeared in a flash and headed in the direction of the one who threw an attack from behind her. Kakashi just sighed at her departure and closed his sharingan eye. How wrong she was to think that he had no idea of what she was able to do. Several flashes of the white wolf reflecting her demonic half, raced across his mind.
Hisayo made quick work of the shinobi before he could use his jutsu again. She then quickly dodged the cyclone with the final shinobi. She formed lightning around her blades again and made contact with the twister, hoping that because it was a much smaller cyclone that her lightning attack would not be easily negated like before.
Her hopes were crushed when her attack had the same results as before. She jumped out of its way again after the attack. She couldn’t use any more explosive tags because she ran out, and her other affinity would be of no use either, so that left her with only one more option.
She turned her attention to Kakashi, finding him to not be looking in her direction.
“Good.” She looked down to one of her cuffs. Yes, one would be enough, she thought. She sheathed her blades and quickly grabbed at her cuff, removing it and tossing it behind her near the enemy she had just dispatched.
She hunched over slightly as her body slightly pulsed, causing the cyclone to stop moving at her. When she straightened herself back to an upright position, the enemy gasped in surprise from inside his twister. What was she? She was really a monster of some kind. What had the Leaf village acquired this time? Was it not enough that they had in their possession the nine tails?!
“What are you?!” He yelled at the beast standing before him.
Her face remained calm and unreadable to the enemy. She began moving quicker than his eyes could keep up with. When he thought he found her, her body seemed to leave several images of her. Was she using a clone technique? She couldn’t be, for the debris from his cyclone was cutting and hitting at the images, but they remained. Had they been shadow clones, then they would have poofed away in smoke. And regular clones would simply disappear.
He felt several attacks from all around the twister. Hisayo was kicking and twisting back around to punch at the twister. She did this until she found a weaker area of the cyclone. She gritted her teeth, with her fangs exposed as she pushed herself through the area into the center of the storm. She gathered her chakra inside of herself and shot it off in all directions, hitting all the walls of the storm and the enemy. The dangerous winds were cancelled out by the force and power of the released chakra and the remaining enemy was thrown to the ground.
Hisayo slowly began walking over to the enemy who raised himself and tried to form his twister of doom once again, but failed.
“You don’t have enough chakra for that special jutsu anymore. So just give up.” Hisayo began unsheathing her blades as she continued to walk forward.
“Never, you monster!!” The enemy shouted as he threw several kunai and shuriken at her.
She simply dodged, leaving behind several after images again as she twisted and turned to avoid them all. She stopped behind the enemy and hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of her sword. He fell to the ground unmoving, but still breathing slowly.
Hisayo sheathed her blades once again and walked back to where she left her cuff. She picked it up and placed it back on her wrist, her demonic features vanishing in an instant. She then looked over to Kakashi. He really hadn’t moved an inch from where she told him to stay.
She walked over to him and looked down “Are you alright?”
Kakashi couldn’t really move his head to see her, but he knew that she had returned to being human. He had felt the change in her chakra from the very start but had chosen to not let her know of his awareness on the matter just like before.
“Thanks for the help. You saved my skin you know.”
“Don’t misinterpret my actions. I just don’t need sensei giving me a hard time about not taking the proper actions in this team. Now, are you alright?”
Kakashi sighed. How was he supposed to gain her favor when she constantly kept her distance with feelings? She could at least say ‘You’re welcome’, instead of brushing him off like that.
“Well, to be honest…I can’t really move right now. Maybe in about a week?” Kakashi spoke the last part mainly to himself. That was what happened most of the times he overexerted himself.
“Wait here while I get the others then.” Hisayo turned to leave.
“What about those three? You’re not leaving me here defenseless with them are you?”
“There are only two that are alive. They are unconscious and it won’t take long.”
“Now what do you think Akio-san would do or say when he finds you left me here like this?” Hisayo stopped in her tracks, forming tight fists in irritation.
How would he know what Akio would say or do? He didn’t know Akio any better than he knew her. She didn’t know it, but Kakashi had kept careful track of Akio and Hisayo’s interactions with each other when he was in the vicinity. He knew he could use it to try to get her to be a bit less timid, or was it hostile? He really couldn’t tell for her face was usually emotionless. She wore an invisible mask, unlike himself.
“Summoning jutsu.” Hisayo knelt to the ground and placed her open hand on the ground after biting on her thumb.
“Hisayo-san what is it you need me to do for you?” The familiar honey colored wolf asked in a somewhat deep and calm voice as the smoke cleared. His chocolate colored eyes briefly looked down at Kakashi then back up to Hisayo.
“Myukyu, find Akio-sensei and bring him here. There may be a kunoichi and her nin-dog with him. Bring them also.”
“I shall make haste, Hisayo-san.” The small wolf turned tail after nodding and disappeared from the clearing.
Hisayo turned her attention back to Kakashi. “Happy now?”
Kakashi just chuckled lightly. So his method did work.
…
It wasn’t too long before Akio, Takeshi and Kouzetsu appeared behind the small wolf. Hisayo was just finishing tying off the two of the three that survived the battle.
“They were already on their way here when I found them.” Myukyu informed.
“Alright you may go now Myukyu.” Hisayo dismissed the small wolf who nodded before disappearing in a poof of smoke.
“I see you two handled things here. Are you alright Kakashi?” Akio looked down at the still grounded shinobi.
“Haha, oh he’ll be alright. Take things a bit too far again, Kakashi?” Takeshi laughed as she crossed her arms.
She was no stranger to the way the shinobi would take things to the limit. In fact not one person that has ever worked with him was unfamiliar with the state the masked man would often be put in after extensive use of his eye.
“Maybe I over did it just a little.” Kakashi tried raising himself up only to go back down to the ground with a small cringe.
“Hisayo it looks like we’ll have to carry him along with these two.” Akio smiled as he pointed to the three.
“Hate to break it to you two, but Kouzetsu can only carry one. How are we going to carry the others?” Takeshi informed them of their dilemma.
“I can carry those two and Hisayo you can handle Kakashi without any problem, right?” Akio looked to his student, losing his playful and carefree expression.
“Sensei you aren’t suggesting that we-”
“Yes, I am. We are just going to have to. You understand don’t you?”
“No, I don’t. That is only going to expose us more. I’ve caused enough trouble from before. We don’t need to add to it.” Kakashi tried turning his head in Akio and Hisayo’s direction.
More secrets? He wasn’t surprised.
Ever since he had met these two that’s all he had known from them. It was only cause for more questions of their previous life before Konoha—questions that probably would never be answered.
“What are you talking about?” Takeshi questioned and Kouzetsu tilted his head with a confused whimper.
The two only ignored her though. Hisayo looked up to her sensei with a fierce expression. Why now? Why after all these years of keeping their identities to themselves, was Akio trying to expose them now? Why did he favor Konoha so much to the extent of trusting the village enough to come out of their protective shells?
This transition was just too much for her liking, but she wasn’t about to go against Akio if it was his wish. She who always trusted and felt safe by his presence was not about to fight with him over the issue. He was all she really had. Who else would be kind and treat her as he had through the years? She just had to continue to trust him, but that wouldn’t stop her from questioning his motives. Akio stared back at Hisayo with stern eyes.
Hisayo looked away in defeat. “Fine, now help me and strap Kakashi down.”
Hisayo knelt down to Kakashi and pulled out several rolls of wire from one of her weapon pouches.
“Hisayo what’s going on?” Kakashi questioned as he watched her carefully.
“Be quiet and don’t ask questions right now. It’s better you don’t know anyway.” Hisayo put all fours on the ground after spreading out the wire.
Kakashi was about to protest when Hisayo’s body transformed. White fur sprouted furiously from her body. Her hands and feet wear replaced by paws. Her face contorted to that of a wolf’s. Ears sprang from her head to an alert position and a tail shot out from behind, completing her change. All in all, the whole changing process took less than a few seconds. Kakashi and Takeshi were a bit taken back by the sudden transformation of Hisayo. In front of them stood a large white wolf the size of a small cart horse.
Kakashi could say that between him and Takeshi that he was the most surprised. He was utterly shocked. That unfamiliar chakra from before was this wolf. The same white wolf from his dreams and definitely the one he saw just moments ago from the fight with the three rogue shinobi from the group of bandits. He was beginning to believe that everything he was dreaming was going to be true to the real world. His question on the matter was still ‘why’ though.
Akio’s face returned to normal and he looked to Takeshi, who stood feet apart and hands held out with a very surprised expression. “Sorry to bother you Takeshi, but I’m going to need your assistance tying the other two on me once I finish helping Hisayo.”
“That thing is Hisayo?” Takeshi pointed out with wide eyes. Kouzetsu gave low submissive growls as he coward behind Takeshi.
“That is Hisayo, yes. But nothing has changed about her except her form of course. You will soon see that it is the same with me. Now, will you help me after? It’s getting late, so we should hurry if we want to get to Konoha before nightfall.” Akio lifted Kakashi on top of the large form of Hisayo and began securing the helpless shinobi down. Hisayo stood quiet the whole time.
“See, this isn’t so bad is it, Hisayo?” The gold eyes of the wolf met Akio’s green ones for a split second before looking away in a huff.
“Come now, don’t be like that. It’s for everyone’s own good—even your own. I promise that this is a good thing. You’ll see.” Akio assured as he finished tying the wire off.
“She’s angry with you?” Kakashi tried to make sense of her behavior.
“It may seem that way, but that is just how she is at times. Emotionless with just the slightest hint of emotion when needed. Stubborn girl.” Akio laughed, but Hisayo wasn’t at all happy with her sensei’s merry attitude of the situation. She gave a small growl and quickly turned away with a snort, causing Kakashi to grunt with the sudden movement.
“Careful Hisayo. Kakashi isn’t exactly in a condition to handle that kind of movement.” Akio warned “You alright Kakashi?”
“I’ll manage.”
“Alright. Takeshi I’m ready for your help now.” Akio shifted in the same manner as Hisayo into a wolf of the same size. The only difference was a black coat of fur and emerald eyes. He walked over to the two unconscious shinobi.
Takashi began laughing, finally out of her shocked state. She slapped her hand over her head. “Wow, so you two can change into wolves. Makes me wonder if you are somehow related to my clan.”
“I assure you that we are not. Now come.” Akio’s voice sounded from the black wolf.
“Wow and you can still talk?! This isn’t something you see every day, now is it, Kouzetsu?” Takeshi grinned down to her shaking companion.
Who could blame him though, when he was faced with something as terrifying as a wolf that was roughly about twice your own size? Takeshi helped Akio tie down their captives before she took a seat on Kouzetsu’s back and the three set off at a relatively quick pace back to their village.
…
“Sorry to burden you like this. If it makes you feel better, I’m not exactly having a painless ride back here.” Kakashi spoke over Hisayo’s shoulder after nearly half an hour of silence. Hisayo had been trailing behind Akio and Takeshi during that time.
She inwardly questioned Kakashi’s need to start up conversation. Was that just his way of being friendly with her again? His comment for some reason gave her a small sting of guilt over her roughness with him. He didn’t deserve it. She had just been angered over Akio’s decision earlier. She gave a mentally irritated sigh before slowing her pace and taking more careful steps, making sure not to jolt around Kakashi too much.
“Hisayo-san?” Kakashi began to question her once he felt himself being less pained by the rough pace she had taken before.
“Just be quiet. I don’t need you questioning my actions.” The white wolf looked over her shoulder briefly at Kakashi and locked one of her golden orbs with his dark one before looking away. “I’m not really sure of them myself.” she quietly said to herself.
Kakashi just gave a slight chuckle in content. It wasn’t much, but he felt that maybe he had achieved a small step in gaining a bit of her favor today. Perhaps before long he would be completely liked and trusted by her.
******
Another hour later, the three entered the village gates just as the sun began to start setting. They gained a few shocked looks from people around the gate. Many whispered and pointed to the two oversized wolves that followed behind Takeshi and Kouzetsu.
“Perhaps we should continue on the rooftops?” Akio suggested after seeing several mixed reactions from the passing people.
“Good idea. Kouzetsu!” Takeshi’s partnered barked and began jumping to the first rooftop followed by Akio, then Hisayo.
“Hisayo why don’t you take Kakashi there to the medics while Takeshi and I handle the rest?”
Hisayo just nodded as she split off from the two and continued making her way across the roof tops.
Her arrival at the hospital building startled several people, but they all regained their composure upon realizing that she was carrying a shinobi in need of attention.
“Quick, bring him in here.” One of the medics motioned for her to enter the building.
She managed to make it through the double door entrance and followed the medic to the main counter. Once there, Kakashi was cut loose from the wires and quickly taken away. During the whole process she could make out faint whispers from a few of the medics that looked on at the site from the sidelines.
“Here again, that Kakashi.”
“You think he would learn by now.”
“Is that a new summon of his?”
“Never seen one quite like that before”
“The prettiest out of his bunch, that’s for sure.”
Hisayo shrank down to the size of a normal wolf and quickly left the building, ignoring the continuing whispers on her way out. She left to find an area free of anyone that might witness her change back to her normal self. She didn’t want any more exposure of herself, nor did she need rumors circulating around the village.
She just hoped Akio would be as discreet about his change in appearance as she was.