Chapter 20 - ch.20

----------------------------------------Several minutes ago--------------------------------

Medusa had just kicked the wall out from behind her, causing them to both fall through into an empty bedroom. They tumbled several feet; he loses his grip, and landed several feet away, balancing on his knees. "Tell me where Orochimaru is!!" Grimm demanded, getting ready to beat her to a pulp.

"Oh, now why would I betray Orochi like that? We have so many interests!"

"Bitch!" He attacks again, avoiding his wild swings and punches with a sly smile.

"Oh my, are you angry? A man your age should control your temper!" She taunts, infuriating him.

"You'll tell me, even if it kills you!" He started to focus his attacks a little, becomeing faster and less wild, finally scoring some hits. She jumps back when she sees the opportunity, and makes an unusual sign. "Shadow style: Vector Arrow!" Suddenly, her shadow bent behind her, and split into a dozen arrows, each turning left and right erratically, but still coming quickly at him. He dodges left, and his leg gets several deep cuts, and he clutches his leg in pain. "Damn!"

she smiles. "You're good, but no match for me!"

He takes a deep breath, not only to calm down, but to try to ignore the pain, "I'm just starting!" He pulls his sword, feeling it's power flow through him. "Warm-up's over!" He jumps at her, far quicker than before, surprising her. She still managed to dodge the attack, but not without losing a lock of hair and her hood being cut.

She still smiles. "So, you were holding back? Interesting...Maybe I should subdue and study you..." She says with and evil glint in her eyes.

"LIKE HELL!! He swings at her again, scoring small nicks here and there, but never landing a solid blow. After a few swings, she makes a quick sign. "shadow style" Vector Plate!" Her shadow splits, and a portion instantly reaches under him, becoming an arrow pointing away from her. He suddenly goes flying just as the arrow flashes. She then runs through a series of signs, and finishes just before he reaches her again. "Shadow Style: Vector Blade!" Her palm was covered by shadow, before extending several feet, creating a large arrow with a hilt, and blocked his sword.

"This is gonna be fun!" she said, her wide grin never leaving her face.

"You little... YOUR TOYING WITH ME!!" He swings again and again, she blocks each blow easily. He finally had enough, and just after a swing, he spun quickly and kicked her in the side, sending her through the wall, into the alley. He rushes after her, only to find her gone. He roars in rage before punching the next houses's wall, making half of it collapse.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, aag!" A black man in a bathtub falls nearby, the tub smashing on the ground. "C'mon! This is the exact reason I left Quohog!" Grimm just rolls his eyes and returns inside, going through both holes in the walls back to the main room, to see the boy being pummeled by what her could only assume was his own weapon coming out of his back, and everyone's weapons were sheathed.

"Damn, she got away. And I suppose we're not killing her?" He asked ponderously, pretty sure this was gonna be a simple assassination.

"I was right! She was misguided and confused, like I thought!" responded Maka with a small smile.

"So, I guess she's coming back with us?" Maka nodded, obviously happy about the outcome. He shrugs, not really caring. "Whatever mission just said to find her. What you do is your business. Let's not waste any time." He walks out with the rest in tow, until he hears Medusa again: "Vector arrow!" "Shit!" He turns just in time to see Hinata impaled. Naru catches her, and Sakura quickly rushes to her, both calling her name, and doing all they can to keep her awake.

"You try and take mine, I take yours. Crona, come!" He looks at her, seeing her beckoning the boy. His brow furrows, and his eyes grow sharp and dangerous. He lets out a cero, but she dodges, and he takes out a good portion of the roof.

"You guys get Hinata back, I'll handle her!" He followed her, watching her movements.

"But-" The instant he hears her talk back, he turns, his lethal gaze falling on them.

"GET YOUR ASS OUT OF HERE!!!" Any thought of protest was intantly destroyed, and they carried Hinata to the truck while he jumped onto the roof near her. "You shouldn't have done that..." He said with barely controlled rage.

"Oh, I'm so scared! Is kitty gonna scratch?"

That did it. That little taunt pushed him over the edge. He was gonna kill this bitch here and now. "I was gonna let you live, I just wanted info on that serpentine bastard, But you had to hurt my student, huh?" He drew his sword, holding it horizontally. "You're gonna die, bitch. No one hurts my family! Grind, Pantera!!!" The force of his power increase practically destroys the roof he was on. "If you wanna live, run." He jumped, nearly horizontally, at her, aiming for her head. He would have succeeded too, if it weren't for the blade she still had.

'Shit! He's far stonger than before! I have to take this seriously!' She thinks, focusing her chakra. "Vector Arrow!" She activates it again, weaving the sign one handed. 3 dozen arrow came out from behind her, aiming at him. He jumps back, several times, as the go through the roof while the attack him. She pulls them back, holding them behind her like so many snakes waiting to strike.

'Damn! With that many, shadow clones are useless. Best go with the direct approach." He starts charging a cero, and charges as the arrow start coming. The middle was the last place they aimed, converging in the center, and he easily made his way past them and swung his sword, and as expected, it was blocked. He puts the energy built in his hand at her chest. "Cero!!" She saw this coming, though, and intantly dropped, her clothes' tail holding her off the ground as the cero passed just overhead. She kicked him directly between legs as hard as possible, makingh im double over in pain.

She sees he's incapacitated. "If you'll excuse me, I have a child to recover." She jumped away, toward where the young group went, before she was sent flying down through the building from Grimm's kick.

Grimm jumps down, seeing her finally properly injured. "Please. A kick to the balls? That's foreplay to me!" He swung his sword down, she managed to put her blade in the way, not really blocking, as a good portion of his tip cut into her shoulder, but stoping him from cutting her in half. He used this to his advantage, changing the angle, and pulling toward him, cutting off her arm. He grins as she screams in pain. He aims for her other arm as well, the pain weakening her too much to mover her sword, and losing both arms. He lifted her by her hair, looking as she pants, barely conscious. "No one, and I mean no one, hurts my family. I will find Orochimaru, I will tear him a new one, and pull his heart out through it. And I'll kill ANYONE who gets in my way." All the while, he was building power in his palm, building a cero. "And you're first." He throws her up, and waits until she is at the highest point of the throw, well outside the building, before cutting his palm, his blood mixing with his chakra, and amplifying it tremendously. He aimed his arm up. "Gran Rey Cero." A huge ray burst forth, the very force of the shot destroying half the building, and completely eliminating her. He releases his form and sheathes his sword. "I hope Hinata will be OK." He walks away, not seeing her arms becoming a large snake, and slithering away.

He run through the city, to the truck, only to find it gone. "Just my luck!" He follows the tracks in the desert at max speed, which is significantly less with the desert terrain. After nearly an hour, he finally sees it, but takes another 20 minutes to reach it, Naru and Soul grabbing him as he jumped in, panting with effort. "How's Hinata?" He asks between breaths.

Naru's face darkened. "She's barely alive. Sakura's doing all she can, but has no experience with medical jutsu, and can barely provide enough blood." He turns to her, seeing her in extreme concentration, sweating and panting. "If she stops, even for a second, Hinata could die."

"Damn..." Grimm breaths. "If only Eva were here." He muttered.

Naru nodded in agreement. "She's the best, second only to Tsunade."

Grimm chuckled lightly. "Don't let her hear you say that. You may find yourself with extra arms just to prove you wrong."

Naru gave a single chuckle at his humour, but focused again on Hinata, her chest barely moving, her face pale. "C'mon Hinata. I can't lose you again. You gotta live!" He said to himself more than to her. The rest of the ride was spent in silence.

-------------------------------------a while later, near town-------------------------------

They were met partway by Death City's paramedics, who took over, transfering Hinata to their vehicle, and sped away faster than their car could possible go. Naru watched it dissapears into the roads of the nearby city. "Get in, kid." Naru does as his teacher says, and sees Sakura is already out cold, having used too much chakra. Naru looks at her with concern. "She's alright, just passed out. She put everything she had into that. For having no experience in medical jutsu, she did well. She seems to have a talent for it." Naru barely acknowledged his comment with a slight grunt. "Naru." She looks up, tears in her eyes. "There's nothing you could do. If anything, it's my fault. I let her get away..." He looks down, regret clear on his face. Naru crawled to him, crying into his chest. He didn't move, which was enough invitation to Naru to stay.

"This is so uncool. This mission was over, and someone still got hurt. This isn't right..." The truck came to a stop. The three got out the back, Grimm carried Sakura, as Maka got out of the cab and Crona got out of the passenger side..

"She'll be in the hospital. I'll show you where it is." She lead them through the streets, and took them through the quickest path to it. They came inside, and asked of him. The nurse said to head up to the OR on the 3rd floor, and wait. And they did. They sat in that waiting room for 5 hours. Naru couldn't stop sniffling, the occasional tear falling down her cheek. Maka was sitting next to Naru, doing her best to comfort her. Sakura was still passed out, layed down on a couch. Soul was leaning against a wall near the OR doors. Crona was sitting in a corner, still unused to the company. Grimm was laying on another couch, seemingly asleep.