222. Interlude: Yugure

222. Interlude: Yugure

Before the beginning, after the end, no path to take, no light to shine the way. A cycle that changes yet stays the same. Can’t be broken, there is nothing to break. Only She remains. - █R█KE█ █NE █KT█OM-A█R██O

In the mountains of the land of lightning two strangers walked leisurely in a direction unknown. The tinkling of bells following them with each step. The sun shining unimpeded by the usual clouds that hung throughout the country illuminated their path. The pristine white cloaks with blue clouds hid their bodies from the glare of the sun as did the straw hats for their heads.

“Do you think she will fight?” A feminine voice flowed out from one of the strangers trying to establish a conversation with her partner.

“Probably.” And so, with a similar feminine cadence to the response, the attempt died in the cradle. It had been like this for a while now, silence. Not awkward silence but not comfortable either, just silence.

Each step they took brought them closer to their target. A woman from Kumogakure, a ninja. One with power to make her name known throughout the land. Dirty blond hair and dark eyes with a rather pale tone of skin compared to what is common in the land of lightning. Yugito Nii, the jinchuriki of the two tails.

A few steps later and the duo stopped. They were ready and in position, soon enough their target would pass through the area and so their mission would commence. In truth, their objective had been long set by someone else. Not only that but the initiation of the plans would have come to pass in the future. They didn’t care, they needed this.

“She is here.” The first one said, tuning slightly towards her left.

“She is” The other one instead turned upwards letting the sun’s shine fall on her face. Delicate features with long straight dark blue, almost black, hair. Her eyes, a deep purple with a strange yellow pattern on them.

Moments later out of the thin forest to their left came a squad of three ninjas, one of them being their target. As expected the ninja stopped in their tracks, guard high and suspicion clear in their eyes. After all, the duo in front of them exude an aura of danger. To make matters worse they didn’t hide their chakra either, firmly placing the duo as elite jounin.

“Who are you?” Yugito spoke while watching the duo. Her instincts were screaming danger. As funny as it might sound, she doubted the duo being spies. No spie would act so overtly unless their mission required it. No, something told her they were here for them.

“Yugito Nii, jinchuriki of the Nibi” The more the stranger spoke the more Yugito felt something was wrong, really, really wrong. The feeling only intensified once she caught a glance of blood red eyes, with a strange black pattern.

“We come with an offer you WILL accept.” Not waiting any longer Yugito sent a fireball in the direction of the duo. Yet, it never got to them as the house sized fireball began shrinking until it puffed out of existence.

Now not only her but her team as well felt cold sweat flowing down their backs. The strangers hadn’t even moved and yet, Yugito’s attack resulted in nothing. They got no new useful information. Things looked grim for her and her team. Thankfully, the strangers didn’t seem to be kin on attack, for now.

“Your life will be in danger in the near future. A group, our counterpart, will hunt you down and those like you.” Silence, it was an uncomfortable silence that set every kumo-nin on edge.

“And who are you?” As soon as her question was given the second stranger moved. She closed her eyes for a moment before opening them once again. Her gaze squarely on Yugito added to the pressure she already felt.

“We are Yugure, the dusk to akatsuki’s dawn. Not like this would mean much to you... yet.” While speaking, the woman’s gaze never left Yugito. Yugito for her part could put some of the pieces together. The first woman had said those like her. There was nothing truly special about her except for one thing. She is a jinchuriki.

Now, thanks to her status it looks like two different groups were after her and the other jinchuriki’s. The question is however, what do these groups want? And so, the best thing to do now was ask. Yugito ignored the growing sense of dread she felt, the helplessness fueled by her instincts. As a kunoichi she needed to keep herself under control, she needed as much information as possible.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t reveal our goals. Not unless you fully commit to joining us.” Once again, the red eyed woman spoke. Her words seemed careless like the tension in the air was nothing but a lie.

“I will NOT be joining you.” For a moment the idea of agreeing to infiltrate the group passed through Yugito’s mind, an idea she discarded instantly. The very thought of it had sent all sorts of alarms blaring in her head.

“A pity, looks like it will be the hard way then.” The woman with purple eyes commented almost with disinterest. Yet the instant sense of danger Yugito felt sent her into motion.

An instant later Yugito got to witness how her two teammates were squashed against the ground by forces unseen. Thankfully, they looked alive if barely. However, things were not over. A flare of her combat instincts honed through years of conflict sent her sideways to avoid another unseen attack.

Before the trio left, Hinata took a few moments to heal the poor kumo-nin that had been injured by Nozomi’s attack. Most of the damage was internal from having the force of gravity suddenly increased on them. After that the trio set off.

“Say Matatabi, would you like a humanoid body of your own?” Hinata, a bit bored, decided to initiate a conversation. She wanted to know what would be Matatabi’s reaction. Not only that but she wanted to see her reacting to her brother now sister.

“Why do you ask? It isn’t possible anyway.” As she said that Matatabi looked towards the duo. Their smug expressions made her doubt what she had thought would be obvious.

“Is it?” As she questioned her own affirmation the duo’s smile grew into smug grins instead.

“Well, your brother already has one.” Nozomi, understanding Hinata’s intentions, decided to play along. She too would enjoy seeing Matatabi’s expression once she met Kurama.

“Huh, well, I have never given it much thought. I guess I wouldn’t mind.” Like that the trio continued making small talk as they walked. Soon enough they were met with the sight of a quinjet waiting to pick them up.

“What is this contraption? It looks... weird.” Shrugging, the duo came aboard alongside Matatabi as they left for Yggdrasil.

A few hours later Matatabi found herself unable to think. Her jaw wide open as her mind worked extra hard to make sense of the scene in front of her. Surprise after surprise followed as soon as she saw the frankly ridiculously sized tree. However, this took the cake.

“K-Kurama?” Matatabi wanted to believe it a lie. She wanted to believe that the woman currently drinking merily was nothing more than Kurama’s jinchuriki. Her senses were telling her otherwise.

“Hm? Who?... M-Matatabi?” After turning around Kurama felt dread. Sure, Shukaku was already aware of her new... tendencies and her other sibling would know in due time. She however, didn’t expect for Matatabi to find out like this.

“Is that really you?” Matatabi was still having a hard time believing her own eyes. For starters, why was Kurama a woman? Why was she drinking merily with a bunch of humans and above all else...

“Kurama? Is she another one of your girlfriends?” Mina who was currently rather drunk said with a sultry tone as she began licking Kurama’s neck seductively. It didn’t help that the only thing currently hiding her breasts was her black bra nor the fact Kurama’s left hand was under said bra.

“I... uh... can explain?” Hearing that Matatabi’s brain finished rebooting enough to give her a disbelieving look. In her centuries of life she had never, ever, thought she would see Kurama of all bijus interloping with a human.

“Yeah? How so?” Matatabi expected many things. She expected Kurama to act defensive. Maybe try and act like nothing ever happened. Hell, she was ready for -him?- to try and act like he still hated humans, instead she heard something completely different.

“Okay so... I blame Tomoka, and those two as well.” Kurama said while pointing towards Hinata and Nozomi who couldn’t contain their laughter anymore.

“What?” Yeah, Matatabi’s brain entered into another session of rebooting as she tried and failed to comprehend what was going on.

“Have a flesh and bone body, they said, it will be fine, they said. Well, guess what? This body came with its own set of needs and instincts!” Kurama began ranting, she had a love-hate relationship with her new body. She loved the pleasures of the flesh, good food, sleep, sex, oh she definitely loved sex.

“Trust me, you won’t understand no matter how hard I try to explain unless you get your own.” Kurama’s grumbling came to an end as Mina moved from kissing and licking her neck to doing the same to her lips.

“I uh...” Before Matatabi could get her thoughts into words she was interrupted by Nozomi.

“So? Are you interested in a body of your own?” Hearing the question Matatabi began thinking. She was having a hard time deciding until she gave Kurama a glance. The fox was currently smiling as she kept exchanging kisses with Mina. She definitely looked happy, content even.

“Yes.” With her mind made, Matatabi condemned herself to a life of leisure and happiness. Not like she knew that.